Category: Production Updates

Hey everyone, welcome to our June 2025 Production Updates. Here we go!

A lot of development continues to happen, so some of these are updates from previous blog articles. If you want more context, make sure to check out our blog for our monthly production updates.

Order Status Page

I’ve been seeing a bit of chatter about the Order Status page. I just want to reassure everyone that no one is skipping the line, unless you are a big-time content creator (at the current time, Hamilton Dilbeck and Ryan Drapela are the only people who have received their machines early for marketing purposes).

We get bribed a lot by individuals to skip the line. We will never accept these.

There can be discrepancies that make it look like the order of which machines are being shipped don’t look like they are in order. Here’s how that can happen.

1. The specific variant of the order has a different shipping schedule. For example, the 2×4 and 4×4 AltMill are built on different schedules, but they are both on the order page.
2. The order isn’t fully complete. If the order is partially shipped based on part availability, the order will not show as shipped. This can create gaps between each order on the list.
3. The customer asked us to put their order on hold.

We do our best to ship based on the order of which they are placed. There can be some variation sometimes, for example, if we can batch the products together, so we build all of the 2x4s in one go for example, we can reduce the overall average time to ship units because we don’t have to go back and forth with setting up production stations constantly. While it may throw out the order a bit, overall we expect for people to get machines quicker this way, which I think is a reasonable tradeoff.

Tariffs

As referenced in the previous update, we had been experiencing a lot of shipments being turned away at the border. One of the changes in the process was that all shipments in a truck crossing the US must have customs pre-cleared before it can enter the country, and any truck that had even a single item without proper clearance would be turned away. The below email references issues causes by some 3rd party brokers which appears to be resolved recently.

Shipping seems to continue to be a bit of a mess, but generally speaking, the issues have reduced a lot since the tariff war. Fewer orders are getting shipped back, and more are clearing without issues.

Starting April 23, we’ve also re-updated our shipping system to note DDP for all US-bound shipments. I should also note that most US-bound shipments prior have also been changed to DDP as well. For those who don’t know, DDP (delivery, duty paid), designates the shipment to have any duties and fees charged to the shipper (us). We used to have DDP set up, but during the trade war, we changed it to DAP (delivered at place), which would have the receivers (you) pay duties and fees. Since we are able to clear pretty much all of the shipments without duties and tariffs, we’ve reverted to this. Some customers were being charged brokerage fees and tariffs, even though they shouldn’t be, and it seems to be happening to other folks, not just in our company. We are helping customers get refunds, but now that we have changed things to DDP, any refunds will be able to be processed just through us without customer intervention.

AltMill

First off, we’re excited to share that the AltMill MK2 assembly video is now available!

Some folks were also confused about what batch their order for the AltMill is in. For the customer, it should not matter because the machines between Batch 4 and 5 are the same, and we don’t have a specific delineation for orders between the batches. However, if you ordered your AltMill around mid-April, there is a good chance that your order is in Batch 5. We expect to complete shipping Batch 4 at the end of this month the start of June.

As mentioned in the last blog post, we expect Batch 5 to start shipping in July based on the arrival of additional components. Our team is working to update the order status page based on updated news on parts arrival as shipping dates approach. Please have patience as these days may vary a bit based on the continued news. We are continuing to pre-assemble parts to prepare for another large push of shipments in the next coming weeks when everything arrives.

We have started building some of the 2×4 AltMills as well. The shipping for these may be a bit sporadic since we need to switch back and forth with the 4x4s. This may contribute somewhat to the spottiness of shipping on the Order Tracking list as well.

We’ve brought on a number of new packing staff and implemented additional production hours towards clearing our queue. Michael and the rest of the production team have continued to accelerate our production significantly, with this past month having shipped around 180 AltMills. While it feels like we’re making little to no progress (perhaps it even looks like we’re slowing down), we’ve doubled our production volume in the past 6 months, which is a significant achievement for the team. Unfortunately, or perhaps not unfortunately, as we’ve accelerated shipping, we’ve been met with an accelerating volume of sales for the AltMill as well, offsetting our gains in scaling up production and where we are with decreasing lead times.

As mentioned in the previous update, we’re waiting on shipment of components for another 750 units, and our supply chain team is also working to prepare components for an additional 750 units to arrive in the fall. This is an aggressive amount of purchasing as we are working to eliminate parts availability as one of our production bottlenecks and prepare ourselves for the peak season for sales in the fall and winter.

VFD certification

Adding to last month’s news, we’re excited to announce that our first VFD was certified on May 5th and we are now going through the process for building a new batch.

If you ordered a spindle in Ontario and are still waiting on it to ship or are waiting on a replacement, then we will switch to this option automatically for no extra charge. For customers who are wanting to order a spindle for the Canadian market, these will be available as well, albeit at a slightly higher price than the non-certified option.

In somewhat good news, as we continue to work on the development of higher power spindles, we’re finding that we are able to build different variations while keeping the same casing and form factor, which we expect will make upgrades and replacements much easier in the long run. Additionally, since we know that our base design is compliant, we expect future safety approvals to be much faster and straightforward.

