PT-1 Pedals Discussion
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ProtoSimTech
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ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
Hey guys,
We have decided to change our ordering strategy slightly. We previously announced that we will be taking pre-orders for our pedals, and that those pre-orders will be scheduled for mid to late October. We felt that it was better to not take these pre-orders at all. We don't feel that it is fair to take money for something that doesn't exist yet. Instead, we are going to build all 20 sets of pedals, test them and then place them on our website for immediate order. Also, our CNC machine has been ordered and should be arriving at the end of this month. That means that we'll be starting production in early September, instead of mid to late October as mentioned in our press release. We hope that this will allow you to get your hand on our pedals as soon as possible! We will continue to keep you updated as more info becomes available.
Chris
We have decided to change our ordering strategy slightly. We previously announced that we will be taking pre-orders for our pedals, and that those pre-orders will be scheduled for mid to late October. We felt that it was better to not take these pre-orders at all. We don't feel that it is fair to take money for something that doesn't exist yet. Instead, we are going to build all 20 sets of pedals, test them and then place them on our website for immediate order. Also, our CNC machine has been ordered and should be arriving at the end of this month. That means that we'll be starting production in early September, instead of mid to late October as mentioned in our press release. We hope that this will allow you to get your hand on our pedals as soon as possible! We will continue to keep you updated as more info becomes available.
Chris
Sergio Carr
(Banned)
- 33
- Aveiro
Now that's good news 
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
Hey guys,
I wanted to go ahead and give you some news regarding the release of our new pedal set. As you may or may not know, we had intended to open up pre-orders for our pedals at some point in October. This was always just a "loose" estimate, and it was never final. That said, it was our goal to get them out as quickly as possible.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had a small setback. This setback was actually a combination of a couple of things. The most important of which is the clutch mechanism. We have come up with a completely new design that will be easier to adjust and be more reliable in the long run. We have also identified a couple of things during testing that needed to be changed.
We are going to take a few extra weeks to make these changes, test them and see how they perform. If they perform well, we'll make these changes to the final product. If not, we'll continue using our current design. We realize that a delay is not what a lot of you wanted to hear, but I can assure you that it's for the good of the product. This is our first sim racing product, and it's a big one. We want to make sure that it's done right. Making sure that our customers are happy is our number one priority.
Release Date
I've somewhat covered this above, but I would like to get into this a bit more. Our original goal was to have them up for "pre-order" at some point in October, with a lead-time of about 8-10 weeks. With our decision not to take pre-orders, the actual release date will probably be very close to our original plan. If you are wondering why we decided not to take pre-orders, be sure to visit our website at http://www.protosimtech.com and click on the "pre-order" button at the top. You will find a detailed explanation as to why we chose to go a different route. Unfortunately, I cannot give you an actual date as of yet. Our current goal is to have these pedals in the hands of our customers by Christmas.
Electronics
We have decided to use the DSD 12-bit controller for our pedals. We wanted to choose a circuit board that had the most features available, and this one fit our needs nicely. As an added bonus to an already "very adjustable" set of pedals, this DSD 12-bit controller board comes with a manual gain knob to adjust the sensitivity of the load cell. This is a handy feature for those of you that like to "tweak" how hard they like to press before they hit 4096 steps of resolution.
Coming Up
We have quite a few things planned for the next few weeks/months. A lot of you have been asking technical questions such as "What are the dimensions of these pedals?" and "How can I adjust this or that?" or "What will it cost to ship to ****?". I want to take this opportunity to address some of these questions. Our current website leaves a lot to be desired. Therefore, we've hired a professional to create an amazing new website that will give you an overall better experience. This new site will include all of the current info about our pedals, and a lot of new information including the latest news, technical specs, a new blog, and much more. We are hoping to have this new site go live very soon. Keep an eye out for that!
