Hey everyone, happy September! Here's what we've been doing at Opulo this month:
Lead Times
The Sisyphean task continues! We've just hired on some new help, and we're still actively looking for more assembly techs to join the team! If you're in the Pittsburgh area and interested, please don't hesitate to apply!
Still the same lead time as last month as we ramp up our new folks on the line, but as usual, many orders ship quicker than what's listed.
As always, the official lead time on each product's product page is the most accurate metric for when you'll see your hardware ship! There's a good chance we ship early, but we keep it where it is to ensure we're able to stick to our estimate.
Wide Feeders
We've made some great progress on wide feeders in the past few weeks! The main area of focus have been peel mechanism testing, and PCB adjustment.
As I mentioned in last month's update, for 16mm and 24mm feeders, we're exploring a different method of peeling the film. We've traditionally used a printed flexture that holds the peel gears together, but now we're looking into spring-loaded gear tension. Although this can greatly increase the grip force on the film, it might also introduce the need for a film tension sensor.
In my testing thus far, it might be necessary. A spring-driven film gear tension system works quite well, and perfectly disengages when the correct tension is hit. More exploration is necessary to determine if we'll need to have the extra sensor, but so far it might not be a requirement.
Also, having the film gear tension be spring driven allows it to much more easily be disengaged. This lets film be loaded by pulling it through, instead of requiring that it's driven by the peel motor.
Feeder Labels
We've noticed a number of folks in the community making small labels with part numbers that they affix to the top of their feeders. This can really help identify which feeder has which part at a glance, so we're making a little sticker sheet to help with that!
We still have some tweaking to do on the dimensions and such, but we'll hopefully have them in the web store soon!
Viagrid
Following up on last month's update, we've been exploring what truly rapid PCB prototyping looks like with stock PCBs that already have a pre-determined via array embedded within them.
We've since gotten our first sample PCBs in the mail, and we're running some tests with our fancy new laser that's capable of ablating copper without charring the FR4 underneath.
We're in the process of tuning the settings and workflow for rapidly fabricating PCBs in this way, and also learning lots about why our first pass at a template needs some work!
Social Media Manager
I didn't mention this in the video, but it's worth noting we added a new job posting for a Social Media Manager on our careers page. If you or someone you know is great at video editing and social media, please don't hesitate to apply!
Reach Out
If you have any feedback, questions, or comments about this update, please don't hesitate to reach out to us here.
Thanks, and we'll see you next month!
-Stephen