Missed the Boat
Unfortunately, the factory was unable to get the assemblies finished in time to get on the cargo ship this week for our September delivery. We received a schedule update from them and it turns out we were further behind then we had been led to believe. The updated ship date to leave the factory is September 23. Most container ships take about 3 weeks to get product to us, so we are looking at an October arrival date. Once the machines are in our Houston facility, we will add their electronics and conduct thorough testing before we box them back up and ship them out to customers. Fortunately, it will be a delay of only weeks rather than months. We are doing everything in our power to get the RAVEN out. Below is the exact timeline sent to us last night by the factory.
- In-house parts
- Head machining in progress, complete 9/13
- Power supply housings in progress, target complete 9/14
- Rubber roller welding – target complete 9/10
- Outsourced parts
- Steel rods ready 9/11, expect arrival 9/13
- Power supply connector – send today
- Cable Restrain – send tomorrow
- Power Supply – ready 9/13, expect arrival 9/15
- Power Supply accessories – ready 9/14, expect arrival 9/16
- Dust Collector – ready 9/14, expect arrival 9/16
- Tolerance Rings – send tomorrow
- Chasing clear cover sticker
- Assembly Plan
- Base – Planned 9/11–9/13
- Head – Planned 9/11–9/13
- Others – complete 9/9
- Machines Build Plan*
- 9/18 Start Z truck
- Check critical sub-assemblies
- Assemble Power Supply
- Set up assembly line
- 9/19 Day 1 machine build
- 9/20 Day 2 machine build
- **Book Vessel
- 9/21 Day 3 machine build
- Prepare accessories for packing
- 9/22 Packing
- 9/23 Ready to deliver (depending on vessel schedule)
* This is the plan based on an estimated daily output, but we hope we can do it quicker.
** Will book the vessel when we confirm there is no major issue in machine build.
RAVEN’s Project Recovery
When a RAVEN encounters a stall situation or loses power forcing it to stop, it is able to report the condition it detected and allow for recovery. It does this by checking back to its home position to verify it is still in the same place. If it doesn’t find home in the correct place, as in a belt slip, it allows you to re-home to reset that position. Once it has found home, it rewinds the project to find the place where it left off so it can resume. This is a tremendous feature for users who want to keep their downtime and their frustration levels to a minimum
RAVEN Dust Hood
RAVEN’s dust-collection hood is a single-molded plastic piece designed with a low profile for maximum dust extraction with as little interference to the operation as possible. It significantly outperformed every earlier dust-hood model and it is far more robust. It even has a tray for holding RAVEN’s bit-touch plate, helping to keep your essential tools readily available and out of the way at the same time. Note: the finished product will be black.