We are also working on a series of videos that will highlight all of the adjustments you can make to our pedals, and how to make them. These videos will be as detailed as possible, and will cover each and every adjustment separately. A few of you were wondering if we were going to offer a stronger load cell. I tried to explain to them that with our pedal design, this was not needed. But, without actually showing them why, it's difficult to understand. These upcoming videos will show how you can adjust the load cell to get the feeling you desire.
I've received quite a few emails asking about shipping costs for different countries around the world. First off, I want to reassure you that we are going to ship these pedals worldwide. This was always our plan from the beginning. We want to reach as many people as possible. As far as what it will cost, our plan is to have a shipping calculator built into the website so that you can check for yourself how much it will cost to ship the pedals to your country of origin.
On that same note, for those of you that live in the EU, we are doing something special. Instead of charging 379 Euros as we had originally intended, we are reducing the final European price to about 315-320 Euros (for the three pedal set). We are doing this because of VAT's. We realize that VAT's can really inflate the costs of products shipped from the U.S., and we wanted to get the Euro price as close to 379 as possible after VAT's. We hope those of you living in the EU will appreciate this decision.
Closing Statement
This announcement was not meant to be a "big" one. I just felt that it was time to let the public know what we have been up to, and what our plans were for the immediate future. I've received a ton of emails with kind words of encouragement from many of you, and that tells me that we are headed in the right direction. I cannot stress enough how important this first product is to us. We know a lot of you are watching, and we want to make sure that we get this right. We hope that you will understand our decision to delay this release, and we want to stress that we made this decision for the good of the product.
Sincerely,
Chris Smith - Co-Founder - ProtoSimTech
http://www.protosimtech.com
I wanted to go ahead and give you some news regarding the release of our new pedal set. As you may or may not know, we had intended to open up pre-orders for our pedals at some point in October. This was always just a "loose" estimate, and it was never final. That said, it was our goal to get them out as quickly as possible.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had a small setback. This setback was actually a combination of a couple of things. The most important of which is the clutch mechanism. We have come up with a completely new design that will be easier to adjust and be more reliable in the long run. We have also identified a couple of things during testing that needed to be changed.
We are going to take a few extra weeks to make these changes, test them and see how they perform. If they perform well, we'll make these changes to the final product. If not, we'll continue using our current design. We realize that a delay is not what a lot of you wanted to hear, but I can assure you that it's for the good of the product. This is our first sim racing product, and it's a big one. We want to make sure that it's done right. Making sure that our customers are happy is our number one priority.
Release Date
I've somewhat covered this above, but I would like to get into this a bit more. Our original goal was to have them up for "pre-order" at some point in October, with a lead-time of about 8-10 weeks. With our decision not to take pre-orders, the actual release date will probably be very close to our original plan. If you are wondering why we decided not to take pre-orders, be sure to visit our website at http://www.protosimtech.com and click on the "pre-order" button at the top. You will find a detailed explanation as to why we chose to go a different route. Unfortunately, I cannot give you an actual date as of yet. Our current goal is to have these pedals in the hands of our customers by Christmas.
Electronics
We have decided to use the DSD 12-bit controller for our pedals. We wanted to choose a circuit board that had the most features available, and this one fit our needs nicely. As an added bonus to an already "very adjustable" set of pedals, this DSD 12-bit controller board comes with a manual gain knob to adjust the sensitivity of the load cell. This is a handy feature for those of you that like to "tweak" how hard they like to press before they hit 4096 steps of resolution.
Coming Up
We have quite a few things planned for the next few weeks/months. A lot of you have been asking technical questions such as "What are the dimensions of these pedals?" and "How can I adjust this or that?" or "What will it cost to ship to ****?". I want to take this opportunity to address some of these questions. Our current website leaves a lot to be desired. Therefore, we've hired a professional to create an amazing new website that will give you an overall better experience. This new site will include all of the current info about our pedals, and a lot of new information including the latest news, technical specs, a new blog, and much more. We are hoping to have this new site go live very soon. Keep an eye out for that!
