Have just asked for another batch of controllers and some more sprockets.  Lead time to get parts, if I had none at all in stock, is about two and a half weeks I think.  That sounds good to me, but of course that’s only possible for fairly small quantities.

Small quantities are easy enough to get quickly, bigger batches (where the real cost savings are) will ship direct from manufacturers, and that normally means months rather than days.  I’ve got a dozen orders now, and expect to have shipped them all during the second week in October, the first couple will go sooner than that.

Just wanted to say too, that the response to this project has been amazing – a total surprise to me.  I mean, I knew it was a cool project (that’s why I did it) but I thought that it was only me that thought that, and I always think the stuff I do is cool, so it doesn’t count.

I’m so grateful for all the support, and hope I can deliver and make everybody happy!  I’ve had my busiest week EVAR, yet still seem to have got very little achieved beyond antagonising my postman with the number of parcels I have streaming into me.

I have been threatening some illustrated build / setup instructions, and will get onto that next week since my weekend is already written off

I have also got some ideas for code changes that will take priority:

• Save the machine size into EEPROM using the regular interface rather than having to reprogram the arduino every time.
• Give the machine a name to make controller set up easier / safer.

I hope I’ve got enough program space for the EEPROM library.

After that, I’ll be bullying the controller into a more practical shape.  Promise.