As of time of writing, we’ve started getting our first batch of sample components for our testing and finalizing some design and wiring processes as we prepare for our larger batch of manufacturing.

Auto Tool Changer

As we’ve alluded to previously, we’ve been working on a tool changer solution for the AltMill. While ATC is community supported, we currently don’t have official support and resources for this yet and likely a bit complicated for the average user.

We’ve now received several ATC spindles which we’ve been testing with different tool holder sizes and body types.

Of course there is a ton of consideration being put into place as we continue developing an ATC solution, including:

• What power spindle do users need
• Placement of tools and toolholder
• Toolholder fork design
• Pneumatics requirements
• Dust shoe compatibility
• Software interface and user experience

At the end of the day, we want to make sure that we have a product easy to use and accessible to both beginner and advanced users, and while we could be putting out a product for the sake of it, we’re focusing a lot of effort in making a product traditionally quite complicated into something simple.

AltMill 4×8

We continue to work on AltMill 4×8 development. Want to help us make some design decisions? Check out our survey below:

Much of the work so far has been around improving the rack and pinion design. While we’ve made great progress already in the design, we’re trying to reduce backlash in the system as much as possible. This has been in the way of testing different systems such as direct drive, using a pulley system, and gears. Reducing backlash is important as it will affect the dimensional accuracy in parts, especially in the Y direction. We’re also researching and playing around with motor tuning design to optimize between performance and accuracy.

We’re also working on designing the machine to reduce the overall footprint, especially focusing on the stickout from the motors. Additionally, we’re also looking at optimizing the form factor and design of the machine to make sure that the ATC placement is optimal.

We’re expecting some of the prototype parts to arrive in June or July, which should allow us to build and test early stage prototypes, and we’ll continue to work on and test smaller scale versions over the coming weeks.

We’ve gotten a lot of questions on why we’re not using a rotating ball screw design. Simply put, a rotating ball screw design is more complicated and expensive, and since the ball screw needs to be one continual length, this makes shipping extremely difficult compared to rack and pinion. The fact of the matter is that most industrial CNC machines of this size use a rack and pinion. Although a rack and pinion design is not as accurate inherently, we don’t expect users to need as high levels of accuracy in a way that a ball screw is the only way to go. Just for context, we’re talking about a difference of dimensional accuracy of between the thickness of one or two sheets of paper. It isn’t a design we’ve completely eliminated, but in general, we believe that it’s drawbacks outweigh the advantages.

LongMill

We continue to ship LongMills consistently. To improve production efficiency, we are slightly increasing lead times to 7 to 10 days. We currently have parts in stock, however, to reduce the need to switch back and forth between production of the AltMill and LongMill, some days will be dedicated to LongMill production only so that we can stockpile completed machines and ship them as needed. This means that many if not most customers will get machines shipped sooner than the estimated lead time, but depending on the production schedule, it may take up to 10 days to ship.

AutoSpin T1 Router

The AutoSpin continues to make progress as we prepare for initial production. One thing we’re working on is further testing and resource development as we prep it’s use for common hobby CNC routers. We’ve found some small quirks for setup that we’ll make sure to address in the setup process for each machine. For example, users with a Onefinity machine will need to plug their router directly into an outlet rather than the relay controlled plug on some controllers.

We’re also working on the packaging and incorporating a couple important features, including containing basic information about the product, links, safety notes, while protecting the package. Additionally, to keep shipping costs as low as possible, we’re aiming to make packaging as compact as possible.

gControl Panel Computer

Production of another batch of 500 gControls have now completed and are awaiting shipment. We currently have around 70 more units, which means that it’s likely we’ll sell out of them before the new batch arrives. However, we don’t expect the delay to be more than a few weeks as the new batch should arrive shortly after the old one runs out.

Perhaps an exciting note to make is that gSender Edge (our early access version of gSender which eventually gets pushed out for the main version) now supports portrait mode. This means that users will be able to use their gControl computers in the portrait direction, just like the Masso controller. There are a few improvements that development is still working on, but features like “pinch to zoom” in the visualizer, have now been incorporated. If you’re interested in checking out gSender Edge, make sure to check out our Github.

In other news, Gilberto and the rest of the marketing team are working to release some new instructional videos to help users update, customize, and optimize their gControl experience, so keep an eye out for that soon!

Hey there, here’s another month of production updates from Andy Lee, and our latest production video with even more info and updates.

Tariffs

Tariffs continue to cause confusion. You can read more about the current situation here.

As referred in the article, we’re seeing an uptick in people who are running into issues with shipments to the US. We’ve been able to resolve issues without too many issues, but we are asking folks to be patient as we work through them. At the beginning, we had quite a few hiccups but we’ve been able to get through most of them and are finding issues are happening less frequently.

