Wed Feb 6 '19 Announcement
about 7 years ago
– Wed, Feb 06, 2019 at 01:31:52 AM
Hi all!
We are happy to say that this time we have very good news. If you remember, in the previous update we described in detail a significant problem that we had with the charging plates, the only one that we had left to be able to produce the Glassy Zone. We are happy to announce that the new material, stainless steel Super Duplex 2507 bathed in gold, has spent more than 300 hours in the salt spray chamber in extreme conditions without the appearance of corrosion, which is excellent news. In fact, the testing continues to see how far it can go, and we must bear in mind that testing is carried out with the PC Housing open, with which the water reaches all parts of the metal plates when in reality it only gets to touch a minimal surface of the plates. In conclusion, the problem is solved.
The other great news, related to the previous one, is that by eliminating this problem we have been able to produce part of the Glassy Zones size L/XL just before the Chinese New Year. The Glassy Zones left the factory last week and arrived at our warehouse in Hong Kong on Friday last week. We are already processing the shipments of the first units. Part of those who selected the size L/XL will receive the Glassy Zone next week and the following one.
If any of those who have ordered the size L/XL have changed address since sending the Typeform where we update the data, please send the new address to [email protected] since we are, as I said before, processing the shipments.
The rest of the units will be finally assembled after the Chinese New Year, in about three weeks, starting between the last week of February or the first week of March. We are waiting for confirmation from the factory. The remaining units need a month for the complete process (reception of new metal plates, assembly, testing and shipping) and with this, we would have all the units sent. This will also give us a few weeks to identify any possible problems that may arise from synchronization between the Glassy Zone and the app, especially on Android where there are thousands of models, firmware updates, etc. With this, we mean that although we have spent months testing this type of things, it is the first time that there are going to be so many units working, and it will be very beneficial to polish the apps and the firmware. Please let us know of any bugs that you find by reporting it to [email protected] so we can update the app and firmware asap.
We anticipate that during the first month there will be a few updates, and those who receive the Glassy Zone after the Chinese New Year will receive a very solid update.
Where we are most interested in receiving your feedback is in the following:
- First synchronization between the app and the Glassy Zone.
- Operation of Bluetooth, many times it will not depend on us but on the Bluetooth technology itself, although we will know how to solve it.
- Firmware update. Times, possible crashes during the update, etc.
- The accuracy of the algorithm. Although the current one is quite precise, the enormous amount of data that we are going to receive will make it possible to improve it continuously.
- Tapping system. Here we have worked several ways to interact with the Glassy Zone, and we would like to hear your opinion as well.
And that's it. We can finally give good news. The next update will be sent in about a month, commenting on the feedback received from the first users, and the status of the assembly of the remaining units.
Thanks a lot for your support!
Fri Nov 30 '18 Announcement
over 7 years ago
– Fri, Nov 30, 2018 at 02:21:20 AM
Hi all,
First of all, we want to apologize for the lack of communication over the past two months. As on other occasions, we wanted to be careful not to give you incomplete information that would become outdated a few days later. We feel that it’s better to update you when things are more settled.
In the last update we told you about how, after testing and examining different materials, the appropriate stainless steel was selected for producing the connection plates. All the samples were obtained from suppliers in Europe, and the tests were carried out in laboratories in Spain under our supervision.
After establishing the right material, we moved this information to our engineering in China for production, where an issue arose. In order to acquire the finished piece, the purchase of the materials for our engineering is dependent on third-party suppliers in the value chain in China.
The stainless steel was purchased through our plate manufacturer from a steel distributor. We requested the necessary quality and chemical composition certificate from this steel distributor. The certificate came from Tisco and the composition was adequate in terms of its composition in Chromium (Cr) and Molybdenum (Mo), which resists chlorine ions. Based on the authenticity of the certificate, we began the production of the plates.
Once the plates were produced, we asked the injection supplier for several samples of the PC housing with the plate already injected. This was so we could retest in an external lab in China, over the course of 360 hours. The objective of this second filter was to ensure the durability of the stainless steel, before starting the injection of the 6,000 pieces of PC housing (3,000 per size).
It was at this point that we discovered the results of the injected sample were negative; the material had been oxidized for less than 72 hours. The composition of the material is currently being reviewed, with samples of both 1) the raw material before injecting and 2) the sample returned by the lab, to detect the cause of the problem. At the moment it seems that the distributor supplied a material that was different from that on the certificate – if it had been the correct material, the results would have been positive.
