The 2020 Eggtimer Rocketry Holiday Sale

[tHoagland]

I placed my order for some eggfinder products today and it took almost a full hour from email sent to receiving shipment notification. I'm looking forward to get these put together...

 

[SecondRow]

I'd stay there for a while, too.

Mine overshot delivery by about 600 miles before finally turning around Saturday night. It was delivered late this afternoon, I hope your's comes along soon, SecondRow!

Just got the text that it finally made it to Atlanta. This IS a happy Thanksgiving!

It will probably be here tomorrow, but since I’m heading down to Tifton for our GRITS launch, I won’t see it until Sunday.

 

[tsmith1315]

Great, happy Thanksgiving!

Mine isn't talking to me, and time's getting pretty short for troubleshooting. Don't know what I'll have to fly, but I'm planning to go to GRITS, too!

 

[SecondRow]

Cool! See you there. Here’s hoping the weather holds. I’ll be attempting an L2 cert if the cloud ceiling isn’t too low.

 

[H. Craig Miller]

Some times the assembly can be a little tricky, especially if you can’t get something to work. But, if you have a problem, you can readily contact Cris... he goes well out of his way to make sure you get the help you need.

In my opinion, you will not find better customer service anywhere.

 

[SecondRow]

Woke up this morning to a package on my doorstep. Thanks, Cris!

 

[tsmith1315]

Cool!

And I got my Proton screw-up fixed late last night! What's the last part you'd want to have to remove and turn around on a Proton?

 

[SecondRow]

Cool!

And I got my Proton screw-up fixed late last night! What's the last part you'd want to have to remove and turn around on a Proton?

Nice.

Not having built one but looking at the manual, I’m going to say the 28-pin interface chip. Yikes!

 

[MikeyDSlagle]

November 23, 2020
In Transit, Arriving Late
Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility.

 

[cerving]

Just a reminder that our sale runs through Monday the 30th, so if you bought some kits at a sweet discount over the past few days and you need electronics for them, we got you covered. We still have stock on everything...

 

[Rocket501]

Just a reminder that our sale runs through Monday the 30th, so if you bought some kits at a sweet discount over the past few days and you need electronics for them, we got you covered. We still have stock on everything...

Thanks. I'll put in an order later today, I'm just trying to figure out what I want.

 

[cerving]

Like all good things, the Eggtimer Rocketry Holiday Sale has to come to an end. A big Thank You for everyone who ordered from us! We were able to ship out most of the orders pretty quickly, however we ran out of a few things in the last two days of the sale, namely Quarks, Quantums, and the GPS transmitters. We'll be kitting them up as soon as possible to fill you orders... we expect to be able to ship everything by next week.

 

[OverTheTop]

Well I think I will stick a fork in it and call it done. Just finished testing the final kit (TRS) that I bought at the sale. All good (TRS, 2xApogee, Proton). Thanks Cris .

 

[MidLifeMike]

Kicking myself for not being able to decide and delaying and then missing the sale. :-/ Have fun everyone!

 

[Charles_McG]

Kicking myself for not being able to decide and delaying and then missing the sale. :-/ Have fun everyone!

No, no, no. You didn't 'miss' this sale. You're 'saving up' for whatever goodies Eggtimer releases in 2021! Like a Quantum size altimeter with an accelerometer. Or modules that plug onto the run pins and bluetooth network to the module on an Eggfinder that radios back telemetry like Alt and Phase of Flight.

(No insight here - just wishing)

 

[cerving]

We're already working on our 2021 stuff... lots of work to do.

 

[mbeels]

Like a Quantum size altimeter with an accelerometer.

I'd second that, especially one with data logging. Like a mini Proton (without the wifi).

Edit: Quark, I was thinking Quark sized altimeter with accelerometer.

 

[MikeyDSlagle]

Looks like they gonna break their old record, think it was 2 weeks last time.

 

[cerving]

Sometimes you don't know when you're gonna get them until they show up at your doorstep... especially if there's a LiPo battery label on them.

