Manufacturing updates 2

Hi everyone!

We have some updates to share, including a little surprise at the end!

Components and PCB assembly

On the components side, we have some good news and some less-good news. We are currently scheduled to receive a partial shipment of IMUs in mid-October, which will allow us to keep moving forward with production. Unfortunately, the nRF54LM20 chips, that are used in the Dock, have been delayed again, and the latest availability we have been given is now January/February. Because of this, we are planning to certify the charging dock separately as soon as we receive the final production nRF54LM20 modules, together with their respective module certification. Therefore, the current general shipping estimate is now the first half of 2027. Nevertheless, we are trying to secure as many early-production nRF54LM20 modules as we can so that we can begin shipping Supporter kits, and potentially Early Bird kits, ahead of the rest.

However, at this point, things are changing too quickly for us to provide a more accurate shipping timeline with confidence. We are pushing everything we can as hard as possible, but unfortunately the wider component and manufacturing situation is getting significantly worse. As one example, we were recently hit with roughly a 40% increase in PCB prices alone, together with lead times that are longer than anything the industry has recently seen. We really value the trust you have placed in us, and the entire team is working incredibly hard to get FluxPose into your hands as soon as possible.

In the meantime, we are also using every bit of extra time to improve the product, the overall experience, and your rewards as much as we can. I don't want to spoil too many things yet, but let's just say the Long Range Dongle is getting a complete facelift. We're aiming to make it not only the longest-range dongle we possibly can, but also the coolest one.

Injection molding update

Since the last update, we’ve made a lot of progress on the final materials and surface finish for FluxPose.

Rather than settling for the first plastic that met the basic mechanical requirements, we tested multiple production samples across a wide range of materials, including scratch-resistant PC and ABS grades, PET, and PC-ABS blends. We deliberately scratched, rubbed, and handled the samples, inspected defects from different angles and under different lighting conditions, and also verified that the enclosure materials and finishes would not negatively affect radio performance.
We are not only looking for a material that is strong or easy to mold but want a material that will continue to look good over time.

To give you an idea of the process, the image below shows some of the most relevant materials we compared.

Some materials performed extremely well in one area but fell short in another. Standard ABS was inexpensive, easy to mold, and a good baseline for this type of product, but its surface showed visible wear relatively easily in our tests.

PET was one of the more interesting alternatives. It performed surprisingly well in terms of scratch and chemical resistance, which is useful for a product that will be exposed to skin oils, dirt, and cleaning products. However, it is less conventional for this type of enclosure, less ideal for some of our screw features, and the samples still showed more rubbing and damage than we wanted.

We also tested several grades of polycarbonate or PC for short. PC is tougher than ABS, but the standard grades we tested still scratched more easily than we hoped. One specialty scratch-resistant PC performed extremely well in our surface tests. The trade-off is that this formulation pushes very hard toward surface hardness and scratch resistance, and in doing so gives up some of the toughness and processing forgiveness that normally make PC so attractive. In our parts it was noticeably more brittle, more difficult to mold cleanly, and also shinier than the finish we wanted. PC also caused a small reduction in radio performance compared with ABS.

After all of this testing, we have now settled on a specially formulated scratch-resistant ABS from a major plastics manufacturer. It has good flow characteristics for injection molding, produces the surface finish we were looking for, feels great in the hand, and most importantly, is much more resistant to the scratches, rubbing marks, and other cosmetic wear that products like these see during everyday use. Overall, it gave us the best balance of cosmetic durability, toughness, molding performance, and RF performance.

We also tested different surface textures across these materials, since texture has a big impact on appearance, feel, manufacturability, and how visible wear becomes over time. The goal was not simply to find the toughest plastic, but the material and texture combination that would keep looking good after everyday use.

What became very clear during testing is that cosmetic damage to plastics can happen in many different ways. Earlier we mentioned scratching, but a surface can start to look worn for many reasons, including:

• It gets scratched
• The texture becomes polished or smoothened
• The surface changes gloss and starts to look patchy or worn
• Another plastic leaves material behind in the texture
• Oils or dirt get in the texture

These side-by-side photos show some of the differences more clearly.
In this comparison, we rubbed a blue plastic pen cap against both samples. The PC sample had much more material transferred and started to look blue in the area that was rubbed. This is a good example of a failure mode that is not a deep scratch but still matters a lot in practice.

