A little update for everyone, and a couple minor changes to the run.
To my surprise, two people have resigned from the run. While I try to emphasize the importance of following through with your sign-up, there's nothing I can do to force people to follow through. Sometimes I can sort of see it coming, (like with ILOVE3800 signing up for 2 sets and then asking what it comes with), but I digress.
Currently there are two people who have not replied to my message regarding the run starting and the deposit request. One person has replied, but has been travelling and hasn't had time to send payment.
So in light of everything happening, I'm changing my approach a little. To those of you who have already sent deposits, rest assured this should not affect you. Once I receive the deposit from the person mentioned above, the run will be greenlit. That will make 5 sign-ups with payment submitted, marking half the MOQ. After the run is greenlit, I will leave a window open to submit deposits, from those who have already signed up and those who are on the fence, until the parts are machined. After that point, the extra 5 sets will be available for purchase at a higher price.
As it stands, this is looking like the route forward:
1. Greenlight the machine shop by June 2nd.
2. Receive first set of machined parts around start of July
3. Adjustments if needed, then machine the rest of the parts
4. All parts received around start of August
5. Machine and press crown tubes by hand
6. Shipping sets out late August - early September
As for the crystal gaskets, I am still waiting on pricing from switzerland, but the pricing from my cnc shop stands as worst case. I will be proceeding with my gasket design for the bezel, as I have not been able to acquire a gen gasket, so a custom gasket will be required nevertheless.