Big news on the Splash Stacks front: on January 13th, we made the decision to stop manufacturing the product as it was designed. Despite the hard work of our Asia staff, sourcing team, and manufacturing partners abroad, there were several production issues that prevented certain features of the design from moving forward. The result was a dilution of the overall design, making it less useful and not visually attractive (read: fugly).

Our plan now is to redesign Splash Stacks to make it better suited for matching the production capabilities of our partners and cost goals of Quirky. We’re taking the redesign so seriously, we recently purchased a new bathtub for testing new prototypes (and, well, general tomfoolery). It hangs out in the kitchen.

So stay tuned for more updates and potential community projects surrounding The Big Splash Stacks Redesign Of 2011. It’s gonna be exciting!

The project will be divided into 2 phases. The first round will be open for only community members to submit designs. From this round, the top third concepts will be picked. These chosen concepts will inform the second ID round, which will include submissions from both the community and QDS.

By breaking up the ID project and extending the time for creative brainstorming, we hope to come up with some great features to help this product stand out.

Questions? You know where to find us.

But before this product could go into tooling, we had to make a few changes to the original design. Let’s travel back, shall we?

A brief history after initial launch:

The original design we launched over a year ago was very large. Back then, our integrated tray design was meant to accommodate a broad spectrum of objects that a user could possibly stow away.

Upon further investigation we realized that this was overkill, and so we decided to bring it back to the basics: pens, pencils, small notepad, cell phone, snacks, Easy Pass, etc. The form shrunk and became more compact and portable. This new version has been brought down to a manageable scale that will not overpower the interior space of a car.

Another point we reconsidered was the bottle holder. Originally we had a spring loaded mechanism to capture bottles that you would place into the cup holder. Early on, this was an adequate and visually attractive solution, but when we started redesigning within the constraints of manufacturing it did not prove to be a feasible option for us to move forward with. The final design shows a single part TPE ring with tab three extrusions to hold most plastic bottles, paper cups, and aluminum cans.

What’s happening now:

Our office reviewed a T1 sample a few weeks ago. Overall it wasn’t bad, but it was far from where we needed it to be. First, we needed to increase the size of the tray design’s snapping features to keep them aligned and in place when the unit moves around. These were steel-safe modifications (which are easier since we remove steel from the inside of the tool rather than add steel) and will result in a more secure snapping feature.

The second tooled sample (T2) is a big improvement over the T1. The snapping features have been improved and now you can clearly hear the clicking of the various parts when they come together. Some of the more involved engineering issues, like fixing sink marks (areas where the plastic had slight deformations) on some of the tray walls, were resolved thanks to our talented partners in China.

You’ll also noticed that we’ve switched up the product’s colors. The original Travelstacks renderings show a variety of bright options. When we moved into manufacturing we pulled back on the color dial and went with a light grey and textured black color combo. This was mostly done to keep TS from overpowering the neutral color layouts that usually exist in a car’s interior.

The Next Steps:

Travelstacks has been green lit and will be moving into full production. We are tweaking the packaging design on all our products and the TS packaging is no exception. So hang on. You’ll be getting this one very soon!

The last three weeks…

The Wrapster colors have been approved and we’ve moved into final production. Over the last couple of weeks we have been working closely with Natech Plastics and their local color house to secure the correct colors for this product. David Kachoui (Natech representative) has paid Quirky HQ a couple of visits recently to help expedite this phase of development. For each color of Wrapster, David and his team have provided us with samples and a color range board (see below).

The color range board illustrates the spectrum of color variation that should be expected when mass production commences.  Some colors had more of a range than others, but overall they were acceptable, and we have green-lit production.

In regards to the colors selected, we made a change. The pink has been replaced by white to create a more dynamic colorway range and hopefully satisfy popular demand. Over-all we are pleased to wrap this project up and get these little guys out to you soon!

Coming up next…

We are currently making adjustments to the Wrapster packaging. These modifications will aim to reflect our evolving Quirky brand language. We are hoping to send out order confirmations in about three weeks, around Thanksgiving.

Pivot Power is one of our most involved projects to date. Its complexities range from the mechanical and electronic engineering of the item itself right on down to the UL listing process. As you read in our last production update, UL needed more information to complete their preliminary review:

Per last update:
We need to address the construction of the RPT with additional staff members throughout our various offices and come to a consensus on the requirements. Since this type of construction is not directly addressed by the standard (UL1363) we need to consider additional requirements for evaluation and testing. Due to this, we will not be able to complete this preliminary investigation project until we have discussed further internally.

Since the last post…

After taking in UL’s final preliminary review feedback sent to us on October 12th, we have moved forward with reengineering Pivot Power to better accommodate UL’s requirements so we can proceed with full investigation procedures. Lucky for us, we just signed on with a great engineer named Benjo to see us through the upcoming phases of development.

