Word from the tech nerd
about 8 years ago
– Wed, Feb 28, 2018 at 11:18:36 PM
Dear backers,
Here a check-in from Knops’ dear tech nerd. As you all must be very curious, I wanted to give you guys a more detailed overview of just what has been going on in these past weeks. Knops has many intricate details that you perhaps wouldn’t even notice. I wanna take you into a flight of what it is to tune a premium product like ours.
But first we want to present a nice gift for our backers:
Slowww foam
As you all now, Knops comes with one pair of removable silicone end tips that ensure proper fit end closure of the ear canal from the environment. This pair of end tips has a universal fit and we did a lot of testing on the material feel and softness. However, to make the Knops even more tailored for you, we have tested additional end tips in memory foam. Note this is an extra we want to give you on top of our original ribbed tips.
After checking many suppliers, we narrowed down one that has a very nice heat activated memory foam with a good long timescale rebound response. We have run this by our testers and they are very positive about the fit, it shapes into your ear canal. We looked into different lengths, shapes and thicknesses as well to ergonomically match the rest of the Knops. We are happy to announce that the final model foam tips are from one of the highest quality brand there is on the market: Comply foam! We would like to engage you, tell us which combination of tips is best to your liking, we are very curious about your input. This will also be a great way for you to confirm all the efforts we have put into ergonomics testing over the past months.
Back to the making
We haven’t been hands off at all with our manufacturing, we believe that every detail counts. So besides engaging with experts in every manufacturing step, we also intimately connected with them so all the parts come together in the right, premium way. I learned a lot supervising high-tech machinery, the devil is in the details and how it comes together, every part counts.
The Knops has a fairly small housing that contains a lot of parts, think of it as a tuned Swiss watch. The field of acoustics is very nuanced, a pressure wave can be minute and still be picked up by the human ear. The internals of the Knops needed to be tuned just right to get the effect we need.
The molds came back with a lot of detail and precision in them, down to 0.2mm features. However, as we want to make it a premium product, we have decided to further tune to the level of 0.01 mm features, this is thinner than a piece of paper! Some features are barely noticeable with the naked eye. We have been staring through looking glasses.
Blast from the past:)
Let’s first look a bit into the near past: As you might have known from previous updates, the molds for the plastic parts were made in China under supervision from ourselves, the production company and an instrument specialist. These are very heavy and expensive hardened steel stamps that contain many different features. Think of them as like blueprints for the dollar bills.
After the molds were initially constructed, so-called first samples were shipped to the Netherlands where we tested and inspected them, and send back our feedback on what needed to change. This went back and forth a number of times to get every little detail right.
When arrived at the production company in Amsterdam, we immediately tested the molds on the machine and already find out some optimization needed. After the molds open, the plastic parts need to drop down out, but instead, it stuck to the mold. So adjustments needed to be made.
Also, we noticed that one of the last changes we gave, was manufactured incorrectly. Instead of removing 0.1mm of the mold (effectively adding 0.1mm to the plastic) at a specific spot, it happened to be 0.3mm. This way, two parts did not fit, so in order to solve this, steel needed to be added to the hardened molds, and then machined down again. A time-consuming process, but necessary.
Our little whohos!
We have commenced our testing equipment for production and are using it to fine-tune the production process. At this moment we are happy to report that we have successfully fully sealed the housing. This was a key step in the marriage of the machine, think of it when an engine is placed in a car in the assembly line.
Also, the rotation mechanism is optimized for the right snap and resistance, by changing small settings and material additives.
Making it tough but beautiful
In the middle of the process we decided to go for an even tougher material for the outer casing, this will also minimize scratches on your knops. On the design side, Richard looked into the right amount of glow vs satin finish for all the housing colors. Speaking of colors, the material change needed a look into the color coding as well, we have tried several additives to create the right level of warmth and depth, especially in white.
The rings are beautifully machined parts detailed out well (no stamping, but really nice machining). The gold plated rings look like wedding rings! We have been going back and forth with our local supplier many times to ensure the quality standards are met and we are very happy now.
In the mean time we have gone through several iterations of the packaging, the layout, the look and feel and the opening has been tested. Every detail counts for a product like this.
Welding using sound! Wha?
After we got the molds back and functioning properly we went through some fine-tune work with the ultrasonic welding and glue process. Ultrasonic welding uses a high frequency sound wave that fuses our parts together. We already had done tests with the ultrasonic welding in the past with the early samples, which helped us decide the adjustments we needed to do back then. In order to inspect everything properly, we decided to produce the plastic samples for this fine-tune process in a transparent material. This way we were able to play forensic investigators by using a contrast fluid and seeing all the internal details, much like a hospital scan. For fellow nerds, great to see capillary forces at work:).
During the welding tests, we found out that we could remove the gluing process out of the assembly line, as we could fix this by ultrasonic welding all the parts. This allows for a much more consistent product for you. We optimized the welding process, this will also allow faster production so we can deliver to every backer in the quickest time.
Ultrasonic welding at this level is a very delicate procedure, where the parts need to be aligned perfectly. The welding horns needed to be adjusted as well to best fit all the Knops parts, again by making small changes. Our expert has handed over the machine and at this moment the horns are getting the last adjustments. We have been ramping up test batches in the ultrasonic welder over the last weeks, also to see if we are going to purchase even more machines for the production line.
You all will be getting a meticulously crafted set fresh of the welding and assembly line. Each single piece will be going through our testing program to ensure that you guys get the best of the best. The choices in end tips will ensure a perfect fit.
Warm greets and cheers from your tech nerd, Arjen
Knops