September Update!
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Sep 14, 2022 at 09:58:37 PM
Manufacturing Update:
Some good and some bad this month. We received the samples made from the production molds and they are near perfect! Downside is there were a couple issues with the new plier head molds (they are by far the most complex molds, all the previous samples were made by CNC). I’ve outlined the problems and the fixes below, most of them were causing difficulty with assembly, or just lower than ideal QC pass rates. Its good we didn’t do the 200-unit production run yet (let alone the full multi-thousand unit run) because there would have been a fair amount of wasted material or even worse an unacceptable unit getting shipped out. I’m are very pleased with the units we received though! All the tools that passed QC and made it to me were exactly the quality we’ll be shipping to you, aside from the plier heads. The post processing profiling of the base caused the handles to close with less space than designed, and the replaceable cutters had clearance issues if over-torqued. Very easy fixes, but will take a few weeks none the less, scheduled to be completed the end of this month.
Some good news though! After getting multiple inquiries about double-ended bits fitting in our bit driver, we tested several and decided to add one with the Launch Configuration! Instead of just a #2 Philips, there is a #1 and #2 double ended bit (there are already 2 flatheads, we aren’t wasting tool space with any more than that!). All the add-on scales (brass and titanium) come with brand new hardware, with thread lock pre-applied! They also come with a generic 2mm allen wrench in case the user does not have the original 2mm in their personally configured multitool.
More good news! The packaging is looking great! I’ve been very tempted to show off the multi-tool packaging on our social media but some people have said we should let it be a surprise – what do you all think? The individual add-ons and replacement part packaging is as minimal as possible to save on shipping costs, primarily with the warranty in mind…
The warranty! We still don’t have the legal black and white, but we can give you the unofficial run down! Lifetime, Forever, 100 years – whatever you want to call it. Zero questions asked. Not only do we stand by our quality, but we are also specially situated to alter how most tool companies handle warranties. Since we are designed to be modular and customizable the user has full capability to do an entire tool tear-down in minutes (individual components in seconds!). No need to mail your entire multi-tool for repairs, instead you will submit a claim online, we will approve it and send you a 100% off coupon code for the replacement, you go through regular checkout on our website, get the parts for free, and just pay shipping! The process should only take a few days and a few dollars (within the continental US).
Final bit of good news! The templates are now live on our website! The rest of the website is still being finished but you can now get the templates for free. You just add to cart, create an account, checkout, and you will receive a download link! We made as many versions as we could think of for all of you. There are handle scales, beveled scales, short tool blank, and the long tool blank. Each comes in .STEP .STL .PDF and .DXF
https://goat-tools.myshopify.com/collections/downloads
(You will notice the rest of our products are “sold out”. We are still taking pre-orders on IndieGoGo until we complete first production run)
If you haven't seen the testing videos on our YouTube channel, it's a great preview of what you will all be receiving! We continue to add videos as we go through testing.
GOAT Tools pre-production testing videos
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Steps 1-8 complete! (Full list in previous updates)
9: Tooling creation and Tooling samples (In Process – remaking some molds – Sept 30)
10: 200pcs Test run production (In Process - delayed after step 9)
11: Mass production (after test run confirmation, around 3 months subject to the production schedule)
- Part dimensions of bit driver and 5mm hex key not conformed to drawing, resulting in difficulties for assembling – Improve die cast molds
- The size deviation of the back end of the plier heads is relatively large, resulting in the retraction of the tongs – Revise drawing by adding processing material and improve die cast molds
- Part sizes of the handle not conformed to the drawings resulting in loose assembly – Improve handle stamping molds
- Part of the shaped handle dimensions not conformed to drawing, resulting in difficulties for assembling – improve shaping molds
- Edge of blades cracked out of stamping – improve stamping molds
- Edge of serrated blade cracked out of stamping – improve stamping molds
- The shaped size of the sliding sleeve was too large leaving a certain gap between the sleeve and cover plate – improve shaping mold
The Story Behind the Tool:
We are getting close to where you all came into the picture! But a few months prior to the Kickstarter launch we had to make the media to showcase on the campaign. I had reached out to several production companies that specialized in crowdfunding campaigns to help us make our video and design the campaign page. Our first choice ended up backing out due to “conflict of interest” with another campaign they were already contracted with. We went with our second choice, which supposedly had an office and a team in San Diego. This was all during pandemic so all of our planning and coordinating was done via phone, text, and video chat. We booked the locations, the actors, they wrote a script, and we put together a shot list. This was all around the same time I received the samples I mentioned in the previous update. Although they were made well enough to show off some functionality – I had to fix a lot of errors the manufacturer made to make them fully functional. The biggest issue being they didn’t make the cutout in the handle for the pliers. That took several hours with the Dremel to fix and polish. The other issue was having loose plier jaws, they didn’t even send the rivets, let alone set them. If you’ve been following along from the start, you may remember me mentioning forging with a MAP gas blowtorch. I had to get a rod of steel the same diameter as the rivet was supposed to be and pin it myself. Not-at-all-pro tip: Most bathrooms have an exhaust fan and no smoke detector in case you need to do some improvised forging in a condo! I now had working prototypes that were good enough for cameras, a scheduled shoot day with the production team, and were working out details with Manufacturer #3 of our shortlist…
Your support and patience are infinitely appreciated! We will continue to provide updates as we venture through this process together.
