Category: General News

Hey everyone, here’s our October 2024 Production Updates.

AltMill

We’re excited to have another batch of parts arrived in September.

We’re sort of hitting an interesting new wall in manufacturing, where the number of parts that we need to make with each manufacturer is more than they can handle in a reasonable time, so we’re working on diversifying our group of manufacturers so that we can move faster in scaling up production.

Shipping was put on a hold as we wait on restocking for spindles. They were expected to arrive Sept 20, 2024, but due to shipping delays at the port due to a recent rail strike, they are expected to arrive Sept 30th. We’ve asked for a rush on these items. Other parts for orders are being assembled now and we will work to ship as much out as we can as soon as the spindles arrive.

Assembly videos for AltMill are coming very soon to Youtube, as they are going through final edits now live on our Channel! These will supplement the written assembly instructions found on our Resources soon.

We now also have AltMill documents open-sourced! hey so I have the public version of the AltMill doc ready for release: https://resources.sienci.com/view/open-source/

LongMill

LongMill orders continue to ship out without incident.

We’re happy to share that the LongMill Spindle and Dust Shoe Kits are shipping and resources for installation are now available!

Due to the shipping delay as mentioned above for the spindles, we are expecting spindles to arrive Sept 30th and will start shipping kits soon after they arrive.

Vortex

The big news for the past month is that closed-loop stepper support and full 4th-axis support is coming out now for Vortex. Learn more about it in our article here: https://sienci-upgrade3.cospark.io/2024/09/05/vortex-rotary-axis-close-loop-stepper-motor-update/.

Motors and cables for closed-loop steppers for Vortex have already arrived. We are currently working on testing, packing, and a few other details before they start shipping.

LaserBeam

Focus rings and sets are back in stock! New LaserBeam Safety glasses have been ordered and will arrive well before we run out of stock.

We are continuing to work on updating and adding new resources to the website for the LaserBeam.

We have started building a new, enclosed laser testing area to improve safety measures and also the level of technical support we can provide to you, our customers. 

Keep an eye out for the new Magnetic LaserBeam mount, coming soon!

gControl Panel Computer

50-panel computers are now on the way! We are currently working on a few things to get these ready for ordering, such as the branding, the computer configurations, and other little things. Look out for a blog post coming out that’ll cover all of the details.

We now have 50 Microsoft licenses ordered and waiting on them to arrive. We are also working on doing the final configuration on the OS side. Brackets for mounting are also in manufacturing now and expected to arrive anytime.

Once we sell and ship the first 50, we’re going to be planning out how many we’re going to order for the second batch.

If you’re interested in this product and want to fill out a survey, please visit the survey here: https://forms.gle/E1vaWAaGsfuQB8yg9

Sprouter

So it turns out that someone else is using the name Sprouter for another project. So we’ll probably have to lay off on using that name going forward. If you have any suggestions for names, feel free to let us know!

Also, if you have a non-Sienci Labs machine, such as with a Masso or Shapeoko controller, we’d like to test if the PWM control integration works properly with your machine so that this router can work on all sorts of different hobby CNC machines. If you’re in the KW area and would like to let us test, please feel free to reach out.

Our first prototypes for the Makita clone have arrived and are going through testing. You can see from the photo, they are just like the regular router but with an extra cable sticking out the back for the PWM control.

In the mean time, the team is working on conceptual designs for the top motor housing to work with the extra cable for the PWM signal and for wire management and cooling.

In other news, we are currently waiting on a new version of a VESC driver to be made that can handle up to 200V. We recently tested VESC up to around 100V, with fairly good results, but to get to the RPM range of around 24,000RPM, we need to have a controller that can handle the 200V. One of the main questions we have now is if we’re able to get reliable and fast speed control response at the higher voltage and speeds. We expect the new drivers to arrive in the next month or two.

In our last tests for the BLDC version, we found that the bearings were operating at a higher temperature that we’d like. We suspect that this may be caused by a number of factors, suchas due to improperly machined bearing seats. New bearing seats have arrived and we are going through assembly and testing now.l

Vectric 2024 User Group Meeting

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ll be part of Vectric’s 2024 User Group Meeting! Join us at the Embassy Suites Round Rock in Austin, Texas, on Friday and Saturday, October 11-12, 2024, for a weekend packed with learning and fun. We’ll showcase the AltMill and Vortex, and Scott will be a guest speaker. If you’re attending, be sure to stop by and say hello!

