Hey everyone, we’re excited to share our launch date for the AltMill.
The AltMill will launch on Wednesday, March 27, 2024 at noon, EST. You can access the order page at https://sienci.com/product/altmill/ when the page goes live.
For more information about the AltMill project, please see https://sienci.com/altmill/. If you have any questions about the AltMill, please see the FAQ.
Pricing
The AltMill will come at a base price of $2950USD/$3990CAD, which includes the table legs.
Users can also purchase the Spindle and Dust Shoe Kit for an additional $515USD/$690CAD.
The first 50 machines
As noted in past updates, we’ve jumpstarted the process by starting production on the first 50 AltMills in December 2023. This allowed us to tackle some of the major unknowns/questions, such as:
What will it cost for us to make the AltMill?
How difficult will it be to manufacture certain critical parts, such as the rails, linear motion, and table that we were most concerned about?
What will our QA and assembly process look like?
What sort of performance and reliability should we expect from the AltMill.
As of the time of writing, the plan is to offer the first 50 machines directly to select users and for internal use before our “main batch”. The first batch of AltMills represents our trial-run for production and comes with a couple of you-should-knows, especially if you’re planning to be one of the users in this batch.
We also plan to collect comments and feedback from our first batch of AltMill users to improve the user experience and tackle any initial quirks and issues in the first part of the product launch.
Some parts are still in shipping and manufacturing, and we expect the first 50 machines to start shipping in May 2024.
The “main” batch
This is what we expect most users will be part of. We will begin taking pre-orders at the end of March. Please check www.sienci.com/altmill for more information and a link to the order page.
The goal for our first main batch is to build enough units to leverage economies of scale to make our relatively low price for the AltMill viable. This not only involves the unit cost of the machine, but the work and labour needed to build each batch of machines, which might include work done to set up tooling, packing stations, and the ordering of parts.
Please note that to place your order for the AltMill, the total amount must be paid to hold your place in our queue.* You may cancel your order at any time before your order ships for a full refund. Once your order is in the possession by the courier or arrives at your door, our standard store policies apply.
The number of machines we’ll make in the first batch is still undetermined and will be based on the number of orders we get at the beginning of the launch.
We expect the “main” batch to start shipping in July 2024. However, we will ship orders based on when they were placed, which means that if your machine is in the later part of the batch, you will receive your order accordingly after July 2024.
Future production
If you feel that pre-ordering the AltMill now isn’t right for you, you will eventually be able to order and have an AltMill ship to you in a shorter amount of time, just like the LongMill. However, when this will happen is dependent on when our production capacity can meet the demand for the product, which is unknown at this point.
The goals for the future production of the AltMill is as follows:
Have a reasonable lead time for us to build and ship AltMills. For us, two weeks or less from when we recieve an order to when it gets shipped is a pretty good number to hit, but the lower the lead time the better.
Produce larger numbers of machines to leverage economies of scale and either reduce the price of the AltMill or invest our increased profits into additional resource development and R&D that benefits the CNC industry
Take our learnings from this new product, especially in the production and QA side to create variations to the AltMill, such as a smaller, stouter, more rigid machine focused more on metal milling, or a larger 4×8 machine.
The size of future batches will be adjusted based on demand once our main batch has completed.
How to get updates
We will continue to share and provide updates in our Production Updates which are released at the start of each month at www.sienci.com/blog
Additionally, we will write order updates as we currently do with our other products at www.sienci.com/order-status
For the most reliable way to get news and updates, please sign up for our email mailing list.
Hey guys, it’s Andy again with March 2024 production updates. I am currently writing this in China, where I am taking a bit of a “work-acation” but also to visit some suppliers and manufacturers that we work with.
This also means we’ll film the typical production update video a bit later, probably on the week of March 11th when I get back.
March is expected to be a busy month, especially as we continue to make progress in our projects like the CO2 laser and Sienci Router, as well as prepare for shipping and launch of the SLB and AltMill.
LongMill
Last month we paused shipping for LongMills as we waited for more controllers to arrive. We expect around 100 controllers to arrive in the next week or so (shipped on Monday). Once these parts arrive we will continue to ship machines and clear the backlog. More controllers are expected to finish the first week of March.
Additional production is underway for the LongMill, with motors, power supplies, and fasteners in production now.
LaserBeam and Vortex
LaserBeam and Vortex are shipping as usual. Ikenna and Abeku have developed a riser mount for the LaserBeam which allows for easier use in combining LaserBeam and Vortex to do engravings with the Vortex.
They are also working on some different magnetic mounting designs for the LaserBeam to make removing and attaching the LaserBeam faster and easier, and should have more stuff to share in the coming weeks.
AltMill
This month we have finally put the machine together and started running it through the paces. Check out Daniel’s video on some more updates. I would have been there for the video, but I am currently away.
Testing is showing some promising results. Here’s an excerpt from Daniel’s notes about the rigidity of the machine.
Also just finished doing some preliminary deflection testing of the machine with some pretty good results. This was done using the standard Sienci testing parameters/setup for the most part.