Respectfully,
Michael O'Donnell
GOAT Tools
August Update!
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Aug 11, 2022 at 11:40:46 AM
Manufacturing Update:
Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to all of you who continue to express your support and patience in the comments and messages! I know the delays have been frustrating for all of us, and every time I have to give bad news to you all it’s more stressful than the IDF alarm going off in the desert. That said, the final mold (plier heads) didn’t pass Quality Control and had to me remade, there was a section that had a tolerance too tight it caused problems with assembly later on in the production process. This added 2 weeks, they should be completed next week (mid-August). I was hoping to have the final samples for this update but it looks like it will be the next one (might come earlier than September if we’re lucky). For clarity on why things take so long: our manufacturer produces tools for several brands (some you recognize), and we are still a small company they are fitting in between much larger production cycles. Most of the other manufacturers we spoke with offered 30 or 60-day production, obviously had no other clients and that’s not a great sign. 9 months from March 2021 was our original timeline before supply chain issues, lockdowns, shipping delays, and design alterations. 5-9 times longer than most of our quotes seemed so conservative the time. We just posted a video of the updated sheath that’s included free with each multitool. We are planning a full walkthrough video of the tools and functions of the pre-configured multi-tool. Let us know what other specific tools/functions you would like detailed videos of! If you haven't seen the testing videos on our YouTube channel, it's a great preview of what you will all be receiving! We continue to add videos as we go through testing.
GOAT Tools pre-production testing videos
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Steps 1-8 complete! (Full list in previous updates)
9: Tooling creation and Tooling samples (In Process - delayed – August 15)
10: 200pcs Test run production (In Process - delayed after step 9)
11: Mass production (after test run confirmation, around 3 months subject to the production schedule)
The Story Behind the Tool:
Last month I left off when a licensing and manufacturing deal fell through due to a bigger opportunity for the company I was working with. That was purely bad timing and how business goes sometimes. Now I was spending hours everyday sending out RFQs (request for quote), reading, sifting, and replying to all the responses we got. I have no idea how many I sent out over those weeks and months but I received back over 100 quotes. Transferring them all into spreadsheets, doing background research on the companies, getting on calls to discuss production capabilities & methods, negotiate tooling costs, price per component/unit/assembly, production timelines. We had narrowed it down to 3 companies, only 2 of which could get us samples before 2021 (enough time to get the parts, create the promotional media, small pre-campaign, and then our Kickstarter in Spring 2021). Company #1 was very responsive and communitive which promising, but sadly ended up being their only redeeming quality. Their parts arrived and were the wrong metal, not heat treated, and most were out of specification. They immediately apologized and promised to remake the pieces to meet our specifications. They remade the pieces, they were better, but it was still too far off from what we needed and could not trust them to do large scale production. Company #2 was a contract manufacturer out of Atlanta, Georgia so all of our technical communication would get delayed going through the agent in the middle, slowing down a majority of the process. They missed most of their deadlines without any real explanation and we barely received the pieces before our scheduled video shoot. Most of the pieces were within specification except they did not assemble any of it or even rivet the plier heads. The handles were heat treated properly but they didn’t make the cutout for the pierheads to seat when closed – making them useless. The astonishment I had after they spent so much time reviewing the designs, pictures, videos, and making these pieces they went so far past trying to put a square block in a round hole, they just left out the hole entirely…
Your support and patience are infinitely appreciated! We will continue to provide updates as we venture through this process together.
