The new batch of MakerSlide is being manufactured.  It takes a few weeks to extrude, anodize and cut it.  Tentatively, the delivery date has been set to the end of July.  The MakerSlide will go in the store as soon as it arrives.

Currently, MakerSlide is the long lead time component for the eShapeOko kits too.  The kits will be back on sale a few days after MakerSlide arrives.  I have decided not to take pre-orders for this batch of eShapeOko kits, for several reasons:

• There will be more than enough kits to meet demand, so everybody will get theirs.  It will not make any difference if you pre-order now, or simply order when available again: your kit is still going to ship at the same time.
• For this batch, I didn’t need the cash from the pre-orders to pay some of the suppliers.  I have already ordered the expensive parts.
• One of the purposes of pre-ordering was to allow me to gauge demand.  I think I understand it now.
• I plan to overhaul the store over the next few weeks, possibly starting afresh, with new software.  It would make my life easier if I didn’t have to migrate a lot of open orders to a new store.

I will make a new version of the camera slider at the same time.  Like the MakerSlide, it will be available in 1000 mm, 1400 mm and 2000 mm.

Still no time for a long update, but here’s a short one:

• Pending orders: none.  I shipped all of them.  No backlog anymore.  Phew!
• MakerSlide: the order with the factory is in, but no firm ETA yet.  I expect delivery end of July or beginning of August.  I have retired the 700 mm length, and I’ll be offering 500 mm, 750 mm, 1000 mm, 1400 mm and 2000 mm.
• eShapeOko kits: I have no more open end plates. I expect a new batch of laser-cut parts, including the open end plates, in late July.
• Camera sliders: there will be more of them in late July, with a few design changes.
• Stepper shields: more boards on their way to us, will be back on sale soon.

It’s been more than two months since the last update.  Interesting things have happened, about which I’ll write over the next few days.  For now, I just wanted to say that:

• We have shipped all outstanding eShapeOko kit orders (except when people asked me to hold on to their kits until the NEMA23 motors were back in stock).
• I still have several orders to send.  If you’ve been waiting for your MakerSlide, V-wheels, spacers or idlers, I’m sorry for the delay.  All orders are now picked, and I have packaged some of them.  I hope to finish eradicating the backlog tomorrow.
• There will be more MakerSlide and more eShapeOko kits in the near future.
• The powerful 1.8° step, 4800 g·cm holding torque NEMA17 motors are back in stock. More of the unexpectedly popular 0.9°, 9000 g·cm NEMA23 motors should arrive any day now.
• I have a small surprise in store.  Watch this space.

I’m in Chicago for a few more days, and I stopped by the Pumping Station: One hackerspace, where I met Bart Dring, inventor or MakerSlide.  There’s a picture on the forum at buildlog.net.  Bart is the second from the left, and his Quantum Delta 3-D printer is on the table.  That hackerspace is really nice.  It makes me wish I stayed in Chicago seven years ago.  But then again, if I hadn’t moved back to the UK, there would not have been an eShapeOko.

My spellchecker does not like “hackerspace”.  It suggests “hyperspace” (interesting, but no), “backspace” (no) and “Rackspace” (hmm… no).  It also objects to Dring, MakerSlide, buildlog.net and eShapeOko.  Shut up, spellchecker.

About half of the orders in Batch Five have now shipped.  Some have already arrived.  They’re not in the order in which they have been purchased, but in the order which made packing easier.  More than half of the remaining kits will ship on Monday.

The belt should be here soon too.

I have quality problems with the MXL belt.  I’ve ordered more from a reliable (but more expensive) supplier, and it should be here in a few days.  A few kits have shipped already (with good belt), and a few more are packed and waiting for couriers to pick them up.  Most still need the belt, so they will be delayed a few more days.  I’m sorry for this.

I still need to contact a few buyers to check whether they wanted larger kits, or NEMA23 upgrades.  If you’ve ordered extra belt or NEMA23 motors with your eShapeOko kit, expect an email soon.

Batch Five of eShapeOko kits is moving along, slowly.  We have all the parts, and we’re packaging them.  The first few Batch Five kits will leave tomorrow, and the rest early next week.

I changed the packaging method.  Instead of putting each type of part in its own little zip bag, I divided them, roughly, into one bag per assembly step.  That means fewer bags, less time for me to pack them, much easier to apply upgrades to the kits (NEMA23 motors on X, Y and even Z, longer rails, open end plates… all coming up soon in the store), and easier for you to find the parts when building the machine.  Where parts are very similar (for instance, the M5 Form A and Form B washers), I’ve put one of them in a separate bag.

The kits that ship this week are still packed in the old style, though.

All Batch Four eShapeOko kits have left!  Well, all but one kit, which will go out tomorrow.  I’ll email tracking numbers tonight.

I’m also slowly catching up with the backlog of other store orders.

I’ve just returned home from hospital, where my four-year-old son had a tonsillectomy.  He’s feeling better than expected: the biggest problem right now is that he keeps asking me for help playing Cut the Rope while I’m trying to work.  I’ll resume packing Batch Four tonight, finish over the weekend, and I’ll book the couriers for Monday.  Special orders will take a day or two longer.

I’m sorry for the delay.  The plan was to have packed and shipped everything before my son’s operation, but I could not do that because of the MakerSlide shipping confusion.

Yay!  I have a whole bunch of aluminium in the garage now!

We’ll pack Batch Four over the weekend.