CardMill Update: Tray System
10 months ago
– Wed, Nov 26, 2025 at 12:04:28 PM
Our engineering teams have been hard at work refining and testing CardMill's tray system. We have nailed down the tray mechanisms that will make your CardMill significantly faster, as promised during the Kickstarter campaign. Also....
Tray Movement and Base Updates:
- Upgraded the mechanics of how the sled moves which was necessary to increase the speed from the prototype model, as promised to our backers during the campaign.
- We centered the discharge funnel allowing us to lengthen the trays without doubling the footprint. This 18" tray will replace the 9" trays. We are giving all backers the larger trays at no extra cost as a way to say thank you for your patience.
- We also drastically increased speed of tray movement (testing in progress, will report speed when we have final data).
- The team has streamlined the tray build for strength, speed, and with ease of manufacturing top of mind. Utilizing an aluminum rail/tray base, we'll have a solid part, without excessive weight.
- We have released the tray base for aluminum extrusion tooling to the manufacturer and are expecting our first parts in about 30 days.
Checkout this video showing the smooth and quick tray motion. It's so much better!! We'll be doing speed tests and will circle back on performance, but we're very impressed. This includes the next gen prototype without the outer shell.
We are in discussions about getting rid of the scan only tray (the tray with no dividers) for a couple reasons.
- One, we were seeing that the cards were stacking and behaving better in the 13 slot tray compared to a 0 slot tray. We don't want to risk any damage to cards as they enter the tray.
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Two, we are almost doubling the capacity of the 13 slot tray which will hold a lot more cards. The 13-slot tray will work for scan only actions.
What if you bought a scan-only tray?
Details are being finalized, but backers who bought the scan-only tray will be able to opt for refund for the scan-only tray or opt in to receive a replacement alphabetical or 13-slot tray instead. We know some backers want multiple trays on hand for staging and quicker swaps, so the choice will be yours.
While the engineers are hard at work we’ve been deep in ongoing research analyzing how people sort their cards and looking at first, second, and third letters across all the TCGs CardMill supports (168,000+ cards). Using weighted averages from real card names, we’re mapping which letters deserve larger or smaller slots in the tray.
Why does this matter?
The more common letters get more space, so your "S" and "A" slots don’t overflow constantly. Which means the mill won't stop as much and require you to empty the tray as often.
What if we centralized the most used letters?
We’re also exploring and testing whether centralizing the highest-frequency letters (like A C R S T ) toward the center of the tray could make sorting faster, since the tray would move less.
Status: We are planning a series of tests of the user experience and time savings for centralizing the most used letters versus a true alphabetical sort. We have time to do this while the engineering work continues refinements. We believe that if centralizing the common letters cut the processing time down enough without hindering the user experience, its a win and one we want to give enough time to review. From a software side, we may be able to support both true alphabetical and a centralized tray and let you pick how you wish to sort. More to come as we work through testing.
If you want to dive deep more often on all things CardMill, engage live with us and the community by joining our Discord. We recently added a backer-only Discord channel, #the-mill-workshop, where we share what’s currently being refined and tested. We also post backer polls here.
Note: To view these backer only channels on Discord you will need to submit a #backer-verification ticket once you join Discord to verify you are a Kickstarter backer. Instructions on Discord. Please send us a direct message if you need help.
We are offering a custom designed gift announcement card to those who are planning on giving CardMill as a gift. Inside we invite them to learn about CardMill and follow the journey through design, development and manufacturing.
Please send us a direct message through Kickstarter with your mailing address. We'll also include a blank envelope for you to address to your gift recipient. Please allow 7-10 business days for delivery of your card.
We plan to send out the survey to backers in the first quarter of 2026, targeting February. You will be able to input final shipping address, make final color selection for your device and select any additional add-on accessories in the survey. We'll send out multiple reminders and follow up with backers so don't worry you won't miss the survey!
CardMill is the same dream machine being built to last. With Beyond Design and DMC on our team, we’re moving fast and building smart to deliver a refined product worthy of your support.
Next Update: Manufacturing Milestones and Timeline
— Jonathan & The CardMill Team
