Yay! I got my egg-bot kit!

I had a bit of a problem in step #9 screwing in one of the aluminum standoffs, and closer examination I realized that one end wasn't threaded. Fortunately, I had the right sized tap, so all was saved, but that shouldn't have happened.

Sorry about that. We do occasionally come across untapped standoffs and we would gladly send you another (still will, if you want--just email me) but it's a very hard thing to check for.

Nah, it's all good. Fortunately, I'm a serial hobbyist, and several of my previous hobbies needed a good tap and die set.

It's all assembled, and drawing a flag on a ping pong ball. It's working great!

Successful picture of my company's logo:

I got my kit in the mail on 12/15. Overall, I am very impressed with the kit. The instructions are clear and the photos show the parts required for each step. The hardware packages were labeled to show what was inside. The frame parts were wrapped to protect them from damage. The edges of the frame parts are sharp (as described in the instructions), but it is because the cut edges are crisp and not because the edges are ragged.

I also had a problem with the standoffs. Three of the standoffs were 7/8" long, but the fourth one was 3/4" long. Apparently that standoff fell into the wrong bin at the manufacturer. I had a 7/8" standoff in my parts box, so it was not a problem for me.

GoatRider, you are ahead of me on plotting skills. I am still struggling with scaling and centering my plots. I was eager to plot something late last night, so I have several golf balls covered with bad plots. I have read more of the guidance tonight, so I am hoping to see improvement.

Quote by: Hilltop Bob

GoatRider, you are ahead of me on plotting skills. I am still struggling with scaling and centering my plots. I was eager to plot something late last night, so I have several golf balls covered with bad plots. I have read more of the guidance tonight, so I am hoping to see improvement.

Note that when you plot using the "Start with pen centered" option of the Eggbot Control extension ("Options" tab), the centering isn't as intuitive as it could be. In the current version of the Eggbot Control extension, what that option does is tell the Eggbot that where the pen is parked at the start of the plot is somewhere on the horizontal line y=500 in your drawing. (To make matters worse, in SVG y=0 is at the top of your document and not the bottom.)

So, if you just happened to use a document size of 3200 x 1000 pixels, then the y=500 line is the horizontal centerline of your document. However, in many cases a document size of 3200 x 800 is more apt. But, that then means that when you use "start with pen centered", it isn't actually the center of your document....

See the recent thread entitled "Inaccurate results with use of Eggbot Template obtained from Wiki site" at the Eggbot User's group for more info on this topic. (The URL I tried to include made my first attempt at this post trigger a false positive with the spam detectors.) See also the somewhat lengthy writeup

http://wiki.evilmadscience.com/Where_will_my_drawing_begin_on_my_egg%3F

for much more on the subject of how your Inkscape drawing lands on your eggs.

Dan

Quote by: Hilltop Bob

I also had a problem with the standoffs. Three of the standoffs were 7/8" long, but the fourth one was 3/4" long. Apparently that standoff fell into the wrong bin at the manufacturer. I had a 7/8" standoff in my parts box, so it was not a problem for me.

We have a different kit that uses 3/4" and 7/8" standoffs, so the problem may well have been on our end rather than with the manufacturer. I am sorry for the error, in either case. If you'd like us to send you a replacement, please contact our store directly and reference your order number.

Quote by: Hilltop Bob

I have several golf balls covered with bad plots. I have read more of the guidance tonight, so I am hoping to see improvement.

I bought a pack of plastic practice golf balls, and they really didn't plot very well. The dimples distorted the pen lines too much. Most of my practice plots were on some uber-cheap ping-pong balls I got on Amazon. $14 for 144, but they have an obvious seam, and are slightly under-sized. The pen gets caught on the seam, so I don't draw over the seam. They'd be horrible for ping-pong, but they are fine for practice plots.

I'm going to go to a craft store soon to see if I can find some blank holiday tree ornaments.