rain2xx

I'm writing today with news that's difficult to share, and a request I never imagined I'd have to make. This morning, I had every reason to be excited. After years of design work, the Panzer SLAB had finally reached production-ready status. The PCBs were programmed, the bottom pads had arrived, the screens fit, the wiring harnesses were built, the Brook Gen5X boards were ready to solder, and Angelica — my trusted assembly partner — was on hand to help get the first units out the door. Then I started building one. When I inserted the aux buttons, they sat flush with the case rather than rising above it. At first I assumed I'd sent the machine shop the wrong file, but the buttons matched the Panzer 4 spec exactly. The OLED sat too deep. The main HE PCB sat too far from the top panel. I inserted an HE switch, and the truth landed: every dimension that matters is offset by 5mm. A small change made between the prototype and the final production case — one I made and verified myself — had a cascading effect I missed before I committed to manufacturing. The mistake is mine alone, not the machine shop's. Because each case is machined from a single block of aluminum, none of them can be salvaged or reworked. Every SLAB case in inventory has to be remade from scratch. The cost of that error is roughly $15,000. I'm not going to soften what that means for a business with margins like mine. Combined with several years of softening demand for high-end fight sticks, this is the kind of loss that genuinely threatens whether Jasen's Customs can continue. I'm not ready to make that decision yet, and I don't want to make it in the heat of the moment — but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't on the table. Here's what I'm doing next: I'm taking a day away from the bench to clear my head. SLAB presales are suspended effective immediately. On Sunday, May 10, I'll sit down and rework the case design, triple-checking every critical dimension before any file goes back to the shop. Once the corrected design is verified, every existing SLAB pre-order goes into production. After those orders are fulfilled, I'm not yet sure whether I'll continue producing the SLAB at all. If you have a SLAB on order and the delay is too much, I completely understand. Reach out and I'll refund you without question — that simply reduces the remake count by one. If you choose to wait, you have my word: you will receive your SLAB. Taking care of the Panzer Brigade has always mattered more to me than any individual loss, and that hasn't changed today. What I'm asking — and I don't ask lightly — is for help. If you've owned a Panzer, if you've had a good experience with one of my sticks, if you believe in what Jasen's Customs has tried to be for the FGC, please share that. Tell someone. Post about it. Recommend it where it fits. The single thing that gives this business a real chance of weathering this is renewed interest from the community that built it alongside me. Thank you for reading, and thank you for the support you've already given me over the years. It has meant more than you know, and right now it means everything.