 

[PayLoad]

What is the best email for a customer service issue? My eggtimer was wrecked by previous builder and I have to order new parts to try again

 

[cerving]

I've sent you a couple of replies to your emails... please check your Spam folder. If you can't find them, PM me.

 

[Hobbylink]

I got my Proton the other day in the mail. I had it populated in about a half an hour and tested all six channels in just under a hour. There is lots of room for soldering the parts on and very easy. The only issue I have is that even with a lot of light and eye loupe it is very hard to read the part numbers. Some part makers just don't want to white wash the part number for ease.
Great toy can't wait to use it. Thanks Chris!

 

[cerving]

30 minutes? Did you use paste and bake it?

Yes, the logos on some of the parts aren't as clear as we'd like... unfortunately that's beyond our control. They're designed for a pick and place machine... not something that most people have access to, and there's really no reliable hobby version yet either.

 

[Hobbylink]

No, I used board vise, a lot of light, a microscope, and a Metcal station TMT-9000S. With the metcal it has a pencil handle and works great for faster work. And tips that was made for surface mount work. Low heat and small tips plus ESD safe. They can be bought for under $300.00. I just line up the parts and go to town. I have been doing surface mount work for over 20 years with boards that have a lot more parts and very close together. I don't use solder paste on boards that will have high thrust used on them. Back in the 90's when I was working at Storage Technology Corporation, We had a problem with line workers dropping the card into the transfer box and IC coming off. It was determined that there was about 2 G's for force with that action. So unless I want to stake down the parts and possible conformal coat the board. I stay clear of paste for flight work. I only use paste for non flight boards. Plus you have only about 35 parts total on the board. It helps to have the right equipment for the job.

 

[Hobbylink]

Chris you might find this cool. My Mother retired from LASP and worked on building Rockets and satellites. That is where I got the bug for rockets and electronic work. The picture has a actual pressure sensor that was used on full size sounding rockets for CU that they gave her at her retirement. And a picture of a Launch at night. It also has some Pictures of Stuff that NASA gave here for Satellites that went into space via the shuttle that was tide to LASP.

 

[Cape Byron]

30 minutes? Did you use paste and bake it?

Yes, the logos on some of the parts aren't as clear as we'd like... unfortunately that's beyond our control. They're designed for a pick and place machine... not something that most people have access to, and there's really no reliable hobby version yet either.

I did some work with an electronics company (Simtec Electronics) in the UK about 20 years ago. The pick and place machines were huge, noisy and incredibly expensive. Amazing to watch. I'm not surprised there isn't a realistic hobby version.

 

[cerving]

We're getting off track, but... yes, it would be really nice if there were a relatively inexpensive (< $500) and reasonably reliable pick and place machine. Right now, the only ones that are remotely close are over $2K, and require a lot of fidgeting... like those cheap laser cutters and reflow ovens. There are some companies that specialize in very low volume assembly work (kind of like an OshPark), if you want to get into that space you better have a really good business plan because the capitalization required to get started with good equipment is significant... deep 5-digits to low 6-digits.

 

[OverTheTop]

We have a local manufacturer we use for PCB assembly for work sometimes. They have a nifty printer that can print the solderpaste on the PCB, rather than using stencils. Neat bit of kit.

I wonder what the current pick-and-place machines are up to these days. I remember Siemens had done that would to 80000 chip components per hour, but that was a few years ago now.

 

[cerving]

Getting the paste on the board is the easy part, especially if you leave the boards on the panel (i.e. don't cut them apart until they're done) and silkscreen a few dozen in one pass. Baking the boards is pretty simple too. Placing the parts is the bottleneck...

 

[Tobor]

Getting the paste on the board is the easy part, especially if you leave the boards on the panel (i.e. don't cut them apart until they're done) and silkscreen a few dozen in one pass. Baking the boards is pretty simple too. Placing the parts is the bottleneck...

Trained monkeys come to mind....