Machinery issue affecting some orders (2 Viewers)

[David Spragg]

We’ve run into a major problem, the full extent of which was only known today.

10 days ago the main spindle of our finishing grinder seized up. Because of its age a replacement part has to be manufactured for us by the manufacturer and fitted by them for safety reasons. What we were originally told might be a 2-4 week job has, after inspection, turned into a major project that will take 2-3 months and wipe out almost our entire years revenue.

We are trying to source some local help from a dozen nearby workshops that offer centerless grinding services but given our machine is customized we don’t know if that will work out. With the right equipment it may even be possible on a lathe as they were finished many years ago.

Your order would have been ready to ship right around now without this as they are complete aside from finishing. There is really nothing I can do right now except keep you updated. If you happen to know anyone that might be able to help short term please let me know.

If I have not emailed you directly then I’m not expecting this to affect the timeline for your order.

This does not delay any process other than finishing the chips, so if you were thinking of ordering, rather than holding back it would actually help us keep everyone busy if you went ahead sooner rather than later as the lack of grinder is not going to have any impact on your orders.

David

 

[JMC9389]

Sorry to hear this David. I'll be ordering a DSQ add on in the next few days. Hope you guys are up and running again sooner rather than later.

 

[Quicksilver-75]

Bummer...

 

[David Spragg]

Thanks. It's very unfortunate but hopefully won't impact too many people.
A lot of the 'finishing' over the next couple of months would have been stock chips (Atlantics and Rounders both sizes) so only around 15 people are affected, some considerably, some only slightly. I've written to every one of those to explain.
Everything else continues as usual. The grinding itself is not majorly time consuming once fixed - they are ground 25 at a time which takes less than a minute and not much more than that to inspect so we can catch up quite quickly.

 

[Dingdingding]

Dang, that sucks. Hope you find a decent substitution in one of the workshops and keeping my fingers crossed for the repair to be done quicker and hopefully cheaper than this sounds.

 

[davislane]

@RivieraDanny comes to mind with his whole spa and chip reconditioning setup

 

[David Spragg]

Bummer...

You wouldn't have even known yours were ready for grinding if I hadn't emailed you!

 

[David Spragg]

@RivieraDanny comes to mind with his whole spa and chip reconditioning setup

Yes I know, but ultimately he had limited success with a 50% success rate. Not something we could afford to try I'm afraid.
Really needs someone localish we could go to.

 

[chippitydoodah]

Love the transparency David. Many would have begun blaming staffing issues, material shortages, shipping delays etc. You're a stand up man and I hope to one day be in line for a custom set of your beautiful chips!

 

[David Spragg]

Dang, that sucks. Hope you find a decent substitution in one of the workshops and keeping my fingers crossed for the repair to be done quicker and hopefully cheaper than this sounds.

Part of the cost is dependent on whether they can take away the broken parts and recondition them for future use. They give a fair allowance in that case, that happened to us with something else around 7 years ago.

 

[David Spragg]

@RivieraDanny comes to mind with his whole spa and chip reconditioning setup

Also a big difference between skimming the edges of previously finished chips to remove odd nicks and grinding off 4-5mm without them going off center!

 

[David Spragg]

Dang, that sucks. Hope you find a decent substitution in one of the workshops and keeping my fingers crossed for the repair to be done quicker and hopefully cheaper than this sounds.

Well as most people know we were never really in this for the money. Hand made chip production is not a very profitable business so while it's painful the cost probably sounds more than it is. Just something we have to eat I'm afraid. And when we have our annual inflationary price increases from 1 Jan I won't be adding on to cover anything.

 

[Josh Kifer]

Appreciate the heads up David, as always.

 

[ekricket]

Wasn’t there an old one of these left over from the palm gaming inc sale? I’m pretty sure this was one of the pieces of equipment that they left behind and it was acquired by somebody or maybe looked at by some guys in Florida?

 

[Quicksilver-75]

You wouldn't have even known yours were ready for grinding if I hadn't emailed you!

Feels like yelling...not sure what your point is. Still a bummer.

 

[Dingdingding]

Well as most people know we were never really in this for the money. Hand made chip production is not a very profitable business so while it's painful the cost probably sounds more than it is. Just something we have to eat I'm afraid. And when we have our annual inflationary price increases from 1 Jan I won't be adding on to cover anything.

Yes, that was exactly what i was thinking. There must be a reason why there is only two manufacturers of compression molded chips out there and only you are offering to the public. Narrow margins is what i assumed, so basically we all need people like you or Jim B. back then that want to keep the art of making compression molded clays alive.

