Fog Monster Mini Fog Machine For Tabletop Games & Special FX

Update #60 - 2nd and 3rd Wave in effect! Welcoming ShipBob to the team
about 6 years ago – Thu, Mar 15, 2018 at 11:32:19 PM

Greetings to all! The March update is here and lots of news.

Second wave shipping for International backers has begun. We will be sending tracking numbers to international backers as we receive them, however, in some cases you may receive your package before you receive your tracking. On shipping reliability we are happy to say we had a 100% success rate in delivery to first wave International backers!

The Boat to the USA is now in process. Once the boat arrives in the USA 3rd Wave shipping will begin. More on that below.

Shipping Batteries Internationally is a big import/export issue and requires unique licensing to do so. Special arrangements needed to be made to export bulk orders of batteries from Asia to all the Light Pod backers in the project. (which BTW was the highest numbers of Add-On's. Over 4800 individual lights.)

Clear Power Supply Labeling.  We also decided to place a label on the Power Supply for the Dark Crypt to differentiate it from the Fog Monster Power Supply. This is an important feature for those who may have placed orders for both units, or who plan to do so in the future.

 Why it's important.  As we mentioned in other updates the pins on the Fog Monster and Dark Crypt were changed for the plug requirements on each unit. The Dark Crypt Power Supply uses identical DC pins, however, the Fog Monster uses a larger pin for the 24v transducer. Trying to plug into the wrong power supply would result in a failure. The labeling makes sure that the user chooses the correct power supply for each machine.

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These changes took additional time but, as you will see in this update, adding ShipBob to the team will virtually eliminate these delays and in fact will actually reduce the time it takes for you to receive your package in the USA. Enter ShipBob.

We did the research and finally settled on ShipBob - How it speeds up delivery in the USA. ShipBob is a fulfillment company that has the ability to fulfill massive bulk mailing to our customers in a fraction of the time we could hope to achieve using our staff locally.

Real world example. We originally planned to handle the mailing of approximately 1250 packages from our warehouse using only our staff. Ideally we would hope to achieve 250 orders per week using this method through our local post office. From the date the boat arrives in the USA it would take approximately 1 -2 weeks to clear customs and arrive in our warehouse. If the boat arrived on April 15th, at 250 packages a week, it would then take an additional 6 weeks just to label all the orders making delivery sometime in June.

By using ShipBob all orders will be fulfilled approximately 2 weeks from the day they arrive in their warehouse thereby cutting around 3 weeks off of the delivery time to USA backers.  This is a real time saver and should make for a happy project for everyone.

We will do another Tips & Tricks operating instruction video in the next update this month.

All the best,

RGFX

Instructional Overview Videos For Dark Crypt and Fog Monster Setup
about 6 years ago – Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 10:59:56 PM

Fog Monster and Dark Crypt Overview Instructions

We have created two brief instructional overview videos for both the Fog Monster and Dark Crypt fog machines along with a few tips and tricks. This should help with the setup of your machines. We will post PDF instructions as well in the next update.

First International Wave Shipped! - Second International Wave Coming - USA Shipping Next - Factory Testing and Quality Control - Update 58
about 6 years ago – Sat, Feb 10, 2018 at 11:38:05 PM

Greetings to all!  We are back from the factory and want to update you on our quality inspection as well as the first, second, and, third, wave shipment dates.

Factory Production

There were approximately 2000 packages that needed to be prepared for shipment!

Quality Control:

(Pictures below are from January). When we arrived at the factory we inspected the parts and upgraded a number of components. As you can see below starting with the clear Fog Monster, the finish was pretty rough and discolored so we had the mold polished to a finer finish.

Once the clear plastic production was through the black plastic production was run but the shiny finish did not look very good in black. We asked the factory to change the polished black plastic surface to a rougher satin finish.

Pump test and improvement - The Dark Crypt does not have a large water reservoir so we changed the angle of the pump and created an elbow that would allow the water pump to pull water from the bottom of the pump instead of the side.

Water supply test and improvement - The long tube for the water pump was reconsidered after testing as a user may push it sideways trying to attach the pump and snap it at the base, thereby ruining the water supply. A small tab was added to the pump elbow to protect that from happening.

Power supply voltage distinction - As mentioned in other updates, our new consolidated power supply allows for a user to plug 3 wires into one supply and power all the Fog Monster components, namely the 24v transducer, the 5v pump, and the optional 5v fan.

During our testing we imagined it may be possible for a user to make a mistake and plug in the 5v pump or fan into the 24v port and ruin the pump, so we swapped out the black wire to a white wire for the transducer power supply to make it clear that it is for 24v power only.

FCC, CE, and RoHS Certifications - Creating the new combination of electronics that make up the operational Fog Monster meant testing for compliance. We wanted to take every precaution to make sure the product would pass through customs. We received the recommended certifications and these will be placed in the packing for customs agents.

Little details

Rubber Grommets for water seal. - Standard rubber grommets for the power supply plugs were too tight and forced the user to struggle to push the plugs through so we made our own custom grommets to allow easier insertion for assembly and disassembly of the Fog Monster. You may think this is a small matter but it's a big deal when you are trying to set up in the tight spaces of the machine.

 New pipe compatibility test - With the switch to the new upgraded pipes we took a moment to assemble the Small Ground Level Pack and found a new height difference between the inner connectors that would have resulted in a failure. We were able to place a last minute order for longer inner connector pipes to achieve the correct ground height.

