mmm v2 close

[What's_nitro?]

Originally Posted by bdebde

Thanks for the VERY detailed info Patrick!!!

Yes. It was very __________.

Please choose one or all of the following adjectives: Informative, enlightening, reassuring, interesting, fulfilling, awesome.

If all goes well with the V2's I plan on buying one. Or two.

More information that would have been helpful would be things like:

How many are being produced a day
How many replacements need to be delivered

This way people who have pre-orders or who have yet to order might have a realistic timeframe of when to expect them to be available.

[Pdelcast]

Originally Posted by hoovhartid

Patrick,
As much as your long post was meant to put people in their place(which was awesome, by the way) ...I actually found it very interesting/informative.

Not to set you off again...
...but at what temperature does the fan turn on?

I only ask because I know running w/o the fan voids the warranty.

But if the fan fails, someone may mistake that for "it's not that hot"

I, for one, would feel better about having a definitive temperature to refer to in terms of heat and fan failure monitoring.

thank you in advance,
Jarrad

Thanx Jarrad, I'm glad you found it interesting and informative. I really did mean it that way -- I hoped some people would find it interesting to know how we build controllers, what these "Stencil" things are that we keep talking about, and what processes and equipment are involved. It really is a pretty cool to see all the stuff up and running...

[Pdelcast]

Originally Posted by aaron72

More information that would have been helpful would be things like:

How many are being produced a day
How many replacements need to be delivered

This way people who have pre-orders or who have yet to order might have a realistic timeframe of when to expect them to be available.

Well, I don't know how many can be produced in a day yet -- ask me again in a week.

We have about 75 replacements on the books right now, I believe.

[Mad Max]

Wow - thanks for the detailed information.

Originally Posted by Pdelcast

...
After passing functional testing, the MMM move to finishing and packaging, where they are carefully placed into a box along with a CD, cable and Castle Link.

Then the MMM are moved into stock, where they will await final packing and shipping.
...

So Castle Bullets are no longer included in V2?

Cheers,
Wolfgang

[DRIFT_BUGGY]

Originally Posted by tc3_racer_001

well they are saying 4 weeks on their website...

That has been there since they put the MMM page up

[DRIFT_BUGGY]

Originally Posted by Pdelcast

People -- don't complain that I don't give straight answers... How do you get more straight than this?

The new stencils will be in on Monday, and production will resume then. THAT MEANS PRODUCTION WILL RESUME ON MONDAY.

For those of you who need further clarification... That means that we will start building Monster Max controllers again on Monday.

If that isn't clear enough for you -- here's some more details.

On Monday, about 9:00am, UPS will deliver a pair of MMM stencils. A stencil (in the electronics world) is a large piece of nickel plated stainless steel, about .006" thick, stretched tight into a 29" x 29" tubular aluminum frame. The thin sheet of stainless has apertures cut out of it with a laser, and is used for putting solder onto a circuit board. The solder is printed onto the circuit board using a machine called a "stencil printer." Our stencil printer is a Dek Horizon printer. You can click on the link below to get more information about the Dek Horizon stencil printer:
http://www.dek.com/web.nsf/us/product_horizon

Our machine operator, Shawn Messmer, will load the Horizon printer with the solder stencil for the top side of the Monster Max first. He will then load solder paste (which is a paste made of microscopic solder balls suspended in flux), and start production.

After the solder is printed on the circuit boards, they then move out of the Dek Horizon (by conveyor), and into our Universal Instruments Advantis Lightning (AC-30L). Our Advantis AC-30L is our chip shooter, and will place about 32,000 parts per hour onto the MMM circuit boards.

