Dear Puzzler Friends,
In the last few months, we were extremely busy with finishing CNC production and mechanical polishing of metal parts for the first ~100 puzzles. As for my part, I have spent several hundreds of hours removing polish paste by manual washing. My station has been transferred to our basement, where I can sit more conveniently for the demanding process. The hardest task was to clean the heavy outer shell 100 times, while avoiding arthritis in my small joints at the same time (you can imagine the weight) 😀 The visible metal parts are now handed over to a factory near Budapest specialized in galvanizing and surface treatment processes. They already finished the nickel-plating and black anodizing parts, so now the brown-coloured anodizing is in progress. At the same time, we have finished the production of the internal, non-visible parts that support the mechanics. This is the main internal core of the puzzle, mostly made of CNC-machined industrial plastics for weight reduction. The protective, eco-friendly boxes are also ready for the first ~100 puzzles.
Our plans for the coming weeks are the followings:
-While brown anodizing is under way, we are pre-assembling the complete main cores of the puzzle. Once the mass amount of metal elements are back from surface treatment, we can do the final assembly to be followed by an ultimate safe-testing.
-Next, we will glue the front facade pieces of the puzzle in (Jukebox label, grill, etc.) with liquid metal. After that, the puzzle is considered finished and cannot be opened up anymore without damage. A final coating with paraffin oil will be applied to close the pores of the anodized aluminium.
-In the meantime, we are preparing the accessories (printables, leather cloth, etc). The protective, double-boxed packaging will add up to the initial weight of the puzzle (~3 kg/6.6 lbs), so the final item to be shipped will weigh approximately 5 kg/11 lbs. Hefty package, but I am confident that the puzzle will reach every customer safely without any damage.
-Once all set, we will send out individual invoices to our first ~100 clients, so the final, remaining payments can be made via our Stripe platform. We kindly ask for your patience after the payment. As we are handling a mass amount of packages at the same time, we will need some time for the administrative processes of export customs clearance (paid invoices are required for this step) and the sorting of packages before tracked shipping to be ordered. Once the shipping orders have been made, the postal service will take over the packages. From here, one can expect delivery within 1-3 business days within the EU and 3-6 business days outside the EU (import customs clearance may require additional processing times depending on the country).
There have been questions regarding the possible relation between invoice numbers and list/shipping positions. Let me confirm that the invoice numbers are totally independent from the list positions, as the initial list was created when the first intentions to purchase were made on the 14th July 2024. These sign-ups have locked the list positions independent from the time of invoice payments and invoice numbers created several days later.
We really appreciate the patience you have shown us during the last few months. We are aware that the unexpected extra time for manual polish paste removal for the mass amount of pieces (>8000 parts for the whole project) significantly delayed our schedule, but we do hope that it will be worth the wait. Once the first ~100 puzzles are shipped, we will immediately start the CNC-production of the 2nd, final batch of Jukebox and really hope that we can finish the overall project by the end of summer. This is not a promise, rather an optimistic plan 🙂 We will keep you updated!
Kindest regards,
Daniel
MoonTree Puzzles
