UPDATE: April 3rd 2021

Sample updates and timing!

I promised to have a date for the next round of samples on the 1st of April. Talking to the machine shop they had not progressed far enough on the feedback to offer a date. My apologies for that, as I can only relay the information that I get from them in terms of timing. The timelines we set out at the beginning of the projects appear to have been too ambitious but they are making progress and have expressed their commitment to reaching the quality standard I have set out.

This production cycle has been one of the most challenging I have encountered on any product. A mixture of working with a new partner, the global situation, and challenging parts to make. I want all the pre-order (and potential) customers to know that I totally understand your frustrations with the delays. I mirror those feelings completely, I am doing what I can to move it forward. I want reiterate that I am pledged to getting this launched, but will not sacrifice on the quality of the outcome to get it finished faster. I want to give you the best product I can, and for me running a pre-order for the first time and doing this process publicly is certainly something new, and I don’t take that responsibility lightly.

Open product development

I was really keen though these updates to share behinds the scenes insights and bring you along on the journey. I have selected some of the feedback from my quality report that I fed back to the manufacturer for the latest round of samples so you can see the progress and attention to detail, but also see how close the parts are to being finished. I have to caveat this by saying these parts are challenging to manufacture. The geometry and accuracy demands a high level of skill.

It’s also important to say that the items highlighted here are the expected process tweaks and dialling in for manufacturing and why samples are so important. This is also something most manufacturers won’t show their customers but I think it is important to see how much work goes into getting a good result. And I hope an interesting back story to the razors you will receive. These are also very small details; we are talking microns for instance to make a small line disappear on a part.

I want every batch of razors to be the best batch I have ever made. So I am always looking for improvements. These feedback items are the last couple of percent on parts that are very developed, so these details are final hurdles.

Explanations

From left to right:

1) Surface finish. Surface finishes are an art. This is about tweaking the settings on the finishing to get the perfect balance of texture whilst leaving a quality feel on the parts. The finish needs to remove the witness marks from the machining process but without compromising the definition of the part. It is a thin line to walk. The first set was a bit over textured. This set was too fine. The next set will hit the mark perfectly.

2) Surface transitions. There are a couple of optimizations to remove tangent lines and surface transitions and edges on the parts. These are small adjustments needed to get those as minimal as possible, and involves a bit of trial and error to check how these changes come off the machine. Any design with tangent surfaces like this means any small line is very visible, but is also important to making the Type 15 design unique.

3) Branding execution. Putting the brand on is a final step, and I don’t take it lightly. I ask for a very fine engraving so it is a matter of figuring those tool paths and which tool bit gives the correct result in stainless steel. Worth noting these images are very magnified and showing details that are <1mm in size. In fact the width of the lines that make up the letter are only 0.3mm thick. We are exploring if for stainless it makes more sense to laser etch the branding in place.

Updated Brand location on the stand.

One change we have agreed on is relocating the branding location on the stand. Moving it from inside where the razor sits to the side of the stand. This should make the quality of the branding execution much more repeatable and also more visible in practical use. I was a little hesitant to relocate it because I don’t like to over brand my designs, but I think this is smart, appropriate, and looks complete.

I hope that gives some insight into the process, and also the work going into it. I hope that as well as explaining why there is another delay, it builds excitement to see the product taking shape, and coming to life. I hope you are as excited to see these going to manufacture as I am.

As always, please reach out with any questions. Kind regards,

Andrew.

Type 15s Pre-Order Update APR 2021