The crew over at Makeblock.cc were kind enough to send an XY-Plotter Robot Kit v2.0 my way for a review. I’ll be assembling the the robot and posting pictures of the process soon, but for now I wanted to do an unboxing preview for you.
1. The Box
The first step to any unboxing review must, necessarily, start with the box in which the product arrives. The box arrived safe and sound from China and was well packaged for transport. Most parts were wrapped in plastic, the electronics were in anti-static bags, and the boxes were nestled in thick foam padding. The blue anodized aluminum beams were mostly not wrapped in anything. There were no noticeable scratches on any of them. I did find a few blue anodized aluminum burrs from the parts in the box. Keep an eye out for them if you’re opening the package on carpet, as I did.
2. The Electronics
Above are the pictures of electronics. As mentioned earlier, each board arrived in its own little anti-static baggie. The card with the QR code to the instructions and rubber feet were a nice touch. At this point you’ll notice that the connector ports on all of the boards have colored coded stickers to assist with assembly. Clockwise starting at the top left corner, the box includes the card with the QR code to the instructions, three Me RJ25 Adapters, two Me Steper Driver v1.0 boards, an Me Baseboard, and four sticky-backed rubber feet.
3. The Tools
Clockwise starting at the top left corner, the box includes RJ25 cables, a USB micro cable, three timing belts, three micro switch buttons, three lasercut acrylic “LS” brackets for the micro switches, 11 tiny screws, one lasercut acrylic “servo bracket,” another RJ25 cable, a small Philips screwdriver, a 2.5mm hex screwdriver, a 7mm wrench, two 1.5mm hex wrenches, a Micro Servo, a lasercut acrylic “Baseboard,” and one Beam 0808 72/80 aluminum beam.
4. The Hardware
There are a lot of hardware parts in the main cardboard box:
- Shafts
- 2x D shafts, 4 x 56mm
- 1x linear motion shaft, D4 x 80mm
- 1x threaded shaft, 4 x 39mm
- Flexible coupling, 4 x 4mm
- 6x timing pulleys 18T
- 8x flange bearing, 4 x 8 x 3mm
- 43x M4 nuts
- 25x plastic ring, 4 x 7 x 2mm
- 6x cutable linkage 3, anodized blue aluminum
- 6x linear motion slide unit, 8mm
- Beams
- 4x Beam 0824 48
- 1x Beam 0824 80
- 4x Beam 0824 96
- 2x Beam 0824 112
- 2x 42BYG Stepper Motor Bracket
- 2x bracket, 3 x 3
- 4x plate, 3 x 6
- 5x bracket, U1
- 3x belt connector
- 1x Beam 0828 16
- 1x 42BYG Stepper Motor
- 12V DC power adapter
- 1x 42BYG Stepper Motor
- 31x socket cap screw, M4 x 14
- 28x headless set screw, M3 x 5
- 28x socket cap screw, M4 x 16
- 6x plastic rivets R4100
- 18x plastic rivets R4060
- 10x shaft collar, 4mm
- 18x socket cap screw, M4 x 30
- 12x socket cap screw, M4 x 22
- 30x plastic zip ties and 5x rubber bands
- 36x socket cap screw, M4 x 8
- 3x cross recessed pan head screw, M2×10 and 3x M2 nuts
- 10x countersunk screw, M3x8
The last picture in the set depicts all the really long pieces of the robot – the linear shafts and beams. In order, from top to bottom, they are:
- 2x Beam 2424-504
- 2x Beam 0824 496
- 4x linear motion shaft, D8 x 496mm
- 1x linear motion shaft, D4 x 512mm
Disclaimer: This robot kit was provided by Makeblock.cc for the purposes of unboxing and review. They have asked that I provide my honest assessment of this kit.