Thanks to all that put in orders in the recent launcher batch. We have been busy making parts for this batch of orders and will start shipping in a few weeks. Now we’re taking a break to prepare for Pacificon which is this weekend. Dawn will have her jewelry booth near Elecraft on the back wall and you can find me around there from time to time, and I’ll set up at the flea market on Sunday with some flea market stuff and some launcher accessories. I have a K3 to sell, among other things. On Friday I’ll be at the Antenna Forum. There is always something to learn about antennas.
One special feature of the current batch of launchers is that we’ve moved to PETG for the parts on the launcher. This is primarily to avoid problems at high temperatures such as inside a vehicle on a hot summer day. We still do not recommend leaving the launcher in a hot space, but PETG will handle more heat than PLA which is the most common 3D printed plastic. If you have one of our launchers that becomes damaged from heat contact us and we can review options for replacing the damaged plastic.
The next batch of launchers will be made early next year after Quartzfest. We hope to be at Quartzsite this year for the fest. Hope to see you there. After QF we’ll start another batch of launchers. If you want to be on the notification list please let me know to add your email to the list. The batch orders fill up pretty fast, so be ready when we get there. The pattern we seem to be settling into is two batches per year, one early for Field Day, and one late for Christmas. We never know quite how long a batch will take with the variations in the supply chain and the availability of our effort, but every order is filled or refunded, even if it takes longer than initially expected.
Pneumatic Launchers can be repaired or refurbished, as long as it is one we built or one of our kits. Recycling the parts is better than adding to the landfill.
73 de Alan, w6akb