Also, when seeking a full UL listing review (the next step after the preliminary review) you need to have a tooled version of the product. You can not have a tooled version of a product unless you have a factory to work with… so… enter factory sourcing.

Coming up next…

The next step is ramping up our factory sourcing effort to get a new tooled version of Pivot Power. As I mentioned above, this is imperative for the full/final UL listing review. Before this can happen, we have to revise the internal design using off-the-shelf parts to keep production costs low and make the UL review process easier.

Hopefully by next production report, we’ll have kicked this bad boy into tooling. Please stay tuned!

Click n Cook is looking good, and it’s almost ready for production. The T1 samples of the five spatula head types looked great, and they even work with our 3D-printed handle! We are making some slight adjustments, like softening sharp edges and specifying a stiffer durometer for the mixing head. Overall, a very positive run. Check them out below (and please note that the colored tab is not shown in these images).

Over the past few weeks, we have also made several modifications to the CnC base and handle design, and our factory has nearly finished executing them.

Here’s the base in a historical context (final base design on bottom). Its evolution is a great example of how much designs can change in a short time span. Throughout its development, many factors dictated this product’s final form: improving visual aspects of design, modifying general ergonomics/usability, solidifying manufacturing feasibility, etc.

We received an updated quote for the final base design and confirmed with the factory that it is within our range. It is now time to move forward. Let the injection molding begin!!!

The next three weeks…

We are expecting T2 versions of the spatula heads next week, and we should see tooled T1 samples of the final base design and improved handle in mid-November. We will provide an update then, so stay tuned.

Production has been greenlit!

Projected ship date: December 1st

And to make a short story long:

We just received the T4 version of Space Bar earlier this week. Great stuff! This prototype was a fully functional test to reveal any issues still remaining with the product.

There were a handful of tiny issues, but nothing major: some tweaking on the aluminum parts, finishing touches on the finish, polishing on the mold cavities, adjusting on the hex screws, etc. etc.

Overall, we were very impressed with the T4 prototype, and we’re excited to move forward with this project. To ensure the items above get resolved, our incredible partners in Asia will be reviewing parts from a small production run to ensure quality and regularity of each unit early next week. We are moving forward with this pre-production run as an extra step of quality control and opportunity to have the factory calibrate and refine their production processes before our larger run.

Some tasks to be completed before the final quantity run:

- Developing QA (Quality Approval) sheet. This will be submitted to the factory to help them understand our expectations of craftsmanship during the production phase.

- Completing packaging design.

- Reviewing the small production run for remaining imperfections.

After that, we’ll be ready to get the show on the road!

It took a few weeks to do more prototyping, and now I’m proud to present this photograph of the T3 sample that recently hit our office.

Improvements since last post:

- Continued tolerance adjustments between aluminum and plastic parts
– Specified color way information on plastic parts
– Specified and tested electronics

The next step is to get a fully functional T4 sample in to do additional testing. Stay tuned!

Wrapster progress since our last post:

- We selected the production material (a type of TPE).

- Finalized/reengineered Wrapster design based off of the samples we received earlier this month.

- Currently modifying the tooling to reflect the most recent engineered design.

- Finalizing packaging design.

Wrapster next week:

- Testing samples in final production material.

- Reviewing the final color ways (black, blue, Quirky purple, and pink).

About the product:

With Quirky’s Wrapster, you can say good-bye to tangled earbud headphones — we’ve created the ultimate cord management solution! The Wrapster’s unique design allows you to wrap your cords vertically, which means more convenience and less bulk.

Features:

- Slim, modern, compact design – fits in your pocket!

- Constructed from durable plastic.

- Ear bud cords run through two separated side tubes and wrap around a central bar.

- When cords are not wrapped up, Wrapster can serve as a stand to hold your 3G or 4G Apple iPhone in landscape mode.

With the Wrapster, you’ll finally be able to wrangle the tangle out of your earbud headphones.

Available in the Quirky store for just $6.50.

Today we received the second tooled sample, which we call “T2″. The good news: we’re nearly there! This version includes modifications that we requested after we received the first sample, which include adjusting the tolerances between the plastic and aluminum parts. The interaction between these materials is important to us because any gaps can disrupt the sleek character of the product.

Internally, we altered the design of the plastic housing structures that keep the various electronic elements in place. Our sourcing team is also working on securing final FCC approvals for the USB parts and UL approval for the adapter.

If you’re at all interested in product manufacturing, you can learn more about aluminum extrusion, which is a significant part of the Space Bar’s manufacturing process, through this video:

Again, thanks for your support and patience… and stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks!