Hello All,
With the first round of Duck Orion V3 boards heading our way very soon... seems like a good time to add some brass!
As some of you will know, I ran my first (and only) group buy and made weights for the Eagle/ Viper, Jetfire, TC-V3 and Lightsaver v3. Old thread here (
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=96368.0) if you weren't part of it and want to peruse. It wasn't perfect by any means, but all orders were fulfilled. Lessons were also certainly learned and I've done this round much differently!
1. Weights are done and in my hands. I ordered and paid for all the brass, so we're starting ahead of the game.
2. I'm doing this much more simply- the only weight being offered here are the Orion V3. (
I do have a few of various models/ engraving options left from the previous buy, so if you're looking for an Eagle/ Viper, LSv3, TC-V3 or Jetfire, let me know. I just mean that this run, I am only making one weight, one size.)
3. I'm using different shops for polishing and engraving. I have worked with both and have samples in hand. Extremely good work!! See below.
You have three options to purchase:
1. RAW BRASS.This is the condition of all weights right now and once again, these are in my hands in this condition. I have purchased the brass slabs cut for Orion and had the countersinks CNC'ed on all of them. You should expect raw brass. There will be sharp edges around the weight from the cutting and random blemishes/ scratches/ smudges as shown below.
Price: $55 + shipping.
2. POLISHED BRASS.Weights will be polished with no engraving. You should expect a weight with countersinks, a nice smooth mirror polished finish and buffed edges.
Price: $65 + shipping.
3. ENGRAVED BRASS. Weights will be polished, then CNC engraved, then any scuffs will be buffed out again by the polishing house. This is way more expensive than I thought it would be because of the complexity of the graphics and willingness of the shop to reset the machine over and over to account for flatness variation within the brass. The graphic is done by CNC-engraving and each weight takes about 30 minutes of CNC time (CNC shops calculate all prices by the machine minute). The engraving is a little complex... but it looks phenomenal. If you want to go the full hog, you'll like this one. You should expect a weight with countersinks, mirror polished brass and a cnc-engraved graphic. Please see the prototype images below. I do apologize for the cost, but this is what it's going to take to get these done. It's no sweat for me on this, I'm not invested in any of the formats here - just wanted to offer a top-quality weight I was confident in after the engraving in the last round was a little meh in places. I could have tried more shops, etc and maybe shaved this down a lot, but I like my CNC dude and I'm out of time to get these done, so this is what it is.
Many thanks once again to Gaiden for the artwork assist on these. Dude is crazy talented and I can't thank him enough for putting the graphic together just as I imagined it. Plus, he's a freaking great guy and I'm grateful for him as a friend.
Price: $105 + shipping.
This thing was really hard to get good photos of, folks. It's lovely though - I'm very pleased with how it all turned out.
Timeline:Here's the good and bad with this one. I have 70 weights in hand to sell... so I'm just going to do this fully FCFS and start shipping RAW weights as they are ordered. For the others, of course, I'd like to do polishing and engraving in larger batches, so I'll compile those orders as they come in and fulfill asap. However, please order now. I'll start taking orders as soon as this thread is live and will begin invoicing immediately- I paid for the brass like three months ago - wifey says "sell those freaking things!" or something like that. When 70 weights are gone, we're done. For the engraved and polished, I'll go run them through polishing and engraving within a couple of weeks even if all 70 aren't claimed so I can get them shipped.
Orders Open: When the thread is approved
Orders Close: When 70 weights are sold
ORDER FORM: https://forms.gle/wf6SWx6tsMqQ69Yf6Shipping:RAW- Immediately
POLISHED and ENGRAVED- within 4 weeks from close of the sale.
We should have a nice tight, tidy timeline on this one, folks. With material in hand, polishing and engraving samples looking
, I think we have a much-improved process from last time.
I will use a medium flat-rate box for all US shipping. I can add the $14.35 into the first invoice if you'd like. From running the first batch, if it was only one weight, I was able to save folks a couple of bucks by shipping in a first-class box instead of flat-rate. However, these are enough larger than anything in the last run, the difference would be minimal or none, so I think for ease of shipping/ record keeping/ invoicing, I'll do all US via flat-rate this time. International, from the last round, I'd expect in the ~$25-30 range for most international locations.
That's it! Please contact me anytime via any method below with any questions!
Geekhack: smittysteve
Reddit: smittysteve
Discord: Smittysteve#5074
Instagram: bet you can't guess!?! But there aren't as many keyboard pics there as there are pics of my awesome kids, so if you like kids, feel free to follow me there.
email:
[email protected]That should cover the range of contacting me. As usual, there is a lot of life going on in my world, but I'm committed (and invested) in getting these out asap. In fact, for reasons, I want to have everything shipped out for this buy by the end of June.
Thank you for looking at the thread and considering adding some brass to your upcoming Orion boards!!!UPDATE/ NEWS: I'm going to make a run of inserts for the back of these boards. As you've seen in the awesome photos out of Korea, the bottom of the Orion V3 has Duck's "X" and two dot pattern machined within a recess. Many have made inserts from wood, carbon fiber, acrylic, etc and we can do the same. Please register interest here/ vote for materials you're interested in!
https://forms.gle/vJ1zahDQPuDLZBVj9
8-15-19 INSERT TIME!https://forms.gle/G6i5T8RwB6iZ1fkz7I'll try to update here with more details/ pics, but it's pretty self-explanatory in the form. I've worked out pricing and materials - you can pick up inserts in carbon fiber, wood or a cool-looking silver acrylic.
I will most likely watch the initial trend and then pay upfront/ order with some extras for those that miss the form. If you want an insert, please click above. If you need to work out payment terms, just message me. I don't mind spotting you for it as long as needed - I just want an accurate count and want everyone who wants one to get one!
WEIGHTS REMAINING:Engraved: 0
Polished: 15
Raw: 0
