Tooling update #3
over 9 years ago – Tue, Jan 17, 2017 at 05:44:16 PM

Hey There,

Tim and I were able to stop in to visit our production partner 3R Plastics to check on progress. Things are moving along pretty quickly and we are still on schedule to be molding our first tooled parts sometime in the  week of Jan.30th to Feb. 3rd.

First tooled parts typically require a small bit of tooling adjustments to perfect fit and finish. Critical fit and function dimensions are purposely tooled to fit tight and then adjusted from there accordingly. Steel safe method.

The first tool to be done and run will be the 40% Carbon filled parts tool ( Long and Short Arms, Gopro and Standard Cradle parts). Shortly after that, the second tool should be ready to run (upper half of cradle assembly parts).

CNC Lathe Programming

They are starting on CNC lathe machining of our Stainless Steel Over-molded Sleeves. The 40% Carbon Filled Nylon arms will be molded onto these sleeves.

 More Electrical Discharge Machining

 Electrodes used to create cavity detail for Garmin and Wahoo interfaces.

 Close up of Garmin interface electrode.

Wahoo  insert burned in and ready for finishing electrode. Picture shows cavity submersed in dielectric fluid.

 Lots of used electrodes!!

Cradle bottom inserts,Gopro (Left),Standard (Right).

I saved the best for last!!! I can't help but get excited when I see this kind of stuff!! Maybe it's just the toolmaker in me?

Anyways, were almost there. We will have another update sometime next week. We're expecting to get all our bolts and spacers in the next week or two. And Mike is hard at work taking care of our packaging inserts and instructions, among other things.

 Frank

Tooling Update #2
over 9 years ago – Wed, Jan 11, 2017 at 08:43:49 PM

Hey there backers,

Things are moving along well and here is the latest news I've put together from our production partner regarding tooling. Basically, we are still on schedule to begin molding parts the first week of February.

Mold Bases

These mold bases will hold the cavity and core inserts used to create our injection molded parts.

Mold bases for lower cradle assembly parts.

Mold bases for upper Cradle Assembly parts.

Electrodes and EDM

Cradle bottom geometry rough CNC machined in and ready for EDM,

These are the graphite electrodes that will be used to burn the final geometry, logo and surface finish into the Cradle insert. Our Cradles will have the Form Mount logo on the lower  right side of the parts. The letters will be de-bossed and high gloss black, nicely contrasting the light black texture of the rest of the part.

 Long and short arm cavity and core inserts EDM completed.

This close up picture shows the finish detail in the long and short arm core insert. that very light texture is the surface finish that will be on our production parts.

Update #3 to come early next week... Hope everyone's new year is off to a great start! F.P.

Latest Tooling Update
over 9 years ago – Wed, Jan 04, 2017 at 11:59:13 PM

Hi all,

We hope everyone's new year is starting out well. Were pretty busy here at F3, and we have some progress to report.

BOLT TESTING

We just received our bolt tensile testing results. We did this to confirm our suppliers stated specifications. We want to make sure we are supplying the highest quality bolts for our application. The bolts tensile tested to (1,030mpa) over 145,000 pounds of force per square inch.

We are very impressed with the results and will be placing our production bolt order first thing tomorrow morning.Lead time is 10/12 days. The bolts shipping with our Form Mounts are Grade A48 (AISI 316) which is stronger and has a higher corrosion resistance than more typically used A2 grade bolts. (316)/A48 Stainless Steel is in the marine grade, high strength property class.

TOOLING PROGRESS

After a week long break for the holidays, we received word from our tooling and production partner, 3R Plastics, in Spring Grove Illinois this morning. We are on track to start molding parts the 1st week of February. Our two mold bases are at their facility along with the rest of the raw steel and components required to complete the builds. The molds designs are complete and they hard at work programming and cutting steel.

The above screen shot shows  mold (One) design. This mold will produce the Cradle Top, TPMI and both Wahoo & Garmin attachments. If you look carefully at the picture on the right, the lower left hand cavity insert is removable while in the molding press (4 hold down bolts accessible on P/L side), this cavity space will produce Wahoo and Garmin attachments with the swap of an insert. The boxed in blue area is space reserved for our future Phone Mount Attachment.

Short and long arm cavity and core inserts are roughed in and ready for the finish detail to be EDM machined ( Electrical Discharged Machining).

 Production delays

Although our Form Mount was designed from the beginning as a modular system, able to adapt to multiple size computers and accommodate computer and Camera/light combinations, our initial launch was to be dedicated to the smaller range of Garmin computers only. With the modular accessory platform to accommodate larger and different brands of computers, as well as lights/camera combinations to roll out in spring of 2017.

Our campaign planning, mount design and mold/production timeline were based on this initial one product model. Early on in the campaign we had an overwhelming amount of requests to accommodate larger computers, light mounts, GoPro mounts and sizable interest from owners of Wahoo computers asking if our mount would work.

It was looking more and more like if we wanted to make the Form Mount happen, and meet or exceed our initial campaign goal, we all would be better served by rising to the challenge and making the accessories available as part of this campaign.

To make this happen we needed to finish up and test those additional accessory designs we had in the works. We did, and in doing so, we doubled our molded part count, which required us to purchase an additional mold. This in turn almost doubled the mold design and tooling lead time/schedule, pushing us into the Christmas & New Years holiday downtime.

That shifted our first tooled parts target date from mid December with shipping late December, to first tooled parts in late January/1st week of February, with shipping starting first week of February.

We're very excited to offer a more encompassing product than the campaign was originally planned around, with GoPro/light mount, Wahoo and Garmin attachments, and a pair of Long and Short arms for our backers. This has put F3 Cycling on the fast track to our vision of a modular accessory line for Form Mount, and we are extremely thankful for the support. We are going to do everything we can to shorten the revised production/delivery timeline posted today.

Shipping

Once we have approved our first tooled parts and give the o.k. for production, Tim, Mike and I feel we can get all our backer orders processed, packed and out for shipping within one week of receiving our production parts from 3R Plastics. The time it takes to receive your Form Mount will then depend on USPS delivery to your location.

Update Schedule

Now that the holidays are behind us and everyone's back on a normal work schedule, we will be posting weekly updates, possibly 2 a week depending on progress.

A Shout Out
over 9 years ago – Thu, Dec 22, 2016 at 07:45:00 PM

While we are excited awaiting our molder to finish our steel molds and start producing our first run parts we wanted to mention another great item currently on Kickstarter - The Moji Heated Roller.  It is a company and  product that we became familiar with due to the fact that PDT (www.pdt.com) the same product development company that helped us on FormMount, helped Moji design and engineer the Heated Roller as well.  Great people, great products.  

 

Read the PDT/Moji story here http://www.pdt.com/mojiheat-roller.html

Happy Holidays!

Tim, Mike and Frank.

Happy Belated Holidays!
over 9 years ago – Mon, Dec 19, 2016 at 08:44:59 PM

Actually, we are on time to wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season. FormMount however, will be lagging a bit behind. Our original plan was for December delivery, but we made modifications inspired by many backers, and added accessories resulting in additional prototyping & manufacturing time. Time we believe was well spent and will make FormMount worth the wait. That all said, we know many of you backed us with the idea of giving FormMount as a gift, so we created this downloadable holiday card. 

 All you have to do is click here, print it and personalize it. 

 

All the best, 

Tim, Frank & Mike - F3 Cycling, LLC