You could try an acetone test if it melts, discolors or deforms to acetone then it’s very likely a resin that’s not ultem.
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That’s smart! Good idea.
What if you included a trash grade with orders of the finalized ones in the first public batch
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That was my plan but I still want to try to mark them somehow (for the ones that aren’t visibly trash) so that someone can’t go sell the trash grade and try to pass it off as A.
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Ad-ultem-erated?
I was under the impression that ultem couldn’t be recycled, there’s places on the internet still saying that too. Looking into further it’s fairly simple and has been in the recycling loop for 40 years while people have been mixing it with powdered PC, glass fibre, carbon fibre, all sorts of unlisted medical gunk.
If what you’re referring to by resin is the thermoplastic pouring / two-part resin, you can test by heating to about 55° where it should become pliable.
I think MinerJ has the right end of the stick regarding annealing. If the ultem stock was very cheap it’s likely not annealed for use in injection molding. You could try heating to about 230°, the glass transition stage for pure ultem. If that doesn’t significantly improve the strength last test is to get the blowtorch, ultem has a much higher burning point and lower smoke production than other resins.
While it’s disappointing that the blast didn’t come out how you hoped on the ultem Jive axles, I think that’s probably also an indication that they’ll take a good long time to polish compared to wood
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I thought about annealing after he posted that but it turns out proper annealing takes a long time for such a thick piece of Ultem and apparently it needs packed in sand to prevent warping during that too so I ended up not trying. I might try heating it on a 3d printed bed to 55-60 and see if the axle bends though lol. Good idea.
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Yeah I considered mentioning heat but if it is something fake ultem I worried about off gassing and figured it’s not worth the risk. Please use good ventilation which with the silly materials you print I imagine you have.
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What’s the timeline for the Pocket Watches looking like? I want one now lol. You’ll have to weigh it when it gets there, but I hope it’s heavy. :3
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I’m getting the prototypes some time this week assuming UPS gets it together (they claim my package is coming today but it’s in Tennessee right now so that ain’t happening), and I need to test them out. My initial plan had been RIPs next followed by Pocket Watch but that’s going to depend on the prototype testing, if I love the pocket watch more it’ll bump the queue.
All that being said I need to get my production run of Caramels, and once I sell enough of those to pay for the next production run I’ll order the production run of my favorite prototype, sell enough of those, and then do the next production run. So maybe Q1-Q2 2026 is my guess, subject to change depending on my health and caramel sales.
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Have you done/considered doing pre-orders? I think it’s a better option once you know your production costs because you can know ahead of time how many units to produce & get the financing for production upfront (assuming you’re not selling at a loss, and there are enough customers lining up to cover the minimum cost of production).
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I have thought about it but there are a couple limiting factors that have stopped me from doing it.
The first is my health. I am chronically ill and have one especially nasty genetic condition that is kind of unpredictable. I worry about things like taking preorders and then going through a stretch of bad months leaving folks holding the bag. I also don’t want too many irons in the fire all at once for the same reason, during good months I can only stand and walk 1-2 hours a day and need to spread things out a bit to accommodate that.
The second thing is that production cost varies wildly by how many units I order. Looking at early pocket watch estimates, if I put up preorders at $100 and only 5 people sign up I am losing money. If 50 people sign up then I’m ripping people off and could have priced a lot lower. Once I have a better handle on cost and demand (I’m still figuring a lot of this out) this one will be less of a concern.
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With just one run, it may be hard to conclude a safe, over-estimated expected rate of B grades for future runs, which could make preorders a bit tricky to navigate
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Aye true, if you’re not responsible for every step of manufacturing and you want low prices (I’d happily pay more just to know that I’d definitely get it eventually lol but that’s not everyone) then that makes it tough. One way of getting around these issues is treating it more like a Kickstarter campaign: inform people upfront that they’re paying extra to get the product early & cover costs, use the number of ‘backers’ to gauge demand (if X number of people pay $Y, how many will pay $Z?), and produce enough units to sell as stock.
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Oops hit send. Continued…
I think as long as you’re transparent with people about how you can’t work very quickly because of your health and you keep them updated periodically (hey you’re doing it already!) people would be willing to pay that. That’s why running a business with a very well-documented process is beneficial when you’re at a small scale—people can connect with what you’re doing on a personal level and it makes them feel involved and in the loop.
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I think after I get a couple releases out and I’m more comfortable, pre orders will be a great idea.
In the meantime assuming the prototypes function, once I’m done testing them out I am considering selling one or two of them and if that happens I’ll shoot you a message haha.
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Ooh I love prototypes! 
I sure hope they work then.
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Also the manufacturer isn’t one we see in the yoyo space like fpm so the b grade rate is a bit of an unknown
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True I didn’t consider that. I hope it’s 0%… otherwise what’re you paying the machinists for? Metal?
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I would also worry about tariffs and inflation as the market has showed you can get hit with a 150% extra bill with no warning simply because of a political maneuver between global leaders…
I think we are falling into enough uncertainty that pre orders are a bit more risky and may become less common in the near term…
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I’ll note maybe a partial payment scenario like G2 does would make sense like half upfront and the remainder plus shipping and b grade calculations, tariffs, etc are a payment prior to delivery but that adds a whole bunch of extra tracking and work in Andy’s side and potential stress so I would be warry enough to almost suggest if you go that route you set a minimum to go forward like 20 to get a certain discount rate or order minimum and maximum order limit of whatever you feel comfortable tracking and dealing with for your own health. Might make things more expensive but I would rather pay more to ensure your not over taxed vs you struggling and burning out after dropping a few cool things
Just my thoughts I prefer a sustained long term thing that maybe takes a few years vs run and be done in a few months but that’s just my mindset
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