InvenTABLE: A kid-safe power tool for cutting cardboard

June Update: Testing & Certification Kick Off
24 days ago – Wed, Jul 03, 2024 at 07:40:54 AM

Okay, it's just a little late to be the June update... but we've got a lot to say about what we've accomplished last month so we think "June Update" still feels right! See below for some wins, details on what's next for manufacturing, and a sneak peek at packaging! 

⏱ Timline Updates 🗞

None! We don't have any changes to the current fulfillment timeline at this point. In February, we estimated that we would start fulfillment in late September to October of 2024, and we are still on track for that. We will continue to update as we progress through manufacturing and testing!

🛠️ We’ve completed tooling for the InvenTABLE! 🏭

In our last update, we shared that we were kicking off the tooling phase. Now, we’re excited to share it’s coming to a close! We did multiple trials with the injection mold tools, making little adjustments along the way to get it right. After 3 rounds of trials, the parts look and feel great. Not to mention, it was surreal to see our invention coming out of such a big injection mold tool. Check it out in this vlog we posted on TikTok!

💭 So, what’s next? 📅

This week, we are moving into the Engineering Validation Testing (EVT) phase. EVT is where we build test units of InvenTABLE with the injection molded parts and the same components we’ll use in the final version, and test the functionality. Sometimes, there are some small changes required as an outcome of this testing, but right now we expect it to go very smoothly (Knock on wood!🤞).

The next step is Design Validation Testing (DVT), in which we make sure the InvenTABLE meets both cosmetic and environmental requirements. Because the units we are building during EVT are so close to the final product, we are actually combining it with DVT and evaluating both this week. 

This also means that we can soon officially begin compliance testing. After our review, we will be sending somewhere between 30-50 units to testing agencies to get certifications and check that we comply with toy safety regulations, electrical standards, etc. This is a huge hurdle for InvenTABLE. Safety and reliability are so important to our mission and we want to ensure we can get the certifications we need. For that reason, we have done a lot of pre-scanning for compliance with earlier prototypes. Through this pre-screening process, we’ve gained confidence in our design. We are excited to kick off the official compliance and reliability testing to see that work pay off!

Linking a helpful guide from our manufacturing partner Kaizen Dynamic on the difference between EVT, DVT, and PVT (Production Validation Testing) here!

We have also learned a lot about the standards in different countries and regions. We are planning to create a page on our website to share more details about when to expect InvenTABLE to be available internationally. Stay tuned for that!

✨ Sharing some of the (big) little victories 🤏

For those that have been following InvenTABLE for a while, you probably know that much of our team has been in China for over 3 months now! We are so glad that we’re here. We have incredible partners in the Kaizen Dynamic team that has been helping with product development, supply chain, and manufacturer relations.

Being in person has allowed us to test new prototypes and make small adjustments quickly. So, we wanted to share some of that with you all and give you a peek into some improvements that would have been really hard if we didn’t have the support to take this trip.

The power button: We have gone through many iterations of the power button. It needs be large and easy to press, and can’t get stuck in either position. But we want the button to feel chunky and tactile when you click it. It turns out this was a little bit more art than science! Our colleagues at Kaizen Dynamic prototyped a lot of approaches and would regularly bring them in for us to try out any time one was ready. We almost felt like Goldilocks saying “this button is too soft” or “this one is too hard.” If we had to collaborate remotely it would have been really hard to iterate like this, and we may have ended up with something that worked but wasn’t the best. But being here in person gave us the chance to try a lot of approaches. And let us tell you--now, that button is just right.

Dust collection: We also made more changes to the dust collection tray than we anticipated. The drawer design was straightforward, but we wanted to make sure the InvenTABLE would turn off when the drawer was opened (safety first!). To do this, we implemented a switch that would only be pressed when the drawer is inside the machine. Our initial designs for the switch interfered with the drawer though, sometimes making it hard to pull out, or most times making it so easy that the drawer would push out on its own and stop the cutting. This was tricky, because the issues weren’t consistent to reproduce and we had to spend a lot of time testing changes. After all our iteration and testing though, it just works. The drawer is easy to remove, but when you push it in, it clicks. It feels like the drawer wants to be in the InvenTABLE--which is exactly how it should be!