For those new to Vectric, they’re the creators of VCarve, a top-notch design tool for CNC projects. You can purchase it from our website and enjoy full ownership without any subscription fees.

To learn more about the 2024 User Group Meeting, visit Vectric’s event page.

Hey guys, here are our September 2024 production updates!

AltMill

In August we received a lot of parts for building the AltMill. We’ve done a lot to continue ramping production up including:

• Building new carts and jigs to help with moving materials around and helping with assembly
• A much bigger and more stable tapping setup

We also ran into a few new issues:

• We found a number of the rail extrusions to be bent enough to have uneven machining. We do have enough for the time being to continue shipping, but we will have to make more to make up for the bad parts. We are currently in production for another batch of rails, so we are adding more rails to the new batch to make up for the bad ones.
• Over-sensitivity of closed-loop stepper motors and default acceleration settings, especially on the Z-axis causing false alarms for the first 50 AltMills. Updates to the firmware settings, which should be found now in the latest version of gSender adjust microstepping defaults, and any other outgoing AltMills have this issue already fixed.

In other news, we built a 2x4ft working area AltMill with some spare parts. It’s mostly for internal use so that we can do testing, but we suspect a lot of people are going to be interested in a slightly smaller AltMill as well. If you’re interested in this form factor, feel free to let us know!

We’ve also started making the assembly videos for the AltMill. We did the filming in the third week of August, and we expect to have videos coming out sometime in September.

We now have about 100 AltMills shipped, and we expect to ship another 50-100 in September and October. We should also be getting our Batch 2 AltMill parts in the next 2 months as well, so we expect to continue scaling production.

LongMill

LongMills continue to ship out smoothly, with most orders shipping out within a week.

One main update to share is with the T12 Spring Loaded Anti-Backlash Nut Blocks. We’ve initially made them from injection moulded blanks which were machined after, however, we found out that due to internal stresses, the threading would be inconsistent and require additional processing to machine properly.

We’ve now started machining them from cast blocks, which have lower internal stresses, which means that there is little to no deformation and changes to the overall shape of the blocks after threading. This method is more expensive, but improves the quality, saves time in re-machining, and reduces the number of rejected parts, which we believe is worth the tradeoff. Due to the time savings and other benefits, there is a good chance we’ll switch completely over to the new blocks and scrap most of the old ones that haven’t been QA’d.

Due to some variability in the tightness of the blocks, we’ve advised users to do a bit of break-in before starting their job. Our expectation for the new blocks will be that this break-in will not be necessary and we will be able to have much more consistency in the resistance in the blocks. We have completed testing for the new blocks and expect blocks to transition into production any day.

Vortex and LaserBeam

Both Vortex and LaserBeam orders are shipping out as usual.

Ikenna and Jen are currently working on new resources for LaserBeam and SuperLongBoard to bring new features and details on improvements and setup, so make sure to keep an eye out for that.

LaserBeam Livestreams are also coming to an end after 2 years of consistent episodes! Congrats to Ikenna and the team for running these livestreams.

More livestreams and content to come out soon with the UltraBeam, so keep an eye out for that.

One big update for the Vortex is that we are finalizing details for a close-loop Vortex kit that allows for full 4th-axis support. That means you’ll be able to control all of the axis (X, Y, and Z), plus the rotary (A) axis simultaneously. This is one of the big features we’ve been working on gSender and SLB for.

Please keep an eye out for news in the next few weeks!

Spindles

We have received another batch of 50 spindles which have been allocated for shipping AltMills. We currently have another 350 spindles on the way, but they are currently delayed in shipping. At the current timeline, we expect the spindles to arrive in the third week of September. Once those are received, we should be shipping the LongMill Spindle Kits shortly after.

If you’re interested in learning a bit more about spindle and router testing, make sure to check out our video here

We’ve also been experimenting with different size/voltage spindles since we know that the AltMill can handle more power. We’ve of course started with the 1.5KW 110V option since it makes things accessible for the typical hobbyist, we wanted to know where the limits of the AltMill are in case we start getting users that are more industrial or production-focused.

Here’s some testing with a 220V 4.5KW spindle.

