Look what the FedEx guy dropped off at the steps. It’s a little unnerving for a $1k product to be left out in the open. Is there a packing list to verify if anything is missing? Is this year old video* the latest assembly howto? If anyone has suggestions please comment below.
I (carefully) unpacked my M4.1 and started putting it together. All went well until the part where I was supposed to insert the magnets into the black plastic gears. Search as I might, I couldn’t locate any magnets. Wazzup?
My magnets were not inside any packaging but stuck to the metal screw driver. Check all our metal components to see if they are stuck anywhere.
That sounds like a real oops by the packaging folks. Aside from the hassle of getting replacements, tiny (but very strong) little magnets could be a real hazard for a cat, small child, etc. Anyway, after another diligent search, they still haven’t shown up. Sigh.
Same thing happened to me. Thanks for the advice
Alright, I checked what I received against the 5 page pdf. Here is a list of discrepancies:
Idler shaft … integrated into idler gear?
Bearings, 30 (20 expected)*
M3 12mm, 149 (175 expected)
M3 nut, 30 (100 expected)
Threadlocker, none
Silicone grease, none
Set screws, 6 (? expected)
Torque wrench, t10- (not sure size; for set screws)
Torque wrench, t10 (replaced Allen wrench)
While putting the screws and lock nuts into the arms, I stumbled on an approach that seems a lot less tedious than any that @bar describes in his video. Although YMMV, here it is:
First four arms:
Drop a lock nut into one of the hex-shaped depressions, making sure that the round part (with the black plastic insert) is “up” (i.e., showing).
Using some appropriate implement (e.g., ballpoint pen, chopstick), press the nut into the depression until you feel it “seat” (i.e., stop moving).
Repeat for all six depressions on each of the first four arms.
Remaining arms:
Drop a bolt shaft into one of the hex-shaped depressions.
Using the nifty (supplied) Torx screwdriver, press the bolt into the depression until you feel it “seat” (i.e., stop moving). Examine the protruding part of the bolt to see if it seems a bit “short”. If so, push a little harder.
Repeat for all six depressions on each arm.
Notes:
It may seem tempting to press the bottom of the screwdriver with the palm of your hand. I don’t recommend this, as I’ve developed issues from doing this sort of thing in the past. Here’s a comment from the Goog:
Excessive pressure on the palm of your hand, especially from repetitive or forceful actions like pounding on a screwdriver handle, can indeed lead to various problems, including pain, inflammation, and potentially more serious issues. …
The approach I used, FWIW, was to:
The PDFs were very useful, even though they are for the M4 (vs. my M4.1). Most critically, they told me that I should have (only) four encoder magnets. Since the gremlins just revealed the stack of magnets, I’m all set for the moment.
They should be stuck to either the metal gears or to the torx driver
That PDF is for the 4.0 kit, not for the 4.1. I need to update it, but first I need to make sure that everyone gets their kits delivered before the tariffs kick in!
I made a bit more progress on assembling my M4.1 - the trickiest bit, so far, was bolting the pairs of black plastic cups (?) together. FWIW, I found that a (plastic) refill for a ballpoint pen worked well as a nut-positioning and -holding implement:
The key observation here is that the point of the refill works well to hold the nut for placement, but it gets in the way when you’re trying to insert the bolt into the same hole.
The back end of the refill was large enough to sit on the top of the nut. In some cases, it slipped down between the side of the nut and the adjoining plastic, working even better to hold the nut in place, not slip off, etc. HTH…
Another hint I’d offer has to do with the spools and belts. After gluing the belt into each spool, coil up the belt and use a couple of strips of painter’s tape to hold it together until you’re ready to proceed further. This will keep the belt from getting tangled up…
After the first, I simply cut the end off the bag holding them, pulled a little out, and left the rest in the bag until it was time to spool it
I slipped the uncoiled belt back into the plastic bag it was shipped in.