After detecting this problem, the supply process had to be restarted. However, this time we decided to manage it directly with the distributor and have performed the necessary due diligence, both by auditing the supplier and the material. In addition to the corresponding certificates, a third party has been hired to inspect the material and composition tests are being concluded. We are doing this to ensure there is no repeat of last time.
The supply process has not been easy and has caused delays for the following reasons:
- Being a special and unusual material, the minimum purchase quantities from distributors are very high. We are talking about tons, even though to produce our pieces, a plate of 0.8mm x 1220mm x 2440mm would be enough. For this reason, we had to be on alert for almost a month with different suppliers. In the end, we managed to share the roll with other buyers, who are interested in the same material. This helps us to reduce the cost somewhat. As a result, we have no choice but to add an additional 15 days to the expected delivery time. This is another reason why we believe that the previous material supplied is not adequate.
- Our parts require a thickness of 0.8mm. This is thinner than normal, which made it even more difficult to find. In fact, the thickness we managed to find, despite being sold as 0.8mm, is not exact. That being said, it is within the appropriate tolerance.
This small change in the actual thickness of the stainless steel sheet means that we are having to work again both with the supplier of the plates and with the injection mould, to adjust the positioning of both toolings and to inject the moulds of both sizes safely. This is done by trial and error in units through which the optimal positioning for mass production is achieved.
We are currently in this process of adjustment, for which they give us a lead time of 3 weeks. From here we can perform the injection of the pieces and make the final assembly.
This is obviously not the best news, but we’re trying to look on the positive side and be thankful that we are back on track and have solved the problem.
As you may have guessed, these complications will mean that we won’t be able to begin our deliveries before Christmas. We apologize again for not answering your messages, we believe it is better to inform you of the situation once it is under control. We can assure you that we are working hard so that the devices are available as soon as possible.
From the Glassy team, we want to thank you all for supporting us.
Tue Sep 11 '18 Announcement
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Sep 11, 2018 at 03:46:15 AM
MANUFACTURING RESUMED
Dear backers,
This time we come back with better news than in the previous update.
CORROSION PROBLEM SOLVED
As we informed you, in order to guarantee the adoption of an adequate and reliable solution, during the last month and a half we carried out cyclic tests on different types of materials and coatings in a salt spray chamber, in accordance with the applicable international standards regarding the matter, and advised by different materials engineers in USA, HK and Spain.
Finally, to unlock MP, we have chosen to make the plates in a special stainless steel alloy with one of the best resistance indexes against a strongly corrosive environment like seawater, due to its salinity and the elevated presence of chlorides.
It is not our intention to detail purely technical aspects, but as a summary, we can say that:
- The tests have been carried out in laboratories by exposing the material to an environment of extreme salinity for more than 150h in 24h cycles, with intermediate phases of exposure to normal environments and environments of controlled humidity.
- It is a special alloy resistant when it is submerged in salt water and used in different industries where exposure is continued, so its resistance for our specific case is optimal. We want to highlight that the exposure of the devices in real use is not continued or for periods of 24h, but intermittent in sessions of between 1.5h to 3h approximately, so the durability of your devices is guaranteed.
- Regardless, we recommend regular maintenance, that is, it is important that you clean with fresh water (and ph-neutral soap if possible) and dry the charging area of the device after a session before recharging it.
CURRENT SITUATION OF MANUFACTURING AND ETA ON FIRST SHIPMENTS
To make the plates of this material we had to develop a new supplier, which is currently finishing their tooling. From here, the following processes are the usual ones:
- Production of the plates once the tooling is completed
- Manufacturing of the polycarbonate housing
- Injection of the plates in the PC Housing
- Testing of the flexible PCBA and
- Final assembly of the electronics.
We want to be as honest as possible with you. The current estimates are of 8 weeks to be able to start with the first shipments (taking into account that the first week of October is national holiday in China), although we will confirm this window once we have advanced further in the production of the 200 units.
Regarding the second phase of MP1 (2,700 units), we want to launch it the second week of October, when we’ll be in the injection and final assembly phase of the first 200 units.
As we said in our previous communication, there is a person currently in China supervising our suppliers and trying to accelerate every process.
The goal is to finalize the deliveries to each and every one of you before the end of the year.
Finally, we want to finish with some more good news:
- The launch of the apps, with all the new features of Glassy Zone (V3.0.0) is now 100% on iOS and Android and available in the Stores.
- Your Glassy Zone has successfully passed all certifications: CE (EU), FCC (United States), IC (Canada), MIC (Japan) and RCM (Oceania).
