Wed Dec 30 '20 Announcement
about 4 years ago – Wed, Dec 30, 2020 at 08:15:10 AM

Hello M1 Backers,

We hope everyone is having a great holiday and wrapping up the wild ride of a year 2020 has been.  Here at REEKON Tools, we have been working around the clock, through the holidays, to ensure the M1 Caliber continues to progress well and stay on track for shipping as soon as possible.  We have met several big milestones and wanted to share some of our detailed progress below:

Final Sample Approval

Since the last update, we have worked to finalize all of the supporting items for the M1 - Packaging, HTF Case, Quick Start Guide, stickers, and labeling which have all been completed!  

The last action item remaining is ensuring the high M1 quality, both in terms of functionality and cosmetics, can be maintained over higher volumes.  We will execute this by continuing our 100 unit pre-production build.  Once these units have been validated and confirmed to match our high standards, we will give the green light for full production.  Our estimation of this activity being completed is by the end of January. 

Locking in Shipping Addresses

We will be locking in shipping addresses and charging credit cards for orders next week (January 5th).  Please be sure your address is updated to your final address and you have fully completed your survey.  Assume shipping in March/April if you plan on moving in the next few months.

Some nations have imposed additional duties or shipping charges for the new year which will be updated in their respective countries.  This only applies to less than 5% of our backers but is significant enough that it will need to be updated.  Backers in this situation will be notified directly.

Adapter Fence

Our Adapter Fence has been finalized and is ready for action.  The Adapter Fence ensures near-universal compatibility of the M1 with almost any fence design.  The MDF base ensures easy attachment utilizing through holes in a saw fence geometry and the M1 mounts directly to a robust, anodized, aluminum mounting bracket. The MDF can then be cut directly through with the saw blade to double as a sacrificial fence when making cuts (and reduce splintering on the back side of cuts).

Be sure to grab one on your BackerKit Survey before we begin shipping in order to ensure you get the best price and ensure you are ready to go when receiving your M1!

Quick Start Guide

We have completed our Quick Start Guide which is included with every unit we ship out. As promised, we have included a download link here for anyone looking to get a head start and look over the guide before we ship the finalized version.  Additionally, we will be making demonstration videos which will be available for viewing on our website for additional details on each step.  Please feel free to read through and email us any feedback or suggestions - [email protected]

Shipping 

With ramp-up planned for late January and Early February, units will begin to trickle into their respective local warehouses in March and April.  We will begin to provide more specific information once units begin to physically board ships bound for their respective locations as this will represent the highest-fidelity timeline we can share.  Rest assured, despite any apparent delays or timing, we are working around the clock to ship products as soon as possible.

Thanks everyone for bearing with us for a crazy 2020 and we are extremely excited to begin shipping these devices out!

Make Forward

REEKON Tools

Tue Dec 8 '20 Announcement
about 4 years ago – Tue, Dec 08, 2020 at 06:57:49 AM

Hello M1 Caliber Backers!

From all of us here at REEKON Tools, we are very excited to share our latest update.  Please be on the lookout for an email from BackerKit in the next few days.  There will be a survey that you can fill out which will ensure you have the latest shipping information entered along with selecting any add-on items (additional M1s, Adapter Fence, additional wheel) to add to your order.  Please let us know if you do not receive your survey by late next week.

We are entering the final lead-up to our manufacturing mass production phase.  We are very happy with our design, both in terms of cosmetics and performance, and now enter the phase where we are actively working on ordering the needed parts, raw materials, and off the shelf components needed to make more than 20,000 units in our initial order!  Much of this work is underway and will continue for the next several weeks.  

In addition to the device itself, we have been putting in substantial work to finish up all of the stickers, packaging, case, accessories, and instruction quick start guide that will come with the M1 device.  We will be sharing a link to download the Quick Start Guide before shipping to ensure everyone has a chance to look it over prior to receiving their tool and can ask any questions ahead of time.

That's all for now, we are very excited to be this close to mass manufacturing and look forward to delivering units in the next few months!  As always, please feel free to reach out to us with any questions ([email protected]), thanks!

