Kickstarter campaign 110 percent funded

110% Funded

The Kickstarter campaign has ended and our project stands at $22,075 pledged, 110% funded from 168 backers. Wow, what a success! Now, it’s time to get busy for me (aka the creator) and my friend Dan.

14 Day review window from Kickstarter

There is a 14 day review window from Kickstarter for reviewing, collecting and processing pledges. After that, funds will be transferred directly to our bank account. For those who missed out, we will be setting up a page for online ordering before we place the final order with our manufacturer. So, watch this space!

Next steps: Procurement

Everything is ready for ordering with my suppliers so nothing stops us to order when the funds are released. All boards are SMD (surface mounted devices) so assembly can be fully automated. Once we order we get a definite manufacturing end date since the factory can be in a peak or non-peak period. Nothing indicates a peak period. The connections on the shield have been emphasized with numbers (1 to 5) to aid installation of the controller. Additional controllers will be ordered to counter 5% defect rate. As a small improvement, I have dropped the opto endstop flag and bracket. You can use now the stock endstop as is. In the Inkscape engraving plug in, you have the option to mirror Y. In the cutting plugin, you just have to turn the workpiece. Alternatively, I will add a software mirror feature here as well. I will add a download section to this website so for those who are curious, they can download and install it to see how it works (generate G-code files).

Reward surveys

Kickstarter only allows you to do a survey once. So when closer to shipping, I will issue the reward survey to confirm:

Your name, shipping address and reward(s). Where people have pledged for multiple rewards, I will combine shipping. For those who order after the Kickstarter, I will add you to the reward fulfillment list for shipping.

Thank you again for making Gerbil a success!

Paul

5 thoughts on “Kickstarter campaign 110 percent funded”

    1. Hi John,

      It’s basically a combination of matching the pwm pulses with the characteristics of the k40 laser tube and power supply and the ease of using the tool chain in Inkscape. Just grab a picture and engrave it without any other additional actions. Of course you can enhance the picture with a floyd steinberg colour algorithm to get better results but that’s up to you. Next to this you also can cut via inkscape. That entire package of software and hardware helps you to get things done in one go without trial and error. More details are on my blog so you might need to scroll through a few blogs on here to find it.
      Cheers Paul

  1. Heya,
    I’ve totally forgotten your kickstarter but was interested in a gerbil (the one that does engraving too), you said that soon there would be an ordering page, this is amazing, when will it be on?

    Best regards

    1. Hi, I’m waiting for Kickstarter to complete its review. You cannot sell the products before the kickstarter so I try to avoid the risk of confusion at Kickstarter. After the funds are released I will add a page to back order k40 Gerbils. So, watch this space!

      Thanks, Paul

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