In this second comparison, the difference is more in surface wear. We rubbed both samples against a third common object and as you can see the PC sample develops some smoother, worn looking lines after rubbing.

At the same time we have been working on finishing the design for all the different FluxPose devices and I am happy to say that the enclosure design work for all of the electronic products, including the Tracker, Beacon, Charging Dock, and the new cooler Pro Dongle, is finished. We are now moving forward with the remaining molds and production tooling.

Across the FluxPose ecosystem, we currently plan to injection mold 20 unique plastic parts. This alone gives a good sense of just how complex the FluxPose system is to manufacture.

Packaging

We don’t want to spoil the final presentation too much just yet, but we’ve also been putting a lot of work into every part of the packaging experience.

That includes newer iterations of the carrying case, as well as different cardboard packaging for the various products, accessories, adapters, and strap options. FluxPose is a highly customizable system, so getting the packaging right is not as simple as designing a single box. We want everything to be easy to understand, efficient to pack and ship, and as streamlined as possible, while still delivering the premium feel we want FluxPose to have from the moment you open it.

New office, manufacturing and logistics space

Here’s the progress since the last photo we shared in the previous update.

The electrical and climate-control installations are now in place, and the ceiling has been completed. Over the next week or so, the doors will be installed and walls will be painted, and if everything stays on schedule, we should be able to move into the new space before the next update.

The facility includes a lot of different areas, from a large assembly hall and a temperature-controlled calibration area to storage and fulfillment spaces. Once we’re fully moved in, we hope to give you a proper look at the setup and show you how each part of the space will support FluxPose production.

Calibration area

Design work on our automated calibration setup has also picked up speed.

Here’s a quick preview of the fully automated calibration system we’re building. It’s being designed to operate 24/7, increasing calibration throughput and helping us process and deliver orders as efficiently as possible once production ramps up.

Steam Frame

Some of you may have already seen it, but we recently showcased FluxPose running fully natively on the Steam Frame! (https://x.com/FluxposeVR/status/2099548476765868500)

This is still a proof of concept for now, but the Steam Frame is a great example of what FluxPose was designed for from the beginning: freedom and flexibility across the entire VR ecosystem.

With FluxPose, you choose where each part of the system runs. The FluxPose app can run directly on the Steam Frame or on your PC, and the same principle applies to the game, the SteamVR driver, and other FluxPose components. Everything is designed to work as independently and flexibly as possible, so you can build the setup that makes the most sense for you. That could mean a completely standalone setup, a traditional PCVR setup, or even a mixed setup where the FluxPose app runs on your headset, but you are still running the game on your PC!

You could technically even have a friend on the other side of the world wear your trackers for you! We're not entirely sure why you would want to do that, but you could.

We are still waiting on the arrival of some accessories before designing the final HMD mount for the Frame. The mount will attach to the core module, but we want to make sure that it doesn’t interfere with most accessories.

We are also going to be selling a small USB dongle for the Steam Frame (and potentially other standalone headsets). This will come with a good USB power/data splitter, so you can use the dongle while charging the headset.

Website

We’ve been working on the website, updating the layout and better unifying the rest of the website with the store. We’ve given the colours a fresh makeover to better align with our brand image. We’ve also created a place to share updates on our website, once the new version is live you’ll be able to read this update there!

We will be fully migrating the website over to Shopify in the next week or so. During the transition, the website and store may be unavailable for a few hours.

Please send any feedback regarding the current (or new) website on our discord in this thread: (https://discord.com/channels/1321455375807021147/1499488185867042946)

Flux-chan

Now for the surprise: say hello to our new official mascot, Flux-chan!
She’s a robotic bunny girl powered by FluxPose!

She is designed and drawn by @bear and will be used on Tshirts, packaging, marketing materials, software, website and more!

That's all for now. Once again thank you for your patience as we work towards getting production started.