The Wax Coupler for EggBot

This EggBot accessory solves a unique problem: If you take an egg (or other spherical or egg-shaped object that you are printing upon) out of an EggBot and put it back in, it is challenging to get it precisely lined up in exactly the same place. Normally, that's not an issue— when you draw with pens, you leave the object in place, and take the object out only when it's done.

However, things are different when using the Electro-Kistka for EggBot. The Electro-Kistka is a hot-wax "pen," used in the traditional wax-resist and dye (batik) method. In that process, you typically apply wax to the egg, dip it in dye to color it, let it dry, and then repeat with progressively darker colors of dye. And in doing so, you end up repeatedly removing the egg from the EggBot and putting it back in place.

The Wax Coupler for EggBot makes this process much easier. It is a specialized replacement for the "egg coupler" that connects the egg (or other spherical or egg-shaped object that you are printing upon) to the "egg motor" that turns it. Rather than having a soft surface, it is made of solid aluminum with a three-pronged face. To use it, you center the egg in the coupler (as you normally would) but then securely attach the Wax Coupler to the egg with wax. Then, when you need to remove the egg, you unscrew the Wax Coupler. The Wax Coupler stays securely attached to the egg when you dip it in the dye, provides a stand for drying it after dying, and then provides registration when you go to put it back on the EggBot.

In order to provide good registration, the Wax Coupler uses (1) a flat-tip set screw that indexes against the flat side of the EggBot's motor and (2) an included 5 mm shaft collar that provides a consistent depth stop for the Wax Coupler.

Specifications

• Construction: CNC machined 6061 aluminum
• Finish: Anodized (clear)
• Size: 5/8" diameter × 9/16" tall, 5 mm bore
• Kit contents: Wax Coupler with stainless steel flat-tip 10-32 set screw, 5 mm shaft collar, printed instructions
• Compatible with all EggBot models.

WaterColorBot kits now include a pair of machined aluminum winches. If you have an older WaterColorBot kit that came with the wooden winches, you may want to get this little upgrade kit to bring yours up to the current revision. This upgrade kit includes the two aluminum winches pre-wound with Spectra cord, a 3/32" hex wrench, and a printed set of current-revision assembly instructions, updated for the new winches.

In a little more detail...

Our winches are precision cut from 6061-T6 aluminum on CNC machines and anodized clear. We add a few extra little parts (flat-head rivets to wind the winch around, screws, and a stamped and polished stainless steel "clamp" to hold the string end), and wind them approximately 125 inches of "100 pound" test Spectra cord. Spectra is a high-performance low-stretch polymer fiber that is ten times stronger than steel by weight. It is used in applications including bulletproof vests, and high-performance boat sails, fishing lines, and kite lines.

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Make your own little LED strip arrangement with this stick of NeoPixel LEDs. 8 of the tiny 5050 (5mm x 5mm) smart RGB LEDs are crammed onto a PCB with mounting holes and a chainable design. Use only one microcontroller pin to control as many as you can chain together! Each LED is addressable as the driver chip is inside the LED. Each one has ~18mA constant current drive so the color will be very consistent even if the voltage varies, and no external choke resistors are required making the design slim. Power the whole thing with 5VDC (4-7V works) and you're ready to rock.

The LEDs are 'chainable' by connecting the output of one stick into the input of another - see the photo above. There is a single data line with a very timing-specific protocol. Since the protocol is very sensitive to timing, it requires a real-time microconroller such as an AVR, Arduino, PIC, mbed, etc. It cannot be used with a Linux-based microcomputer or interpreted microcontroller such as the netduino or Basic Stamp. The Neopixel library for Arduino supports these pixels! As it requires hand-tuned assembly it is only for AVR cores but others may have ported this chip driver code so please google around. An 8MHz or faster processor is required.

Comes as a single stick with 8 individually addressable RGB LEDs assembled and tested.

The detailed NeoPixel Uberguide has everything you need to use NeoPixels in any shape and size. Including ready-to-go library & example code for the Arduino UNO/Duemilanove/Diecimila, Flora/Micro/Leonardo, Trinket/Gemma, Arduino Due & Arduino Mega/ADK (all versions)

Technical Details:

• Dimensions: 51.10mm / 2" x 10.22mm / 0.4" x 3.19mm / 0.12"
• Weight: 2.57g
• WS2812B 4-pin chip LED. The B chip type adds polarity protection.

Need a USB jack for charging or powering a project, but don't want to lug around a computer? This switching supply gives a clean regulated output at up to 1000 mA! 110 or 240 input, so it works in any country. The plugs are "US 2-prong" style so you may need a plug adapter, but you can pick one up at any hardware store inexpensively.

This adapter was specifically designed to provide 5.25 V not 5 V, but we still call it a 5 V USB adapter. This was done on purpose to solve a problem that occurs often with USB-powered gadgets: they draw so much current than the resistance of the cable causes a voltage drop, so instead of 5 V, the device sees 4.75 V or so. To avoid this problem, we made the adapter 5.25 V. This is because the USB power specification allows up to 5.25 V, and it's safe for all 5 V electronics, and has the benefit of making up for any loss due to thin USB cables. Basically, you can use it where ever USB 5 V power is needed, with no risk of damage, and it will happily work at the full current range, no matter what cable you use!

The adapter does not have a cable, instead there is a USB 'A' type port on the bottom, where you can plug any USB cable in. The data lines have resistors on them, to match what is inside of an 'Apple iPhone' type charger, and this adapter has been successfully tested with an iPhone 4 so it ought to work with anything that can charge with an iPhone adapter.

This particular adapter is very nice, with a red indicator LED to let you know it's working. RoHS compliant.

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