TermDriver is not my first rodeo. In fact, it’s my eighth crowdfunding project. For the first couple, I waited to place the manufacturing order until the campaign ended, and then waited 6-8 weeks for the parts to arrive. Then we had to test, finish, and ship them. It was mad panic interspersed with agonized waiting.

These days I panic early to avoid the rush. As soon as TermDriver hit its funding goal and I could make a good guess about final quantities, the order went out to the PCB manufacturer. They order the parts, schedule the PCBA run, and then do the initial test. In addition to all the manufacturing files (BOM, Gerbers, PnP), I write up a short test plan and supply manufacturing test firmware. This firmware runs some simple diagnostics and then pops this up on the TermDriver’s screen.

Meanwhile there’s plenty to do back here in California. The boards with LCDs will arrive, get tested, assembled (by our skilled artisans!), and boxed up. Ideally this can start as soon as the PCBs arrive. There is no substitute for being ready.

SPIDriver and I²CDriver have LCD screens stuck to the PCB with tape. TermDriver is a bit more ambitious. It has a bezel that holds the screen in place and makes the TermDriver a bit easier to hold and handle.

We’re 3D printing the bezels here. The Bambu P1S I’m using can fit 45 bezels on a plate.

The print uses the Bambu smooth plate with custom printing settings to get a nice flat front for the bezel. The finish is attractive, and the print run takes two hours for 45 pieces. So the printer has been very busy lately.

This is the first time we’ve done something like this. It is really amazing seeing these parts appear out of the printer. Each bezel uses about 0.6 g of filament. Of course wear and tear on the printer is a bigger factor, but so far it’s been holding up great. No glitches at all.

At the same time, we’ve been working on the box design. We settled on a fairly small box, in keeping with TermDriver’s cute-but-tiny feel. SPIDriver ships in a blue box, I²CDriver is a warm yellow. We decided on leaf green for the TermDriver box. Here is a mockup made from a test sheet we ordered from the printer to confirm the exact shade of leaf green:

So we’re all set to get your TermDrivers shipped as soon as we possibly can. I’ll be posting more updates as we work through all the steps.

Thanks for your support. We really appreciate it.