Dear all,

We are writing to you today, to discuss the amazing response back from the Black’s and after consideration, updates to the Lite’s we will be persuing to ensure we can strive to provide the best puzzle experience to you.

We’d first like to bring to your attention the sizes of the can, where we found the pin mechanism did come apart from an experienced customer after the maze was solved. The can sizing is 6.005mm to 6.010mm where we try to aim for 6.008mm. This creates the required interference fit. The 6.005mm may be too small, we’re now looking at knurling the side, to provide a mechanical grip, or glueing the can in place, to stop the pin assembly from coming out.

Please note, that when the pin is in the standard maze height, it should be more or less level, with the top of the can. If the pin is lower than the top of the can, it might be the can is moving out of the sleeve.

As this is the pilot, we want to find better ways to improve our workings. We will be applying tighter control over the size before the can is used, as the tolerances are extremely tight and fine.

The next point to note is the anodising of the maze. It will be scratched by the pin, what we have found, is we may not anodise the maze core, we instead colour anodise the sleeve, like we used to do. This will allow the polishing of the core once removed. When anodising, this hardens the surface and can make the maze walls brittle, if a large amount of pressure is applied, small pieces can be broken off, that will lodge in the maze. While we are trying to avoid this, we understand excess force, in some cases can happen. We are going to try to avoid thin walls, which may be more difficult on the complex puzzles.

As part of an investigation by one of the users, it may have been discovered, that the pin is not reaching the deeper reset channels by approximately 0.2 of a millimetre, this may allow after continuous use and wear, the ability to get into areas, not designated, as the pin is not reaching the depth. We will be changing the pin, to ensure it does reach the reset correctly by adding more length to the pin, this is the reason we did the pilot, to listen to feedback and make improvements.

We’ve noted in our assembly and usage, is the sleeves are made and held by internal clamping on our CNC machine, this clamping may cause a slight indentation inside the sleeve, which can be occasionally felt when playing the mazes. Learning from this, we will be running a deburr down the tube before we send it for anodising to make it as smooth as possible. Other than this, it seems we’ve got a good result with the Black and we’ve already sent out a Blue, and it will be evaluated. We’ll be sending Mike’s Blue to test with his family, to answer the question, “Would you give family or friends, this puzzle?”

Everybody’s enthusiasm gives us giving great feeling that once we’ve got this right, we will have an enjoyable product again, which we can concentrate on in the future. While the classics could be resurrected if there are enough new people who would like to get hold of them. We thank everybody on Discord for their involvement, belief, and assistance in helping us get this product to a wider audience.

On a final note, we are so pleased people are enjoying these puzzles. While it’s taken a lot of time, we have identified areas we can build upon and hoping to do technical briefings together, as we appreciate people’s feedback, to ensure we get the best feedback possible.

Best regards,

Rachel and Chris