Hey everyone,
Just wanted to drop a really quick update and stick to my weekly updates.
Here is the latest timeline. The factory pushed hard and finished the tooling 1 day ahead of schedule - at least for the new thread revision. See update 12 if you want a refresher (https://momentum-boards.com/blogs/news/hollow-wheel-manufacturing-and-shipping-update-12)
Well, correction, they finished the thread tooling, but they are still working on the revision for the suspension inserts, but the most important is the thread tooling, which doesn't need as much validation. But this is a risk factor, but I think low risk.
I got the update from the vendor on the news of the completion of the tooling. I am still awaiting the timeline for production. I was chatting with the injection molding factory and they said they were waiting on the urethane from the material factory. I will be sure to update you all on the timeline here on the next update.
The next step after that is to then wait on shipping as well, which can be painful as shipping from China can take 2 to 4 weeks, depending on how congested air space is. Sea shipping takes closer to 4 weeks whereas air shipping takes closer to 2; however, the price of shipment can be 10 times more expensive than sea shipping. So it depends on how much my wallet can take a hit, but I would obviously like to do air shipping if I can afford it.
After that, then I will perform inspection and testing to make sure the wheels are good. This is a mass scale test to make sure the manufacturer can manufacture at scale. Because producing a couple of wheels to test is one thing, but production of wheels at scale is another challenge. Fingers crossed. We have a good relationship, many people working on this project over in China, and a lot of determination.
Without further ado, here is a picture of the completed tooling. You can see from the pictures of update 12. Here are the new pictures of the tooling with the ribs.
Feel free to ask me any questions!
Thanks,
Doug