We’re almost completely moved into the new place, although the MakerSlide is still at the old address (it’s a 10-minute drive, so that’s not too bad, but it can be annoying).

We’ll ship the outstanding eShapeoko orders this week, and invite the next people in the queue to order.

About the orders I messed up: I figured out who got what, and what I need to send out to fix the mess.  I packed all the small bits, I just need to pack the MakerSlide for those who need it.

NEMA 23 motors are back in stock.

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.

MakerSlide arrived from the factory.

It came on two pallets, one of which we have unloaded already.  We’re working on the second pallet.  Once that’s done, I’ll put the MakerSlide back in stock in the store (most likely Monday evening).

The laser-cut parts for the eShapeoko kits are being cut and will be done tomorrow.  They will arrive here on Tuesday.

We’re working on packing the small parts.

You can still reserve your eShapeoko kit here.  I’ll turn that off once they’re back in the store.

The factory have finished cutting the MakerSlide, and last I heard they were trying to get it collected by the transport company on Friday, so that it would arrive next week at some point.  However, they did not get back to me to tell me whether it was collected or not — and they are closed the entire next week.  I guess it’ll have to be be a surprise…

The laser-cut parts for the eShapeoko have not arrived from the fabricator yet, either.  They’ve been very busy, but they say they’re working on them, so they should arrive in a few more days.

All other parts are here.

These need to happen before we can ship the eShapeoko kits:

• MakerSlide needs to be delivered to us.
• Laser-cut parts must arrive.
• We need to pack the kits.

We are already working on packing the small bits, so it’ll be just the plates and the MakerSlide.  After both MakerSlide and the laser-cut parts arrive, we’ll put the kits back in the store, and I’ll email everyone who has reserved a kit to invite them to order their machine.  As I said, there is no obligation: even if you reserved a certain configuration, you can order a different one, or nothing at all.  However, a confirmed reservation guarantees that, if you place the order and pay for it, you’ll get a kit in this batch, and puts you in the queue ahead of orders without reservations, or with reservations made after yours.  I estimate that, from the time we put the eShapeoko kits back on sale, it will take us about three weeks to pack and ship all the kits reserved so far.

You can still reserve your eShapeoko kit here.

GAUPS 1.0 kits are back in stock, including the version with 50 V capacitors.

GAUPS stands for GRBL-compatible Arduino Uno-compatible Pololu-compatible Shield. The standard version has 35 V capacitors and is recommended for supplies up to 30 V; the version with 50 V capacitors can be used up to 40 V (subject to the voltage rating of the driver modules).

If you do not intend to use power supplies with voltages above 30 V, I recommend the standard version, because its capacitors have double the value (47 µF compared to 22 µF), so your drivers will be even better protected against supply voltage spikes caused by LC ringing.

(The form to reserve your eShapeoko kit is here.)