Cursor to world origin…
Make sure the empty and all other object have their origins at the world center…
Set object offset to empty ( done by J-tools, but check it… and set origin also to the world center )
Once you add your 8 parts to the array modifier, rotate the empty Y>45
I think that’s all I had to do…
Oh and turn down the distance in the merge ( parts are very small ) to .001cm
and click first and last copies…