Unfortunately at this time we are finding a large number of shipments are getting returned to us without any obvious reason, which are slowing down our production rate. Although initially we suspected this to be due to incorrect customs documentation, even orders that have proper documentation and have historically been unproblematic are being returned.

What’s quite eye opening is DHLs suspension of shipments above $800USD to the US.

While this does not directly impact us at this time since we don’t use DHL, it’s a significant signal on the complicated customs situation. At this moment, all shipping couriers are under immense pressure to update compliance, and DHL is the first as far as I know which has folded under the new change.

It has been reported that Trump intends to change deminimis rules that originally allowed most goods under $800USD to enter into the US without duties and taxes on May 2nd. The implementation of this may have a crippling effect on all shipping couriers since all Chinese shipments will be charged the current tariffs or be charged with a $100 flat fee, whichever is higher. While deminimis rules will not change for non-Chinese goods, these changes will likely negatively impact the transit times of all goods.

48″ T-Tracks

To better support the AltMill line, longer 48″ T-tracks are now available! We’ve designed these more specifically (although you can use them in other machines or applications) for the AltMill, as it allows users to avoid having to join more than one track together when setting up their wasteboard.

AltMill 2×4 and 4×4

AltMill 2×4 and 4×4 have started to ship this month and we are working our way through the queue! We’re expecting to ship another ~200 AltMills this month to wrap up Batch 4. However, we’re expecting to be waiting on more parts to arrive come June to continue production on Batch 5. Batch 5 will be larger, with 750 units being built for this new batch. New orders for AltMill are expected to start shipping in June or July and will be part of Batch 5.

AltMill 4×8

Although we’ve pulled back a bit with development on the 4×8 AltMill so that we can focus more on the production setup on the 2×4 and 4×4 AltMills, we’re continuing to make progress. We are currently working on a couple of things:

• Ordering and testing each type of rack and pinion system (different pitches, helical vs straight, etc) for precision and accuracy
• Considering shipping options for longer parts, such as the 9-10ft Y-axis
• Long term mechanical testing for reliability and wear

I don’t have too much news at the moment but expect to see some more things to come down the pipeline as development continues.

LongMill

LongMills continues to ship without delay. We expect existing stock to remain until this fall.

What is notable is a jump in aluminum extrusion costs, around 21%, from our previous batch in December. From what we understand, this jump comes a combination of a change in demand for North American manufactured aluminum parts, tariff pressures, and layoffs and lost jobs in the aluminum raw material production sector. We are not planning to adjust pricing to reflect this at the time. However, we’re keeping an eye out on aluminum prices

VFD Certification

In our last production update, we mentioned that we were looking into proper certification for the H100 VFD. Prior to this, we were purchasing the VFDs from the same supplier as the spindles. Since they are not the manufacturer of the VFDs, we were told that the VFDs could not be certified. During Johann and Daniel’s trip to China, they were able to track down the original manufacturer, and not just that, able to learn that the H100 line was certified in 2022, but the certificate expired and was not renewed. This give us a lot more confidence in being able to certify the VFDs, as we don’t believe there to be any significant changes between the 2022 and current version of the H100. This also brings us to two longer-term potential directions. We are in talks about renewing the certificate, but we expect this process to take a couple of months.

This means that we can start providing the stock H100 VFDs, pending certification approval with ETL or UL equivalent certification. This may help open up markets that require more regulation, such as in schools and institutions that may need specific certification.

Additionally, with our new knowledge of VFD and spindle design, we have been working on VFD enclosures and systems that may improve the wiring and installation of spindle kits in general, which this manufacturer is willing to work with us on. We’re working on some VFDs in-house now that will have SPE1000 certification for compliance that should be similar to a new design that can be manufactured in China or here. We are expecting to have inspections done on these devices in the next few weeks.

2.2KW Spindle

Somewhat related to the VFD-related work we’re doing, we’ve been also working on figuring out what to do about offering the larger spindle options. Here’s the situation:

• For customers who only have access to 120V power, the 1.5KW is the most powerful option we can offer due to electrical limitations that come at that voltage. However, 1.5KW, while acceptable for the majority of cases, doesn’t unleash the full potential of the AltMill.
• To be able to provide more performance, we must use a higher voltage. 220V and 3-phase are generally considered the most common options, with the 220V being a lot more common for residential use. This allows for power over around 6KW.
• Once you get above a 2.2KW spindle on 220V, the size of the spindle also increases, which makes current dust shoes and spindle mount for AltMill not fit. This means these parts need to be redesigned.

This is our current plan – while we are still working on the higher power spindles, because 2.2KW 220V spindles are so readily available, it’s an option we can provide with little additional development. So we’ve went ahead and ordered a few hundred in the meantime as a stop gap for a potential larger option.

Wrapping into the VFD discussion, we ordered the 2.2KW spindle motors themselves but we are still working on a few decisions around the 2.2KW VFD as well. This means that although we will get the spindle motors first, we won’t be able to ship full systems until we get the VFD as well.