We are also working on a series of videos that will highlight all of the adjustments you can make to our pedals, and how to make them. These videos will be as detailed as possible, and will cover each and every adjustment separately. A few of you were wondering if we were going to offer a stronger load cell. I tried to explain to them that with our pedal design, this was not needed. But, without actually showing them why, it's difficult to understand. These upcoming videos will show how you can adjust the load cell to get the feeling you desire.
I've received quite a few emails asking about shipping costs for different countries around the world. First off, I want to reassure you that we are going to ship these pedals worldwide. This was always our plan from the beginning. We want to reach as many people as possible. As far as what it will cost, our plan is to have a shipping calculator built into the website so that you can check for yourself how much it will cost to ship the pedals to your country of origin.
On that same note, for those of you that live in the EU, we are doing something special. Instead of charging 379 Euros as we had originally intended, we are reducing the final European price to about 315-320 Euros (for the three pedal set). We are doing this because of VAT's. We realize that VAT's can really inflate the costs of products shipped from the U.S., and we wanted to get the Euro price as close to 379 as possible after VAT's. We hope those of you living in the EU will appreciate this decision.
Closing Statement
This announcement was not meant to be a "big" one. I just felt that it was time to let the public know what we have been up to, and what our plans were for the immediate future. I've received a ton of emails with kind words of encouragement from many of you, and that tells me that we are headed in the right direction. I cannot stress enough how important this first product is to us. We know a lot of you are watching, and we want to make sure that we get this right. We hope that you will understand our decision to delay this release, and we want to stress that we made this decision for the good of the product.
Sincerely,
Chris Smith - Co-Founder - ProtoSimTech
http://www.protosimtech.com
Last edited:
- 5,518
- Minnesota
- GTP_Ph1sh
looks awesome! what will these pedals be compatible with? i have a G27, Plus looking ahead in the future with GT7, will it work their? or? I probably didnt read the first post that well, since i probably missed that stuff. Looks awesome though!
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
The pedals look great! Now if only someone could make an adapter to plug the pedals into say, a TX base so we can use them on a console @mrbasher
Jerome
I like the way you think
However, I doubt you'll see such an adapter from him. That said, we are looking into a few options ourselves. That's all I'm going to say.
Last edited:
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
Hey guys,
For those of you that want to see these pedals in action, check out the latest video from SimRacingNC's YouTube channel. Check out the video below...
For those of you that want to see these pedals in action, check out the latest video from SimRacingNC's YouTube channel. Check out the video below...
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
For those of you that are interested in things like this, this is a video of our first CNC tests...
ProtoSimTech
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- 217
- U.S.A.
First aluminum test cuts...
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
Hey guys,
This is a special tool that will be included with all new pedal sets. Enjoy!
This is a special tool that will be included with all new pedal sets. Enjoy!
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
Hey guys,
Martin Enzmann has been our beta tester for the past few months. He's not only given us some fantastic feedback, he has helped make our pedals what they are today. Martin decided to make a video about the PT-1 pedal set.
We hope that this will give you a better idea of what we have coming in the near future. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: These are just his thoughts and opinions. These pedals are still a work-in-progress, and the design has changed since he received them back in June of this year.
Martin Enzmann has been our beta tester for the past few months. He's not only given us some fantastic feedback, he has helped make our pedals what they are today. Martin decided to make a video about the PT-1 pedal set.
We hope that this will give you a better idea of what we have coming in the near future. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: These are just his thoughts and opinions. These pedals are still a work-in-progress, and the design has changed since he received them back in June of this year.
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
Hey guys,
I wanted to give you guys an update on our progress with the new clutch mechanism. This is the first time we've actually shown this new mechanism in public. We've been testing it's operation, and I have to say.... man does it feel good
When you press on the clutch in a real car, what you're pressing on is the pressure plate. You can feel this pressure plate in the clutch pedal. In most cars, this is felt as resistance in the pedal when you first press it in. After you've disengaged the pressure plate, the pedal becomes smooth again.
