Over the past few weeks, we have been working on our display integration. Because injection molding would greatly impact pricing, we have decided to stick with a 3D-printed display frame. A few months ago, we printed the frame with "normal" filament, but we weren’t satisfied with the quality, so we switched to a different printer and a resin-based material. The results were much more promising, so we optimized our frame design for this method.

Below is a picture of the screen frame structure. On the far left are the Vapor Phase One electronics, and next to that is our touch display.

Updated Shipping Estimate

We know that you’ve all been looking forward to 15th February with the expectation of having a Vapor Phase One in your hands so that you could get started on that first project. After working through Christmas and New Years to make that a reality, we’ve been forced to recognize, in recent weeks, that we will not be able to meet that deadline. Unfortunately, we’ve had to push our delivery estimate back to 30th April.

Below are some details about the various factors that led us to that conclusion.

Quality

We want to thank everybody who believed in our work and supported us in the early stage of this project. Your backing allowed us to manufacture a high quality industrial product that is optimized for ease of use. To achieve these twin goals, we had to deviate from our prototype as we began working on a final design with our product engineers. This step that took longer than expected but was enormously valuable for the project. Additional time spent over the past month will ensure that we deliver a robust, well-thought-out product.

COVID-19

The pandemic continues to affect our entire supply chain, and nearly all of our partners are struggling. The resulting bottlenecks keep pushing back upstream delivery dates. We are currently facing a four week lead time on Vapor Phase One’s custom-made heating elements, for example, and a similar delay on the housing.

Financing

As a young company, we are still learning the ropes, and—to put it bluntly—we underestimated some of our costs. The logistical challenge and financial burden of LPC certification is one example, and we are currently working with partners to find an balanced solution. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been put together a financial plan that will allow us to remain focused on what matters: getting that Vapor Phase One into your hands as soon as possible.

In short, we are still working at full speed, and we are confident that we can hit our new end-of-April ship date. We hope you understand, and we thank you for your patience.

With best (and snowy) greetings from Germany,
The PCB Arts Team