AutoSpin T1 Router

We’re excited to share that the beta testing phase of AutoSpin T1 Router has been successful. Johann and Daniel also went to visit the factory which will be manufacturing this product and start the production soon. We are going through the first phase of safety inspections which is expected to take around 20 days, then we’ll start a production cycle for around 2000-3000 units which is expected to take about 50 days.

This should put us somewhere in the summer for having the product ready to ship.

gControl Panel Computer

We have continued to ship gControls this month without a wait time. However sales have continued to increase and we expect stock to run out around the start of June. A new batch of computers are currently on order and is expected to arrive mid-June, so we are not expecting major changes in ship times moving forward.

LaserBeam

I forgot to mention this in the video for the production update but I’ll mention it here. We have completed selling the stock we have for the LaserBeam and have currently put the product sales for this on pause. We still have replacement parts available for service to support current customers, which are available on the store.

For those who still want to add a laser to their machine, we full support the majority of laser diode modules from other manufacturers. Resources for this can be found here: https://resources.sienci.com/view/slb-manual/#laser

I felt that after a few years of LaserBeam sales this product is due for an update to make it competitive in price and power to new developments in the laser space. We have it on the roadmap to work on in the coming months so keep an eye out for news soon.

Hey everyone, here are April 2025 production updates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW8kxUtdDj0

Building Expansion

March was highlighted with the first half of our expansion in our current building, where we moved our desks upstairs to a new office space allowing us to make room for the downstairs to expand production. Our upstairs, being around 6000sqft will be used for general desk work and meetings, housing our customer service, engineering, administration, and marketing departments. Things like our prototyping and production offices are remaining downstairs.

We are expecting to knock down a wall sometime this summer to add another 3000sqft of downstairs space from our neighbours next door who are planning to expand into office space next to theirs as well. It’ll be a bit of shuffling around for everyone.

US Canada Tariffs

For latest news on tariffs, please visit our article here.

We’re expecting more news to come out April 2nd, at which point we will work out another message for everyone to keep folks update about the situation.

gSender is Getting a New Look!

Education

We are slowly expanding our business reach by exploring the education sector. We’ve now opened up ordering for schools and institutions through our education form. This is if you’re representing a school or institution and may require more specific ordering and payment processes.

Spindle Certification

Earlier last month we were in touch with ESA about having proper certifications for the H100 VFD that is used as part of the AltMill Spindle and Dust Shoe Kit and the LongMill Spindle and Dust Shoe Kit. As far as we understand, they require us to have certain safety certifications for this unit to be used in Ontario. Because of this, we’ve reached out to customers in Ontario who may already have this and paused the sale of this VFD within Canada. Once we have completed it, we will resume the sale of this item.

At the time of writing, we’re working with a certification body to safety certify the VFD, and we’ve contacted any customers who might be affected directly with more info and additional updates if necessary. From what we have learned, we may need to produce a modified version of the enclosure that complies with certain standards, but keeps the same internal parts. We’ve consulted with the certification firm and are in production of an updated VFD enclosure now and expect it to be completed in the next few weeks.

At the time of writing, as well, we have not heard any reports of injury or damage. While this does not necessarily imply that the unit is unsafe, the ESA has asked us to comply with their directive for compliance.

AltMill

Most of March was spent preparing for the big shipping push this April. Now that we’ve cleared out of stock on AltMill MK1s, all new machines going out will be MK2s.

We are expecting to start shipping machines at the start of April, and aim to push 200 units per month, or 50 units per week until stock runs out again. We’ve just received parts for both AltMill 4×4 and 2×4!

As we mentioned prior, we’re gradually building up larger amounts of stock to decrease lead times for AltMill, and we estimate around 50 pallets of parts stocked up at a secondary warehouse now to help fulfill demand.

LongMill

After a short pause on shipping of LongMills, due to a shortage of SLB case parts, we are now back to a 1-3 business day lead time. This means all LongMills will ship within a few days.

gControl Panel Computer

gControls are back and we have another 500 units to ship out. We’re expecting to have around 150-200 units in stock after we clear our queue, or another 2ish months of stock. We’ll be starting another batch of 500 as soon as we’ve cleared the queue so that we don’t have another backlog again.

AutoSpin T1 Router

Exciting news! We’ve now received the first batch of AutoSpin T1 Routers for beta testing. We received a total of 35 routers for our first batch of testing, which have gone out to LongMill, Onefinity, Shapeoko, and other CNC users.

Once beta testing is complete and we’ve finalized the details, we’ll be starting production in the next few weeks. Johann and Daniel are in China to visit the factory which these will be produced in to figure the last few details, and we expect us to get units ready for sale in about 3-4 months.

Hey everyone, here are March 2025 Production Updates.

Hiring

We currently have quite a few new job postings. Check out our Indeed postings here. Can’t find a specific job opening but want to share your interest in working at Sienci Labs, please check out our general application.

