Reef Discussion

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
Hi Everyone,

This is definitely NOT the update I want to share with all of you guys especially after being so patient with us. Well here we go. The Clingies shipment showed up and were delivered as expected per our last update. I was excited to open the boxes and see the towels, upon our inspections there were towels than were not up to our standards as far as quality goes but a good portion were great. I decided to take one of each and wash them with white towels to check bleeding and fading. All seemed to be going good until I peeked in our dryer and saw one of them sticking to the heat inlet section of the dryer, I didn't think it was a big deal until I opened it and looked at the back of the towel. IT WAS BURNT! I thought no way, how could this be? How has this never happened with all the cycles that myself and my friends and family have done with the test towels? How have I not thought about this? Apparently it doesn't happen often but obviously from the picture below it can happen. The entire back of the machine is not magnetic, only the heat inlet section. I made a trip to home depot and nearly all dryers are the same with the heat coming in at the back.


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My initial thoughts on the fix.

Hang dry only. It's simple right? Take it out of the washer and simply stick it on the dryer and the heat from the outside of the dryer will even speed up the drying process. I tried this and it works. All we would need to do is remove the tag that says tumble dry and have a new one sewn on (via a local seamstress) that says hang dry only, fire hazard - per my attorneys suggestion. While this may work and would help to protect myself from lawsuits etc. this does not change the fact that these towels still may end up in the dryer by mistake or someone not realizing it should not be placed in the dryer. I could not live with myself knowing I created a product that burnt someones house down or even worse caused a fatality. I looked up "how many dryer fires per year" and the stats were NOT good. All the stats varied but one that stood out was 16,000+ per year and 50+ deaths in 2010. I was amazed at these numbers. Honestly even if it was much less, it's not worth the risk. I refuse to put people and myself in that situation.

My new thoughts on the fix.

Yes there was margins and I was actually making money on these towels selling them to you guys my backers on Kickstarter. What I did with what was profits was roll it into ordering more inventory so that we could sell them after the campaign. With that being said I now have to dip into my own pockets, money not raised via Kickstarter in order to fix this problem, unfortunately. To be honest it will be money well spent and my mind will be at ease and you guys will not have towels that are fire hazards. I am currently working on a plastic clip that will house the magnet and pinch the top portion of the towel where the magnet currently rests. This will require us to remove the original magnet pouch that is in-between the folded towel (easy to remove without causing any cosmetic issues or damaging the towels) and place them in the new clips. These clips will attach to other towels as well allowing you to turn other towels into "Clingies". I have some prototypes that are currently being worked on and should be testing the beginning of next week (working on this the last 3 days). I already have several injection mold companies that we work with and we could potentially have the mold completed and production running in 6-7 weeks if all goes good. It really depends on how testing goes next week. I may have to go back to the drawing board a couple times to get the clip perfect. Please keep in mind this is NOT some big chip clip type deal, it is a custom clip made just for the towels. They will be minimal, sleek and not a big eye sore. The part that I will be testing the most is how easy the clip breaks away from the towel if it manages to go into the washing machine. Generally you could just remove it and stick them on the fridge or on the exterior of the washing machine when washing the towels but if one does make it to the washer it will stick to the drum and the towel will break free which eliminates the fire hazard.

Suggestions?

I hope you guys understand my concerns here and I hope most of you will be on the same page as me. I am open to other suggestions on the issue and I am willing to listen to any ideas. To be honest I think the new design may actually be a blessing in disguise because you are not stuck with just our towel but you can now use our the Clingies and Docking Dots system with other towels and most of all there will be no risk of fires. I am completely aware that we are past due on delivering these and I know some of you are going to be upset so I want to say I am genuinely sorry for the way this project has gone and the delays we have faced, I hope in the end it's all worth it.

Once I get the prototypes and give them a test next week I will post an update showing you guys what to expect and how they work.

Thanks for your time,

Chuck and Jessica
 

ReeferRob

Solidarité
Oct 22, 2014
2,661
931
Bel Air
OK, this might be a fix, I don't know how much it would add to his cost. What about making 2 plain steel powder coated rounds to place on the magnets JUST in case someone puts it in the dryer? It would have to either be powder coated or galvanized to avoid staining the towels.
 

