From the IG campaign . . . .
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/grasshopper-vaporizer#/updates
almost 2 years ago
Hey Everyone,
We returned from
a long and successful trip in China this last weekend. After spending over two weeks visiting manufacturers and solving problems on the spot, it was obvious that such a trip was necessary.
The Grasshopper battery has been one of the biggest challenges of the project. Its custom size and insane discharge requirements made it hard to design and even harder to manufacture. Naturally, we were excited to visit our factory and see what we had invested in. The results were good. The factory was working on labeling and testing some of our second-batch batteries.
Our trip then took us to visit our machining manufacturer, molding manufacturer and circuit board fabricator. Each of these visits went well, and we were happy with the quality of work that we observed. We expected to receive production samples of the Ti and Color parts during our visit, but our manufacturer told us that the titanium they ordered had not arrived in time. This was obviously disappointing, and we reaffirmed our expectation to have these parts in-hand as soon as possible.
Stainless Screen!
Serial number and model marking. What number do you want?
During our last few days in China, we received a call from our heater manufacturer in the US. We’d ramped our order size a few weeks prior, and they were having problems getting a reasonable yield rate in mass-production. They proceeded to tell us that they would only be able to deliver 30 parts per week at a revised cost of $40ea in the near-term. This was some bad news, and we knew that we needed to get to their facility as fast as possible to work out a solution.
Redirecting our flights out of China, we headed directly to the northeast United States.
We arrived at their facility after 27 hours of travel, and immediately got to work on a solution. After a few days of intensive problem-solving, we were back down close to our original numbers. While we were supposed to have thousands of heaters in-stock by now, it was still a victory to not be permanently crippled by the issue. By our departure on Friday afternoon, the manufacturer was assuring us that heaters would begin shipping in within the month.
The China trip was a success, and we feel confident about our operations there. Look for more units to trickle out over the next few weeks as the heater manufacturer gets into gear. We’re smoothing out the last few bumps, which is a good place to be. Check back on the 15th for another update.
The Grasshopper Team
And another one . . .
almost 2 years ago
Hi Everyone,
Greetings from China for the mid-March update! Just before we left, we hosted the (
http://www.vaporizerwizard.com/grasshopper-vapo...) at our lab in Colorado. He’d expressed interest in coming by to review the Grasshopper, and we were ready to show it off. Our trip overseas has been progressing smoothly so far, and we’ve already visited several of the factories that are working for us. The value of the trip is already showing itself, and we feel good about having more oversight over the process.
Buzz, the Vapor Wizard, arrived at our lab last Saturday to get the run-down on the Grasshopper. We gave him the tour and turned him loose with a Grasshopper while we continued work as usual. We allowed him almost complete access, and he stayed through the weekend, picking our brains on the design and operation. He should be following up with a review and more information very soon.
Photo Credit Buzz
Photo Credit Buzz
Photo Credit Buzz
You can find more of Buzz’s pictures here:
http://imgur.com/a/ezXWy
We arrived in Hong Kong on Thursday night, kicking off a two-week trip to oversee manufacturing of some of the most important parts of the Grasshopper. Our first visit was to our PCB assembly factory. Blank panels of Grasshopper circuit boards arrive here, and automated pick-and-place machines arrange the components. After propagation, the PCBs are baked to bond the components to the PCB. This process is followed by inspection, testing, packaging and shipping.
This week we’ll be visiting the battery factory, the molding facility, the machining factory, the PCB fabricator, and the cable manufacturer. From there, we’ll make a 2nd and 3rd visit to the production lines that require the most attention. The titanium and color units are being made while we’re here, and pictures will be posted once completed. Production is moving smoothly so far, and we expect to have Grasshoppers shipping in bulk soon after we return.
The Grasshopper Team