New update for the Data Fitness Connector (DFC) on Crowd Supply which wirelessly connects your Peloton bike to third-party apps, fitness watches, and more:

The DFC Build Process by Jason V

At this point we’re about two thirds of of the way through the campaign, and we’re very excited to report that we’ve hit our funding goal! Thank you!

This week’s update is for the curious minds out there who like to see how things are made. We’re taking you behind the scenes for a look at how early prototypes were put together. The final version of DFC will be made by our manufacturing partner here in the US, but we needed to build a few ourselves so we could test them before ramping up production.

In the time-lapse video below, you can see how a prototype DFC circuit board was built, starting with the application of solder paste atop a stencil, followed by the careful placement of all those tiny little components that make it work. After that, the board was placed in a circuit oven (kind of like a fancy toaster oven), which melted the solder paste and secured everything in place.

Building circuits by hand in this way is an odd mix of calming concentration and frequent frustration, so we’re happy to hand this off to a robotic pick-and-place machine for mass production.