I just hope things turn out good for you and the machinery gets back to working mode soon. Not because i placed an order i'd be waiting for, but because i want CPC to be happy and still around once i have the money for my own order.

 

[ovo]

sorry to hear this David, I hope you get it smoothed out soon

 

[BamaT8ter]

I'm one of the people affected. Obviously it isn't an ideal situation, but I know @David Spragg and the folks at CPC will do the best they can to get the chips to me as soon as they can. Thanks for the transparency and for CPC's always stellar customer service. Now to go plot my next order.

 

[AlbinoDragon]

This is disappointing news, but not unexpected I suppose for a piece of machinery that gets a lot of use. Things wear out and break down. It's a bigger hit for the operation and keeping things up and running as well as the wafer thin bottom line.

Thanks for the update, David. I had been pondering a small order and this message reminded me I had to get of my butt and finalize numbers to send your way.

 

[BonScot]

That’s really sad news David. Gutted for you and everyone else at CPC who is losing income as a result of the machinery breakdown.

What you guys at CPC do for the chip nerd community shouldn’t be underestimated.

It sounds like you’re going to take a kicking financially this year. It might be worthwhile to do some kind of a fundraising event / sell shares / Q-jump tickets. No shame in asking for help and I’m sure that a lot of people would contribute and any money raised would soften the blow. The last thing we want is for you to chuck it because you’ve had enough.

 

[David Spragg]

That’s really sad news David. Gutted for you and everyone else at CPC who is losing income as a result of the machinery breakdown.

What you guys at CPC do for the chip nerd community shouldn’t be underestimated.

It sounds like you’re going to take a kicking financially this year. It might be worthwhile to do some kind of a fundraising event / sell shares / Q-jump tickets. No shame in asking for help and I’m sure that a lot of people would contribute and any money raised would soften the blow. The last thing we want is for you to chuck it because you’ve had enough.

Our current lease still has 5+ years so we remain committed.

 

[buzzmonkey]

That’s really sad news David. Gutted for you and everyone else at CPC who is losing income as a result of the machinery breakdown.

What you guys at CPC do for the chip nerd community shouldn’t be underestimated.

It sounds like you’re going to take a kicking financially this year. It might be worthwhile to do some kind of a fundraising event / sell shares / Q-jump tickets. No shame in asking for help and I’m sure that a lot of people would contribute and any money raised would soften the blow. The last thing we want is for you to chuck it because you’ve had enough.

This. I'd recommend a special pre-sale, one time, PCF commemorative chip at say $25/chip (or whatever makes sense). Then folks that want to support you can do so in a fun way. Put them in airtights so they can be shipped cheaper.

 

[BonScot]

Our current lease still has 5+ years so we remain committed.

Glad to hear it. I’ve got a small business myself and I know what it’s like when fate decides to put on the steel toe-cap Doc Marten’s and boot you right in the balls.

@buzzmonkey suggestion of a commemorative chip is a good idea.

Obviously I’ll do the artwork for free

 

[Sparkynutz]

This. I'd recommend a special pre-sale, one time, PCF commemorative chip at say $25/chip (or whatever makes sense). Then folks that want to support you can do so in a fun way. Put them in airtights so they can be shipped cheaper.

Or list other sale items not affected like those awesome walnut chipracks you sold on here. We'll definitely send some business your way!

 

[Fran]

Sorry to hear that David… Good luck for the maintenance

 

[dpeks13]

This. I'd recommend a special pre-sale, one time, PCF commemorative chip at say $25/chip (or whatever makes sense). Then folks that want to support you can do so in a fun way. Put them in airtights so they can be shipped cheaper.

IN

 

[LowerBama1714]

Specifically, what type of help is needed? I can ask my 3M people in New England if they know any fabricators or machine shops that can help.

 

[David Spragg]

I’ll think about all the ideas and figure something out, thanks.

 

[David Spragg]

Specifically, what type of help is needed? I can ask my 3M people in New England if they know any fabricators or machine shops that can help.

Ideally a centerless grinder able to grind a stationary barrel or so of chips at a time. Note that most grinders are designed for metal and would use carbide wheels. We use a carbide fixed wheel and a hard rubber compound moving wheel (so it is a bit specialised).

 

[Josh Kifer]

Our current lease still has 5+ years so we remain committed.

Just tell me when you need me to move to Maine.