What we have done is try and recreate this feeling with two additional springs, two side tracks, and two bearing rollers. As you can see below, the side tracks have been designed so that when you press on the clutch, you'll get a small amount of travel before encountering the "bumps" in the track. After you've pressed far enough, the rollers will pass over the bumps, and onto a nice flat, smooth surface. This gives you the feeling that you have disengaged the pressure plate.
The beauty of this system is that it's completely adjustable. If you like less travel in your clutch, you can adjust it accordingly. If you like more travel, you can adjust it accordingly. If you want the pedal arm at a different angle, you can actually move the two side tracks (they are attached to each other for even placement) so that you get the same exact feeling in the clutch no matter what angle you use.
We are still testing this setup, and we have already made a few changes to it. What you are looking at is the latest iteration of the design. We may go through a couple more before we call if final, but we think this version of the mechanism will give you a feeling that is so much closer to what you'd feel in the real car.
We have a lot more to show you, so stay tuned!
And a bonus picture. Enjoy!!
(This pedal face will not be included in the pedal set - it will be an option at a later date)
I wanted to give you guys an update on our progress with the new clutch mechanism. This is the first time we've actually shown this new mechanism in public. We've been testing it's operation, and I have to say.... man does it feel good
When you press on the clutch in a real car, what you're pressing on is the pressure plate. You can feel this pressure plate in the clutch pedal. In most cars, this is felt as resistance in the pedal when you first press it in. After you've disengaged the pressure plate, the pedal becomes smooth again.
What we have done is try and recreate this feeling with two additional springs, two side tracks, and two bearing rollers. As you can see below, the side tracks have been designed so that when you press on the clutch, you'll get a small amount of travel before encountering the "bumps" in the track. After you've pressed far enough, the rollers will pass over the bumps, and onto a nice flat, smooth surface. This gives you the feeling that you have disengaged the pressure plate.
The beauty of this system is that it's completely adjustable. If you like less travel in your clutch, you can adjust it accordingly. If you like more travel, you can adjust it accordingly. If you want the pedal arm at a different angle, you can actually move the two side tracks (they are attached to each other for even placement) so that you get the same exact feeling in the clutch no matter what angle you use.
We are still testing this setup, and we have already made a few changes to it. What you are looking at is the latest iteration of the design. We may go through a couple more before we call if final, but we think this version of the mechanism will give you a feeling that is so much closer to what you'd feel in the real car.
We have a lot more to show you, so stay tuned!
And a bonus picture. Enjoy!!
(This pedal face will not be included in the pedal set - it will be an option at a later date)
Last edited:
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
Here's a sneak preview of what the optional pedal faces will look like...
- 2,801
- fatkrakr
Any news yet on when my pedal set will be complete.Here's a sneak preview of what the optional pedal faces will look like...
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
UPDATE: 10/20/2014
Hey guys,
We're getting really close now. We'll be starting production as soon as materials arrive. We've put all the materials on order (some have shown up already), and we're waiting for them to arrive. Once they arrive, production will officially begin.
I wanted to go ahead and make the announcement that I've been hinting at for the past week or so. We have decided to sell these pedals for $379 (3 pedal set) and $319 (2 pedal set) worldwide. We decided that selling them for USD and Euros was just too confusing, and really didn't make much sense. What this means is that these pedals will be even less expensive than we had expected (when we were thinking of selling them at a Euro price). Now, it's one currency, one price...period.
Those of you living overseas will still need to pay VAT's/customs, and shipping and handling. This was always going to be the case. There really isn't much we can do about these things without a distributor in Europe and other places. At some point we may decide that a distributor may work to our advantage, but right now we just don't have the capability to produce the volume needed for real distribution. If things go well, who knows
Our new website is currently being constructed. We still don't have any estimates on when this new site will go live, but we're in the final stages of development, so it shouldn't be too much longer. This website will be the place where you'll find all the information regarding our pedals and other future products. We'll have images, video, technical info, FAQ's, instructions on how to adjust and calibrate your new pedals, as well as an order page where you can purchase them.
