Project Binky

[Beany]

They've basically taken in ~£100k with nothing to show for it.

[IanF]

Begs the question wtf didn’t they just push out something.. that’s a decent amount of cash for doing something they clearly enjoyed and would’ve done anyway!

[V8Granite]

They jumped the shark a long time back.

Dave!

[Simon]

If only JL were here to complain that it's still not finished.

BTW, £130k-140k split two ways, less costs, less tax isn't so much money. I hope they got a lot from merch and YouTube because patreon wasn't going to make them rich. They spent a lot on tools, equipment and parts for the channel.

I wanna see the Mini finished by the way. Us viewers need closure.

[Beany]

They spent a lot on tools, equipment and parts for the channel.

Mmm, yes and no. Lots of sponsors in there.

I was also thinking about the people they got in to shoot the 'non binky' content, too - that's not a £22k intern position, of course.. But still, you'd think they'd show something.

"Look at this PCB we tried to get made; look at this bullshit" sort of vids to justify the time without solid content.

At this stage, Project Binky is the absolute definition of executive dysfunction.

[IanF]

Also, videos of them failing to make the dials, or whatever, would’ve still been interesting content.. they are highly skilled and enjoyable to watch; they shouldn’t have stopped.

[Jobbo]

If only JL were here to complain that it's still not finished.

BTW, £130k-140k split two ways, less costs, less tax isn't so much money. I hope they got a lot from merch and YouTube because patreon wasn't going to make them rich. They spent a lot on tools, equipment and parts for the channel.

I wanna see the Mini finished by the way. Us viewers need closure.

The income is to their business as well, as opposed to personal. Turnover not profit.

[simon_g]

Assume Patreons still pay a sub even if no content? (@Rich B - are you still a Patreon?

i cancelled it a long time ago. It's a shame they couldn't make the whole YouTube thing work - if they'd gone about it seriously I think they could have made an awful lot of money doing what they enjoy doing.

im still paying it - but if there is no content in the next month its getting cancelled.

This is my position too. Another non-update on Friday.

When it started it was £x per video so I didn't particularly care if there were quiet spells. It switched at some point years ago to monthly, so when it's been 13 months since a Binky episode I do care a bit more.

[Delphi]

Taking money and not putting out content like that is pretty bad. Contrast this with other people (Sreten at m539 Restorations, Mat Armstrong, Seppo at Seaside Garage) who continually churn out decent quality videos. Admittedly, they're not doing crazy fab work like BOM, but it seems there's a massive difference in attitudes to viewers

[Beany]

ha, one of my patron thingies (who does daily content) reckons he should turn off payments if he's off for a week with the flu....

[scotta]

i cancelled it a long time ago. It's a shame they couldn't make the whole YouTube thing work - if they'd gone about it seriously I think they could have made an awful lot of money doing what they enjoy doing.

im still paying it - but if there is no content in the next month its getting cancelled.

This is my position too. Another non-update on Friday.

When it started it was £x per video so I didn't particularly care if there were quiet spells. It switched at some point years ago to monthly, so when it's been 13 months since a Binky episode I do care a bit more.

What was the friday update?

[simon_g]

Update January 2023
We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year; we might have had one or two too many sherberts during that period... Natch.

But where are we now and what the heck is going on? Well, there's lights at the end of the tunnel, thankfully. We've learnt - and continue to learn - a lot, and it's our wish that over the next couple of videos, those that - like us - knew nothing might have some of what we're doing de-mystified. Learning something new to a level where it might become useful takes a long time at our age!

We've had some help from some fantastic people along the way too - we hope the end result is worth the efforts.

It would be so easy, as happens with many projects, just to say, "That's good enough" and never finish it to the level you started with. We're determined not to do that, so this last push is to make sure the whole car is to the standard we wanted and not just parts of it. Developing a new technique and process, perfecting it, learning new skills and putting them into practice has been arduous and unexpected. We'll share everything with you and hopefully one or two might take some inspiration from our struggles!

Thanks as always for sticking with us through this becalmed period. Literally couldn't do it without you.

Cheers!

Nik and Richard.

[Simon]

PS, thanks for the ££££. LOLz.

[scotta]

Update January 2023
We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year; we might have had one or two too many sherberts during that period... Natch.

But where are we now and what the heck is going on? Well, there's lights at the end of the tunnel, thankfully. We've learnt - and continue to learn - a lot, and it's our wish that over the next couple of videos, those that - like us - knew nothing might have some of what we're doing de-mystified. Learning something new to a level where it might become useful takes a long time at our age!

We've had some help from some fantastic people along the way too - we hope the end result is worth the efforts.

It would be so easy, as happens with many projects, just to say, "That's good enough" and never finish it to the level you started with. We're determined not to do that, so this last push is to make sure the whole car is to the standard we wanted and not just parts of it. Developing a new technique and process, perfecting it, learning new skills and putting them into practice has been arduous and unexpected. We'll share everything with you and hopefully one or two might take some inspiration from our struggles!

Thanks as always for sticking with us through this becalmed period. Literally couldn't do it without you.

Cheers!

Nik and Richard.

Any further excuses?

[Rich B]

Can't be bothered with it now, there's plenty of people who "get it" these days and churn out several videos a week. Even people like Colin Furze who do one big vid every month or two.

Missed opportunity - they got in early and built it up, only to let it all slip because they didn't really understand the system.

[scotta]

I’ll have to ask my BiL if he’s ok with me sharing his Mini project. It’s getting a vtec and a full bare metal rebuild whilst he’s retraining to get into vehicle bodywork.

Sneaky shot:

What happened with this?

[Rich B]

I’ll have to ask my BiL if he’s ok with me sharing his Mini project. It’s getting a vtec and a full bare metal rebuild whilst he’s retraining to get into vehicle bodywork.

Sneaky shot:

What happened with this?

i don't actually know! He's had a few unlucky events in life and he's now happily living on a sail boat with his dog, so not sure if the mini has gone back on the long term burner!

[simon_g]

Binky Update - February
We're within touching distance of the conclusion now. Final assembly of the instrument cluster starts today. After a bit of 3D metal printing obvs...

A lot of you have wondered why we just didn't farm it out to a PCB manufacturer and truth be told we kind of wish we had - it's cost us a small fortune. However, that presupposes you know what you want and how to do it. As our understanding of the process, electronics and what's actually possible grew, it became clear that we needed to amend the design. This happened on a weekly basis. So we're finally at our final design...

On top of that, we worked out a way of getting the engine parameters from the ECU displayed on a phone or tablet using the CAN stream connected to the OBD port and then using a bluetooth dongle to connect to our phones. Saves having to lug the laptop round the whole time its being run it.

The new fuel pump has arrived from the US and needs whacking in along with some new sound deadening around the fuel tank. Most of the interior is now fettled and in. It was hard for Dean to get all the small pieces spot on as he didn't have the car with him to fit them to, so that's fallen to us to finish off. It's all got to come out so we can film it going in..!

We had some reliability issues with the door looms, so we're going to dispose of them and re-make them. Plus we've found connectors that fit through the 19mm hole in the A post complete so we don't have to de-pin the plugs if we need to remove the doors.

The alternator drive has been upgraded - we're not sure its 100% fixed yet, but we now know the failure mode and have taken steps to mitigate the issue.

So episode 38 is scheduled for late March and the following videos will follow thick and fast after that.

Thanks for your patience and understanding - I know its been hard to keep the faith even for us at times.

Cheers!

Nik, Richard and Ben.

[Beany]

They've put a video out!

Oh, no, wait, it's recycled content - a gag reel.

Can't imagine why they've dropped 25% of their patrons since new year...

[Simon]

Who?