The current plan (user decision, October 2026) replaces the 50/50 target
(two semi-automatic presses and two Pheenix AD12s) with an all-Newbilt
fleet of five presses: two Duplex systems in Newbilt's two-extruder
configuration (two HRP 12 presses, an extruder each, one hydraulic unit)
and one Classic fully automatic press.
- pressing-line.md: new "Current plan" section (fleet table, what it
means, phasing from the Single 2.1 as the first half of system 1,
re-quote questions); site requirements per Duplex system.
- scale.md: capacity table and basis (368 to 448 records/h, ~1.06 to 1.5M
a year on two shifts, same range as before); pressing electrical row;
steam and cooling flagged, not re-based: five presses draw ~750 to 900
kg/h of steam and up to ~625 kW of cooling at Newbilt's per-press
figures, against the 400 kg/h / 250 kW sized for one Duplex.
- total-investment.md: fleet change as an added-scope row (system 2
~230k-300k and the Classic ~290k-460k, estimates; -60k / -160k against
the two blocks it replaces); headline unchanged until the re-base.
- roadmap items 4, 5 and 24, revenue model mature row, crane doc (the
Classic's weight now decides 5 t or 3.2 t), vendor landscape (AD12 is
the comparison for the Classic), README.
The business plan docx is not regenerated.
FreeCAD BIM (Arch) sketch of the 60 x 25 m phase 1 hall:
Building > Ground floor with Spaces for every zone (areas computed),
room-in-room partitions, the fire wall at 48 m, the 5 t crane runway,
and the main equipment as BIM Equipment (Pheenix line, Sibert row,
Newbilt Duplex and two Classic presses, silos, racking). Zones run in
process order along the visitor corridor. Top-view PNG alongside.
Linked from the README and from the crane doc, with the one conflict it
shows: reception and cutting room under the crane travel.
Ian Locke's email of 5 October 2026 after Making Vinyl Europe:
- Budget of USD 250k for VSP, VSF and VSC confirmed; his time, spares,
shipping and travel extra; itemised quotation on request. The
total-investment block keeps its estimate until the re-base, the
difference (+190k low case / +80k high case) goes into the
not-yet-rolled-up table.
- Current specifications filed (VSF and VSC 2022, VSP 2023) plus the
VSF/VSP/VSC line-up drawing (4958 x 833 mm); the 2021 issues move to
sibert/specs-2021/. VSC is now 1000 kg with split OD hydraulic / ID
pneumatic forming; VSF 0-30 psi, 4-station head. Crane table, supplier
map, vendor landscape and the plant page details updated.
- Fully automatic VSPa exists; Sibert offers to move features to the VSP.
- Electroforming: OMS (Optical Media Services, Lou Wullms) named next to
Pheenix; added as a third galvanics candidate with open questions.
- Sequencing advice (presses, boilers, operators and live feedback loops
first) recorded in the exhibitor briefing, roadmap item 23, and as
digital-factory design decision 9 (operators see the data first).
docs/equipment/pheenix-alpha/: the four Pheenix Alpha electroforming flyers
(2024: PASU silvering, PPPU pre-plating, PDPU dual-cell plating, PMPB
passivation bench), renamed from their download hashes.
docs/equipment/sibert/: the VSP, VSF and VSC technical specifications
(2021), plus Sibert's 2008-09 optical-disc SPS literature and the 2008
Blu-ray stamper characteristics paper in sps-optical-disc-2009/. Two
byte-identical duplicates in the download were dropped.
New docs/equipment/galvanics.md, the metal-path counterpart to
pressing-line.md: datasheet tables for both ranges and what they change.
Pheenix is a second turnkey galvanics vendor next to Digital Matrix and
can quote lacquer-to-record as one vendor; neither range includes water
treatment. Utilities from the sheets (~27 kVA connected per line, DI water,
12-20 C cooling water, extraction sizes), ~5.6 m2 of footprint, and a cell
count estimate (one PDPU at the low end, two at the high end). The Sibert
machines are single-phase, 200/250/600 kg on castors, centre manually and
list no data interface; the VSC locates on the punched hole; the finisher's
water carries nickel. Weights, cycle times, prices and mould fit are listed
as quote questions.
Backlinks and small updates: README (bullet, layout tree, vendor list),
roadmap items 6 and 23, vendor landscape, supplier map, exhibitor briefing
(on-file notes, Sibert three-phase question answered), digital factory
(Pheenix PLC data, Sibert data question, RFQ clause 5), quality automation
(hardness on the centre slug, BD paper as the acceptance-spec model),
sustainability (finisher water), total investment block label (numbers
unchanged), scale (galvanics feeder note), crane weight table, process
flow, pressing-line stamper-fit question, plant page detail lines.
New docs/crane-workshop-tours.md: a 5 t single-girder EOT crane over the
whole production compartment (stops at the warehouse fire wall), a
machine door and crane-served workshop/machine bay at the ramp end, and
a glazed ground-level visitor corridor along the car-park elevation with
stations in process order, its own air and acoustic glazing so tours
need no PPE. Covers what each changes in the shell (crane-ready frame,
hook height under the 7.0 m eave, no full-height cross walls in the
crane zone, room lids and crane hatches), safety, costs and open
decisions.
Propagated: construction RFQ (crane-ready frame, new section 1c, machine
door, accessible 1:12 entrance now required), scale zone table (+210 to
280 m2, total ~1,400 to 2,000 m2), facility security, worker safety,
roadmap items 9 and 15, total investment added-scope table, README.
grabowski