icebreaker - ice cubes made easy

September Update
over 7 years ago – Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 09:34:54 PM

You know that feeling you had – or still have – the night before your birthday? Or Christmas? Remember that feeling of excitement and anticipation? Well, that is exactly the feeling we have had here at the icebreaker office the last couple of weeks! You see, last Wednesday we finally had a complete prototype! Assembled and ready for testing – we were like kids on Christmas Eve! This was the first time all elements: filling, waterproofness, freezing, releasing and dispensing could be tested in one device!

Our mechanical engineer Per who is the newest - and perhaps most essential - member of the icebreaker team tried the prototype for the first time and explains:

“The new prototype provides us with new discoveries of the water-to-ice behaviour. If we are not controlling the water expansion order right, we risk that ice is blocking some of the moving parts. Great to see that now and not later, and we have already worked out a solution. Even though this is a very complex engineering design with 18 mechanical parts, the prototype demonstrates that we are very close to a reliable and stable solution.”

Hurray for 3D printing - we feel that we have to have this final full functional device before we start cutting steel for plastic moulding. So the next 2 weeks will be with focus on this issue.

The question of delivery & quality
As we have mentioned time and time again, we are extremely focused on the quality of the product we want to make and deliver to you. We received a great comment from a Superbacker concerning the Quality Triangle, which we would like to address:

"We live by the concept of the Quality Triangle – and have done so from the very beginning of this project. As step 1, we have been prioritizing the Quality and Time over cost. Next step, Step 2, will be cost optimization, again not compensating the quality.”- Kim Jensen, Founder

Following these principles unfortunately also means that we cannot set the delivery time before the quality is in place. What we can say is that once we have released the design for production, we need approximately 3 months for activities with DFM, quality plan setup, tooling, sampling and testing before shipping the initial 200 Test Pilots. If these Test Pilots are perfect and the test runs smoothly we will ship all the Kickstarter units shortly after.

Thank you for your continuous patience and support!
On behalf of the icebreaker team
/Sahra

August Update
over 7 years ago – Fri, Aug 26, 2016 at 12:00:45 AM

Hi guys,

First of all – a big apology for this very belated update – thank you for waiting patiently.

Second of all, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sahra and I’m a proud member of the icebreaker team. I came on board a few days into the Kickstarter campaign as a happy volunteer – helping with communications, press and social media. Basically the same as I do today. I have very little – okay, I’ll be honest, no technical knowhow when it comes to building a complex device as the icebreaker (I’m happy when I get the Chromecast to work!). 

I do however know a little something about communication and that’s why I will be in charge of the updates from now on and make sure that they will come more regularly.

Fear not – Kim will keep us all informed on the technical stuff and the status of the production. I will simply be the one to pass on this information to you.
I know that we time and time again have thanked you guys for the support – it is actually quite hard to describe what it meant to us to see that you supported our project and to learn that the icebreaker was a product so many would like to see exist in the world, But we want to thank you by - not only making sure you will receive an icebreaker in very high quality - but also by giving you an inside look at the creative process of making the icebreaker a reality.

Lets look at a short recap of the development and process. Around summer 2015 we had a complete design concept. It was tested and verified through different module testing, 3D print, rapid prototyping etc. What we did not have was a complete assembled product, as this would require industrial production of plastic parts – a step we could not take without the funding from the Kickstarter campaign.

After the successful Kickstarter campaign (did we remember to say thank you?) we were finally able to start up the industrialization and production of some of the initial parts as scheduled in December last year.
The next step was to verify the functionality and durability of these parts, before initializing the remaining parts. That was scheduled for February. Unfortunately, here 6-7 months later, we are still in this verification phase.
We have learned a lot, uncovered a lot of expected as well as unexpected issues – but all the time we have had the feeling of moving forward.

So, where are we now?Well, status is that we have evaluated and validated the filling and freezing areas, and we are currently working on the releasing area. The biggest challenge in this specific area is actually reduced to a matter of material characteristics in terms of function and durability - due to our IP we cannot go into the details regarding this issue at the moment. 

In addition to the technical progress, we have advanced and upgraded on several other areas as well.
We have expanded the team to include a mechanical engineer and a digital concept developer and we have moved into new facilities. All of this will be presented in the next update in a couple of weeks – and even though I understand that you guys are first and foremost interested in the production progress – these elements are extremely important to the making of the icebreaker.

If you have any questions to our progress, please let me know in a comment and I (with the help from the team) will make sure to get back to you. You guys made this happen and we want to include as much as possible!

Have an awesome day. 

