A Sticky Situation
Happy Wednesday Everyone,
Shipping Update:
We ran into a bit of a snag this week while shipping our Maslow 4 kits when we discovered that the small bottle of super glue gel in the box was a BIG issue for shipping internationally from China. I didn’t see that coming because we haven’t had an issue with shipping from the US. I think that the issue has more to do with smuggling and less to do with risks of the glue leaking.
After a week of a LOT of back and forth with different shipping companies it seems like we’ve found a solution. Because different countries have different customs rules we are handling them slightly differently.
The bulk of our international orders are going to the EU and we were able to find a way to have them delivered by train. The kits will enter the EU as a single shipment which can be inspected and then distributed from there. That solves the glue issue, but it will take a few weeks for our packages to arrive by train. We will get individual tracking numbers for these kits as soon as they arrive in the EU.
Maslow 4 kits destined for the EU which were sent out this past week.
Within Asia we were able to send the kits by air freight and those will hopefully ship out tomorrow and we should have tracking numbers immediately.
For the UK, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, and US (by air mail only), we were unable to find any way to deliver those kits with the glue included. Instead we are removing the glue from those packages and we will mail the glue separately from the US. I know this sounds crazy, but it is the best solution that we could find.
I understand this is a little confusing, but as soon as I have a tracking number for your kit I will send it to you in a direct message and I will give you a heads up if you need to keep an eye out for a second package with your super glue.
The majority of the Maslow 4 kits headed to the US are aboard the Nordia (the same ship which carried our goods last time). These kits are unaffected by the issues with shipping the super glue.
Assembly Videos:
As we’re getting ready for Maslow 4 kits to start arriving I’ve been working on updating the assembly instructions. In addition to having text instructions there will be videos to walk through the assembly process. This week I got the first two videos covering the arms and the sled done which you can find here:
Science Fair Project:
I also had a chance to do some testing this week with a science fair project. The question we decided to tackle was “Can you combine different colors of light to make new colors in the same way that you can combine different colors of paint?”
To answer that question we made a wheel with red, green, and blue LEDs. When the wheel spins the colors combine to look white.
It was a fun example of the kind of project that having a Maslow in the garage makes possible. I wouldn’t have tried to tackle this project by hand (at least not in the same way).
Maslow 4.1 Upgrade Parts:
I’ve been getting a LOT of messages from folks who missed the chance to get the Maslow 4.1 upgrade parts during the Kickstarter. The new parts will be available on our website soon. I know that it’s frustrating to have to wait, but there is a LOT going on right now. I’m working on it!
Have a great week everyone!
-Bar
