[NTLK] Newton Dongles, the last(?) chapter ;-)

[Pawel Piotrowski]

> On 6 Dec 2025, at 16:49, Matthias Melcher <m.melcher at robowerk.de> wrote:
> 
> Hi Newton friends,
> 
> another weekend of soldering, and I am sending out the last charge of NewtCOM dongles today. All remaining orders should have an EMail notification by now.
> 
> Some statistics, if you are interested: I sent out 48 dongles all together, and I still have a hand full for later. Faulty devices during testing was 8%, but I was too lazy to test what actually failed. I had one batch (25) PCB's with the diodes flipped which was entirely my fault. So far no returns from you guys, so I assume that all of them are working. I soldered one with the PCB rotated 180 degrees, but I was too stingy to throw it away, so I cut it apart and resoldered it. On six, I sent them out without light pipes, not a functional issue, just nicer - sorry - they will be in the mail in the next days.
> 
> I soldered 70 pieces alltogether. Making rigs for everything took a few hours in CAD and on the 3D printer, but to anyone ever trying a mini series, I highly recommend jigs for absolutely everything during assembly. Always build the jigs so that you can't assemble stuff wrong.
> 
> Soldering is tedious. Try to offload as much as possible to teh PCB design and the PCB manufacturer. Making cases and assembling OTOH is fun if the cases fit perfectly. If the product looks good in the end, it's very satisfying.
> 
> Put a self test into the software. Catch errors and build issues early. Try the dongle before encasing it. Make sure you send them out preprogrammed and tested with every available function. Mark the tested ones in case the dog pulls finished and unfinished dongles off the table and mixes them up (suspiciously specific, I know).
> 
> Calculate in plenty of time for shipping. Typing addresses and filling out DHL forms for 12 different countries is different every time, and if countries change their rules, ahead well. In summary, 1/4 of my time was for ordering parts, 1/4 for soldering, 1/4 for programming, testing, and gluing cases, and 1/4 for shipping. The ratio shift with every batch though ;-)
> 
> I was surprised to read names that I never see on the list ("Hi, I am a lurker for 30 years now..."). Feedback was relatively little, but those who gave feedback seemed happy.
> 
> And here are some photos of the last batch:
> 
> https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11EU3vOx9pzHt27cuZ-9grMablXpSOuEk?usp=sharing


Hi Matthias,

That is amazing work you did for all of us! I would like to express my great gratitude for all the effort you put into this project and this entire complex process.This is amazing work and the many hours you have dedicated to us and this project.

Thank you so much!!!

I can’t wait to get the newest version of the dongle!



Best regards,
Pawel Piotrowski

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