Cheers,
Sahra – on behalf of the entire icebreaker team.         

July Update
almost 8 years ago – Thu, Jul 14, 2016 at 10:49:32 PM

Dear all..

This July update will be a short one. We have just received a partial sample delivery - a bit later than anticipated, due to some unfortunate issues with the tooling in China. The remaining samples are expected some time next week. The next few weeks we will be testing as anticipated - testing for filling time, release force and material durability. Not much to be said about that for now. It is summer vacation time in Denmark and for the rest of July, but as our testing is not dependent on many external resources, we will be testing away! :-)

When not designing and testing the icebreaker, we have been preparing all the other aspects of starting a new business. We are starting to form our identity, our communication, our visuals, the branding, the packaging and the product manuals as well. I’m looking forward to share all of this with you after the vacation. Because, for now, releasing the icebreaker for production is the foremost important priority! Stay patient, withstand the lukewarm drinks, and support us continuously to make this world a better place with cold drinks!!!

Cheers,
Kim & the icebreaker team

June Update
almost 8 years ago – Thu, Jun 16, 2016 at 11:49:20 PM

Hello everyone.. We are still here :-) …
It is getting warm in Denmark and everywhere else, and we know that you would love some cool drinks with loads of ice cubes… And trust us, we are working on it for sure – In fact, we are making ice cubes. Lots and lots of them!!

 We have received the new parts, on schedule and in good quality - A huge thanks to our friends in China. So, we have been testing for 3 weeks now and with very good results. Good, but not complete. 

With the new parts, we have been able to reach the last milestone - RELEASE. The good news is that the design worked. The not so good news is that we are not yet ready to press the big button for production. Removing one obstacle makes clear sight for others’ reveal :-) 

Frozen water is a very severe opponent and making this product is a great challenge! Our aim is to have a simply operated product, which means that we are designing a mechanical engine, with the ability to operate in -20 degrees as well as to be dishwasher safe. The concept is in place - it works and it is verified! However, the balance between a set of essential dimensional factors still needs adjustment. E.g. issues like balancing filling time with release force. Issues that we did not foresee. But we are learning, and making progress every day. Making changes in plastic just takes time, and one really have to consider carefully before making changes in the steel tooling, as it is expensive and can merely not be undone.

Now we have just released a design update, to modify our existing tooling. The lead time is approx. 4 weeks.

We are still not 100% satisfied with the quality of the material that we have tested. We have implemented robots to perform durability tests, simulating daily operation in many years. Based on these tests we are able to qualify our materials. For the next sampling round, we will have to go into further materials testing to finally select the best candidates.

So again - we sincerely apologise for the delay, but we are coming closer to delivering the icebreaker to you, day by day. Not only are we confidence that we will succeed, but we will also end up with a product much greater and thorough matured than anticipated. Unfortunately this means that I will not be able to announce a delivery date at this point.

Thank you for your patience..
 Best regards Kim & the icebreaker team

May Update
almost 8 years ago – Mon, May 09, 2016 at 02:44:09 PM

Hi all,
We are still waiting for the new parts that are currently on their way from China. These parts should bring us from a 75% functional completeness to 100% functional complete as they will hopefully enable the function of “release” of the ice cubes. 

The milestones are therefore the same as in the previous update: 
-Filling → CHECK
-Waterproof → CHECK
-Freeze → CHECK
-Release → NOT YET CHECK
The new parts will arrive here in Denmark as scheduled in mid-May.

Besides working on the mechanical construction details, we are continuously receiving batches in variants of different materials in order to find best suitable materials for the icebreaker in terms of function, durability and health.

We have also been focusing a great deal on the functional user interface, and we have developed new features to enable an user friendly and easy operation of the icebreaker. Even though the icebreaker is a very complex device, we strive to make it simple, for you, and for your family to use – so it will be a natural feature in your daily life.

In this update we provide you with a little peak of what is coming, as we are still in development of the details. In the development we include feedback from both professionals as well as end-users to create the best solution.

As a marked introduction is also closing up, we are working on our product packaging design and materials. This is still too early to disclose, but will be topic for an update in the near future.

The big question that everyone is looking for an answer to is of course:
“When do I get my icebreaker?” Well, as elaborated upon in the previous update, we really really have to have the 100% functional complete status before we can release all the parts for production. That is also when we will be able to provide you with an update regarding the delivery timeframe. This status is expected to be ready by mid- or end-May... And trust us, we are looking forward to this update just as much as you guys :-)

So stay tuned and have a great week!

Cheers,
Kim & the icebreaker team