The lid: We noticed through testing that if you place the lid on the InvenTABLE in the wrong orientation, it is really difficult to take off. To remedy this, we added divots to the InvenTABLE housing to make it really easy to lift the lid off no matter how you place it. This is a great example of something we only would have caught in person, because we only caught it due to our own human error!

We could probably gush about the little improvements we’ve been able to make for the length of a whole book, but we’ll leave you with that for now. If we hadn’t had as much support from you at the start of our journey, we might not have been able to go to China in person for such a long trip. We’re so glad that we had this opportunity, and we think it will show through in the product when you all receive your InvenTABLEs later this year.

We are heading back to the US in a few weeks once we’re through with engineering & design validation testing--and can rest easy knowing that we were here to make sure that every detail is perfect!

✂️ Cardboard Cutter, Cardboard Packaging 📦

Getting a finished product safely across the globe on a ship, then to your front door can be a perilous journey! We need our packaging to transport the InvenTABLE safely. And, as inventors passionate about the merits of a sustainable material like cardboard, we really want a fun package design that only uses cardboard as opposed to packing foam or other less sustainable materials.

Check out what we came up with below! This fun package is all cardboard, and does a great job of protecting the InvenTABLE. Not only that, but once you break your box down, it becomes your first material to cut on your new power tool! We’ve printed practice shapes to cut out throughout the box, as well as a more complicated 12-sided die on the bottom that you can roll to come up with project ideas!

We also have some packaging designs for the table accessories pack & hole punch. You’ll notice some fun characters, that each represent an accessory that goes with the InvenTABLE. We think these awesome illustrations reflect the playful spirit of making with the InvenTABLE, and hope you all feel the same way.

🙏 Thank you! 🎉

As always, we feel the need to express our gratitude and overall excitement to have such a great community of backers and fans. We know we couldn't have taken such a big swing without your support, and being able to invest ourselves fully in this project has led to the InvenTABLE being better than we could have imagined. We can't wait for you all to see it, hold it, and cut a lot of cardboard.

If you have any questions, comments, or just want to say hi, then reach out to us at [email protected]! See you in the next one!

👋 P.S. 📫 

If you still haven't completed a backerkit survey with your address information (there are about 500 backers who haven't) we will not be able to ship your pledge rewards. You can navigate to inventable.backerkit.com to check your survey status or request a new link. If this doesn't work for you, contact us at [email protected] for help. We want to make sure everyone gets their InvenTABLE!

May Update: Tooling Kick Off
2 months ago – Thu, May 16, 2024 at 06:02:42 AM

🛠️ We’ve kicked off tooling for the InvenTABLE! 🏭

In other words, we’ve locked in the details for the final designs and now the factories are building the tools needed to produce InvenTABLE in large quantities. It’s an exciting milestone! The couple of weeks leading up to this decision were full of testing and checking every small detail, and led to some final changes. These changes don’t have an impact on the timeline--we’re still on track to begin fulfillment in late September to October--but we want to share the latest updates with you, our first supporters!

While the housing of InvenTABLE itself stayed the same, there are a few tweaks to the lid design and how the accessories mount to the lid. We’ve also finalized the design for the hole punch tool. Next, we have an update related to international orders, and then we'll finish off with a sneak peek of the Toys and Games Project Pack. Read about everything in more detail below:

🤘InvenTABLE will be shipping with a sturdy metal lid 🧱

In previous updates, we’ve shown a lid with a symmetrical slot-based mounting system for accessories. We were planning on using a sturdy plastic for this, because it is easier to manufacture a lid with holes if the lid is made of plastic. But, our testing showed that the plastic lid deforms a little bit and can interfere with the opening of the cutting head. We had originally believed we could pick a sturdy enough plastic to mitigate this issue, but it has become clear that this isn’t the case. So, we’ve made the decision to deliver a metal lid! The metal feels great, and doesn’t interfere at all with the cutting head!