Office Expansion

When we first moved from our roughly 8000sq/ft location to our current 15,000sq/ft location, it felt like expanding into that space would take forever. Well, perhaps we spoke too soon. With the incoming shipments for increasing batch sizes for the AltMill, plus with the anticipated 4×8 ft AltMills and Sm-AltMills, we’re running out of room to build everything.

With about 40-50 pallets coming in the next few weeks, we’ve also started off-site warehousing, which means that some of our materials will be held in storage a few minutes away, ready to go when we need them.

We’re currently in discussion with our landlord about expanding our space by another approximately 9000 sq/ft, including part of the downstairs area of our neighbour and the upstairs portion of our current unit. Once we’ve taken possession of the space, we’ll most likely start building out the new space in the summer.

AltMill

AltMill shipments have been going out intermittently depending on the availability of SLB and SLB-EXT cases and case end plates. We have run out of those parts, and although we were expecting them to arrive already, they have been delayed in shipping. We have another batch expressed to us expected to come near the end of Feb, which means that we should be able to pick up shipping without much delay.

A large number of shipments have come in as we prepare for AltMill MK2 to ship. We are pre-packing and pre-assembling so that we can start shipping AltMills quickly once all of the remaining parts arrive in March.

STL files for stepper motor covers are available to download for free from our Resources. A link to download can be found at the bottom of the page. These covers were designed for the AltMill MK2 to help protect the wiring of the closed-loop stepper motors. They come included by default with AltMill MK2, but MK1 owners can print and install them if they want.

We are also making progress on 4×8 AltMill design, with Ben showing us a first look at the rack and pinion design he’s been working on.

I also happened to come across a few Sm-AltMills under construction in the back shop. Not exactly sure what the plans are for those but it’s exciting to see some come to shape.

LongMill

We’ve had one short pause on shipping for the LongMills due to a shortage of inductive sensor cables extensions needed for the 48×30 variants of the machine. However, we’ve since switched to including inductive sensors with 5m cabling instead, which forgoes the need for the extension cable and overall improves the reliability by reducing another connection point.

As we mentioned above, we have slowed on shipping for LongMill slightly as we wait on more of the SLB enclosures to come in, but we expect that to be resolved by the time this blog post comes out.

gControl

The next 294 units have now shipped for Batch 2! We are now waiting for a new batch of 500 computers to arrive early to mid-March. We expect to clear the remaining queue once they arrive, and new orders are expected to ship within a few days once we have ready-to-go stock.

AutoSpin T1

We have now collected a small group of beta testers for the AutoSpin T1, which span users of LongMill, Shapeoko, and Onefinity, allowing us to confirm and test compatibility for many major hobby CNC machines.

Beta test units are expected to go to users in the next few weeks.

Hey guys, here’s our Feb 2025 Production Updates. I am currently on vacation so I will be writing this from out of the office.

AltMill

We have continued to ship out AltMill MK1s to the last of the customers in the queue and are expecting to finish in the next two weeks. Afterwards, any machines still in the queue will receive a MK2. At the time of writing, we currently have around 50 machines still left to ship in MK1.

This past month was highlighted by the launch of the AltMill MK2 and the new 2×4 foot variant. We are now expecting MK2 rails to arrive in mid-March, which will allow us to start shipping AltMill MK2 4×4 and 2×4 in late March. Given we have a reasonably large queue, we currently have approximately 300 machines to build in the queue, which means that customers ordering now may be waiting around 2-3 months for their machines if they order today.

Batch 4, which contains machines for MK2 contains 500 units, which is a mix of 2×4 and 4×4 AltMills.

We’ve recently hired a number of new team members for the packing team to help speed up the shipping for AltMills and other products and accessories. We’re also expecting a large influx of parts in Feb and March, which means we’ll also be starting to restructure and organize our space to allow for more storage space.

Batch 5, which we have started initial production planning will likely contain around 750 units, additionally to help alleviate lead times.

In other news, our engineering team has been working on a new rack and pinion system to potentially be used in 4×8 variants of the AltMill MK2. Although we don’t have a specific timeline for the development and release of this machine, we expect more news to come out near the end of the year.

LongMill

Most LongMills continue to ship out as usual. Due to a shortage of extension cables for the inductive sensors, we’ve now switched to offering inductive sensors from the AltMill with longer wiring as an alternative to be used on LongMill MK2.5 48×30 machines.

We are expecting to get new cables in the next 3 weeks, however, we are debating whether we should just offer the longer cable inductive sensors or keep the extensions in the kit.

gControl

We’ve now received our next 300 computers which are being packed and shipped right now. Since the production of the computers we’ve made some updates to the operating system to significantly improve the loading time for gSender. We do have instructions on how to do this on our resources, but we’ve decided that re-flashing all the computers would improve the customer experience and would be worth the extra work.

We are now sold out on our second batch of 300 computers. Due to high demand, we’ve ordered another 500 computers, which are now on the way. We are expecting them at the start of March, which is when the next batch will also ship.

The majority of the new batch from the 300 have now been shipped and we are continuing to pack and ship as we clear out the new stock.