Respectfully,
Michael O'Donnell
GOAT Tools
July Update!
almost 2 years ago
– Mon, Jul 04, 2022 at 10:28:53 PM
Good day to all you Makers, Creators, and DIYers!
Manufacturing Update:
Our last update explained the current status and the delays. We are still waiting for all the molds and tooling to be completed. Just a few weeks away! We've been busy the last month putting together our website in the background. We will be providing free templates for scales and tools so you can create your own! There will be a few different file types depending on your application - I've also talked to one of the companies that helped with laser-cutting our prototypes and are trying to work out a deal for you all to order custom pieces from them at a discount. Migrating all of the crowdfunding orders and customer info to the new site is difficult and tedious but hopefully it will make life easier for any warranty claims or future orders. Speaking of warranties, I know I'm about to get a ton of questions so let me first say - we have to have the legal black and white before we say any specifics, but it's going to be better than you think. If you haven't seen the testing videos on our YouTube channel, it's a great preview of what you will all be receiving! We continue to add videos as we go through testing.
GOAT Tools pre-production testing videos
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Steps 1-8 complete! (Full list in previous updates)
9: Tooling creation and Tooling samples (In Process - delayed - July 31)
10: 200pcs Test run production (In Process - delayed after step 9)
11: Mass production (after test run confirmation, around 3 months subject to the production schedule)
The Story Behind the Tool:
Going back, I was dealing with a patent firm that was conveniently incompetent and just hired a sourcing specialist to help lock down our manufacturer.
Paid the lawyers to rearrange the claims and submit the amendment to the PCT application. This would now hold as a legal placeholder for about another year, allowing me to maintain the original 'priority date' of the patent. This went to the back burner until we filed for the full utility patent with the USPTO as well as a few other countries. We'll get back to this later.
The sourcing specialist I contracted immediately started getting us meetings with both manufacturers and other people in industry that might also lead us in the right direction. One of the most helpful was actually a buyer for one of our biggest competitors, but with a few favors and discretion we learned some of the biggest issues they run into manufacturing their multitools. We had a lot of interviews with machine shops and fabricators but almost all of them didn't have the capability to make everything we needed, and trying to coordinate multiple vendors and separate assembly was going to be double the expense. There was another handful of companies that just didn't think it was a viable product (Thank you all for proving this is something people want!). Finally we had several meetings with a company that is behind several hardware store brands, and it was looking promising. We went into the business relationship just to have them build the multi-tools, after a few Zoom calls and showcasing the prototypes they started to steer towards licensing the tech and handling everything. At first I was very opposed to handing off my baby I'd been building up for 5 years at that point. But then it dawned on me that it would get into retail and starting expanding way faster than I could ever do with my small team. As our plans moved up their company's approval chain it suddenly came back down that they just finished finalizing a multi-thousand SKU deal and all priority was going to that project. It was starting to feel like the 90th yard line for too long.
Your support and patience are infinitely appreciated! We will continue to provide updates as we venture through this process together.
Respectfully,
Michael O'Donnell
GOAT Tools
May Update
almost 2 years ago
– Tue, May 31, 2022 at 10:39:27 PM
Good day to all you Makers, Creators, and DIYers!
Manufacturing Update:
I wish I had better news, but unfortunately there's a delay on some of the manufacturing molds. I know this is the last thing any of you want to hear, and I'm doing everything I can to keep forward momentum. It is taking some extra time to get all of the materials and have all the molds made, and without ALL of the pieces we can't make the entire multi-tool. Our updated schedule is for the samples to be completed end of July and immediately start production. They will halt at 200 pieces in case there are any issues in mass production, as long as the process goes smoothly those will be the first 200 to be sent out and we will be full throttle immediately after. I can't emphasize how much I appreciate the patience you have had while we are producing a new product in the middle of a global crisis. If there was anything else I could do to get these to you earlier, I would (short of working with a subpar supplier & manufacture. That was an option and I chose otherwise). I would personally hand assemble every last one if I had the pieces. If you haven't seen the testing videos on our YouTube channel, it's a great preview of what you will all be receiving! We continue to add videos as we go through testing.