The keen-eyed reader might notice there are no holes in the lid, like there have been in previous renders. That’s right! Our testing also revealed some difficulties with how we were mounting the accessories. Most importantly, it was very difficult to make custom cardboard accessories work with the mount points, so the holes were not adding value for customers who don’t have the optional accessory add-on. Our solution was to prioritize a great experience with the default lid, and get rid of the accessory mount points entirely. The basic lid that comes with the InvenTABLE will now be solid metal, with screen printed cut guides on both sides. One side will be metric and one side will be imperial to accommodate a variety of measurements.

This does not mean those who purchased the accessory bundle can’t mount their sweet table accessories, though! We’ve decided to include an additional metal lid with new and improved mount points with the table accessory pack. See more below!

🪚 Flexible Fence Fixtures! 📦

The challenges with mounting the accessories to the table and the accompanying lid changes led us to rethink the accessory designs a little bit. The biggest change here is with the fence. The fence had relatively few settings, and it would also occasionally pop out of the slots on the lid while cutting. We decided to solve both problems by switching to a design that is more similar to standard table saw fences. The fence now has a thumb screw and can slide along parallel slots to be screwed down anywhere. The screw helps it stay engaged, and the sliding track allows for more flexible settings.

The angle guide previously mounted onto the fence, so it also needed a new home. We added a track for the angle guide onto the opposite side of the lid, but otherwise the design remains the same.

Finally, the circle guide is now dual sided! One side has notches corresponding to imperial units, while the other has notches corresponding to metric units. Regardless of the unit system you’re using for your designs, you can now enjoy perfect precise cuts! Of course, the accessory-mountable lid will also be double sided with both metric and imperial cutting guides on it.

All customers and backers who purchased the accessory pack are getting these updated accessories and the corresponding lid!

👊 Punch Holes Anywhere 🕳️

You may have seen a sneak peak of this design on social media or on our website. Well here it is officially: the hole punch design is locked in! We spent a long time working on this tool. We felt it was important to be able to punch holes anywhere in a sheet of cardboard, not just close to the edge. A hand-clamp style hole punch just doesn’t fit the bill there. We tried taking inspiration from leather working tools to create a spring driven hole punch, but it ended up being partially usable at best and prone to breaking at worst. The best solution ended up being a manual operated hole punch similar to a stepped drill bit. It’s easy to push in to cardboard, and we can allow for a variety of hole sizes without any configuration of the tool. For example, you can make a small hole for string, a medium hole for the InvenTABLE cutting head, or a bigger hole for a marble. Best of all, it’s safe. This tool has a slightly rounded tip so you can’t prick your finger or cut yourself, and it’s going to be made out of a sturdy plastic. We’re really proud of this design and are excited to share it! All backers and customers who already ordered the hole punch tool will be getting this version. We’re so proud of this design, and hope it makes hole-punching a breeze!

🌎 An Update on International Orders ✈️

We have started initial compliance screenings for the InvenTABLE, and included multiple countries in addition to the US and Canada. While we got good feedback, it’s clear that there are additional requirements in certain regions that we need to comply with. In some exciting cases, we can implement changes now without impacting the timeline. For example, this testing revealed a need for a shutoff after a certain amount of time without load. So now the InvenTABLE will stop running after 10 minutes if there is no cutting, protecting against situations where it is left on accidentally. 

But, there are other requirements that we need more time to solve for before we make InvenTABLE available in new regions. For example, in many regions, we need obtain extra certifications for the power supply. In order to protect our fulfillment timeline for existing pledges and orders, we need to prioritize moving to the next phase with the designs that are made for the US and Canada. In other words, these requirements will not impact our US timeline, but they may impact when we can take international pre-orders. 