Vortex Rotary Axis

We are still waiting on additional extrusions for the 48″ wide variant of the Vortex Rotary Axis due to customs inspections for the parts en route. We are expecting to receive these parts and resume shipping the Vortex Rotary axis in the next 2 weeks. 30″ variants are continuing to ship without delay.

AutoSpin T1

We are expecting the first batch of around 35 routers for testing to be completed in Feb 16. We will ship them to around 20 assigned beta testers and industry partners once they arrive. We’re currently working on testing with a wide variety of machines including Onefinities, Shapeokos, and more, to ensure compatibility.

Happy New Year everyone! We’re looking forward to many new things coming down the pipeline for 2025.

AltMill

If you haven’t heard, we are working on the launch of the AltMill 2×4 coming at the end of the month! We’ve also been working on some smaller concepts that are focused more on small precision parts and metal milling. Learn more from our article.

We made a big push to pack and ship AltMills for December. While we ran into a few delays getting parts, we managed to ship just over (put number of AltMills here).

We’ve continued to see growth in sales and popularity for the AltMill slowly, and we’re starting to run out of space in our shop to continue building them. We’re aiming to stock around 500 AltMills at a time by the end of the next batch, which means we’ll have much more significant space requirements.

For that matter, Mike has been looking at an additional 6000 sqft of space in the upstairs portion of the building, which would allow us to move some of the development and customer service team off the main floor of the building where we can expand production.

In other news, we are slowing chipping away at offering a larger, 220V 3.5KW spindle. While we believe the current 1.5KW spindle option is more than adequate, having a larger, more powerful spindle can unlock the full potential of the AltMill. There are a lot of different factors that are at play, including safety requirements, reliability, and costs that we are weighing to make sure that we get the best set up possible for users in the future.

LongMill

LongMills have been shipping smoothly as usual.

LaserBeam and Vortex

LaserBeam is continuing to ship out as usual.

We are currently waiting on extra extrusion for the Vortex, so 30″ wide Vortex is expected to have a 1 week lead time, and 48″ wide Vortex has a 2 week lead time. Once we clear the queue later this month, we expect lead times to return to their typical 3-5 business days.

AutoSpin T1 Router

We also recently announced the new router, now officially named the AutoSpin T1 router. Learn more about it on the landing page or the article here.

Thank you so much for everyone participating in the naming contest!

gControl Panel Computers

Our second batch of 300 Panel Computers have shipped last month and are on the way to our shop. We expect to start shipping the rest of the batch mid to end of this month, which will allow us to ship computers to the rest of the customers who are waiting. We are expecting them to arrive mid-January currently.

Thanks to strong demand, we’ve started manufacturing a second batch of 500 computers. We’re expecting these computers to be ready to be ready to ship around the end of February to early March, which means that by the springtime, we’ll have enough stock to keep shipping computers out.

Gilberto has been working hard on getting lots of new features and guides implemented for gControl including:

• Having gSender start up automatically when the computer is turned on.
• Setting up networking and file sharing
• Upgrading RAM

If you’re interested in learning more, make sure to check out the gControl resources page.

Toronto Woodworking Show

We’ll be at the Toronto Woodworking Show from Jan 17 to 19th. If you want to see the AltMill, LongMill, and all our other cool do-dads and accessories, make sure to check us out at the show!

AltMill

Due to port strikes in Vancouver, some parts that were expected to arrive earlier in November have been delayed. We have been working on packing and preparing everything else so that we can make a big push for the end of the year to get the remaining AltMills in Batch 2 out the door.

Rails and other parts have just arrived at the start of this month. and we are resuming shipping AltMills.

All of the parts in Batch 4, which is our next 250 AltMills, are expected to finish production and arrive at the end of January.

Ben and Daniel have been chipping away at the packaging layout for the 2×4 AltMill, here’s a photo of some 3D modelling that’s been done. We are now officially starting production for the 2X4. More info to come. If you’re interested, please feel free to fill out our survey. https://forms.gle/LV9erqPFEr1boPWx7

Also, amongst other cool stuff we’ve been playing around with, here’s a look at Mike and Jon’s “SmaltMill”, designed to automate some of the tapping we do for LongMill and AltMill parts. This is part of us dabbling with the idea of using our own machines to do some of the machining and production for the LongMill and AltMill.

LongMill Spindle and Dust Shoe Kits

We are now fully stocked on LongMill Spindle and Dust Shoe Kits and they are expected to ship within 1-2 weeks of ordering.

Vortex Rotary Axis

Vortex Rotary Axis including the closed-loop stepper motors are now shipping!

LongMill

LongMill kits are shipping without delays. Our team has recently pre-packed around 150 LongMill in advance of the AltMill parts coming in, so we can focus efforts on clearing the rest of the queue.

gControl Panel Computer

We have now shipped the first 45-50 computers out! We are now in production for another 300 computers. We are expecting them to arrive in mid-January and ship to the remaining customers in our queue. We are also working on a new production batch for another 500-1000 computers as the gControl computer has been more popular than expected.