When purchasing these pedals, the site will be fully functional. However, we will be using PayPal as the source for all payments. Therefore, if you do not have a PayPal account, you will need to create one, or have a valid credit card available. The process will be as smooth as any other website that uses PayPal as a source for payment.
The new clutch mechanism has worked out better than we had anticipated, and the reaction we got from all of you was just what we were hoping for. We can't wait to get these pedals into the hands of our customers, and we think you're going to love this new clutch design. We'll have a video up very soon that shows this new mechanism in action. I'll explain briefly how it works, but I'll save the details for a future video.
Just to give you guys a couple of reminders...
We'll be letting everyone know when the new website goes live, and we'll also be making an announcement once the pedals are set for release. As I've said before, we will make sure that we give you at least a two week notice before the pedals are put up for sale on the new website.
And finally...
I want to thank Shawn Purdy for all of the hard work he's put into this new site, and for putting up with all of my requests for changes. I know I haven't been easy to deal with, so thank you, Shawn!
I also want to thank Martin Enzmann for all the great feedback he's giving us over the past few months. Without him, you wouldn't be seeing this new clutch mechanism. He convinced me that it needed to be changed (by asking all the right questions), and I'm thankful for that.
Keep checking back, guys. We have a lot more to show you!
Here's just a taste...
Hey guys,
We're getting really close now. We'll be starting production as soon as materials arrive. We've put all the materials on order (some have shown up already), and we're waiting for them to arrive. Once they arrive, production will officially begin.
I wanted to go ahead and make the announcement that I've been hinting at for the past week or so. We have decided to sell these pedals for $379 (3 pedal set) and $319 (2 pedal set) worldwide. We decided that selling them for USD and Euros was just too confusing, and really didn't make much sense. What this means is that these pedals will be even less expensive than we had expected (when we were thinking of selling them at a Euro price). Now, it's one currency, one price...period.
Those of you living overseas will still need to pay VAT's/customs, and shipping and handling. This was always going to be the case. There really isn't much we can do about these things without a distributor in Europe and other places. At some point we may decide that a distributor may work to our advantage, but right now we just don't have the capability to produce the volume needed for real distribution. If things go well, who knows
Our new website is currently being constructed. We still don't have any estimates on when this new site will go live, but we're in the final stages of development, so it shouldn't be too much longer. This website will be the place where you'll find all the information regarding our pedals and other future products. We'll have images, video, technical info, FAQ's, instructions on how to adjust and calibrate your new pedals, as well as an order page where you can purchase them.
When purchasing these pedals, the site will be fully functional. However, we will be using PayPal as the source for all payments. Therefore, if you do not have a PayPal account, you will need to create one, or have a valid credit card available. The process will be as smooth as any other website that uses PayPal as a source for payment.
The new clutch mechanism has worked out better than we had anticipated, and the reaction we got from all of you was just what we were hoping for. We can't wait to get these pedals into the hands of our customers, and we think you're going to love this new clutch design. We'll have a video up very soon that shows this new mechanism in action. I'll explain briefly how it works, but I'll save the details for a future video.
Just to give you guys a couple of reminders...
We'll be letting everyone know when the new website goes live, and we'll also be making an announcement once the pedals are set for release. As I've said before, we will make sure that we give you at least a two week notice before the pedals are put up for sale on the new website.
And finally...
I want to thank Shawn Purdy for all of the hard work he's put into this new site, and for putting up with all of my requests for changes. I know I haven't been easy to deal with, so thank you, Shawn!
I also want to thank Martin Enzmann for all the great feedback he's giving us over the past few months. Without him, you wouldn't be seeing this new clutch mechanism. He convinced me that it needed to be changed (by asking all the right questions), and I'm thankful for that.
