I’ve usually been posting the Kickstarter updates to the blog, but I missed doing the last two. Here are the updates.
Progress update #7
Original update made on August 11, 2019
Hi everyone! Here’s our latest update!
Moving
You might have seen on our last update that we were in the process of looking for a place to move to, or at least move to a different part of the building at 44 Gaukel. As time went on it looked more and more challenging for us to do so, and we focused more of our efforts into moving out to a new building all together.
Given that we only had about 2 and a half weeks to find a place to move, we were in a bit of a rush to find a new place. Luckily, we found a place nearby that had everything we needed, and an awesome landlord that helped us move in early and get the space set up.
We’re going to have a housewarming party this coming Friday! Join us! Here’s a link to the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/445993309319534/
All of the filament and other parts have showed up (finally)
All of the filament, as well as other parts have finally arrived last Friday! Getting everything in ended up taking a lot longer than expected, especially because of the customs delays.
This means we will be busy packing up these items over the next few weeks, as well as getting the print farm up to speed on new parts.
1/4″ end other add-ons!
Now that we’ve received and packed all of the end mills, the remaining bits are now on the store!
If you want to order other stuff for your machine, we’ll have a coupon code for free shipping for add on items that we can ship with your machine. It will be included in your surveys when they come out. More details are here: https://sienci.com/2019/07/26/ordering-extra-stuff-with-your-longmill/
Here’s a link to our touchplate: https://sienci.com/product/touch-plate/
Here’s a link to our dustshoe: https://sienci.com/product/dust-shoe/
Here’s a link to our t-shirt: https://sienci.com/product/sienci-labs-t-shirt/
If you are not sure of what items you ordered with your machine, you can calculate it out based on your pledge amount. Please check your account and pledge amount if you are unsure of what items you opted in for.
Electronics board design
We have finalized the design for the LongMill’s electronics board. A special thanks to Jeff from JKVC for giving us a once over for the design. Another special thank you to Chris Hajduk for working on this project with us!
We’ve made some changes to the parts and design of the board in the last few weeks to improve its safety and reliability, as well as easier to use features like the end stops and touch plate on the board, especially for people who will be adding their own functionality.
This is our last step in the LongMill’s manufacturing process. Once we have those, we will be able to ship out the machines. Current estimates for production is around 28 days. In the meantime we will be packing as much of all the other things as we can. Stay tuned for more updates on that.
Progress Update #8
Original update made on September 4, 2019
Hi everyone! This will be a relatively short update as we continue to move along with production.
New touch plate video and documentation
Did you guys see our new video on using and setting up your touch plate?
Detailed documentation can be found here: https://sienci.com/docs/longmill-benchtop-cnc/hardware/touch-plates/
If you have an idea for a cheeky song lyric for the next batch of touch plates, let us know!
Surveys
Thank you for everyone who have filled out their surveys. We have sent out surveys for all *Early Bird* backers. If you backed the Kickstarter after the first three days, the surveys for those have not been sent out yet.
We did make one small mistake. In the section that lets us know what add-ons you selected, there is no option if you did not get an add on. If that is the case, please select one of the add-ons and note that you did not order any add-ons in the Kickstarter.
LongMill documentation in progress
We are currently working on new documentation (software, hardware, etc) for the LongMill. You can read and take a gander on our documentation page here: https://sienci.com/docs/longmill-benchtop-cnc/introduction/
If you have any topics you want included in the resources, feel free to leave a comment and we’ll add it to our list of things to write on.
Electronics boards
Our last batch of parts we are waiting on are the electronics boards. We are expecting them to arrive in approximately 2 to 3 weeks given that there are no delays. There was a delay with acquiring some of the PCB components in China, but the boards themselves have all been made.
Once the boards come in, we will start doing some of the assembly here, which includes putting in the drivers and assembling the cases for them.
Our goal is to pack all of the other components up first and ship as quickly as we make the electronics. As this is our last part, our shipping time is more or less up to when these boards show up, but it should happen within a week once they arrive. We will update backers on the progress. Thank you everyone for their patience!