Currently, we believe we can still start taking international pre-orders in September 2024, but are not sure if we will be able to accept orders in all regions at that time. As always, we’ll continue to share more information on that when we have it, and will email our international mailing list when we have news. You can sign up for that list here! Thank you for your patience as we learn about what it takes to make this available to everyone around the world (and try our best to do it in a compliant and safe way). 

🎲 Sneak peek: Toys and Games Project Pack 🎱

For backers and customers that are getting the "Project Sticker Pack - Toys & Games" add-on, we have an exciting update for you! We have decided which toys and games that will be included, and have made some awesome patterns. We’ve been hard at work picking the right projects and prototyping them ourselves on InvenTABLE so that we know that they are both fun to build and fun to play with. The gifs below are from our very first round of prototypes - but we’re really happy with how fun they ended up, and want to share!

First up, we have a spinning top design, inspired by traditional top-based games. You can build it and spin it alone for fun, or make two tops to battle against each other like Japanese Beigoma. Similar to more modern top-style toys, it has a launcher handle too!

Next, we have a skee-ball game made entirely of cardboard. This game is meant to be played with marbles, and can sit on top of a table. The hole punch design we shared is a perfect accessory for building this, because it can punch holes big enough for the marbles to go through too.

Finally, we have a vertical marble balancing game which we have been referring to as the Snake Game. You use two strings to balance a platform and roll a marble side to side to stay on a track. The best part is that this design allows for swapping the tracks out easily! You can design challenging levels yourself and put friends and family to the test.

Everyone who pledged at a tier that includes the project sticker pack, added it on, or pre-order through our website will receive these projects when they are shipped out! Each of these project packs will come with the pattern that you put on the cardboard to cut out with the InvenTABLE, as well as any additional pieces needed to make it. For example, you see that we used binder clips and some twine for the prototype of the Snake Game: those items will be included in the pack. It’s also worth noting that we made the decision to not make the patterns stickers as we had originally planned. Instead we’re printing on large sheets of paper, and will provide options on multiple ways to transfer the design onto the cardboard. Depending on the transfer method, this change allows the patterns be reusable!

🙇‍♂️ That’s all for now! 👋

Thank you all again for the continued support. We know that waiting for a product is the hardest part of being part of a project like this, but we are grateful to have so many of you along for the ride with us! And thanks to those of you who came out to the Philly Maker Faire to check out the latest prototype!

Hello from China!
4 months ago – Mon, Apr 08, 2024 at 06:45:15 AM

✈️ We made it to China! 🇨🇳 

We knew that we’d be able to move way quicker and make sure that we are developing the highest quality product if we could communicate with suppliers, test prototypes, and collaborate with our manufacturing team in-person, and we were so right. We have accomplished so much in these first few weeks that would have taken at least a month had we been on opposite sides of the globe.

We feel so appreciative of our manufacturing partners Kaizen Dynamic for being so welcoming and kicking things into high gear with our arrival. We will be staying in China for the next three months to continue to oversee the manufacturing kick off!

So far we have…

• Thoroughly tested the first prototypes of our final design & made some tweaks

• Assembled a prototype as a team to understand how we can streamline the assembly process

• Ran heat & noise tests to make sure that the InvenTABLE would stay cool, calm, and collected even during long crafting sessions (which also meant making lots of cardboard projects!)

• Tested and finalized the design of our table accessories and hole punch tool. We heard a lot of excitement for the accessories after our last update and we can confirm they feel great on the latest prototypes!

• Toured the factory that InvenTABLE will be made in--check out some of the other cool toys they’ve produced in the background! After our in-person tour, we are confident this factory will produce a sturdy and durable tool that will be fun & safe for makers young and old!

 

🌎 We expect to be able to accept international orders sooner than we thought! 📦 

We are able to streamline our international compliance testing to run in parallel with North American testing, so we believe we can move up the schedule a little bit. Make sure you add yourself to this email list to be notified when international pre-orders open!

⏰ We are taking a few things off our virtual (pre-order) shelves! 🏃‍♀️ 

These items were always meant to be exclusive to our earliest backers, and now that we're growing we want to focus on the things that resonate most with our community, including more varied cardboard projects.

