MAY 29th  UPDATE......Please read carefully ladies and gentleman

Late last night Luis gave the green light to the final pre-production Argonaut body.  Early today I sent an E-mail asking the shop to turn the partially finished bodies into the finished product.  I expect to have all the bodies here by June 9th.
Today I stopped at the engraving shop and confirmed with the owner that when I drop off the Argonaut bodies for him to engrave the model and serial numbers on it will take a total of 3 days.
The day he is finished I will be waiting at his door to pick them up and drive them to the metal finishing shop for nickel plating.  Their estimate is 10 days to finish them all.  I will be waiting at their door for them to open on the day they tell me the parts will be ready.

I am working on organizing and putting together an assembly process so I can hit the ground running as soon as the plating is finished.  Please understand that each regulator is assembled and tested one at a time by me and I can only go so fast.  All the ancillary parts that go with the Argonaut are either here or are in route to me. Everything from hose clamps to packing tape will be here on hand.
I will update the blog every chance I get while I'm working.  If you have questions please send me an E-mail. 
If you HAVE ordered and paid for a regulator you can stop reading :)   Thanks for your patience

If you HAVE NOT ordered and paid for a regulator please continue reading below the line.
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I have shipped out the Fundable support certificates and other items to the folks on the list who did not purchase regulators.  If you have not received yours by now please CLICK HERE to E-mail me.

After I ship the regulators to the folks above who purchased them during the campaign I believe I will have more regulators available for sale.  They will be available to the folks who have not already purchased one but who supported me during the Fundable campaign.
If you are interested in purchasing a regulator with your Fundable discount please E-mail me.  This is only available to the folks on the Fundable backer list who have not already purchase a regulator.   You have until June 22nd to decide.  After that I will put them on the website for general sale and they will sell out within hours.
Regulators will be assembled and delivered by the end of July if you purchase before June 22nd.

Sorry for the delay in updating but there has not been a whole lot going on that is worth writing about or boring you to tears with.  

Cerakote is the finish I wanted on the Argonaut for a very long time.  I wanted something that was different and unique.  Initial experiments worked out great and I could find very little fault in it.  Currently there are Phoenix first stages available in Cerakote and I think the finish worked fantastic on them and I plan on using it on other parts in the future.

 

Which brings us to the Argonaut....... 

Luis and I always planned for the yoke on the Argonaut to be removable and not held in place by a retaining clip which is standard for most regulators.  When you can remove the yoke it lets the regulator pack flat and overall travels and stores easier.  I had a couple of scrap bodies done in Cerakote and the look was fantastic!  The problem was with taking the yoke on and off the body.  The tolerances and machining on the Argonaut are much more precise than you find on most regulators.  So when the Cerakote was applied to the threads of the body and yoke it was extremely difficult to take the yoke on and off....And it was so tight that after doing it a few dozen times it was removing the coating........Houston, we have a problem.   After racking my brain and weighing all the options and getting some professional advice I decided electroless nickel plating was the best option.  The folks at Seminole Metal Finishing will be doing the work and since they are close to me I'll drop off and pick up to save on shipping cost and time.

Pictured below is the sample they did for me.  Let me know what you think.....

 Major update again next week.  Stay tuned for details :)

Update for everyone

Promotional items are just about finished and will ship around the 20th for the backers who are not getting a regulator on the 1st run.  T-shirts are set to be delivered on the 9th to me, Certificate is in progress and just about ready to print. I'm still working out a few ideas on a unique way to show off some of the design highlights of the Argonaut without being a plain PDF of the body drawing.  I think it will display a lot nicer with the idea I'm working on.  The waterbottle idea got a lot of thumbs down response so instead I have a custom tag being made with the Argonaut Kraken logo and a small chain that you can use on your regulator for display or attach it to anything else while waiting to order your new regulator.

If you are getting an Argonaut on the 1st run I will put these items in with your regulator when I ship it.

Later in the month I will do an update on the specifics of the regulator itself. I'm waiting on some important updates from two of the parts manufacturers.

If you have questions or comments please E-mail me HERE

Slowly but surely the Argonaut Kraken is coming together.  Cans arrived last week and I have been trying to figure out the best method for installing the hardware and having them all prepped when the regulator bodies arrive.  I plan on doing the same thing with hose assemblies so final assembly and checks will take less time and I can get them out to you as soon as possible.   Its a very slow process right now but I hope to learn a lot from this first group and shorten the delivery schedule in the future.  Since It's just Me, Myself and I doing all the assembly I need to maintain the quality expected from a hand assembled regulator but still maximize efficiency where I can.
Machine shop is doing the production now and it's possible they will have enough brass on hand to make a few more regulators than I originally thought.  I have taken the liberty of contacting the first backers on the list to see if they are interested in getting a regulator now as opposed to waiting till the second run in the fall. I have asked that they reply to me by Tuesday April 8th if they are in our out.  If anyone declines I will continue up the list contacting each backer till I have the quota filled for regulators on this run.   If you have questions about this please E-mail me directly.Click To E-mail me and I can give you further details.

Here are a few pictures if you have not seen them on the Forum or Facebook page.

Thanks for your support!

  

Sorry I have not updated for a while but didn't really have any concrete details worth discussing and I'm sure the small details most of you catch on the Facebook and website forum pages.

Final production body sample still had a few issues...Detailed notes, pictures and drawing highlights were sent and an order was placed and large deposit made.  If all goes well I will be able to meet the June delivery time for those who have purchased an Argonaut Kraken.
As it stands right now there will be a few more regulators available if we have no problems with the production bodies.  I will start on the list from the first backer who did not purchase a regulator and work my way up till I have all the additional ones sold.
Yoke samples were spectacular and I think it is one that will serve us well for many years. The new design is very robust and is a great fit on the Argonaut.
Can production is done and they are scheduled to ship out to me next week.

I have closed repair service for other regulators May 18th to July1st to allow me to concentrate 100% of my time to the Argonaut Kraken and getting them out to their new owners.

Questions?  Comments ?   E-mail me  Bryan@vintagedoublehose.com

Thank you

I sent a link to a one question poll regarding hose color preference to all participants in the Fundable campaign and only 75% of the eligible people voted. I guess I'll send my color preference to the other 25%...

Black	9	25%	25%
Yellow	2	5.56%	5.56%
Red	22	61.11%	61.11%
Gray	1	2.78%	2.78%
Green	1	2.78%	2.78%
Other:	1	2.78%	2.78%

It looks like red hoses will make the cut for at least the first edition Argonaut Krakens. 

Everything else is going well....Waiting for Fundable to release the cash so I can pay some folks and get process moving at a more rapid pace. 

Thank you

Fundable campaign closed with a bang!  I'm sure everyone on the list has received payment notifications from WePay who processes the funds for them.  These will be transferred to my account next Monday/Tuesday and I'll take it from there.
In the next few weeks you will get an E-mail from me asking for T-shirt sizes, address confirmation and for those of you who purchased regulators I will gather your choices and preferences so I can start getting that part organized.  I will also be starting a waiting list for the backers on this list.  Those of you who contributed at the $100.00 level will have FIRST opportunity to purchase an Argonaut Kraken as soon as they become available.  I will publish the list so you can see where your place is on it.  It goes by the date and time you made your contribution. So first to contribute, first to buy.  Regulators will be limited to ONE per backer when they become available.  If you pass on the opportunity when your name comes up your discount of 10% will still apply to a purchase in the future.   I will update this blog with manufacturing updates and other things about the process that I think you will find enjoyable.
It's still a long way to the finish line but without your help and support I would not even be to the starting gate yet.