Wondering where your BFL Singles are?

[somenick]

Inaba
Are BFL going to place singles at or near
For those who are not from the U.S. ?

[Turbor]

I seriously hope that they are not using a broom in a static sensitive environment.

If this truly is an assembly room, I now have serious reservations about BFL.

I do not see grounding straps used, the staff are not wearing anti-static outer garments and the flooring is hardly what should be used in electronic assembly. Open liquids (coffee cup) in an electronic assembly room??? Seriously??? 

Maybe a QA center for units already assembled, and thus already static protected?

I hope this picture is a joke else everybody should be really careful about ordering from BFL and demand proper assembly conditions.

Also, failure rate currently unknown, presumed to be one single unit that ngzhang has dissected. If it works, who cares?

The walking dead.

A major chunk of ESD damaged electronics are considered "walking dead". They will not fail immediately, but have severely shorted lifespans and/or other problems.

I don't know about you, but if I am paying up to $30k for a piece of equipment, I EXPECT it to be assembled professionally.

Have you seen the inside of any other electronic assembly area? They are normally spotless, with special flooring and stations. The employees wear grounding straps and usually some kind of anti-static outer garment. Exposed electronics are carried around in "clam shells" or at least anti-static bags.

I once worked in a cordless phone factory, that produced phones that at a max went for around $80, and all the above protocol was used.

You are honestly OK with your equipment being assembled in the area pictured?

The only expensive part of proper ESD protocol would be changing the flooring, the rest are extremely cheap insurance to put out a top rate product.

They sold me a quality product. Do I care what their shop looks like?  Not really but I do like the oak floor

[Fjordbit]

I do not see grounding straps used, the staff are not wearing anti-static outer garments and the flooring is hardly what should be used in electronic assembly. Open liquids (coffee cup) in an electronic assembly room??? Seriously??? 

Yeah, what the hell. I was expecting them to be at least ISO 9002!

/s

[dreamwatcher]

I seriously hope that they are not using a broom in a static sensitive environment.

If this truly is an assembly room, I now have serious reservations about BFL.

I do not see grounding straps used, the staff are not wearing anti-static outer garments and the flooring is hardly what should be used in electronic assembly. Open liquids (coffee cup) in an electronic assembly room??? Seriously??? 

Maybe a QA center for units already assembled, and thus already static protected?

I hope this picture is a joke else everybody should be really careful about ordering from BFL and demand proper assembly conditions.

Also, failure rate currently unknown, presumed to be one single unit that ngzhang has dissected. If it works, who cares?

The walking dead.

A major chunk of ESD damaged electronics are considered "walking dead". They will not fail immediately, but have severely shorted lifespans and/or other problems.

I don't know about you, but if I am paying up to $30k for a piece of equipment, I EXPECT it to be assembled professionally.

Have you seen the inside of any other electronic assembly area? They are normally spotless, with special flooring and stations. The employees wear grounding straps and usually some kind of anti-static outer garment. Exposed electronics are carried around in "clam shells" or at least anti-static bags.

I once worked in a cordless phone factory, that produced phones that at a max went for around $80, and all the above protocol was used.

You are honestly OK with your equipment being assembled in the area pictured?

The only expensive part of proper ESD protocol would be changing the flooring, the rest are extremely cheap insurance to put out a top rate product.

They sold me a quality product. Do I care what their shop looks like?  Not really but I do like the oak floor

Oak floor, non conductive, perfect for building a static charge.

Good luck with taking the risk on receiving an ESD crippled product , you should care what the shop looks like, it is an indicator of the quality of the product.

I cannot believe anybody here with any experience with electronics assembly or design would not care about what they see here.

Seriously, does nobody here have any experience in this field?

Come on posters, somebody else here has to see the serious quality control problems here, it will not change unless you demand it changes.

Just because others here are willing to take whatever BFL hands them, does not mean that the rest of us cannot expect at least a BASIC level of ESD protocol when dealing with electronics. I am not even talking about a higher standard, just the basic standard used in the industry.

That being said, I am still hoping this is some kind of joke or that BFL will post stating that this is some kind of misunderstanding and what we are looking at is not an assembly area.
 

[SgtSpike]

I seriously hope that they are not using a broom in a static sensitive environment.

If this truly is an assembly room, I now have serious reservations about BFL.

