Rockwell Model T Razor and Razor Blades - Shaving, Perfected

February Update - Assembly & Shipping
about 6 years ago – Sat, Feb 24, 2018 at 12:35:13 AM

Dear Backers,

We’re excited to share some great news on the assembly and shipping progress we’ve made since the last update - let’s dive right in!

Assembly & Shipping Progress

In last month’s update, we’d mentioned that we’d caught a production error that had caused T-Bar Head posts to be “off” by several degrees, but that we’d fixed the mold, produced replacement parts, and imported the parts. This month, our Canadian machinists performed the required additional work steps on these parts to prepare them for final assembly. Once these steps were complete, we were able to assemble some Model T units, and we’ve confirmed that the extensive reworks we’ve done on the head geometries of the Model T (as covered in the last few updates) have done the trick! We’re expecting we’ll be able to consistently assemble Model T razors that hit our specifications from here on out. Assembly speed will accelerate over time as we’re able to dial in our assembly and final-form quality control. That being said, the first tracking numbers should be out next week, and will continue on a weekly basis through March. The first batch of shipments this month will be all White Chrome and then we'll be able to begin shipping the other finishes shortly after! We’re still hoping to be done shipping by the end of May, as mentioned in previous updates. And without further ado, here are the pictures of the final-assembly Model T razors that you’ve all been waiting for!

