It has been almost exactly one month since the Mathpad crowdfunding campaign successfully completed here on Crowd Supply. We raised over $18,000 USD, which we have been putting to good use. In this update, you will see a little of what has been going on since the campaign ended.

But first things first: Mathpads are still expected to ship to backers on November 29th. We’re on track and have hit no delays or unexpected events.

PCBs

One of the first things ordered were the PCB’s. These arrived within two weeks from our manufacturer, JLCPCB. The yield has been excellent: Out of 166 PCBs, only one was faulty. They have been unpacked, organised, and flashed with firmware:

Boxes

First impressions are everything, and a proper product needs a proper box to protect it during shipping. I had originally planned on just going with generic, off-the-shelf, brown cardboard boxes, but hit a bit of a snag with finding any of a suitable size. Therefore, I went with these custom white boxes, and I am happy that I did! At $1.50 per piece, they are well worth the cost. Not only do they make the Mathpad look more professional, the internal cutout also protects the Mathpad from all sides and leaves plenty of room for the user manual.

User Manual

Speaking of the user manual, we now have a proper, printed User’s Manual:

It’s 28 shiny pages in three languages: English, French, and German. Every Mathpad will ship with one. Since the campaign ended, I have been busy making this user manual as intuitive and simple to follow as possible, while also covering all compliance requirements. This manual will serve as your first point of contact with the documentation, and gets you up and running with Mathpad in five minutes.

Aluminum Case

The aluminum case has been one of the most time-consuming parts to produce, but they are expected to arrive within a week. My manufacturer, Shenzhen Jinglicheng Technology ltd, has been an excellent partner and sent me some videos and images of the manufacturing process:

What’s Next?

As soon as the aluminum cases arrive from the manufacturer, I will begin assembly. I expect this to take approximately two weeks, as I am doing this all myself and can only work in the evenings and on weekends. Thank you to all the backers, please stay patient! Your Mathpad will arrive soon.