I do not see grounding straps used, the staff are not wearing anti-static outer garments and the flooring is hardly what should be used in electronic assembly. Open liquids (coffee cup) in an electronic assembly room??? Seriously??? 

Maybe a QA center for units already assembled, and thus already static protected?

I hope this picture is a joke else everybody should be really careful about ordering from BFL and demand proper assembly conditions.

Also, failure rate currently unknown, presumed to be one single unit that ngzhang has dissected. If it works, who cares?

The walking dead.

A major chunk of ESD damaged electronics are considered "walking dead". They will not fail immediately, but have severely shorted lifespans and/or other problems.

I don't know about you, but if I am paying up to $30k for a piece of equipment, I EXPECT it to be assembled professionally.

Have you seen the inside of any other electronic assembly area? They are normally spotless, with special flooring and stations. The employees wear grounding straps and usually some kind of anti-static outer garment. Exposed electronics are carried around in "clam shells" or at least anti-static bags.

I once worked in a cordless phone factory, that produced phones that at a max went for around $80, and all the above protocol was used.

You are honestly OK with your equipment being assembled in the area pictured?

The only expensive part of proper ESD protocol would be changing the flooring, the rest are extremely cheap insurance to put out a top rate product.

They sold me a quality product. Do I care what their shop looks like?  Not really but I do like the oak floor

Oak floor, non conductive, perfect for building a static charge.

Good luck with taking the risk on receiving an ESD crippled product , you should care what the shop looks like, it is an indicator of the quality of the product.

I cannot believe anybody here with any experience with electronics assembly or design would not care about what they see here.

Seriously, does nobody here have any experience in this field?

Come on posters, somebody else here has to see the serious quality control problems here, it will not change unless you demand it changes.

Just because others here are willing to take whatever BFL hands them, does not mean that the rest of us cannot expect at least a BASIC level of ESD protocol when dealing with electronics. I am not even talking about a higher standard, just the basic standard used in the industry.

That being said, I am still hoping this is some kind of joke or that BFL will post stating that this is some kind of misunderstanding and what we are looking at is not an assembly area.
 

Do you have a better alternative product?  No?  Ok, then, moving right along...

[dreamwatcher]

I seriously hope that they are not using a broom in a static sensitive environment.

If this truly is an assembly room, I now have serious reservations about BFL.

I do not see grounding straps used, the staff are not wearing anti-static outer garments and the flooring is hardly what should be used in electronic assembly. Open liquids (coffee cup) in an electronic assembly room??? Seriously??? 

Maybe a QA center for units already assembled, and thus already static protected?

I hope this picture is a joke else everybody should be really careful about ordering from BFL and demand proper assembly conditions.

Also, failure rate currently unknown, presumed to be one single unit that ngzhang has dissected. If it works, who cares?

The walking dead.

A major chunk of ESD damaged electronics are considered "walking dead". They will not fail immediately, but have severely shorted lifespans and/or other problems.

I don't know about you, but if I am paying up to $30k for a piece of equipment, I EXPECT it to be assembled professionally.

Have you seen the inside of any other electronic assembly area? They are normally spotless, with special flooring and stations. The employees wear grounding straps and usually some kind of anti-static outer garment. Exposed electronics are carried around in "clam shells" or at least anti-static bags.

I once worked in a cordless phone factory, that produced phones that at a max went for around $80, and all the above protocol was used.

You are honestly OK with your equipment being assembled in the area pictured?

The only expensive part of proper ESD protocol would be changing the flooring, the rest are extremely cheap insurance to put out a top rate product.

They sold me a quality product. Do I care what their shop looks like?  Not really but I do like the oak floor

Oak floor, non conductive, perfect for building a static charge.

Good luck with taking the risk on receiving an ESD crippled product , you should care what the shop looks like, it is an indicator of the quality of the product.

I cannot believe anybody here with any experience with electronics assembly or design would not care about what they see here.

Seriously, does nobody here have any experience in this field?

Come on posters, somebody else here has to see the serious quality control problems here, it will not change unless you demand it changes.

Just because others here are willing to take whatever BFL hands them, does not mean that the rest of us cannot expect at least a BASIC level of ESD protocol when dealing with electronics. I am not even talking about a higher standard, just the basic standard used in the industry.

