Enduro - Toy Cars Built for Tough Drivers |100% Sustainable

Manufacturing Update #15 - Mass production has begun!
almost 6 years ago – Fri, Jul 06, 2018 at 12:38:18 AM

Greetings from Vietnam!

Today is definitely a great day to celebrate! The Enduro tools arrived in good condition and mass production for Enduro Racer and Trucks has started! I have spent the last 8 days reviewing and approving every part and piece as they come off the tools. Today is another very busy day and so I have little time to linger on with a long update. I will keep this one short by showing you images of the first 6 hours of the injection of the racer aluminum body. 

Now they heat the aluminum bricks to 670 degrees Celsius. This takes 4 hours. 

A robotic arm scoops the molten aluminum and then pours it into a hopper. The injection machine will then inject the molten aluminum into the mold.

Once the mold opens, the robotic arm picks up the extremely hot racer body and sets it down on the conveyor belt for cooling. It takes about 1 hour for the aluminum to fully cool. 

These are the first steps in making the final product and you can see the parts are very rough when they first come out of the mold. There are many more steps before the final product in completed. Workers will remove the flash, grind sharp places and hand polish the aluminum. Finally it will be painted using an electrostatic painting method. 

The Enduro story will be continued next week when I send another update. Thanks for your amazing support and encouragement!

-Thoughtfull Toys

Manufacturing Update #14
almost 6 years ago – Thu, Jun 07, 2018 at 01:28:36 AM

To all of our Amazing Kickstarter Backers,

May was a very exciting month for us here at Enduro Headquarters. All of us have been waiting for the Enduro Truck and Racer to become a reality. Your faith and support in our company is incredibly valuable to us. Your encouraging comments are priceless and your criticism is well received, and is not taken lightly. We appreciate you so much….and we get it. You have been waiting a long long time for these fantastic vehicles which you have so generously invested in.

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We promise, you will not be disappointed when you get them. We ask that you hang in there with us a little longer and don’t give up. Even if your kids have grown beards while waiting for Enduro, they'll be so stoked when they arrive! (We joke, it won't be much longer; and if your kids aren’t interested in them, we know you will be – every adult that holds Enduro wants one for their own desk!). Unfortunately, Enduro will not be shipping this month. Below is a story of why May 2018 was so great, and also some details on what has caused delays.    

As you are all aware, the Enduro truck and racer are not toys that are simple to produce. In fact, if you remember from the beginning, many factories wouldn’t quote them, or even dropped out in the early stages of the project. It took us a long time to find a factory bold enough to have the kind of out-of-the-box thinking to work with us. We did not anticipate correctly how long it would take to get this project manufactured because we too, did not fully understand how challenging this toy is to make.

But we have good news! Our production manager recently returned from a 2 week stay in China with two suitcases full of Enduro Trucks and Racers. 

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The purpose of the trip was to work face to face with a new project manager whom the factory has now assigned to our project. They spent every day working through the entire project bit by bit. All of Enduro’s development has been in China. After approvals, the tools are transported to Vietnam for mass production.  

While in China many details were reviewed, rejected and revised, or reviewed and approved. There were some cosmetic issues like the colors for the finish, the lights and the windshield. There were some mechanical issues to work out and there were some logistics and assembly issues to work through.

The first decision made was to determine the finish. We loved the silver and approved it right away but even after a lot of test colors, the black still looked cheap. It took a few tries to get it right and this is what the approved finish will be. You are going to love it! 

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One of the next things discussed was the plastic parts. Originally, the color for the lights and windshield were painted, but we found this looked cheap. Instead, we decided to inject the plastic with the color so there is now no paint on the plastic. It took 3 tries to get the color just right.  

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One of the challenges is keeping the rubber wheels on. There was a long delay in the project a couple of months ago when we realized a locking channel needed to be added to the rim and rubber tires to keep them from slipping off during hard turns. 

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We had a couple other mechanical issues that took several days to work through. The first was to figure out a way to use the metal hubs to hold the wheel on. The second was to stop the truck from bouncing like a bobble head. The spring was too weak, so we increased the strength of it. In doing this, the screws holding down the spring were pulling out because of the torque from rocking with the new tighter spring. 