Clearing Up Our Last Pricing Announcement

After last month’s update, there was some confusion around the pricing segment of our announcements - we apologize for any confusing language! We wanted to take this opportunity to clear up the misunderstanding and make it clear there will be no additional charges to backers before the delivery of the Model T. We were trying to communicate that backers of this campaign, who have pledged for their Model T for between $79 and $99, will ultimately have received a significant discount off of what the ultimate retail price ends up being. And frankly, we think you deserve that great a deal considering all your early support, enthusiasm, and ongoing patience!

~~~

We're looking forward to updating you with our shipping progress in the March update, and please don't hesitate to reach out to [email protected] with any questions in the meantime!

Sincerely, 

Gareth
Co-Founder, Rockwell Razors

January Update - T-Bar Head Manufacturing & Assembly
about 6 years ago – Mon, Jan 29, 2018 at 12:53:39 AM

Dear Backers, 

We’ve been working diligently on all aspects of the Model T project since the last update, and we couldn’t be more excited about the progress and the feeling of really being in the home stretch! In this update, we’ll be providing some news on shipping timelines, our early discoveries from the Canadian machining and assembly processes, and what’s next for the Rockwell Model T project. 

Final Parts Adjustments & Shipping Timelines

In the last update, we referred to the manufacturing of a new T-Bar Head that had been redesigned to accommodate the reaming of a more precise assembly hole than the originally-designed assembly hole built into the casting. This design change had been made due to the variance in full production of the original design making the part not suitable for mass assembly at the precise tolerances required to get the perfect shave! While back in December, we’d expected we were nearly done production of the new parts, we discovered an issue in the mold in our post-production quality control steps that caused the T-Bar Head’s post to be “off” by several degrees. We fortunately caught this error, fixed the mold, and have since then produced new parts that meet all specifications, and these parts are being imported as I type this! While this means that we unfortunately won’t be able to begin shipping as planned at the end of January, we’re confident in beginning shipping at the end of February and still aim to be finished fulfillment by the end of May. We’ll be sure to include lots of pictures in an update as soon as the batch assembly is complete and we have razors heading out the door to our backers - we’re as eager to celebrate the fulfillment as you all are to receive the product!

Canadian Assembly Process
 
In our last update, we mentioned that the subassembly of the Model T in our own facilities has been moving along, but it had become clear that the demand for the Model T is so significant that we would need additional machinery and additional assembly lines get up to meet the demand of our existing backers, and the additional backers / wholesalers that pledge their support or inquire about availability every day. Those additional machines have arrived, which is part of the reason that despite the above-mentioned delay with the T-Bar Head parts, we’re still confident in completing assembly within the now-smaller time window.

Some Final Words & What’s Next for the Model T

Beyond that, there’s one thing we know for sure that we’re certain our backers will be interested in. We’d hinted at this announcement in our last update, but there was a lot of other information in that update and we noticed the increased price announcement may have gotten lost within all the other announcements! The final retail price for the Rockwell Model T will have to be significantly higher than the price that all our backers have pledged for their pledge rewards. We won’t know the exact final price until we’ve had more cycles of full product assembly, but we’ll certainly be announcing that price to our backers as soon as it’s finalized, and we’re certain you will find that all backers have received an exceptionally good deal. And frankly, we think you deserve a great deal for all your early support and ongoing patience!

As always, thank you for allowing us the time to get things right on this pilot production run. The thousands of backers who have remained with us through this whole campaign represent the true essence of Kickstarter and product crowdfunding in general - believing in an idea enough to pledge their support, and providing feedback on the project through to completion. We appreciate each and every one of you, and look forward to sharing a bunch of exciting pictures of finished products in shipping boxes, hopefully in time for the next scheduled update!

Sincerely,

Gareth
Co-Founder, Rockwell Razors

December Update - Ongoing Assembly & Projected Shipping Schedule
over 6 years ago – Sun, Dec 17, 2017 at 12:01:47 AM

Dear Backers,

Since the last update, we’ve been heads-down working to get these razors into your hands as soon as possible, and we wanted to ensure we’d made enough progress to share a meaningful update! In this update, we’re pleased to provide an updated shipping timeline, updates on the Canadian assembly process, and a final reflection of milestones for Rockwell in 2017.

Final Parts Adjustments

The production of the newly adjusted parts mentioned in the last update, specifically the T-Bar Head, was delayed due to testing showing issues with the adjusted molds being able to hold new tolerances, but these concerns have been were solved in with a minor design change. The change, for those interested, involved casting a the T-Bar Head and reaming a precise hole for press-fitting with the T-Bar Rod versus the earlier design which casting the T-Bar Head with a built-in hole, which displayed too much variation in full production. The production of the new T-Bar Heads is nearly complete. After completion of that production, we are rushing in the new T-bars for final reaming steps in Canada before the final, full assembly. We’ve scheduled this reaming process to take place shortly after machinists in Canada are back at work in early January, after the winter holidays. 

Updated Shipping Timelines

At this time, based on availability of the new T-Bar Heads, we are expecting to begin fulfilling at the end of January, and expect to finish fulfilling by the end of May. The first razors to ship out will be White Chrome, with batches of the other finishes to follow shortly after. We’re doing everything in our power to accelerate the shipping timeline without compromising the stringent quality standards that must be adhered to in order to create Model T razors that deliver the best shave in the world. 

Canadian Assembly Process

Assembly of the Model T in our own facilities has been moving along, but it’s become clear we will need additional machinery and additional assembly lines get up to a more productive rate of assembly. We’ve ordered these machines and they’re on their way. We’re expecting this will significantly assist in the assembly process and we’re factored this additional speed into our shipping timelines.

Upcoming Update Dates

We wanted to express that we certainly hear our backers’ requests for more predictable updates going forward, and we wanted to commit to up-front update dates for the next few months. You can expect to hear from us on January 26th, February 23rd, and March 30th.

Milestones in 2017

2017 has been quite a year for Rockwell Razors. The Rockwell Model T represents our most ambitious project to date, and although we are sorry about the delays, we are proud of the excellent work of our engineers and manufacturing partners. This razor is a precision instrument and has taken all our prior experience and commitment to quality to push through the engineering and production challenges. We’re in the final stretch and can’t wait to deliver to you in early 2018. The cost and complexity of manufacturing this razor also make it clear that you, our backers, are getting fantastic razor at a very significant discount to what the final retail price will be on this Model T, which is only fair given your incredible support. We haven’t settled on a final retail price, but it will almost certainly be north of $150 USD.

In 2017 Rockwell has matured into a real operating company with a full product line including the widely praised Rockwell 6S and 6C, which are considered by many to be some of the best 3-piece razors available on the market. We have now shipped 100,000 razors and other products to happy customers. In addition, we have a full product line over 20 products including shaving cream, shave brushes, stands, beard products, and more. These product are now available online and from many retailers around the world. As a stable operating company you can rest assured that we have the means to fulfill our commitment to you to deliver the best Model T possible in 2018.