It is important to point out that for most people, 1.5KW is still more than enough power for how fast hobbyists are comfortable pushing their machines, and the spindle is more than able to handle anything you throw at it if you slow down the machine to accommodate. Additionally, the 1.5KW spindle is the only option that can run safely on 110V power that comes out of your wall. Larger spindles will require higher voltage (220V) power.

I should also note that while we still recommend getting our AltMill Spindle and Dust Shoe Kit with your AltMill since it’s plug-and-play and will get you set up quickly, you can still also buy other spindles to put on yourself.

At least from our observations, we haven’t seen hobby users fully push the AltMill to its limit. However, we believe that people looking at the AltMill for industrial applications might be interested in a bigger, more powerful spindle, especially if they have power available in their shop.

If you’d like to share your thoughts and opinions, please feel free to fill out the survey below.

Sprouter

We’ve continued to work on this project this past month. We are continuing to test:

• Bearing longevity and performance in different configurations
• Heat management
• Sound and motor tuning

We feel pretty confident in our motor design and construction. However, we’re still left with another frontier to tackle, which is the driver. Having a good driver is important as it allows us to properly and accurately control the speed, improve motor efficiency which in turn reduces heat, and makes the motor quieter.

We have been testing and working with the Chinese manufacturers of the motors to provide us with their drivers. However, while they are close to the performance we are looking for, they still lack the overall performance and speed control precision we want. We will continue to do testing and iron out as much as we can with these drivers, however, we are taking another approach of developing our own drivers.

Here are some pros and cons of going down this path.

• Developing our own drivers means we can tune and perfect every aspect of it. However, we require more advanced hardware and computing on board which adds to the cost.
• Some drivers are already safety certified since they are already used in different applications. Developing our own means we need to do the safety certification, which costs time and money. However, overall, a custom driver will likely be safer since we can use additional safety features like current control and stall detection to stop the device when there are issues.

We also have a first look of PWM control of the Makita router clone!

We are now working on next steps to figuring out ordering and production for the first batch so we can prepare for a launch near the end of the year.

gControl Panel computer

After a lot of digging, we’ve figured out a couple things with the Windows licensing.

• Our computer hardware can run Windows 11 Home and Pro, but it is very difficult for us to get it at a price better than retail.
• Different licenses are needed for different regions, which means that we need to differentiate between computers shipped to different countries.
• An alternative OS is Windows 11 IOT, which is a version of Windows 11 that focuses on systems that require high levels of stability and used in specific applications. For example, they are used in bank ATMs, kiosks, and industrial machines.

As described on the Microsoft Website:

Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC is intended for fixed-function, special-purpose devices that require a long support lifecycle of 10 years. These devices are typically found in industries including banking, quick-service restaurants, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, and retail.

Windows IoT Enterprise LTSC is based on the same foundation as Windows Professional and Windows Enterprise, delivering the same compatibility, security and management capabilities required for commercial deployments. Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC provides additional capabilities to lockdown the device experience for public facing or employee facing scenarios along with the ability to customize the operating system footprint.

Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC is available for both x64 and ARM64 architecture.

For more information, see Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC Evaluation.

This is great, because, while a retail Windows 11 Home or Pro license costs over $100, the IOT license is around $35USD. Additionally, these computers can be deployed around the world without the same restrictions as a retail license.

I feel that Windows 11 IOT also aligns with the use case of why we want to offer our own PC solution, which is to improve reliability of the CNC system overall, and reducing the number of variables effecting the reliability of the system is an important way of doing so.

We have those first 50 computers in production now, and are expecting them be ready to ship to customers in late October/early November. More details to come. Depending on popularity and interest, we’ll scale up production for a larger batch shortly after.

Vectric 2024 User Group Meeting

We’re excited to share that we’ll be part of Vectric’s 2024 User Group Meeting! Join us at the Embassy Suites Round Rock in Austin, Texas, on Friday and Saturday, October 11-12, 2024, for a weekend full of learning and fun. We’ll be showcasing the AltMill and Vortex, with Scott as a guest speaker. If you’re attending, we’d love for you to stop by and say hello!

For those unfamiliar with Vectric, they create VCarve, an excellent design tool for CNC projects. You can purchase a copy on our website and enjoy the benefit of owning the software with no subscription fees.

To learn more about the Vectric 2024 User Group Meeting, visit Vectric’s event page.