That being said, I am still hoping this is some kind of joke or that BFL will post stating that this is some kind of misunderstanding and what we are looking at is not an assembly area.
 

Do you have a better alternative product?  No?  Ok, then, moving right along...

WoW, that was mature.

So because there is only one vendor of a specialized product, you should just take what is handed to you?

Only one restaurant in town, so you should just eat whatever they hand you?

Why are you defending these practices? Do you have ownership or work for BFL?

Honestly, this is both baffling and intriguing. People handing over thousands of dollars not caring about the most BASIC industry protocols when it comes to electronic assembly.Simply accepting whatever is handed to them.

You have to be trolling. I cannot believe people as smart as I have seen on these forums accept this.

Again, I have nothing against BFL and I sincerely hope this is a misunderstanding. Perhaps this is a returns area, or other non-sensitive area.

[boonies4u]

If these are the conditions where they are going to be making the $149 Jallies, i'm fine with it. But given the large chunk of change they just got paid, I wouldn't be surprised if they set up better conditions.

Talking about assembly conditions, I'm not seeing a single open (as far as I can tell) BFL single.

[tgmarks]

I do not see grounding straps used, the staff are not wearing anti-static outer garments and the flooring is hardly what should be used in electronic assembly. Open liquids (coffee cup) in an electronic assembly room??? Seriously??? 

Yeah, what the hell. I was expecting them to be at least ISO 9002!

/s

ISO?  who are you kidding.  these guys don't even have crap designed before they sell it. I bet they don't have written procedures for any of their assembly not to mention esd protection plans, etc.

[SgtSpike]

I seriously hope that they are not using a broom in a static sensitive environment.

If this truly is an assembly room, I now have serious reservations about BFL.

I do not see grounding straps used, the staff are not wearing anti-static outer garments and the flooring is hardly what should be used in electronic assembly. Open liquids (coffee cup) in an electronic assembly room??? Seriously???  

Maybe a QA center for units already assembled, and thus already static protected?

I hope this picture is a joke else everybody should be really careful about ordering from BFL and demand proper assembly conditions.

Also, failure rate currently unknown, presumed to be one single unit that ngzhang has dissected. If it works, who cares?

The walking dead.

A major chunk of ESD damaged electronics are considered "walking dead". They will not fail immediately, but have severely shorted lifespans and/or other problems.

I don't know about you, but if I am paying up to $30k for a piece of equipment, I EXPECT it to be assembled professionally.

Have you seen the inside of any other electronic assembly area? They are normally spotless, with special flooring and stations. The employees wear grounding straps and usually some kind of anti-static outer garment. Exposed electronics are carried around in "clam shells" or at least anti-static bags.

I once worked in a cordless phone factory, that produced phones that at a max went for around $80, and all the above protocol was used.

You are honestly OK with your equipment being assembled in the area pictured?

The only expensive part of proper ESD protocol would be changing the flooring, the rest are extremely cheap insurance to put out a top rate product.

They sold me a quality product. Do I care what their shop looks like?  Not really but I do like the oak floor

Oak floor, non conductive, perfect for building a static charge.

Good luck with taking the risk on receiving an ESD crippled product , you should care what the shop looks like, it is an indicator of the quality of the product.

I cannot believe anybody here with any experience with electronics assembly or design would not care about what they see here.

Seriously, does nobody here have any experience in this field?

Come on posters, somebody else here has to see the serious quality control problems here, it will not change unless you demand it changes.

Just because others here are willing to take whatever BFL hands them, does not mean that the rest of us cannot expect at least a BASIC level of ESD protocol when dealing with electronics. I am not even talking about a higher standard, just the basic standard used in the industry.

That being said, I am still hoping this is some kind of joke or that BFL will post stating that this is some kind of misunderstanding and what we are looking at is not an assembly area.
 

Do you have a better alternative product?  No?  Ok, then, moving right along...

WoW, that was mature.

So because there is only one vendor of a specialized product, you should just take what is handed to you?

Only one restaurant in town, so you should just eat whatever they hand you?

Why are you defending these practices? Do you have ownership or work for BFL?

Honestly, this is both baffling and intriguing. People handing over thousands of dollars not caring about the most BASIC industry protocols when it comes to electronic assembly.Simply accepting whatever is handed to them.

You have to be trolling. I cannot believe people as smart as I have seen on these forums accept this.