Of course, we could never have achieved these milestones without the support of you, our backers. If this is your first Rockwell campaign or if you’ve been with us since the Rockwell 6S campaign (launched way back in 2014!), we can’t thank you enough for your incredible ongoing support.

Some Final Words & Thanks

We wanted to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our backers that have continued their pledged support for the Model T project before we head into the holidays. When we launched a crowdfunding campaign for the first twist-to-open, adjustable razor in over 50 years, we certainly were not anticipating all the complex challenges that come along with such a unique, precision-dependent design, and the extended time it would take to bring the Model T to fruition.

We certainly appreciate our backers that have been supportive through good news and bad news, and in the spirit of crowdfunding, the backers who have expressed that support either publicly or privately. At the same time, we recognize that some backers may no longer be interested in pledging their support for this project. In the past, we have offered backers the opportunity to withdraw their pledge and receive a refund - there appears to have been some confusion with backers thinking they didn’t have this option, likely due to many other campaigns not offering this same courtesy to their backers. We wanted to clarify that any backers no longer interested in supporting the Model T are welcome to email us at [email protected] any time to request to withdraw their pledge - please do not just leave a comment on the comment board, as we are unable to process refunds without your email address and your confirmation via email. However we do want to be upfront in making it clear that the Rockwell Model T’s final retail price will be significantly higher than the crowdfunding pricing.

Over the last 3 years trying our best to improve shaves around the world, we’re constantly learning about how to build better products and serve our customers better. Naturally, many of these lessons have to be learned by building on mistakes, and we’ve had a chance to learn an immense number of lessons in delivering over 100,000 razors to happy customers. The main lesson we’ve learned is that it’s always better to take our time to get things right rather than rushing; whether it’s a product, process, or even an email response to a customer. We wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for allowing us the time to get this product right - we expect you will love the Model T razor that ultimately reaches you, and it will be well worth the wait. Have a fantastic holiday season, and we’ll talk to you in the new year (though we’re of course available by email or by comment to answer questions any time)!

Sincerely,

Gareth
Co-Founder, Rockwell Razors

October Update - Domestic Assembly & Pictures of Production Finishes
over 6 years ago – Tue, Nov 07, 2017 at 12:33:37 AM

Dear Backers, 

It’s been an extremely busy month since our last update, full of developments that we’re pleased to share. 

Domestic Assembly 

As you know from prior updates, we have had full parts for some time but getting the parts assembled and validating that the design is robust and passes our QC tests in mass production has been our final bottleneck. I want to start with delving into the most significant product decision that’s been drawn since our last update: The Rockwell Model T razors that backers will receive are being assembled in Canada. More precisely, they’re being assembled in Canada, at our facilities, overseen by our Canadian engineering firm as well as the Rockwell Razors team.

The rationale for this decision is simple - the final bottleneck on getting all these products out the door and into our backers’ hands are the assembly and quality control steps. As you’ll recall, we’d made the original decision to have the Model T razors assembled at a professional assembly factory, but over the iterative process of dozens of test assemblies, with samples being shipped back and forth across the ocean for cross-examination throughout careful mass production, we realized that the final assembly steps are so critical to the quality of the razor that we need to have full control of this process in-house.

By consulting with the assembly factory, our own engineers, and assembly specialists, we’ve now put the assembly directly in the hands of a team that produced the Model T design and DFM files themselves, with ultimate quality control being executed by the Rockwell team. This is the strategy we employed to produce, assemble, and quality check the extremely popular Rockwell 6S, and we’re confident that it is the best choice for the Model T as well. This will ensure that Model T razors are assembled the way they were meant to be, consistently, and with stringent quality control checks.

All of the above pictures show a production White Chrome Model T razor being assembled, but we know many backers have been looking forward to seeing the production versions of other finishes - here they are!

Final Part Adjustments 

In the process of testing the domestic assembly we also found two parts that individually were within tolerance but were still difficult to assemble while keeping overall tolerances (which directly affect blade gaps). This lead to a minor design change for these two internal parts that addresses the assembly issue and greatly improves overall tolerance when the razor is assembled. Given how important tolerance to specification is for a precision razor we have ordered changes to the molds for these two parts and will assemble all the razors with the two revised parts. 

What Does This Mean For Backers?

While we’re behind schedule on when we hoped to ship out the first batch of Model T razors, we’re confident that this new assembly process and final part adjustments will get as many high-quality razors as possible in the hands of backers as soon as possible. We’re now hoping to receive the two adjusted parts and assemble a QC passed first batch by the end of the month, with the remaining razors soon to follow. Once assembly here is fully up-to-speed, we’ll be able to provide a better timeline for you all - we expect that timeline will be coming in the next update!

Again, we understand that these delays can be frustrating but thank you for your support and patience. This is not our first razor and the lessons we learned with the Rockwell 6S, 6C and 2C is that we need to do the hard work to get it right upfront and cannot compromise to send out an inferior product. You, our backers deserve excellence, and that’s our commitment to you.

Thank you for all your ongoing support while we do everything to make the Rockwell Model T the best razor in the world. We can’t wait for you all to receive your pledge rewards and be the first people in the world to try it! We’re confident you’ll be very proud of having been a part of the creation process of the Model T. Thank you again!

Gareth
Co-Founder, Rockwell Razors

September Update - Assembly Continues
over 6 years ago – Sun, Oct 08, 2017 at 02:17:37 PM

Dear Backers,

Thank you for your patience for this (slightly late) September Update. We’ve been focused on assembling as many Model T’s as possible while maintaining a detailed and open dialogue with our engineering teams, both in Toronto and at the manufacturing / assembly facilities. At this point in the process, we’re confident that we’re doing everything we can to assemble perfect Model T razors as quickly as possible. Despite not yet being ramped up to the speed we’re aiming for, we’ve seen some very encouraging progress. This update won’t be particularly visual (we’ll have plenty of great videos / pictures to share at the end of the month), but we wanted to keep backers appraised of our progress!

We’re now expecting to have the first round of razors shipped out by the end of October. To help increase production, we’re currently even in the process of manufacturing our own additional jigs to pair with additional assembly machines that we’ve purchased!

Finally, while I (Gareth) was unfortunately not able to attend the MenEssentials Meetup in Toronto back in September, Grigori (Rockwell’s customer service / web guru) and a Model T both attended the event. All the feedback on the fit, function, and appearance of the razor at the meetup was exclusively extremely positive and encouraging. Any Toronto-based backers who attended the event: please feel free to share your thoughts on the Model T in the comments of this update! 

Again, the next update will be much more visual to provide all the detailed progress insights we know you're all waiting for! Thank you again for continuing have our back, and please reach out to us at [email protected] if you have any questions about production before the next update in late October.

Gareth
Co-Founder, Rockwell Razors