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The beginning of the final stage of this project is just about here. We just been notified that the tools have arrived in Vietnam and are running first production shots to test for production readiness. On June 25th, our production manager will travel to Vietnam to check the quality. Once they are checked and signed off, mass production of the aluminum and all of the metal parts will commence, then they will be assembled and shipped to you! 

Remember, there are a lot of parts with different materials in these vehicles. The natural beechwood parts for the Enduro Truck are ready to go. The Rubber parts will be finished in a few weeks. The leather is already cut to size for the racer seats and all these parts are on their way to the final destination in Vietnam for assembly. 

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Please keep up the positive encouragement and support as we work hard to wrap up this project for you. We expect some great photos from the Vietnam trip at the end of the month so please stay tuned! By then, will have a solid ship date for you - so keep a look out for our next update the first week of July. 

Thank you all for being so great!

Give us your feedback on Enduro's paint/finish options.
about 6 years ago – Tue, Apr 24, 2018 at 01:15:10 AM

Hey all, 

Quick update here. We've received aluminum finish samples that range from rougher/flakier finishes to finer/smoother finishes. Here are some sample images:

A is a rougher, B is medium, and C is the finest. The ones on top (i.e. "A1") have a matte clear coat on them... the ones below do not have a clear coat, only a base coat. We will be using a matte clear coat on the base coat to protect the paint. We tried a gloss clear coat, and it was far too shiny... we think the matte clear coat looks more sophisticated.

Currently, we are leaning toward the finer textured "C1" sample more than the others... this is because it shows off curves and accents better. The rougher finishes look kind of cool because they are more reflective/shiny, but they also have less of a "classier" look and more of a "hammered" look. We've noticed that when we bent the metal samples, the more "flaky, rougher" samples lose a lot of the visible definition of the curves and it can be a bit over-powering.

But we'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter - chime in here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/endurofinish

We look forward to hearing your opinions! 

Manufacturing Update #13
about 6 years ago – Wed, Apr 18, 2018 at 12:07:33 AM

Hi all, 

We just wanted to check-in with a little update. 

Currently, Enduro is going through all sorts of safety and durability tests... All of the parts and mechanics are fitting great, with a few pieces still being tooled. The only piece that has required re-tooling is the tire and rim molds to add a channel so that the tires wouldn't slip off during hard turns.

The wood for the truck bed is currently being cut in California and the leather for the seat is being die-cut in China. 

The leather is special chromium-free, aniline through-dyed leather to make sure it is safe for kids. There are two awesome, caffeinated colors being used for both Blackout and Original versions - espresso and coffee.

Apart from these things being worked on, Enduro is going through rigorous tests for safety and durability to make sure these things hold up the way we've designed... and so far, so good. We've still got a lot of tests ahead, but once the mechanical and safety testing is completed and passed, we will move to mass production! 

Here are some images of our latest samples:

We are also working on finding a good finish for the vehicles that will hold up to typical play. We are aiming to use a strong finish that is very durable, while also having a nice high-quality shimmer. We will be receiving samples of gloss and matte finishes soon and we will send out a survey to our Kickstarter backers to get their feedback on what they like best.

93% of our backers have responded to their Backerkit survey. If you haven't filled out the survey, please do so as soon as possible. We need to finalize quantities for the blackout vehicles, as these will only be created once and we won't be creating extra.

Lookout for an update soon about clear coat/paint finishes - as we want your feedback on this. We'll talk soon. 

Have a great day!

-The Thoughtfull Toys Team

If you are having balance issues with your survey checkout, please message us.
about 6 years ago – Sat, Feb 24, 2018 at 12:03:08 AM

Hi all, 

Just a quick update for anyone trying to fill out the survey and having an issue at checkout where they are $1 off or $6 off, etc from being able to pay for their reward. This is an issue with our special notes not being synced to Backerkit. Please message us through Kickstarter and we will credit your account appropriately. No Worries :)