We know that it took us some time to solve this issue due to its difficulty and the number of materials and tests carried out, both in samples and in the piece injected on the plastic. We apologize for this last hurdle, and we thank you for your infinite patience.
We are so close ;)
Thank you so much for your support!
Fri Aug 3 '18 Announcement
over 7 years ago
– Fri, Aug 03, 2018 at 07:45:11 AM
Hello everyone,
First, we want to apologize for sending this message with 2 weeks delay.
Hereafter, I will proceed to give details on the current situation of the production.
The material stockpiling process was conducted in time, starting with the SMT process (Surface Mount Technology) of the printed circuit boards the third week of June, right after releasing our previous update.
Well then, all of the assembling processes for the different motherboards (charger, main and LED PCB) were also performed in due time. The results for the programming and the testing processes of the main board and of the LEDs board of the 200 units have been optimal, with fault rates under 10% and, therefore, within the normal range in these cases.
Everything went well up to here; however, by the same time of the production, during the testing of the PP2 units, in which some backers have already been helping us, a problem was detected, which has forced us to stop the production line.
We have been testing the PP2 units for several months in Surf sessions all over the world, and some of our testers have detected a corrosion problem on the bottom charging plates of the devices that are injected to the PC Housing.
3D of the metal plates
It is a problem that prevents devices from charging. During the last month, we have been working to solve this problem, and we will have a solution in the next few days to guarantee the durability of your Glassy Zones.
We want to clarify that this corrosion problem has nothing to do with the waterproofing of the device, which is absolutely guaranteed at 10 ATM thanks to tests performed in our previously acquired pressurizing machine.
These plates were coated with a 5-8µm nickel coating and have been previously tested, delivering good resistance results to salty water; however, the emergence of rust after a few months has revealed that something is failing, either because of material causes or the injection process.
As I mentioned, these plates are at the bottom part of the device, and they have the following functionalities:
- They work as support and reduce mechanical tightening.
- They balance out the thickness differences of the PC Housing.
- They block the entrance of water.
Besides the ones mentioned above, they also have two critical practicalities:
- They act as a magnetic agent with the charger.
- They transmit electricity for charging.
Ultimately, during July, different parallel approaches have been put into operation to determine if the root cause of the problem is due to tearing and scratching of the plating during injection or due to materials or, even, both at the same time. Different tests have been performed both with the plates individually and with them injected into the PC Housing:
- Adding more nickel microns.
- Coating with nickel + gold.
- Applying passivation and electro zinc process to the plates.
- Testing the resistance of different stainless steels with magnetic properties to produce the plates casting this material.
- Adding an additional magnetism to the PC Housing to be able to use other materials with a higher corrosion resistance or
- Performing changes in the charger design.
Test Images
The delay that was expected by our engineers was one month, but it is taking us longer than what was initially planned since there are different supplier and vendors involved. At the present time, we are analyzing the results of every test, and we feel confident saying that we are very close to reaching a solution. Once we are sure of it, we will be able to unblock production and make new delivery forecasts.
We are sorry for the delay in this communication... we wanted to send you this update as soon as we had a definite solution and with the production again up and running, but with two weeks of delay from the expected delivery date, we understand your anger, and we believe you deserve that we explain to you what’s happening.
We know these are not good news, that we have once again reneged on the delivery times and that we disappointed you, but we consider that this situation has been even more disappointing and difficult for us than for you. On one hand, because of the moment when the problem arose, right when things were starting to move, and we have all ready for the release and, on the other hand, because of all of the money invested in the development of Glassy Zone and the App, which is way more than what was raised in Indiegogo.
We want to make clear our full commitment to the project and guarantee that we are not going to rest until we have delivered each and every single one of your GZ. Also, as a way to ensure the relaunch of production, we have sent a member of Glassy to China to supervise both our engineering and our vendors/suppliers and accelerate the process to the maximum.
Lastly, we would like to finish this message with some good news:
Packaging is ready!
- The rest of the launching campaign is also ready.
- We have gradually released the new App for iOS devices (currently 10%), and next week, we will release it on Android. We thank everyone who has participated in the beta testing stage of the Apps for your help and comments.
- One last and important point, the comments from the backers about the design and the materials of the devices are very positive. Your user experience feedback is helping us a lot to find points where we can improve regarding the functionality and the operability of both, the Glassy Zone (firmware) and the App(software).
- The SMT process of the boards is finished and tested for the 200 units, so once we solve the corrosion problem (and we are really close), production will be resumed.
