In this email you will read all about:
- New Ember batches!
- 1.2mm Ember and Stainless 430
- Update on bigger and smaller sized shells
- Current steel crisis DC04
- Current stock overview
New batches Ember Steel !
From the first three Ember Steel batches, each from a different factory, we received the most positive feedback for batch#1 and #2. Therefore we have ordered, and now received, new steel from these two factories.
After testing three batches from each of these two factories, we notice a consistent difference between the factories and a consistent similarity between the batches from the same factory however each with small differences between them.
From now on we will call the factory of Ember batch#1: “(A)” and Ember batch#2: “(B)”. From the new batches: batch#4 is (B) and batch#5 is (A).
The new shells, and all future shells of Ember steel and Stainless 430 are back to the flange size of 13mm (whereas the first ember, and the current stainless 430 batch have flanges of 15mm). Initially we increased this flange size to stop the shells from warping and to allow for deeper shaping. However, we found out that the shells still warp but they are almost impossible to bend back again! Also we heard from many makers that the shells do not fit their tuning rings. Therefore we decided to go back to the size of 13mm and really intend on keeping at 13mm as we now tested bigger and smaller and find this works the best for these types of stainless steel.
We have run out of Ember batch#1,#2 and #3 tops but we still have bottoms of each batch. So if you wish to order Ember tops now you can choose from batch#4 (B) and batch#5 (A) tops and combine them with bottoms from batch #1 (A), batch#2 (B) and batch#3. These bottoms will thus have a larger rim which you can grind off after the instrument is glued.
At the moment we do not have plans to order more from the same factory as batch#3. If you did feel that you preferred this batch over the other two, please let us know in a reply to this email so that we can get an indication as to how many makers would be interested in more material from this factory.
1.2mm Ember and Stainless 430
We have placed an order for a limited amount of 1.2mm top shells of Ember and Stainless 430. The Ember tops are from factory (A) and the Stainless 430 tops are from the same factory as our usual Stainless 430 shells. The price will probably be a bit higher because of the thickness of the material and the limited order.
For the moment we will not offer corresponding bottoms, you can match these shells with bottoms of 1mm Ember and Stainless 430 or you can make the port yourself. May 1.2mm Ember and/or Stainless 430 become really popular we will start to produce bottoms as well.
We expect the shells to arrive between 1 and 2 months from today. We will send a newsletter when they arrive 🙂
Bigger and smaller sized shells
A quick update on the different sized shells that we intend to offer. We realize it has been quite a while since we first announced to be offering different sizes. Our apologies for not having followed up on this promise just yet!
We felt the priority of releasing Ember steel was greater and we have unexpectedly spent an incredible amount of time on HCU to defend the future of the handpan, further delaying our developments.
Now that Ember steel has been released we have time to start testing different sizes. Our idea is that we should try to isolate the problem frequencies to an exact note on a bigger and small size shell, so that only one note will not be possible to make. We would like to achieve that on a bigger shell you can not make the A4 but the G#4 and Bb4 are (near) perfect and on the smaller size shells the B4 becomes the problem frequency and the Bb4 and C5 are (near) perfect.
This will still take some time as we need to do the research. Once we have defined the final dimensions and shape of the shells, custom deepdraw tooling will need to be made which also takes time.
Our current estimate is that we can offer both sizes in 4 to 12 months from now.
Current steel crisis DC04
Something very strange is going on in the world of steel. As far as our knowledge goes, the giant steel factories in Europe teamed up to lobby for higher import duties on steel coming from China into the EU. The EU agreed with them and raised the import duties. This led to almost no steel being imported anymore to the EU from China. Furthermore Joe Biden announced the US will heavily subsidize electric cars and the demand for steel in the US is now enormous. This is leading to a major run on European steel by US as well as EU companies, leading to prolonged lead times and prices going up by as much as 50%.
The effect of this all is that it is very hard to lay our hands on a coil of our preferred steel. We would have liked to already be offering batch#15 by now so that everyone can have a choice in the DC04 batch they use for making pans. However, this crisis is also delaying the order that we still had standing. We now believe to be able to offer the first shells of batch#15 in the beginning of April.
Available Stock
Ember Steel #1 (A) - bottoms only
Ember Steel #2 (B) - bottoms only
Ember Steel #3 - bottoms only
Ember Steel #4 (B) - tops only (bottoms coming in a few weeks)
Ember Steel #5 (A) - tops only (bottoms coming in a few weeks)
Stainless AISI 430 - tops and bottoms (15mm flange)
DC04 Batch#14 - nitrided tops/bottoms, raw tops/bottoms
Scrap shells - Tops are €20 each and bottoms are €30. Can be used for making outlining molds, forming a shaping mold and experiments etc. Not suitable for making instruments, can be raw or nitrided, scratched, rusted, have a bad nitriding layer (which can make them un-tunable) or bumped etc.
We are fully stocked on tuning magnets, tuning rings, Merbenit, Phoenix Oil and Scotchbrite.
If you have any questions or wish to make an order, you can reply directly to this email and let us know.
As always… happy hammering!
Roy and the rest of the Ayasa team
