Build Your Own Clone
ally crept in. Complaints about kits shipping
with missing parts creep up on the “Praise,
Complaints and Suggestions” section of the
forums (“We’re only human and a lot of these
kits have quite a few parts, but most of the
time we’re dead on,” says Lobie); defective
components from suppliers have forced recalls
of kits and frustrated customers; much needed components can take months to arrive
(during my conversation with Vonderhulls in
mid-September a component ordered in July
finally arrived at the shop, to much excitement); hand-drilled PCBs have the potential
to return from production with errant holes,
extending the wait for a particular kit and
complicating fulfillment. It can be a demanding business at times, and Vonderhulls is the
first to admit it. “I’m feeling a little stretched
thin right now; I just keep telling myself
that it’s going to be worth it pretty soon.
Sometimes I wake up and I think, ‘I wouldn’t
wish this on my worst enemy,’ and some days
I wake up and think, ‘I’m one of the luckiest
people on the planet.’”
Fortunately, Vonderhulls has a competitive
streak in him—he spent his years before div-
ing into the effects world as a dedicated road
cyclist—that has kept his company in the
thick of it, despite the occasional crisis. He
has upgraded his equipment, adding a CNC
machine to the operations; he has begun
a rigorous process of beta testing all of his
builds and components to make sure that
they’ll stand up to the stresses of use; he’s
tightened up the quality control processes,
adding more checks and balances; and he has
made an effort to learn more about the business side of the industry to keep things moving smoothly. “Just this year, I learned about
purchase order agreements, which will be a
huge thing for me in terms of getting costs
down, but it will be even bigger in terms of
knowing the parts will be there when I need
them,” he says.
Improvements aside, Vonderhulls says the
most problems with his kits arise out a lack of
patience on the part of the builders. “Some
people get fatigued [while soldering], and
that’s when they start making mistakes. The
only people that ever have problems are
the people who rush through the builds. For
example, I’ll get a call on Thursday from