Keep checking back, guys. We have a lot more to show you!
Here's just a taste...
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
Hey guys, this is a video demonstration of our new clutch mechanism. We hope you enjoy it!
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
We have launched our brand new website!
You can access this site by going to:
http://www.protosimtech.com
Let us know what you think!
This new website has two products listed (3 pedal set and 2 pedal set). These products are currently marked as "Out Of Stock" for now. Once we announce a release date, there will be a two week period for all of you to prepare for the official release. Once the two week period has ended, we'll be flipping the switch and allowing immediate orders for all 20 pedal sets from this first limited batch.
This new site also has instructions on how to calibrate these pedals. We will also be adding another page where you can go to view detailed instructions on how to make adjustments to out pedals. This page hasn't been completed yet, as we are waiting until we are closer to the release date.
Production has officially started, and we are working long hours every day in order to get these pedals out to you as soon as we can. Keep in mind that this is our very first sim racing product, and as such, we have run into a few problems here and there. This is completely normal for a new company just starting out, so we ask that you bare with us as we continue to prepare for the official release.
We hope you enjoy this new website, and if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us on our "Contact Us" page.
You can access this site by going to:
http://www.protosimtech.com
Let us know what you think!
This new website has two products listed (3 pedal set and 2 pedal set). These products are currently marked as "Out Of Stock" for now. Once we announce a release date, there will be a two week period for all of you to prepare for the official release. Once the two week period has ended, we'll be flipping the switch and allowing immediate orders for all 20 pedal sets from this first limited batch.
This new site also has instructions on how to calibrate these pedals. We will also be adding another page where you can go to view detailed instructions on how to make adjustments to out pedals. This page hasn't been completed yet, as we are waiting until we are closer to the release date.
Production has officially started, and we are working long hours every day in order to get these pedals out to you as soon as we can. Keep in mind that this is our very first sim racing product, and as such, we have run into a few problems here and there. This is completely normal for a new company just starting out, so we ask that you bare with us as we continue to prepare for the official release.
We hope you enjoy this new website, and if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us on our "Contact Us" page.
Last edited:
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
Hey guys,
I mentioned a couple of times that we've had a few setbacks lately. Here's a video that explains what we've been going through the past couple of weeks. I'd like to emphasize that we're still working hard every single day to make sure these pedals are finally in the hands of our customers.
I mentioned a couple of times that we've had a few setbacks lately. Here's a video that explains what we've been going through the past couple of weeks. I'd like to emphasize that we're still working hard every single day to make sure these pedals are finally in the hands of our customers.
- 830
- Australia
- Soulfresh-ACV
I hope you're progressing well and manage to overcome the setbacks. Just wondering if it will be compatible with Thrustmaster T300RS/T500RS/TX wheels that allow plugging into the the base. If not are there plans to do so? There's a fair demand for alternative pedals other than stock ones for those wheels. I'm sure Fanatec owners will also like to have options so that it will allow the pedals to work on console.
ProtoSimTech
Premium
- 217
- U.S.A.
Hey guys,
Here's another small update for all of you.
As many of you already know, we are making some much needed changes to our CNC machine to improve rigidity and accuracy. Our original plan was to install an upgrade to the Y axis (the axis that was giving us the most trouble). Upon further inspection, we have decided that we should really upgrade all axes to ensure there are zero issues from this point on.
We realize that this is taking much longer than anticipated, and we would likely be finished with production by now if we hadn't run into these issues. This really is no excuse, and we understand that. It is a failure on our part, and it's definitely something we are working very hard to rectify.
As mentioned earlier, our current release estimate is Q1 2015. The decision to fully upgrade our machine should not have any affect on this release estimate. We are in the home stretch now, and once these upgrades are installed, we'll be back to production full force. As an added bonus, all future batches will take less time, given the fact that we won't have to worry about whether or not the CNC machine is cutting straight parts.
