Parts have arrived. As well as the PCBs and the solder stencil. The only thing we’re missing still is the magnets (which could be another couple weeks).
I would like to organize a night in the next week to build a handful of these and test that they power on. PM me if you’re interested in being one of the guinea pigs.
I’m available most evenings. I think you’ll need me for the 1.27mm headers and the programmer. I can also do the solder paste dispenser and toaster oven thing but we’ll need to get paste from somewhere. @packetbob is in the build so perhaps he can bring his gear too.
I’m out of town until the 21st, hopefully there will be a critical mass after that point to do a group build.
Also… I have no use case in mind for this thing. Maybe we can brainstorm something. 
I guess I should order a NEMA17 for this project too… Might as well get at least two, for 3D printer spares too. What’s a good-enough-and-cheap-enough choice?
The magnets arrived today - that was fast!!
So I now have all parts required. I will be at VHS tomorrow (Tuesday) night to sort through everything and start making up kits for everyone. It’s going to be a big job!
If anyone wants to assist, or attempt a prototype build, and pick up their kits, please swing by.
I could probably help organize kits too. Let me know when you intend to go, if before 7:30.
@lukecyca - Mechaduino.pdf (52.6 KB)
Here is the PDF we talked about…
It is 4 pages…
The first 3 are for sorting and identifying the parts we have not sorted yet…
The last page has the parts we already sorted, I thought people may find it handy to have all the parts laid out.
Lemme know if it looks ok and if you want me to print up a bunch…
Big thanks to @packetbob for helping me get started on sorting these parts into kits last night. This afternoon I wrangled another friend into helping me and we got through most of the passives.
By tomorrow (Thursday) I should have kits that are mostly complete, save for a few very basic pin headers and such. If any of you are really eager to get started on your own, I can give you your kits tomorrow.
Stay tuned for the first build night (of several, I’m sure).
I’m tempted to get one, but it seems like quite a bit of work to build the kit just to play around with…
anyone want to sell me an assembled one? 
I would love to attend the build sessions to learn about this
I would like to schedule the first build night for this Thursday at 7pm. You can pick up your kits, and we can try make some progress on building them.
We’ll need to build some sort of jig to just the solder stencil I think. I have no experience with this so I hope @packetbob or @rsim will provide some insight on this.
The more adventurous among us can try hand-soldering!
If you can’t make it on Thursday, don’t worry. We’re likely to have quite a few more.
I’ll be there!
I have one of these from their kickstarter campaign and will bring it down: http://pcbgrip.com/
I’ll try to come and say hi. Am in the process of renovicting myself so I might be busy.
On Thursday we looked over the parts, I distributed some kits, and then created an annotated map of the board (linked at the top of this thread). Only a couple people showed up, so we didn’t attempt to actually build one.
I will be at the space this Monday, August 8th from 7-9 again. If anyone else wants to pick up their kits. I may attempt to hand-solder mine if we haven’t made progress on the stencil method.
If any of these kits are still around, I’d love to come build one on Tuesday or next Tuesday. If not, no worries.
Let me know, thanks
I can sell you one of mine if you want. Especially if you can help us figure out the build methodology. 
I do all of my soldering by hand so keep that in mind. I can show how to do fine pitched components with a standard soldering equipment.
I also do things “wrong” in that I start with the complex and difficult components before moving to the simple ones (with the exception of an initial board which I test the power supplies on before moving onto the hard parts). My reason for doing this is it’s hard to bend a soldering iron around a large capacitor already on the board but soldering the capacitor is easy even when it’s nestled between TQFPs.
I am hoping to make it to the space tonight to pick up my kits. It
involves a ferry trip, which adds some jeopardy.
