We got the keys to our new house yesterday.  There’s still some clean up to do in the garage before I can use it, but other than that it’s fine, and we’re moving our stuff over the next few days.

NEMA 23 motors are on their way, got a tracking number and all; should be here early next week.

And now for the bad news: I messed up almost the entire first lot of orders.  I made a mistake while creating the packing spreadsheet, and got all orders jumbled up.  In effect, we packed the correct kits, but sent them to the wrong people.  I worked out what happened, who got what, what parts we needed to send out so that everyone could build the machine they ordered, and emailed everyone to let them know.  (A few of you need to respond to that email, because I asked you to make a choice.)  We’ll send the bits as soon as we can.

We’re moving tomorrow.  Yay!

We may be without DSL for a while.  BT messed up my move order (“the system” had mysteriously cancelled it, and they had to start over, but, by then, of course a technician was no longer available on the date I needed).  Boo!

I got a mobile broadband/WiFi access point to tide us over.  I tested it today, and it actually works very nicely.  Yay!

I divided the reservations of eShapeoko kits into four lots.  First lot left earlier this week.  At the same time, I invited people to place orders for the second lot, which will ship around the end of next week.  Then I will invite the third lot to place their orders, and the fourth and final lot a week later.  After that, the kits will be available in the store, with very little lead time.

So all is good, except we hit a small snag: we ran out of NEMA 23 motors.  I was expecting this, so I had ordered a new lot a while ago, but they’re not ready yet.  They are a special order item with a fairly long lead time, because I wanted to get a specific current rating and impedance that, while not optimal for large drivers, are a perfect match for Pololu driver modules (also gShield/grblShield, TinyG, SmoothieBoard etc).  I expect the shipping notification any day now.  If you have reserved a kit and were planning to buy NEMA 23 motors from us, hang in there — you won’t lose your place in the queue if you don’t order immediately.  If you’ve already ordered but want to add items to your kit, please contact us (or just go ahead and place another order, and we’ll refund the extra shipping).

We’re done packing the small parts for the entire batch. On to checking and packing MakerSlide, and to packing the large parts! I will invite more people to place their orders this coming weekend. The weekend after that is when we move house, so don’t expect much to happen around then (we have, quite literally, tons of things to move). I want to clear the queue quickly after that, but it’s still going to take about three more weeks. This means that reservations made today will get the invitation to order in 4-5 weeks, and the kit a week later.

I have just invited the first few people who reserved eShapeoko kits to order them.

Everyone who reserved one will receive this invitation eventually, but I decided to stagger them, because it makes my life easier to have a manageable number of open orders at a given time. It will take us a good few weeks to pack and deliver all the reserved kits. This change won’t add anything to the delay.

You can continue to reserve eShapeoko kits here, and I’ll add those to the end of the queue. (Which reminds me, I still have to send a bunch of confirmations.)

In other news, we are moving house by the end of the month. We’ll have more space for this, I’ll have a workshop in a comfortable, heated garage, I’ll save a lot of time driving the kids to and from school (it’ll be a five-minute walk instead), and everything will be easier — eventually. Unfortunately, a house move is time-consuming, and we’ll have to do it without me taking time off from my day job. Wish me luck.

Update

The first order is in.

Also, forgot this: I wrote a guide with what’s needed for a complete machine.

The laser-cut parts arrived from the fabricator earlier today.  The eShapeoko kits will be back in stock this weekend.  If you made a reservation, you will receive an email to invite you to buy your kit.

That email will also give you the expected lead time.  We have a lot of kits to pack, and we’re also moving house around the end of September, so the times won’t be as short as we would like.  We’re doing everything we can to make your wait as short as possible.

The mounting bracket for the Z axis limit switches I mentioned in an earlier post, illustrated here, is now available in the store.

MakerSlide is back in stock. (Already got two orders while typing this. You guys are fast!) Camera sliders and basic sliders are back in stock too. If anything seems to be missing, let me know!

The laser-cut parts for the eShapeoko haven’t arrived from the fabricator yet. We’re moving along at a steady pace packing the bags of small parts. You can still reserve your kit here, for a few more days.

Update

The laser-cut parts are still in the warehouse at the fabricator. They were supposed to ship them on Monday, but they got overlooked. They’ll be here tomorrow.