At some point this coming Monday (Jan 12th), a lot of our parts should arrive, with more parts arriving the following two weeks. We're going to install the Y axis upgrades this coming week, followed by the X and A axes installations when those parts arrive.
We're going to be taking video of the installation, but here is a breakdown of the upgrades we've purchased so far:
1) Linear motion rails and bearings for each axis
2) Thicker Gantry risers
3) Gantry support system
These upgrades will significantly increase the machine's rigidity and accuracy. In the video, we are also going to discuss the old slide rails, and how they have affected our work so far. We'll be showing you examples of what can happen with the old rail system, why it was a poor choice, and how it could have been avoided.
We may break the video down into multiple parts, as it may end up quite lengthy.
Well guys, that's all I have for today. We really appreciate your patience, and we will continue to keep you updated as things progress.
Here's another small update for all of you.
As many of you already know, we are making some much needed changes to our CNC machine to improve rigidity and accuracy. Our original plan was to install an upgrade to the Y axis (the axis that was giving us the most trouble). Upon further inspection, we have decided that we should really upgrade all axes to ensure there are zero issues from this point on.
We realize that this is taking much longer than anticipated, and we would likely be finished with production by now if we hadn't run into these issues. This really is no excuse, and we understand that. It is a failure on our part, and it's definitely something we are working very hard to rectify.
As mentioned earlier, our current release estimate is Q1 2015. The decision to fully upgrade our machine should not have any affect on this release estimate. We are in the home stretch now, and once these upgrades are installed, we'll be back to production full force. As an added bonus, all future batches will take less time, given the fact that we won't have to worry about whether or not the CNC machine is cutting straight parts.
At some point this coming Monday (Jan 12th), a lot of our parts should arrive, with more parts arriving the following two weeks. We're going to install the Y axis upgrades this coming week, followed by the X and A axes installations when those parts arrive.
We're going to be taking video of the installation, but here is a breakdown of the upgrades we've purchased so far:
1) Linear motion rails and bearings for each axis
2) Thicker Gantry risers
3) Gantry support system
These upgrades will significantly increase the machine's rigidity and accuracy. In the video, we are also going to discuss the old slide rails, and how they have affected our work so far. We'll be showing you examples of what can happen with the old rail system, why it was a poor choice, and how it could have been avoided.
We may break the video down into multiple parts, as it may end up quite lengthy.
Well guys, that's all I have for today. We really appreciate your patience, and we will continue to keep you updated as things progress.
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ProtoSimTech
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@ProtoSimTech
Has the design been finalized from feedback from the user testing and will there be no more tweeks to the design? Or are you still making revisions?
I may have missed it, but what feedback were you given from your testers including Martin Enzmann and what changes were then made (if any)?
Thanks
Has the design been finalized from feedback from the user testing and will there be no more tweeks to the design? Or are you still making revisions?
I may have missed it, but what feedback were you given from your testers including Martin Enzmann and what changes were then made (if any)?
Thanks
ProtoSimTech
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- 217
- U.S.A.
The design remains relatively the same. The only thing that has changed significantly is the clutch mechanism. I posted a video in an earlier post that shows this new mechanism in action. Aside from that, we made a small change to the tension adjustment bushings. They were made from solid aluminum tubing, but we decided to use nylon bushings instead. They are larger, easier to handle, and allow for easier adjustments.
Other than that, the pedals look and function exactly as advertised.
Martin's feedback was crucial. He asked all the right questions, and he was very thorough in how he tested each pedal. We changed the clutch mechanism because of his feedback. The old design was (admittedly) not very good. It didn't allow for much adjustment, and adjusting it was rather difficult. Therefore, it was changed.
At this point, we are not going to make any more changes. The design has been finalized, and production is well underway. In fact, we are in the finishing stages of production, but we've had to stop to make the changes to the CNC machine. Once the new system is installed, we can finish production. As mentioned before, we'll be doing a video (or multiple videos) that explains why we are installing a new rail system onto our machine.
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