Make Forward

REEKON Tools Team

Fri Nov 20 '20 Announcement
about 4 years ago – Fri, Nov 20, 2020 at 10:23:52 AM

Hello M1 Backers! 

We hope everyone has been adjusting to the shorter days and winter rapidly approaches.  We wanted to share a progress update as we are sure many of you are eager and excited to hear more details on when we will begin delivering M1 Caliber Measuring Tools. Below, please find additional details on updated progress:

Shipping Update 

While we have worked very hard to steadily progress through the manufacturing process, and ensure we are delivering a high-quality product, we now have a much better sense of the impact of several of the shipping delays and second-order effects COVID-19 has taken on our supply chain.  As can be seen from the countless videos we post on our social media, the units we are making are performing well and working as expected!  However, getting the materials needed to manufacturer 20,000 units reliably and consistently is taking longer than expected due to COVID-19 related delays (primarily with raw material shipping times).

We have put together this detailed timeline to outline the next milestones and steps we are taking as we move closer to shipping out finished goods:

As can be seen above, there is certainly some delays from our original timeline.  However, we continue to progress forward and still have a very clear pathway to shipping out products. We are working around the clock to get these shipped out but shall not be compromising on quality or product performance!

We made this stocking stuffer card to print out in case anyone was expecting an M1 in their Christmas Stocking - simply print it out and place in box or stocking!  We will also be offering a special thanks for everyone's patience bearing with us, stay tuned for a further update! (High Resolution Link)

Durability Testing 

As the M1 Caliber is a professional Product, we have been spending quite a bit of time ensuring that it is living up to the standards professionals are expecting out of it. Not only have been measuring routine conditions to monitor performance, but also have been running through some edge cases as seen below!

The M1 have been performing exceptionally well and, besides some minor scratches and dings is still performing as expected!

Manufacturing Update

While we may be running into the simple (but common) enemy of time, we are progressing smoothly on all fronts for Manufacturing.  We are rounding off the final details to get parts fully colored and textured and are building our first truly production replica products (cosmetically and performance wise) next week!  Stay tuned for more pictures as we get them made later in the week!

Thanks for everyone's continued patience and support and we are very excited to deliver this high-quality product to everyone very soon! As always, please feel free to ping us here or via [email protected] , thanks again!

Make Forward

REEKON Tools Team

Sun Oct 25 '20 Announcement
about 4 years ago – Sun, Oct 25, 2020 at 08:25:50 AM

Hello M1 Caliber Backers!

We are excited to share that the first production parts that we have received from our manufacturer have been performing beyond expectations! All activities are progressing well across the board as we are moving closer to shipping units to all our more than 14,000 customers and are beyond excited to soon see M1 Calibers in use in the field!  Below are some more detailed updates outlining our progress!

First Samples

The M1 Calibers seen below are produced using entirely production processes (i.e. Injection Molding).  These materials perform an order of magnitude better than what we are able to prototype and are already performing exceptionally well in terms of durability (we have been consistently drop-testing on concrete with only minor cosmetic damage) and functionality (clamp and arm retention mechanisms performing to desired specifications).  While the below colors and textures are not accurate (and will ultimately match our photos on the page), we are tuning all mechanical properties/functionality before moving on to refining cosmetics.  Electronic components are being refined in parallel and are being integrated with our mechanically complete units later this week! 

Timeline

We are still on track to begin production in time for December shipping to customers to begin.  However, the shipping of the completed units itself is the most volatile part of the equation at this point.  Once units are produced, they are placed on a container ship and then sent to one of our regional distribution facilities.  Because of the volatility introduced by COVID-19 and how it will affect shipping channels in Mid to late December, this will certainly introduce a potential rise to our equation.  We are actively monitoring the situation and will continue to provide any updates as we receive them! 

We look forward to providing more updates as our production design continues to advance rapidly in the next few weeks!

Make Forward

REEKON Tools Team

Mon Sep 14 '20 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 09:12:58 AM