We have one-third of the kits packed and almost ready to go — they need just the leadscrews added to the boxes.  They’ll be booked for collection by the couriers on Tuesday or Wednesday.

We’ve made good progress with the remaining kits too: all small parts are packed, and some of the rail is inspected; we’ll keep going during the week, with the hope of finishing by the end of the week.

We’ve had problems with the bearings for the Tr 8 x 2 leadscrews.  We got dud ones from several suppliers, including two of them who had sent us good stuff in the past.  Both of those suppliers are sending more bearings, and I’ll let you know how they are as soon as they get here (one package is due in a few days, the other I don’t know yet).

I’m sorry to report that we’ll be one week late.  Among other things, we had some difficulties with the F608 bearings for the trapezoidal screws.  Some of the bearings were from a different lot, and they had a lot of play.  I got hold of good ones for about half of the orders, and more are on their way.

It looks like some kits will ship this week, the rest next week.

The spiral-flute taps for aluminium alloys are back in stock.

There are only a few machines left from the current batch of version 1.2 kits.  We’ll make more soon — we have MakerSlide for them, and most of the parts.  However, until all custom parts and all commodity parts with longer lead times are here, we won’t take more orders.  (I am comfortable accepting orders if all we need are standard fasteners or T-slot aluminium profile — those come from very reliable suppliers on clockwork-like schedules — but, for items with more uncertainty, I’d rather wait until they arrive.  It helps me sleep better at night.)

Once they run out, expect the eShapeoko kits to be out of stock for about two weeks, while we’re fulfilling the orders we’ve already got.  Please don’t despair if you haven’t ordered yours — you would have had to wait about three weeks for delivery anyway.  MakerSlide was the only truly problematic part, and the supply of that is now secure, so there won’t be a repeat of the six-month gap in availability.

We’re working hard to pack and ship the MakerSlide orders (actually, all orders without eShapeoko kits).  We have inspected the MakerSlide for defects, and picked all the other items ordered along with it.  We began packing everything.  We plan to post/drop off/have the couriers collect most of these orders, if not all of them, by Thursday.  Once these are out of the way, we’ll focus on the eShapeoko kits.

As of a few minutes ago, you can order the eShapeoko kits in the store: original (one size only), and open end plates (configurable size).  We’ll see how it goes, but I think it may take us between one and three weeks to ship your orders.  We’ll do our best to make it as quick as possible, and to keep you up to date with the progress of your order.

Have you noticed the trapezoidal screw upgrade?  It uses a Tr 8 x 2 screw (“metric Acme”) instead of the old M8 threaded rod.  The leadscrew is supported only at one end, just like the M8 rod was, but I’ll make a thingamajig with a bearing in it (that’s the technical term — actually, it’s called a pillow block, but how’s that any better?) to support the other end too, if you want to be able drive it even faster.

Once we catch up with the orders (one can only hope), I’ll make the trapezoidal leadscrew available as an upgrade.  It also works with the Shapeoko 2, and it can be made to work with the Shapeoko 1 too, if there’s interest (you need a few extra parts).

Another new option is the “deluxe frame”.  Instead of just two pieces of T-slot aluminium extrusion to connect the end plates, you get four of them and the hardware to tie them together to make a sturdy rectangle.  The end plates attach to the outside of the transversal members, just as before, and the mid-span supports to the inside of the longitudinal ones (illustrations and assembly instructions to follow).

We have practically all of the parts, with some of them already counted and packed.  The parts we don’t have on hand for all the kits are commodity items we tend to order as we go, such as standard aluminium extrusion.  We don’t have as many bearings as we’d like, but more are on their way; hopefully, this won’t cause any delay.  There’s also an assembly we need to put together ourselves (more on that in another post).

I’m still working on the number crunching side of things, because the pricing spreadsheet was woefully out of date: both the prices and the list of parts that go in each option of the kit were wrong.  I’ll finish this weekend, so that I can update the prices, add the new kit options, and turn ordering on.

We have reopened the store.

I updated the Royal Mail shipping prices, in line with their annual price hike (they added 20 pence for UK and the rest of Europe, 35 pence for Australia and New Zealand, and 25 pence for the rest of the world).

I expect many MakerSlide orders.  We’ll ship them as soon as we can, but please bear with us.  I’ll keep you up to date with shipping estimates.

The eShapeoko kits will be back on sale, with MakerSlide included, later this week (watch this space).

At long last, I put the drawings of the laser-cut metal parts on GitHub: https://github.com/amberspyglass/parts/.  A few are parts designed specifically for the eShapeoko, but most are generally useful MakerSlide accessories.  For instance, parts EM-LZP and EM-LZS, the eShapeoko Z motor plate and shim, can also be used for a leadscrew-driven standard MakerSlide carriage (EM-LCP or EM-LCM).

The machined custom parts (V-wheel and idler sleeves, eccentric spacers, lead nut, spindle mounts) are the same as the ones used by the Shapeoko and sold by Inventables, and they are made from the same drawings.

If you’re interested in parts that we don’t yet sell separately in the store, please use the “Contact Us” link in the store to suggest a kit or to request a price for a specific list of parts.