The Cardboard Workbench: We worked hard to design a sturdy piece of cardboard furniture to inspire kids by showing them the scale and durability their creations can have. Place your InvenTABLE in the designated spot to use the table as a crafting station, or use the surface to plan out your ideas! We are super proud of this table and hope that those who get it will love it.

Safety Glasses & Ear Protection: While they aren't necessary to use with the InvenTABLE, we love that the safety glasses and ear protection teach kids safety around power tools!

If you didn't already add these to your Kickstarter pre-order, you can find them on our Shopify store until Monday, April 15, to give us time to finalize our order counts for our first round of manufacturing. After that, they'll be gone for good! 

🙇‍♀️ 谢谢 (Thank you) ❤️

Even as we are heads down making InvenTABLE the best it can be or adjusting to life in a different country, we can’t help but reflect on how we ended up getting to do this. We’re so thankful for the support of our InvenTABLE backer and pre-order community for giving us the chance to go on an adventure to build an awesome product. Thank you all for your feedback, encouragement, and support--we can’t wait to get InvenTABLE in your hands!

If you have any questions or just want to say hi, please reach out at [email protected].

Important production & shipping updates!
5 months ago – Tue, Feb 13, 2024 at 12:42:41 PM

We have a lot to share in this update! 

We’ll start with the exciting news first:

February 10th (Lunar New Year 🐉 ) represented a design freeze between us, our Industrial Design, and our Manufacturing teams! We brought back the grid, and made a few other updates that we are really excited about. See even more renders and read about these updates on our website!

We have majorly updated the designs of the "Table Accessories Set" add-ons that we have been selling post-Kickstarter thanks to meeting one of our stretch goals. Though we planned for these to be made out of cardboard, they are now made out of durable plastic! This set includes a fence, a circle-cutting guide, and an angle-cutting guide. Here's a sneak peek (but click on this link to see the rest):

✈️ Team InvenTABLE is going to China 🇨🇳

As you'll see below, there are some aspects we underestimated with manufacturing. We don’t want that to impact the project more than it has to. We’re packing up and moving the team to Shenzhen to ensure that we can communicate with suppliers, test prototypes, and collaborate easily.

Starting in late March, we will have some combination of team members in China for at least 3 months, ensuring that we are there from the ramp up of manufacturing until the final production stage. Instead of 1-2 weeks of shipping back-and-forth to test and verify a part or prototype, we’ll be able to check it out in person right away. And, it doesn’t hurt that we’ll get to sample the local cuisine 🥟🥢

We’re so excited to share what comes out of that process with you as well. Look forward to our updates on manufacturing direct from the source! This leads us to one last exciting piece of news:

🌐 We expect to be able to accept international orders in late 2024 🗺️

Working closely with our partners in China means we’ll be more agile and able to explore other changes more quickly. We can leverage that flexibility to tackle the challenges of international versions of InvenTABLE, and meeting the safety and voltage standards of different countries. While we aren’t taking pre-orders yet, we expect to be taking them in September 2024, if not full orders. We know we have a lot of international supporters, and can’t wait to see InvenTABLE in every country on the globe.

Now the not so exciting news:

📦 We expect to ship InvenTABLE from late September to October 🚢

You can read more about the expected timeline, as provided by our manufacturing team, on our website here. In the interest of transparency, we want to share what’s causing this delay:

Chinese New Year is happening now. We knew that Lunar New Year is a major holiday in China, but frankly underestimated the impact it would have on our timeline. Manufacturing essentially stops for 4 weeks in China in observance of Chinese New Year. We were a little bit ignorant to the length of this impact because this is our first manufacturing partnership with China. But, we are glad our partners in China have this time to visit with family and rest. And trust us, the work on InvenTABLE won’t stop--the team in the US will be prototyping and doing everything we can so that we can move at max speed following CNY. (more on that below 🛫 )

The industrial design process has led to many thoughtful and beneficial changes, and we need time to execute. Those of you have that have had a chance to check out the product updates page on our website may have already seen the renders and changes coming out of our industrial design process. Working with Loket Design has been incredibly valuable and has led to many enhancements to the InvenTABLE product including an integration system for accessories and a removable debris drawer for easy cleanup. These changes will certainly lead to a better experience but also have changed the manufacturing requirements a little bit and we need to add some time to adjust. Click here to see our latest blog post depicting what the final results of the Industrial Design process looks like.

