LooBlade - a revolution in toilet-cleaning!

Vorsprung durch tooling, as they say in Bavaria!
almost 10 years ago – Fri, May 06, 2016 at 10:35:24 PM

Just a quick update to let you know that we are going to be running a first test of the German tooling on Monday. We will report as soon as we can once we've completed the testing.  

We are extremely grateful to the teams at Sauba and Prover who have moved so quickly, and marshalled their resources to do this, all from a standing start and in record time too, given the complexity of the tool. If it were possible, we would ask you to applaud them, because they have been amazing! Our sincere thanks go to them!

So...fingers crossed! And many thanks again for your patience and support!

Progress update
almost 10 years ago – Thu, Apr 28, 2016 at 12:32:40 AM

Sorry that it's been four weeks since we updated, we've had a lot going on, and wanted to be sure our new course was well underway. Thanks to everyone who's engaged and posted. 

Progress- we expect to be doing initial testing on the new German tooling next week. All being well and allowing for any tweaking, we will be aiming to gear up for series production during May. Final assembly, incidentally, will be by a wonderful company in Germany who employ a less-abled workforce with inspiring support and management. We will post as significant stages occur. 

General project timescales- I've personally backed 17 projects on KS. The majority of manufacturing projects have considerably overshot initial estimated delivery. While no project wants to do that, nonetheless in good faith they usually do so for similar reasons. Often due to downstream supplier issues and/or emergent complexities. Time and effort solves the obstacles and that is what innovation is about. It's great to have backing and support in that process, and that's what KS it seems to me is all about.

Return of pledges - projects can't really contemplate return of pledges when the manufacturing process hasn't been given a fair chance to complete. In most if not all cases the pledges are committed capital enabling the project itself. LooBlade is set for global distribution and is well on course to becoming a common household item, and it's thanks to the vision and support of everyone here. Please bear with us as we bring something simple, new and hopefully important to life. You're in at the start of something and we are hugely grateful for the continuing support on the journey! 

Business Insider/RBS- Inventor of the Year - I am pleased and incredibly humbled to say, I won!

Bogged down, then loosened up...
about 10 years ago – Mon, Mar 28, 2016 at 12:21:24 AM

We have to offer our sincere apologies for the delay in updating, and thanks to you all for your patience. We wanted to be sure we could report on concrete progress and definite outcomes.

As you would gather from previous updates, we were concerned that our primary supplier was not delivering the required quality of tooling, particularly for the blade head. They have worked extensively to improve it but it honestly hasn't matched our specification. We've therefore been working on alternatives to ensure we deliver on the quality and functionality that we designed and prototyped. This has taken time, but we didn't want to share fragments of news until we had a full committed solution.

We've mentioned that we'd established a very successful working relationship with our German partners and have relied on their manufacturing expertise and advice. After fully analysing the variables, we've decided to shift production to Germany in its entirety.

This is not a decision made lightly, but the enormous scale of emerging global interest in LooBlade is such that we can't risk compromising on dependability and quality of supply. We're also entirely focussed on meeting, and hopefully exceeding, the expectations of the many supportive backers who helped start all this.

It does mean further investment and time, to which our partners, Sauba and Prover, are committing extensively. It will inevitably introduce a further 4-6 week delay, and we hope you'll understand the importance of this strategy.

It also means that oversight and hands-on engagement with production is easily accomplished, although having visited their facilities and met with the first class teams at Sauba and Prover, we have absolutely no concerns regarding their utter professionalism and ability to deliver. LooBlade will be made in the same factory that creates high quality parts for some of the leading eco-vehicle manufacturers in the world.

We look forward to a new energy and impetus in the project and to getting LooBlade out to you, and across the globe. We very genuinely and gratefully recognise it's entirely thanks to your help that it is happening at all.

In other news, Garry's been shortlisted for the RBS/Business Insider 'Inventor of the Year Award' - final on 21st April 2016, Edinburgh, Scotland. Fingers crossed...:)

T4 Samples
about 10 years ago – Mon, Mar 07, 2016 at 08:55:41 PM

The T4 samples have just arrived, and we're now happy with the handle and grips finish. 

However the blade remains short of what we want. The 'feel' flexibility and function are great but the surface finish is not as required; there are visible part lines. We have a number of options but I wanted let you see where we are. I'll update mid next week.

Photo below.(Please ignore the test grey colors)

Nearing the home straight!
about 10 years ago – Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 03:32:35 PM

I'm sorry it's been over two weeks since we updated. Chinese New Year brought things to a halt with our manufacturer.

We've been working to perfect the tooling as you know and the latest run on the surface finish testing looks great. We're waiting on a final rework of the blade tool which should get tested before the end of this week.

We also discovered that with the final materials spec. there was the possibility that the head would rotate a little on the handle under use. The final antimicrobial additives create less friction in the mating surfaces. It wasn't an issue on any of the prototypes or initial samples, but we've now had to work with our design engineers to redesign the handle spigot and socket to create an immovable joint. No difference will be visible from the outside. This design work is now complete, and we will rework the handle tool next week. All being well, we should then be ready to plan production.

Once again thank you for your support and patience.