Welcome back, it’s our May production updates! We got lots of great news for you.
Chris Thorogood Leaves Sienci Labs as CTO and Co-owner
This past April, Chris Thorogood, our CTO and co-owner left the company. You can read more about the exit here: https://sienci.com/2026/04/29/%f0%9f%91%8b-blog-post-to-say-goodbye/
More Space Expansion
Back in the March 2026 Production Update, we mentioned that we added about 2500sqft of production space to our shop. I’m excited to announce that our office expanded again this month by another 3500sqft. This includes around 2100sqft downstairs, which used to be a large boardroom to be turned into media space, where we’ll use as a dedicated filming space for the marketing team. We’re also looking to potentially host classes and events there down the line as well.
The upstairs ~1400sqft is expected to be used primarily as desk space, with some focus for the customer service team, as the space has a couple of enclosed offices, which should allow them to make and take calls in a quieter environment.
AltMill 4×8 Now Shipping
We are excited to announce that starting April 16th we started shipping the first batch of AltMill 4x8s! A huge congrats to the production and engineering team for working diligently to iron out any last minute QC issues, as well as the customer support, marketing, and resource teams for pulling together the resources for the use and assembly of the machine.
For all of the machines that have been ordered, please check our Order Status Page for estimates on when your machine will ship. We are expecting new orders for the AltMill 4×8 to ship in August, so lead times remain long for the time being. The new batch (batch 2) is expected to have 300 units.
Youtube videos on the complete assembly of the 4×8 are now out, so make sure to check those out!
ATC Now Shipping
Extra exciting news is that the ATC is now shipping as well since April 16th! Again, a huge accomplishment for all of the teams at Sienci Labs for pulling off what is probably our most complicated project to date.
Our first batch of ATCs have sold out, and we are now in production for another batch. We are expecting orders for ATC placed today to start shipping in June. We are nearly sold out on our second batch of ATCs as well. If you order in our third batch, we are expecting those to ship out Aug-Sept. Please see our latest Order Status updates for lead times.
As you may or may not know, we also designed a TLS (tool length sensor) for the ATC process, but we’ll have those for sale to accompany regular spindles as well, so keep an eye out for that. This has been a feature a lot of people have been asking for.
Videos for ATC are also now out, so feel free to check those out as well!
gSender and Firmware Updates
There is a new major release of gSender! Check out the full blog post here: https://sienci.com/2026/04/16/gsender-1-6-0-release/. gSender 1.6.0, now the latest version of gSender comes with a huge number of improvements, such as faster loading times, a built in gcode editor, and new EEPROM settings manager, but also comes with new features required for operation of the ATC and AltMill 4×8 functions. This also aligns with updates to the firmware coming out, mentioned back in January. We are shipping machines now with the new firmware to ensure ATC support, and users will be provided with resources for updating their machines to new firmware in the ATC resources.
LongMill MK3 Development
LongMill MK3 development continues to chug forward. Most of our work this past month was tweaking the design, general testing, packaging design, and planning for the resources development. As mentioned at some point in one of the updates, we are expecting to open pre-orders late May, with shipping expected to start around mid to late August. Keep an eye out for the “Everything You Need to Know About the LongMill MK3” blog releasing this week as well.
A couple of key directions we’re looking to go down at the moment include:
- More of the machine pre-assembled in house, which means faster set up time for the end user
- Streamlined packaging, since less bags and boxes required when parts are already assembled into units
SLB-LITE/SLB-EXT V2
Development continues to move along for the SLB-LITE and SLB-EXT V2. We have now been doing testing and troubleshooting for the new boards for the last few weeks and working on tweaking the design for the second version.
Things done this month include:
- Design and production of pulp molds for packaging
- Ordering of mounting bushings and other parts needed for case assembly
- Ordering of e-stops
- Initial test production batch of 200 PCBs, and if no issues, we’ll push for the full batch (around 1000 controllers)
Otherwise we expect to be continuing testing and design work for the new controllers into May and June.