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
OK, this might be a fix, I don't know how much it would add to his cost. What about making 2 plain steel powder coated rounds to place on the magnets JUST in case someone puts it in the dryer? It would have to either be powder coated or galvanized to avoid staining the towels.
Thanks for the suggestion, I am not the creator, merely a group buy arranger for the forum :)

I have bought from this fellow on kickstarter before, have no doubt he will sort it out and ship a top quality product to us :)
 

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
I do, I had just been laying low on the updates till I had the towels in my possession to ask around who was after them again :)

Here is the latest, not far away now!
Hi Everyone!

Ok we finally have a productive update for everyone! Holy cow this has been a long ride!

We are excited to announce that shipping of the original design (waiver required) has began. The first batch of orders went out yesterday, another batch will go out today and hopefully the final batch will go out on Saturday.

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Some notes once you receive the towels.

-The towels are really soft and feel great against the face or any other part of your body but it seems like the absorption is not as good as the ones we tested until they have been washed quite a few times. It think the fibers in the towels break apart slowly allowing better absorption rates after some wash cycles.

-Make sure the tags with washing instructions toward the base of the towel have been removed and DO NOT FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS! We are hand cutting out all of these tags and if we missed any, please remove it with scissors yourself and do not follow the instructions.

- Wash your towels in warm or cold water. We suggest a gentle cycle just for longevity of your towels.

-Hang dry your towels only! Do not put them in the dryer as this is a fire hazard - I am sure you are all aware at this point.

-There are 2 colors of double sided sticky tape shown below included with your Docking Dots. The Red seem to work better all around. They are also much easier to remove without leaving any residue behind. The white is a more standard Foam type which can be a pain to remove and honestly doesn't seem to work any different or better. To be honest, I think the red works better anyways. Make sure to clean the surface EXTREMELY well before adhering your Dots. Make sure the surface is completely dry as well.

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The Clips

As I stated in a previous update the clips had some issues with the Ultrasonic welding - the back plate that traps the neo-magnet in the the clip. This process was shattering the magnet so they had to do a little redesigning of some angles with the clip. I should have the update version in 5-7 days along with an update from production. Below you can see a couple pictures of the PROTOTYPE (This is not pictures of production, production models will be very clean looking) redesign with a few minor angle changes. It may be a little hard to tell what is what and honestly you probably won't be able to see much of a difference. The molds are made but since we have to make some changes to them, its better to just make another prototype of the changes we need, test it and then make the mold changes. This will save us time and money. Once I get more info int he next 5-7 days I will let you guys know.

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For those of you who have not seen the clip, below are a few pictures of the final prototypes prior to running into a few issues that are being resolved. This is closer to what you can expect the final clips to look like!

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Thanks for the patience, I really appreciate all the kind words and emails that you all have sent supporting us. I know some of you are frustrated and we want you to know we are doing everything we can to make this project successful for all of you. Have a great day and upcoming weekend!

Chuck and Jessica
 

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
Hi all,

believe it or not, I should have 30 of the towels with magnets in them and 15 of the magnetic clips that you can use your own towels with. Anyone still after some?
 

holly

Member
Jul 10, 2013
1,806
832
Melbourne
What ended up being the final damage for each one? I put myself down for 10 but am happy to either share some of those with others who are interested or get the 10.
 

holly

Member
Jul 10, 2013
1,806
832
Melbourne
That was good of him, I'm good for 10 because i put myself down for that amount. Unless they are $40 each he he he
 

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
That was good of him, I'm good for 10 because i put myself down for that amount. Unless they are $40 each he he he
There is certainly no need to "honour" your initial pledge, I understand that this was created in May 2014.... Plus, I didn't get enough to fulfil everyone's full request, so will be a matter of first in best dressed. To cover what they cost me (well, what they cost me a year and a half ago... LOL

I can do the towels for $8ea and the clips for $5ea. I honestly can't say which option is better yet as I haven't taken delivery yet (tracking says today) but I figure at that price you can't go too wrong with either. Postage will depend on how many and where it is going to, but I should be able to cover most if not all of the post.

I'll update again when I have the towels in my possession and can show what colours I have!
 

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
Ok, just popped home to have a look at the towels and clips. They are quite nice quality! This is what I have available:

3 Red
1 Purple
2 Green
2 Light Blue
5 Blue
7 Grey
7 Black
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15 clips (allow you to use your own towels to magnetically attach anywhere. Note, you don't need a clip with the above towels, they have magnets built in)
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Please note, I cannot do these any cheaper than this!!! Each clip comes with an adhesive docking dot as does each towel.
 
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