After leaving the Advantis Lightning AC-30L, the board will move by conveyor to our Advantis FlexJET AX-72. The Advantis FlexJET is a little slower than the Advantis Lightning, but can place larger, more difficult parts. This type of machine is usually called a "flexible placer", where the AC-30L is called a "chip shooter."
To see more information about the Universal Instruments Advantis, visit this link below:

http://www4.uic.com/wcms/WCMS2.nsf/i...oducts_18.html

After leaving the Universal Instruments Advantis AX-72, the MMM boards will move through the reflow oven, a Heller 1707EXL. The reflow oven solders the board (all at one time!) by raising the temperature of the board slowly until all of the solder paste (stenciled on by the DEK printer!) melts, or reflows. To see more information about the Heller 1707EXL reflow oven, visit the link below:

http://www.hellerindustries.com/h1700EXL.htm

After reflow, the boards cool for about an hour. Then it is off to the inspection station, where we employ a MIRTEC 5 camera automatic optical inspection machine, which checks all the parts and solder joints to be sure everything is perfect after assembly.

To see more about our Mirtec 5 camera AOI, please see below:

http://www.mirtecusa.com/desktop3.html

Once all is checked and found to be OK, the MMM will then move into soldering, where our soldering technicials will add the switches and receiver connector (with love, of course!)

Then the boards move on to final assembly, where they are placed in cases and stickers are added to the case.

Next, the nearly complete MMM move into functional testing -- where each and every MMM is calibrated, and tested with loads of up to 100A. During functional testing, the output waveforms, throttle response, and cutoff voltage settings are all throughly tested.

After passing functional testing, the MMM move to finishing and packaging, where they are carefully placed into a box along with a CD, cable and Castle Link.

Then the MMM are moved into stock, where they will await final packing and shipping.

Hope you found that interesting!

Patrick

lol, that is pretty straight

[Robert]

Good details Patrick. Thank you for taking the time to post that up. :)

[phatmonk]

Originally Posted by Pdelcast

People -- don't complain that I don't give straight answers... How do you get more straight than this?

The new stencils will be in on Monday, and production will resume then. THAT MEANS PRODUCTION WILL RESUME ON MONDAY.

For those of you who need further clarification... That means that we will start building Monster Max controllers again on Monday.

If that isn't clear enough for you -- here's some more details.

On Monday, about 9:00am, UPS will deliver a pair of MMM stencils. A stencil (in the electronics world) is a large piece of nickel plated stainless steel, about .006" thick, stretched tight into a 29" x 29" tubular aluminum frame. The thin sheet of stainless has apertures cut out of it with a laser, and is used for putting solder onto a circuit board. The solder is printed onto the circuit board using a machine called a "stencil printer." Our stencil printer is a Dek Horizon printer. You can click on the link below to get more information about the Dek Horizon stencil printer:
http://www.dek.com/web.nsf/us/product_horizon

Our machine operator, Shawn Messmer, will load the Horizon printer with the solder stencil for the top side of the Monster Max first. He will then load solder paste (which is a paste made of microscopic solder balls suspended in flux), and start production.

After the solder is printed on the circuit boards, they then move out of the Dek Horizon (by conveyor), and into our Universal Instruments Advantis Lightning (AC-30L). Our Advantis AC-30L is our chip shooter, and will place about 32,000 parts per hour onto the MMM circuit boards.

After leaving the Advantis Lightning AC-30L, the board will move by conveyor to our Advantis FlexJET AX-72. The Advantis FlexJET is a little slower than the Advantis Lightning, but can place larger, more difficult parts. This type of machine is usually called a "flexible placer", where the AC-30L is called a "chip shooter."
To see more information about the Universal Instruments Advantis, visit this link below:

http://www4.uic.com/wcms/WCMS2.nsf/i...oducts_18.html

After leaving the Universal Instruments Advantis AX-72, the MMM boards will move through the reflow oven, a Heller 1707EXL. The reflow oven solders the board (all at one time!) by raising the temperature of the board slowly until all of the solder paste (stenciled on by the DEK printer!) melts, or reflows. To see more information about the Heller 1707EXL reflow oven, visit the link below:

http://www.hellerindustries.com/h1700EXL.htm

After reflow, the boards cool for about an hour. Then it is off to the inspection station, where we employ a MIRTEC 5 camera automatic optical inspection machine, which checks all the parts and solder joints to be sure everything is perfect after assembly.