Testing our first manufactured prototype has led to important safety enhancements. Many of you know that our very first prototype was made in our own makerspace, and much of the Kickstarter and testing was done with that. Our core goal leading up to CNY has been to have a finalized design prototyped by the manufacturer. As part of that, we have been running tests that we hadn’t been able to with our home lab. For example, our overseas partners let the manufacturer prototype run for longer than we ever have without shutting off, to test how hot the device gets. Here’s what we’re improving:

• Ventilation. Our long-run tests show that the cutting head gets hot quickly when you leave it on. While we suggest turning the InvenTABLE off between cuts, we understand that excited makers will be using this tool frequently and in long crafting sessions! We said InvenTABLE would be safe to touch, and we meant it. We’re improving the ventilation, ensuring the internal fan works to cool the device down, and adding a shutoff if the device gets too hot. We’re committed to safety first and foremost so that makers young and old can use InvenTABLE without worry.
• Cutting head design. The cutting part of the InvenTABLE doesn’t have a blade, and pinches away material, so it won’t dull as easily as conventional cutter. But, our initial tests showed that small particles get trapped in the tool, increasing friction and heat over time. We refactored our design to reduce how often this happens, meanwhile making the part easier to replace when needed.

The scale of production is different than we anticipated (in a very good way). Our goal on Kickstarter was to raise $50,000. Thanks to the support of our backers, we smashed that goal by 20x. Our timeline was confidently optimistic, but the more we get into the details with our overseas partners, the more we realize we need to adjust our timeline expectations for 6,000 orders and counting.

We know it’s a bummer to have to wait longer to get working with InvenTABLE, and we’re sorry about the delay. We’re using this time to make sure everyone gets the best version of InvenTABLE, not just the device we could make the fastest.

To read more about the specifics behind this new delivery estimate, check out our latest blog post titled “A super transparent timeline update” here!

Thank you all for the continued support! It is not lost on us that we get to do all of this because of you, the first members of the InvenTABLE community. We feel so grateful to be able to make something cool and share it with all of you, and want to do everything we can to make the wait worth it. Thank you to everyone who has been part of InvenTABLE’s success through pledges, encouragement, feedback, and other support!

Please email us if you have any questions at [email protected].

Product Development Updates & Our New Website!
6 months ago – Mon, Jan 15, 2024 at 11:48:45 AM

New website launch!

We are so excited to announce the launch of our new and improved website! You can now read our product updates (a few exciting ones have been published already), learn more about our journey, and contact us all from one place! Pre-orders are still open through our site, and we have a special hub for educators to learn how to pre-order for schools! 

Product Development Updates

On our "Product Updates" page, you'll learn that we now have an industrial design partner (Loket Design) and a manufacturing partner (Kaizen Dynamic). We are thrilled to be working with them and are making great progress! Our most recent blog post "Working with Loket Design" shows our progress on the look, feel, and user experience of InvenTABLE. For a sneak peek, here are a few iterations of product renders we've gone through (the blog post reveals what the near-final design is actually going to be):

Keep an eye out soon for a deep-dive on the manufacturing progress made so far, and shipping timeline updates! 

BackerKit Surveys

Thank you to everyone who has filled out the BackerKit survey! Though we are now locking orders, it is not too late to complete the survey and add your shipping details. If you haven't already, please do so ASAP so that your order doesn't end up delayed! 

We also recently learned that users who signed in with apple and chose "Hide my email" will not receive backer communication from backerkit. If you signed in with apple and haven't already gotten your survey, reach out to us at [email protected] to get help changing your email address and receive your survey link!