Sadly these guys wrote an identical blog post a year ago about how their previous manufacturer was unprofessional. The new one was supposed to be top notch, since they met him in person and toured the factory before signing.
The description and photos of the etching and milling "factories" are, for me, the sort of thing that makes funding Kickstarter projects worthwhile:
... As we got into the car to head to the other factories, the factory owner conveniently disappeared and we were whisked off with his assistant and a machinist. It was unclear where we were going. After a long drive, the car stopped and we were told to get out. There was no factory.
We were on a dark, narrow road where every storefront was some variation of a live/work machine shop. Each one different. Each one specialized. A whole town of them, crammed side by side on narrow streets lit only by the glow of naked fluorescent bulbs. Think Bladerunner meets pre-industrial metal shops. The energy was palpable. Clean? No. Could we find it on a map? No. Could we have ever imagined that a factory work is outsourced to places like this? Definitely not. And even though we had never seen anything like it before, we could recognize it straight away. Every shop was run by highly skilled, passionate, self-taught makers. A lot like the shops many of our friends back home run. They are their own bosses. They live for and are proud of their work. This was nothing like the factory where we spent the past few days. It was invigorating.
The man that machines the screw parts is awesome and his setup is incredible. He has six CNC swiss screw machines in a storefront garage, in the back room is his office, a small kitchenette, a toilet (which you flush by pouring a bucket of water into it) and a small room off the back where he and his wife sleep. ...
(I received my Pen Type-A a month or two ago, by the way. It's well made and is a pleasure to use.)
Mine works well only if I use it regularly. After a few days of non-use it dries up - even when kept closed. It might be because I haven't yet swapped out the original ink barrel though.
... As we got into the car to head to the other factories, the factory owner conveniently disappeared and we were whisked off with his assistant and a machinist. It was unclear where we were going. After a long drive, the car stopped and we were told to get out. There was no factory.
We were on a dark, narrow road where every storefront was some variation of a live/work machine shop. Each one different. Each one specialized. A whole town of them, crammed side by side on narrow streets lit only by the glow of naked fluorescent bulbs. Think Bladerunner meets pre-industrial metal shops. The energy was palpable. Clean? No. Could we find it on a map? No. Could we have ever imagined that a factory work is outsourced to places like this? Definitely not. And even though we had never seen anything like it before, we could recognize it straight away. Every shop was run by highly skilled, passionate, self-taught makers. A lot like the shops many of our friends back home run. They are their own bosses. They live for and are proud of their work. This was nothing like the factory where we spent the past few days. It was invigorating.
The man that machines the screw parts is awesome and his setup is incredible. He has six CNC swiss screw machines in a storefront garage, in the back room is his office, a small kitchenette, a toilet (which you flush by pouring a bucket of water into it) and a small room off the back where he and his wife sleep. ...
(I received my Pen Type-A a month or two ago, by the way. It's well made and is a pleasure to use.)