GOAT Tools pre-production testing videos
Instagram
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Steps 1-8 complete! (Full list in previous updates)
9: Tooling creation and Tooling samples (In Process - delayed - July 31)
10: 200pcs Test run production (In Process - delayed after step 9)
11: Mass production (after test run confirmation, around 3 months subject to the production schedule)
The Story Behind the Tool:
Revisiting the past - I had terrible prototypes that took months to receive, and weren't even close to being within specifications. I had also just gotten the first patent review from a member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
The parts were borderline useless - I spent weeks going back and forth with the contracting agency, and all it ended up with was a tiny fraction of a refund and another company on my blacklist. I had all but exhausted all my avenues for finding a manufacturer at this point. I started to interview sourcing specialists so I could hire one to use their connections to find me a way to produce these tools. The amount of new terminology I learned from these people was mind boggling, it was an entire new language. Luckily after filtering through a dozen sourcing specialists I found one that had experience in hard goods in the outdoor space. Although she didn't connect me with our final production team - she was pivotable in industry knowledge and networking.
As for the patent review from the PCT - it was not as positive as I had hoped for. A patent can have as many claims as you like, so you can protect as many different elements as possible. However, claim #1 has to meet all the requirements of a patent, it doesn't matter if #2-29 are all patentable new inventions if the first one listed does not fit the requirements. This was news to me, as I'm a tool designer and not a patent lawyer. You would expect the lawyers to know this (and honestly they do). Which is why it is quite a curiosity that they used claim #1 to essential describe the basics of a multi-tool that have existed for decades and nothing about the modular system until claim #4. I'm not saying they ordered things incorrectly knowing it would require an office action to fix it - but they did get paid more money to rearrange a few paragraphs... Luckily the review did state that 3 of the claims did qualify, provided they were arranged correctly. This was battle #1 of 3 with the legal bureaucrats...
Your support and patience are infinitely appreciated! We will continue to provide updates as we venture through this process together.
Respectfully,
Michael O'Donnell
GOAT Tools
April Update!
almost 2 years ago
– Sun, May 01, 2022 at 03:25:58 AM
Good day to all you Makers, Creators, and DIYers!
Manufacturing Update:
We got our next set of samples a few weeks ago! These included all of the add-on tools as well as the brass & titanium scales. We've been getting a lot of use out of these early production pieces! We are very excited to get these out to all of you, there are just a few big steps as we move large scale production and make thousands of these. If you haven't seen the testing videos on our YouTube channel, it's a great preview of what you will all be receiving! We continue to add videos as we go through testing.
GOAT Tools pre-production testing videos
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Steps 1-8 complete! (Full list in previous updates)
9: Tooling creation and Tooling samples (In Process)
10: 200pcs Test run production (In Process)
11: Mass production (after test run confirmation, around 3 months subject to the production schedule)
The Story Behind the Tool:
Last month we left off when I was Frankenstein-ing different prototype pieces together until they functioned properly. This should have made it much easier to showcase to manufacturers, along with the updated CAD files. The downside was that getting a meeting with manufactures was still painfully difficult. The combination of most of these shops being 'old school' and not answering voicemails or even having a website, having no idea what Crowd Funding is, and them having zero belief we could compete with the big brands.
We paid the premium again to have a prototyping company make a few one-offs, in hopes we could send these to manufacturers to provide prettier proof the product was feasible. Hurdle #312, the company contracted didn't make any of the parts within specifications. Fractions of a millimeter off on several pieces (makes a HUGE difference), improper heat treat, missing spot welds/rivets. For the last few years I had been paranoid about someone ripping off the designs and functions - now I couldn't even get it made with pictures, video, CAD drawings, and 3D files.
The one thing that was progressing was the patent process. The provisional patent was about to expire, so I worked with the patent lawyers to file a PCT application (Patent Cooperation Treaty). This was essentially an international provisional patent that would extent my protections and priority date for another 18months. We got our first formal review of the patent shortly there after, which was both good and bad...
Your support and patience are infinitely appreciated! We will continue to provide updates as we venture through this process together.
Respectfully,
Michael O'Donnell
GOAT Tools
