Hello there, welcome to our March 2025 Production Updates!
AltMill 2×4 and 4×4
Lead times for 2×4 and 4×4 machines are now fairly short, with most machines shipping out within 2 weeks. Lead times for 1.5KW and 2.2KW spindle kits may vary. 2.2KW spindles for the AltMill are expected to ship in approximately 1-2 weeks as well. 1.5KW spindles are backordered, and are expected to be restocked in mid-to-late April. We will provide a more detailed update on the product page once we have more details.
Orders for AltMill 2×4 and 4×4 will ship out separately, which means that users can assemble their machines ahead of time.
Office Expansion
We just expanded our office again! Mid-last year, our upstairs neighbours moved out so we took over around 6000sqft. There was also a part of the office with a stairway that lead to nowhere. Now, that stairway leads somewhere! We are knocking down that wall to take over a portion of our next door neighbour as well. This move adds another 2000-3000sqft, which will be used for some assembly work, especially for electronics, as it is more isolated to the larger office and we can reduce the amount of dust for those parts.
LongMill MK3 Development
LongMill MK3 development continues to chug along.
We set up our first machine with our beta tester, Dave! Since he’s our first beta tester, we learned a few things, including:
- Starting the Y gantries at the front of the machine makes it easier to put on the X rail, especially if you have limited access to the back of the machine.
- Putting the X rail onto the Y gantry can be a bit finicky. We are potentially going to update the design of the Y gantries to allow the rail to drop in sort of like the AltMill.
Other changes and updates in progress include:
- Redesigned Z-motor mount to allow the inductive sensor to sit higher up, allowing for more travel.
We are still looking to onboard and work with two more beta testers, which should happen in the coming weeks.
We are also slowly starting production on some of the major, long lead time components in the coming weeks.
Additionally, we are coming close to the end of the LongMill MK2.5 batch. Once we have sold out on the remaining machines, we will not have LongMills available for sale until the new batch of MK3 machines start shipping. We are currently checking inventory to confirm how much longer we have, but we estimate approximately 1-2 months of stock remaining currently. LongMill MK2.5 machines are shipping within a week.
SLB-EXT V2
The development of the new controller continues to be underway. For those not up to date, we are working on a new version of the SLB to be better optimized for cost and manufacturing, while still keeping the same functionality of the original SLB.
A ton more work done with the new SLB, including:
- Updated layouts for the traces and components
- Design and development of the advanced breakoutboard
- Design of new plugs and cables to improve wire management
We will start the process of making a batch of prototype boards and conducting testing in the coming weeks.
AltMill 4×8
As of Feb 23rd, we have received all of the parts needed to start building 4×8 machines, with the exception of some screws and small straggler parts such as some allen keys, warning labels, etc. Much of the work is currently with testing and QA for incoming components, as well as working on the setup for the rest of the production area to get ready for assembly of major components in the next week or so.
Automatic Tool Changer
We have now received the majority of the parts needed for ATC production and are currently putting together space for the assembly and testing. We are expecting to start shipping out ATCs at the end of March, which will be a few weeks delayed compared to our original anticipated delivery time. Macros for the ATC, which are programs for controlling the ATC functionality can now be found online here: https://github.com/Sienci-Labs/atci_macros. We are also expecting to have updated versions of gSender plus online resources complete by shipping time, so the small delay is allowing us to get some of those things polished up.
Clear Cut Dust Shoe
We’re excited to announce that the Clear Cut Dust Shoe is now available for sale! However due to higher than expected demand, the ~150 units we had stock were sold out within 24 hours, plus more with units that were sold with spindle kits.
We’ve put a pause on selling Clear Cut Dust Shoes individually for now, and we are currently working on ramping up production on that. We have a separate amount of stock for the spindle kits, so that we will ensure they are included on all of the spindle kits we ship on a 1:1 basis. We’ll have another announcement coming out soon to let everyone know the production schedule for the new dust shoes.
Informal Call for New Staff
I want to put some feelers out in the community for someone looking for jobs/roles in finance and HR. Up till now, we’ve/I’ve been managing this side of things since our company is not quite large enough to have someone fill this role full time, but given how things are going, I feel like we need to look in earnest for people to fill some of our company admin roles.
If you feel like you might be a good fit in a finance or HR type position at a startup or small company like Sienci Labs, feel free to send in an application here: https://sienci.com/work/
Oh also, we are looking for an electronics/embedded design engineer as well, so feel free to apply for that as well.