We have received a small number of customers who have not been able to turn on their computers. After working back and forth with the manufacturer, as well as doing some of our own testing, we found that a standoff may contact part of the screen driver board, causing it to turn off. We’ve addressed this problem in the upcoming batch that is currently in production.

Otherwise, we’re super excited to see that folks have already set up and started using gControl, and we look forward to getting them out to the wider audience soon.

In other news, a lot of customers have been asking if the gControl has upgradable RAM and memory. After going through the process of opening up the computers, the answer appear to be yes. Although we believe that users will not need to make changes to their computer, we believe that having the peace of mind that these parts can be upgraded and replaced is valuable to the user. You can learn more about memory updates here: https://resources.sienci.com/view/gcontrol-memory-and-storage-upgrades/

LightBurn Seller and Pricing Changes

There are some changes happening with Lightburn. If you guys don’t know, Lightburn is a software for laser cutters including the LaserBeam. We have been an official reseller for this software for some time.

The first major change is in the pricing. The original price started at 60USD and is now going to come up to 100USD. While we understand that a higher price isn’t necessarily great for customers, we do think that the software at 100USD is extremely reasonable and provides incredible functionality for lasers in general. Additionally, given that the Lightburn team has continued to provide support and updates frequently, the additional income from license sales are expected to help push development and improvements on further. This is called “Lightburn Core” now

The second major change is in the licensing structure. Originally, we were able to freely sell the software. At this moment in time, although there is no specific agreement in place, Lightburn wants us and other sellers to only offer the software as a bundle to another product. This is to reduce the number of unsavory sellers in the market who do things such as selling the same license code three times. Since each Lightburn license can be installed on three computers at a time, they can sell the same code thrice. When customers have tried to install licenses on multiple computers as they should be able to, they have found that they are not able to and adding extra burden on the Lightburn team to resolve.

I am not really a big fan of “bundling” software with products, as I believe that users should have as much freedom as possible when choosing software, especially when there are multiple options, which is why at this time we haven’t bundled or offered the software for sale on our site at the moment.

We are discussion possibly using an online portal instead, where users can buy software direct from Lightburn, but allow us to take a commission and provide some support to customers as well. I have found this to be a fairly straightforward and easy way to allow software providers to have control over the software distribution.

We are still working through this, as we do want to make sure Lightburn is able to sustainably provide software. If you want to purchase the software, you can still do so directly through them on their website.

LaserBeam and UltraBeam

As you guys might know, Ikenna has been at the forefront of the LaserBeam and UltraBeam projects. Not only have these been big projects in general but also brought to light thoughts and discussions about the structure and ownership of these projects and products. While initially, the plan was to keep UltraBeam under the Sienci Labs umbrella, it became more clear that we had to reconsider this as the project progressed.

Since the UltraBeam CO2 laser project has encountered complications as we previously noted, we have put that project on hold until we figure out the best path forward. We have heard from customers regarding our current LaserBeam product, and we continue to support the LaserBeam. However, as we’ve revisited our LaserBeam line, we’re making plans in developing and offering newer improved versions of a diode laser attachment soon. Make sure to stay tuned for more news.

You can read more about this in this article here: https://sienci-upgrade3.cospark.io/2024/11/26/discontinuation-of-the-ultrabeam-project/

Toronto Woodworking Show

Hope you guys got to check out the Hamilton Woodworking Show. If you haven’t, the Toronto Woodworking Show is coming up! Find out more here.

Holiday Closures

This year our offices will be closed from Dec 25th to Jan 1st. General shipping, phone support, and email support may slow down or be delayed.

Hey everyone, here are the Nov 2024 Production Updates!

AltMill

We shipped more AltMills out last month. We’ve ramped up production and you should find if you already ordered a machine that lead times may have gone down. We’ve worked on streamlining production, bringing on some more staff, training current staff with new skills in management and operations, and setting new production goals to move things along. We are aiming to finish both Batch 1 and 2, a total of 400 AltMills to be shipped and delivered by the end of Dec 2024. At this time, we currently have around 50 more machines left in Batch 2, so if you want to be part of this group, make sure to order soon!

We’ve now ramped up production for AltMills, and this past month we’ve shipped out around 70-80 units. We’re now waiting on some additional parts expected to arrive Nov 4th, and we will be aiming to keep increasing production more to clear the rest of the queue.

Some parts for Batch 2 have arrived, which means we are starting to build our next 200 AltMills. We expect the rest of the parts to arrive in November. We are currently ordering and building stock for Batch 3, which will be another 250 AltMills. Many of the parts have already been ordered for Batch 3, and we expect most of those items to arrive in Jan 2025.

We did run into a hiccup with our VFDs because this chip was changed, causing communication issues. Since then we’ve received a new batch of VFDs plus are expecting to receive new boards to replace these VFDs. This means we will have around 400 full VFDs in stock once our fix is complete.