All things considered -  This is all part of the R&D process for any new product. We hope everyone can appreciate the attention to detail being show to make the best product possible. We are happy our manufacturer worked with us to correct all of these issues prior to shipping. As you can imagine each additional production run for new parts adds time to the order. The good news is we were able to solve the production fixes before the holiday. The factory worked hard to package as many orders as possible before the Chinese holiday which runs from the 15th to the 21st of February.

Shipping Details

First Wave - Air Freight packages for international customers - We are happy to say they were able to send out the first wave of Air Freight packages for international customers. Time did not permit for the entire order of air freight before the Chinese holiday. Please note there are no USA backers in the first wave shipping.

How do you know if your International Air package was among those that have already shipped?  We will send a tracking number to your email address starting today after this update. - Please be patient, there is no need to write in and ask if your package was shipped, if you already paid for your shipping rest assured we have your email address and we will contact you, but only if your package has been shipped. If you do not receive a confirmation email by 02/12/18 your package was not shipped.

Second Wave - Air Freight packages for international customers - There will be a 3-4 week delay of international Air Freight shipments to allow the workers to return from the holiday. The second wave of Air Freight shipments are scheduled around March 10th.

Third Wave - Boat Shipment to USA Customers -  There will be a 3-4 week delay in shipping by boat to the USA to allow the workers to return from the holiday. The boat for USA customers is scheduled to leave March 15th and arrive around April 15th. After the order is received in our warehouse we will then start shipping to USA customers.

We will begin sending out shipping cost invoices to USA customers soon. Please pay your invoice promptly so we can prioritize your order. (As a note it took over 30 days to receive back all the shipping payments from our international customers! Delayed replies to shipping invoices may result in your order being placed last in line.)

We will continue to update you as things progress. Next update will feature assembly and operating instructions overview.

 All the best,

RGFX

Greetings from the factory! - Last chance for air freight customers to pay. - A short story of the "Pipe Monster" - Update 57
over 6 years ago – Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 11:33:13 PM

Greetings to all!

You will be happy to hear the Fog Monster packaging for all components is in full swing! 

Urgent Note for Air Freight customers only: There are still some Air Freight customers who have not made payment. (If you have, do not worry we have your order, no need to write us.)  If you have received an Air freight invitation and have not paid this is your last chance as packaging is taking place as we speak. We will send package tracking once your package ships. Any air freight not paid for will load onto the boat to USA and will be shipped when the boat arrives end of February - March 2018. 

As we noted in our campaign we have been manufacturing products for over 10 years and this has been a pretty normal production run for us. We had very few adjustments for Fog Monster and Dark Crypt production. In fact it has been one of the smoothest runs to date!

The surprise has been what turned into the "Pipe Monster" Lets start with the good points. TLDR: Everyone got a very valuable free upgrade, rejoice!

To the details. We chose clear as it is easy to track where the fog is in the pipeline and looks very nice for gaming. If you purchased pipe from us you will be receiving the highest quality pipe currently available at incredibly low cost. To give you an example here are 2 sites, this one in the USA  and this one in the UK 

If we use the clear large elbow as an example (40mm equivalent imperial size is 1 1/2") the cost for one elbow in USA is an astonishing $19.73 and £12.91 (inc VAT) in UK. We knew this prior to the project and sourced several manufacturers for less expensive pricing and offered this pricing for Pipe Add-Ons, but in the end the manufactured quality we received did not meet the original samples they sent us so we could not accept them for distribution. You can see the difference in some comparison pics below.

As a note, every pipe connector manufacturer has different tolerances for the finished product so we could not mix and match to find value pricing. While some connectors fit the straight tubing others were too loose, so we went with a manufacturer in Taiwan which offered very high quality for premium pricing. If you would like to see what your current Pipe Pack Add-On is now worth take a look here in the Pre-Order Backerkit store for new buyers. Long story short, problem solved and it ended well for our backers. You are receiving the very best piping the industry has to offer, in fact far over-engineered for simple fog. 

We will end this update with Pics of some of the finished components. 

International Backer Shipping Invitation Is Finished!
over 6 years ago – Sun, Jan 14, 2018 at 11:29:00 PM

All International invitations for shipping have been sent out as of this update. If you did not receive your invitation please check your email and contact us if you do not see it. (If you did receive your invitation and paid it there is no need to write in to check if we received it unless you get a notice that your payment was declined.)

If you received your invitation please pay promptly as we will begin shipping over the next 2 weeks. If you miss paying for your shipping it will be delayed until March 2018 when we receive the shipments in our warehouse in the USA.

A word about shipping cost to international customers. We started out with one clear pipe that is included with every Fog Monster at no extra charge. We dont make pipes and it would have been much easier to do this project without them. We only added them as a resource to save everyone from having to run around and find all the parts on the net.

We honestly were a little surprised at the amount of pipe that was ordered as well as the Volumetric Shipping charges we received from shippers. This rapidly turned into the "Pipe Monster" and just about took over our humble little Fog Monster project. We are not happy with these prices but it is the cost of air shipping. On the side of convenience it is the price for one stop shopping as we have done all the sourcing and fitment for you.

We broke the shipping costs in your invitation into Fog Monster vs Pipe shipping so you can see the difference. If you want us to refund your pipe order we can do so and you can source your own pieces. It will throw a monkey wrench in the gears so to speak as we have already purchased the pipe and all the boxes for shipping but we realize the shipping cost is just too much for some so we will grin and bear it but please let us know as quickly as possible if you do not want your pipe.

USA Shipping

We will begin sending out shipping invitations to USA backers  over the next few weeks. As a note USA shipping will be much less expensive for pipe orders as we can use ground shipping.

All the best,

RGFX