To see more about our Mirtec 5 camera AOI, please see below:

http://www.mirtecusa.com/desktop3.html

Once all is checked and found to be OK, the MMM will then move into soldering, where our soldering technicials will add the switches and receiver connector (with love, of course!)

Then the boards move on to final assembly, where they are placed in cases and stickers are added to the case.

Next, the nearly complete MMM move into functional testing -- where each and every MMM is calibrated, and tested with loads of up to 100A. During functional testing, the output waveforms, throttle response, and cutoff voltage settings are all throughly tested.

After passing functional testing, the MMM move to finishing and packaging, where they are carefully placed into a box along with a CD, cable and Castle Link.

Then the MMM are moved into stock, where they will await final packing and shipping.

Hope you found that interesting!

Patrick

Thanks for taking the time to explain the process.The equipment links were cool also

[Skelbow]

I just want to say thanks to CC for all the help they have done on this site, keeping everyone informed on what has been going on.

I for one, ordered a MMM directly from them, and they will never hear a peep out of me asking when it will be sent. I know they are working as fast as they can, and constantly bugging them wouldn't help out it get out the door any faster.


Patrick - it is sort of funny, your post about all the machines you use. I work for a company that pretty much uses all the same machines. Stencils, Paste Machines, Pick n Place machines, Reflow ovens, so I do understand everything that you have had to do. And I understand how problems can arise and screw things over so to speak.

-Cory

[TDC57]

Originally Posted by Pdelcast

Yeah, I'll take that bet. But make it worth my while -- $20.00 pfft..
How about $500.00?

Since we have already shipped about 40 MMM V2s does that mean I win?

Fineline Stencil is delivering stencils on Monday morning. I confirmed that this morning. Production starts Monday -- so we should be shipping before the end of next week. Now, depending on where you bought your Monster, you might not get YOURS until much later -- but that won't be Castle's fault.

Your on.. No Bata test does not count (PLEASE). Lets get real..

I'll take that bet!! not the full $500.00 sorry but i'll bet you full price of the ESC that Mike at RCM will not receive and send out his second / first full order of the original ESC that where paid for in May.. I'm part of the first original order and will happily pay you if it gets here and it works by 08/13/08.

Here is my email confirmation that I prepaid in May / on the first order. I'll send you confirmation if and when I receive the MMM, if it's past the 13th you owe me, if not I owe you!..

It's that simple..

Do we have deal (??)


Order ID: 10008774
Customer Details:
Shaun

Shipping Method: Priority Mail (With Insurance)
--------------------------
Product ID: mambamonsteresc
Product Name: Castle Creations Mamba Monster controller
Quantity: 1
Unit Price: $170.00
--------------------------
Order Total : $170.00
Shipping : $6.30
Discounts : $25.00
Grand Total : $151.30



P.S to CC.. (For What it’s worth from a California native) / GREEN…..
Whenever this is someone who wears mink coats, there is always someone who will though blood on it, whenever there is a smog polluter there is someone who will reports you, wherever there is the little man getting the short end of the stick (not told the truth) by a corporation we will be there are there calling your bluff ever step of the way..


Thank you for your time and regardless what you think, I am truly looking forward to receiving the product I paid for months ago, I'm just sorry it took Soooooo long to (possibly / TBD) get it right…

Shaun….

P.S.S.
Yes I am a Pain in the ASS.. Someone has to be!

fingers crossed the new stencil is good!

[Sneaky Pete]

I'm not sure if this has been answered elsewhere (if it has, I apologize), but perhaps Patrick could comment on this...is the V2 going to come with motor wires soldered to the ESC or will it now come with bullet connectors?

It comes with bullet connectors. Patrick said the soldered wires were only a temporary solution because the connectors didn't make it in time for production or something like that :)

[SunnyHouTX]

Bullet connectors.

Edit: dang, you beat me to it man!