This did slow our production a bit at the beginning, but we have been shipping machines without the VFDs first so that customers can get their machines ready prior to the spindles arriving.

Additionally, we’ve received a few messages from users about the spindles being wired incorrectly. We’ve implemented an additional QA step to check the full functionality and wiring of the spindle and VFD. Additionally, we’ve received some notes from users who have changed their VFD settings inadvertently, and so we are implementing a VFD setting lock to prevent users from changing settings without the proper precautions.

The good news is that the cables and spindle motors were here first, which means that they can be tested and packed first, so that we have some things we can work on in the meantime.

Additional to this, we’re making updates to the firmware to improve the communication and reliability between the board and the VFD. Although we expect the old chip to be more stable, updates to the firmware is expected to decrease compatibility issues for third party spindles.

As we mentioned in a prior update, we’ve been working on figuring out some improvements to make to make sure rails are straight and at the correct tolerance before assembly. Unfortunately, our current extruder continues to have some issues with having a good yield on these parts. As a way to mitigate issues and try something new, we’ve moved production to a new manufacturer for extrusions. This means we have around 200 sets arriving this month, and another 200ish sets being produced at this moment. The best case scenario is that the 200 rails we get in the next few weeks are flawless, but if there are a lot of issues, the new batch of rails should arrive a month or so later.

We’re currently working with two additional extrusion companies to build future batches of rails. These will be for Batch 3. We are also starting to work on production details for the 2×4 AltMills as well during this period.

Additionally, we’re working on vetting a few new CNC machine shops, as the shop we currently work with has been struggling with keeping up with the volume of parts we need, causing delays in their production shop. We are working on splitting up production of parts between different shops so that we can mitigate these types of issues.

In other, other news, our engineering team have started dabbling with the ATC spindle that we have in the shop. We don’t have any expected days we will have something available, but we are testing some different systems to make sure that third party support can be more streamlined, or we can understand and identify needs of the user for an ATC system.

LongMill

LongMills ship out on schedule, within a few days.

LongMill Spindle Kits, which use same components as the AltMill Spindle Kits, have also been delayed in shipping due to the same issue. We have started shipping some of the LongMill Spindle Kits, and we are expecting to have the rest of the queue completed at the end of the month.

gControl Panel Computer

The gControl Panel Computer has now launched! You can learn more about it here.

The first 40-50 units, we are aiming to ship out before the end of the month. We have now sold over 100 computers, and we are working on ordering an additional batch to cover new sales. These computers are expected to ship in December/January.

The brackets have for mounting the stand to the LongMill and AltMill, we have received the license codes for Windows 11 IOT, and we are expecting computers to arrive on Nov 1st. We have been working on filming and making the resources in anticipation of the new panel computers.

I also had a chance to test the computer with Centroid using the Ethernet cable. This opens up a wider set of options for people to use their panel computer on other CNC machines. From our testing, it worked flawlessly. Thank you John for letting us give it a whirl.

Vortex

The Vortex Rotary Axis continues to ship as usual. We’re excited to announce that our close-loop versions of the kit have started shipping.

You can now find additional resources on installation on our Resources Page.

LaserBeam

We’re excited to share the Magnetic LaserBeam Mount, compatible with standard LongMill and AltMill mounting! This has been designed to make it faster and easier to mount and unmount the laser, rather than using the screws.

Shipping and production are proceeding as normal, we currently have 27 LaserBeams packed and prepared for shipment within 1-3 days. New Driver Boards have been ordered, as well as more LaserBeam Mounts. Both will arrive well before we run out of our current stock.

We will be adding two of our LaserBeam accessories for purchase in our shop.

First is the steel LaserBeam Mount. We’ve found some of our customers enjoy using this mount for their own projects, setups and designs. Although it was designed specifically for our LaserBeam, it’s a versatile and robust piece of material.

Second is the Replacement Focus Finder Set. Every LaserBeam order is shipped with a full set but we understand that the parts are small and easy to misplace, so we created a solution.

As well as making these accessories available for purchase, we have added a new resources page to our website where you can find the design files for each accessory. Feel free to experiment and try making your own at home.

https://resources.sienci.com/view/lb-files-for-download

PWM Controllable Router

Sine we can’t call our thing the “Sprouter” anymore, I’ll just use PWM Controllable Router for now (or just “router” here for brevity). Here’s a short demo of the speed control being used to play music while cutting at the same time! (turn on your audio).

We brought down the newest version of the prototype router down to Austin TX for the Vectric UGM, where we did some basic demos switching between different speeds. We’re excited to share that we’re able to successfully control the router using a PWM signal!

Since we want to be able to make sure the router works with other popular hobby CNC machines, we’re looking for some volunteers who have machines other than an AltMill or LongMill, who’d be ok with us plugging it into their controllers. If you’d like to offer your help, please reach out!

Thank you everyone who’s been suggesting names for the router. We’re likely going to have a more official contest to help with the naming of the product, so keep an eye out for that!

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.