Again, I have nothing against BFL and I sincerely hope this is a misunderstanding. Perhaps this is a returns area, or other non-sensitive area.

My point is, what are you going to do about it?  The only choice is to order or not order.  For me, I very much EXPECT their production line to look like that.  They are a company with exponential growth in a very short timeframe who hasn't had years of time and profits to reinvest into state of the art electronics manufacturing facilities.  And if I was them, I'm not even sure I'd want to make such an investment at this point, given the volatility of Bitcoin and potential upper limit of sales.  It doesn't make sense to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into a proper manufacturing facility when you make as little sales as they do (when compared with other electronics assembly lines).

That said, I definitely agree with you and see some areas where they can improve, but it's not going to stop me from buying from them.  If it breaks in less than 6 months, I'll send it back for replacement.  If it breaks in longer than 6 months, well, I only expected it to last 6 months anyway.

[A_CardeN]

What a low tech, trashy looking place.

[rjk]

What a low tech, trashy looking place.

Show us a pic of your spectacular workbench!

[A_CardeN]

What a low tech, trashy looking place.

Show us a pic of your spectacular workbench!

LOL good point man.  Very good point.

Not sure why I expected something like this ...

http://www.leedscomms.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/computer-server-room1.jpg

[LoupGaroux]

With a certain degree of specialized knowledge of building out these kinds of spaces (I designed NOC's for Charter Communications) this is a dismaying sight. It looks more like a Third World sweat shop than any kind of an electronics assembly facility. Dreamwatcher's comments are dead on, but as SgtSpike so accurately notes, this is the only vendor for this game in town. It would be far more desirable to see them take assembly seriously, and to match the tone of their marketing materials, but the reality is so often this sort of low-tech trashy kitsch.

Hopefully the windfall that mini-rigs represents to them will allow them to grow up as a production facility and and address process better.

[SgtSpike]

Hopefully the windfall that mini-rigs represents to them will allow them to grow up as a production facility and at address process better.

I agree with you there!

[dreamwatcher]

Check out the last photo for their MiniRig assembly area: http://www.butterflylabs.com/mini-rig-production-line/

Much better, I will give BFL the benefit of the doubt on the things that cannot be determined. (The flooring is conductive and not carpeting, wire shelves are grounded, assembler is using an ankle grounding strap and the work table is conductive or at least there is a ESD mat in place that cannot be seen).

I want to purchase some of their products myself, and quite honestly was disappointed with the picture in the OP. The assembly station in the MiniRig picture has brought back some faith. I was not expecting a multimillion dollar setup with Fuji placement machines, specialized clean room, air ionization....etc...etc., but some inexpensive grounding devices and an ESD protocol being followed.

As for my personal workstation, I use a ESD mat and a wrist grounding strap when handling open electronics. Hell, I would have even been happy with that in the OP picture.

I do wish BFL the best of luck, and hope sales of the new ASIC will allow them to prosper. With the prosperity, the investment in better production faculties would be prudent especially in terms of better ship times and possibly offering better warranties due to better production practices . Do not forget, they can always rent, they do not have to buy if they feel it is still a risky venture.

They may be the only game in town now, but they do have competitors, and they will not be the only game indefinitely. Now is the time to garner consumer good will and loyalty, it will make it much harder for the competition to take market share away when they are ready with a competing product.

[disclaimer201]

Made in USA!

ASICs supposedly cost millions in R&D and people are entrusting BFL with thousands of dollars for hardware that is assembled in a garage? Really?! I would be just a tiny bit worried that my unit is one out of 100 that fails after a few months because some cereal and cookie crumbles blocked ventilation. About the second picture...even a noob would find a suitable picture on the internetz for his web presentation.

[Turbor]

Lots of trash talk here. I guess most of the haters here never built something with their own hands. Stay away from BFL. If you think that any competitor does better, good luck.

[MXRider]

Dreamwatcher's points are valid! They should follow ESD protocol. Fact is that right now they are market leader and there are no competition in ASIC area. They can do what they want. I don't like it either but are there any other (good) options? Buy nothing, stop mining?

[ElectricMucus]

Cool.

I nominate Inaba for the scammer label.

[Blaztoize]

Cool.

I nominate Inaba for the scammer label.

I don't say anything. I merely offer you a facial expression that suggests you've gone insane.