Once again, thank you for your patience and trust.
The Glassy Team.
Thu Jun 14 '18 Announcement
almost 8 years ago
– Thu, Jun 14, 2018 at 08:35:30 AM
Dear Backers,
We are aware that many of you are in need of more frequent communications from us. Therefore, first of all, we would like to give you peace of mind through this message.
Here are the reasons why we do not send a biweekly communication:
- In hardware development, changes and processes involve time for testing and validating work, which is why progress is not as quick as you expect and as we would like it to be.
- Small changes are continually taking place, and for that reason, we believe it is better to consolidate the progress that has been made before each update.
Furthermore, we are a small team and have prioritized using all of our resources to develop our product and application at this crucial moment for Glassy.
For all these reasons, we apologize if at any time you feel you are not being given proper attention.
That said, we will now report on the current situation.
PP2 DEFINITIVE ELECTRONICS AND ENHANCEMENTS
PP2 was completed at the beginning of May. Regarding electronics, some enhancements were introduced between PP1 and PP2. Although PP2's electronic version is the definitive one, these enhancements have caused us to relaunch certification processes.
We already have the CE certification for Europe, which is the most complicated one (YAY!), and at the moment we are already immersed in the process of acquiring the relevant certifications for the United States, Japan and Australia, which we will obtain at the end of this month.
Some problems were detected in PP2 that have delayed us, but these have already been rectified. Here are the detailed enhancements we have had to introduce to be able to enter MP1 with guarantees:
- We have introduced a more rigorous quality control system so that the parts and circuits on the surface of GZ motherboards can be welded and assembled as efficiently as possible and thus avoid reworking.
- Testing and validation of changes to enhance the Pogo pins of the chargers.
- Changes in the glue that was used to adhere the silicone strap to the PC housing.
FINISHING THE SMALL SIZE TOOLING
Rectifications
Positioning problem of the metal plate in the PC housing
Upon the first injection, we found that the metal plate protruded from the plastic surface. This same problem had already arisen in the tooling for the big size, and just like it happened then, the solution was to add two more holes to the tooling in the bottom of the PC housing to hold the metal plate during the injection, and to prevent it from showing in the plastic's inner surface. These holes solved the problem with the second injection, and from then on we have had to ask the supplier to adjust the size of the holes in the following runs.
PC housing with two holes
Setting the optimal internal distance for the PC housing
Continuous quality adjustments with the supplier to observe optimal injection distances for the small size.
As we said in our previous update, finishing the small size tooling was one of our priorities to start its production. However, there has been a setback with the silicone cast that will only allow us to begin producing this size in the second phase of MP1.
A significant modification is currently being made to the tooling by raising the silicone strip parting line since many units break in half when removed from the old mould.
Revised parting line angle 3D
OTHER ENHANCEMENTS
Here are the latest enhancements in devices' design and firmware:
- Adjustments on silicone's black colour for better contrast with the LEDs.
- Enhanced battery performance.
-Enhanced GPS connectivity.
- Firmware adjustments associated with the LEDs' brightness.
YES, IT WORKS
We would like to inform that we have been carrying out in-house PP2 unit testing throughout May, and these units perform well under water.
Below, you can see pictures and a video explaining how the GZ works.
GZ forehead
GZ rear with certifications
GZ tap functionality
APP BETA TESTING
As you know, we have recently launched a campaign to start testing the app new version, which has been adapted to all the GZ new features given its imminent launch. We currently have ten testers per platform. As we gain stability, the number will gradually grow subject to your requests order of arrival.
... and finally, what all of you want to know and ask us every day.
PRODUCTION TIMES AND SHIPPING DATES
We have already entered into Mass Production, although due to our contractor's requirements, this stage will be split into two phases.
- The first phase of 200 L/XL units which will be assigned exclusively to you.
- The second phase of 2,700 units of both sizes.
Our contractor's goal is to control the first units production processes in a more thorough and detailed way, while we obtain the remaining FCC (United States), MIC (Japan) and RCM (Australia) certifications, and we solve the small size silicone issue.
These 200 units will be ready in the third week of July so that we will start with the first shipments by the fourth week.
MP1 planning
Additionally, before finishing the first phase—to be specific, the first week of July—we will launch the second MP phase of 2,700 units, which will be ready in a month and a half (31 business days). Therefore, we will start with the remaining shipments by the third week of August.
We estimate that we will start with the first L/XL shipments by the end of July.
Once again, thank you for your patience and trust.
Your Glassy Team