In the Y-axis, we have 0.003” of deflection at the tool with 80N applied
This is 1.05 N/μm rigidity
In the X-axis we have 0.0025” of deflection at the tool with 80N applied
This is 1.26 N/μm rigidity
For comparison sake, here are some misc numbers of other machine’s rigidity:
0.1515 N/μm in the Y-direction of the Shapeoko 3 XXL
LongMill MK2 48” Y-axis rigidity sits around 0.13 N/μm
LangMuir MR1 2.9188 N/μm in the X-direction, 4.3782 N/μm in the Y-direction
Onefinity (with added ‘stiffy’ rail) estimated to be 0.5 N/μm (realistically much less) based on one user’s measurement of ~1 N/μm at the bottom of the Z20 plate.
This pretty much only accounts for beam bending in the Y-direction, and not much torsion for which is the Onefinity’s achilles heel. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was even as bad as 0.3 N/μm.
This is mostly speculative, so not a fair comparison but worth mentioning.
I also checked the X-axis rail’s isolated deflection contribution. The rigidity of the X-axis rail assembly is ~3.75 N/μm. This is pretty good considering the rail was sized to be 4.9 N/μm and this is real life with extrusion and alloy defects and the like.
For comparison sake, AvidCNC’s 8016 extrusion was estimated to be 3.8047 N/μm. Considering it weighs (I think) like 4 times more than ours, this is amazing.
In other news, we are continuing to put together the online ordering infrastructure to prepare the AltMill for launch at the end of March.
Sienci Router
At the start of the month, we received the sample motor we’ve been waiting on to do another round of development and testing. If you’re not up to date on the development here, make sure to check out the last post.
The new motor is much more powerful, and showing promising results. However, we are waiting on some improved motor tuning to happen as we have found some issues with the speed control to achieve a full 1KW of mechanical output. We are waiting on an updated control board expected to arrive in the next week or so.
Additional to this is that we’ve started exploring more spindle options for applications needing higher power past the 1KW the Sienci spindle can put out. If you saw Daniel’s update on the AltMill, the new machine is so powerful, that even the 2.2KW spindle ends up being the bottleneck in our ability to remove more material.
Eventually, we hope to provide several options, the standard Makita as a simple, powerful, and inexpensive option for routing, the Sienci Router as a step above with more features and power to run the LongMill at its full potential, and spindle options to maximize the AltMill’s performance.
Spring Loaded Anti-Backlash Nuts
I’m excited to say that the first set of the injection molded nuts has arrived. To learn more about this project, please see the long post about them here (put link here). While the T8s overall look good and function properly, unfortunately, we are still experiencing some warping and inconsistent threading on the T12 nuts. Since not all the nuts are affected, we’ve put on the store all of the nuts that are currently ok. We will work with our manufacturers to iron out the issues with the T12 nuts.
Demand for the new nuts has been super high, with all of the T8s already sold out, and with T12s expected to be close to selling out by the time this post goes out. Not to worry, however, we are working on making another batch of a few hundred sets and make sure we don’t run out.
It should be noted that existing LongMill kits will continue to ship out with the original style of nut. Once we catch up on orders sold for replacement, we will start moving to making them a default option for new machines. We currently don’t have a specific timeline for it, but likely in about 2 to 3 months, since production and assembly of the nuts can take a long time.
SuperLongBoard
We’re excited to share that the new SLBs have started production and should be ready to ship in the next few weeks. We are also waiting on parts for the controller and estops to arrive in the next few weeks.
Work currently being done with SLB primarily revolve around checking for reliability and making bug fixes. We’ve also sent the SLB for testing to key grblHAL community members for feedback.
gSender has now been updated to natively support SLB and it’s features. You may have seen a toggle when connecting your machine to allow for GRBL and grblHAL available.
Additionally work on building controllers for the AltMill to provide external driver support, higher voltage, while sharing the same features is also underway, with first versions of the design expected to be ready in the coming weeks. However for the full development cycle, we expect it to take till end of April to have production-ready designs and firmware ready.
In addition to this, we have continued to work on the computer side of the SLB at a bit of a slow pace. However, we have put together this proof of concept where we have attached a VESA mount arm to the threaded holes at the front of the machine to allow for use with a touchscreen, as well as a mount for the computer. This design was created by one of our engineering students working at the company this term.
IMPORTANT: This blog post will be updated with more details once we receive the first batch of prototype nuts. They are expected to arrive in the first week of February.
UPDATE TO IMPORTANT: We received the nutsfor testing. Good news is that the T8 nuts are pretty good, but the T12 nuts have threading issues. We should be able to fix some of them and have them available for sale pretty soon, and we are working on making sure for full scale production they will have this ironed out.
Back in August 2023, we shared with the world a new “spring-loaded anti-backlash nut”. The basic idea was to address some of the pain points of the original Delrin Anti-Backlash nut which we’ve been using on LongMills since the first machine was released.
Early prototypes showed a lot of promise, so we decided to move forward on iterating on the design and moving it forward. However, throughout the project, we ran into different issues and roadblocks like all development projects.
We now are in the process of producing the first batch of nuts, and we plan to eventually phase in this new design for new machines. Additionally, customers can purchase ones to replace the nuts they already have in their machine. In a way, I hope that this can be sort of a “best-of-all-worlds” solution, over belts and ball screws because:
Unlike belts, lead screws don’t stretch over time
Unlike ball screws, they don’t need lubrication and are dust resistant.
A lead screw plus spring-loaded anti-backlash nut is cheaper than a ball screw and easier to assemble, and also pretty comparable in cost with less complexity compared to a belt drive system (personal opinion kind of)
The only downside of this system is that technically this system is less precise than a ball screw, but in the context of hobby CNCing, totally acceptable and in practice, indistinguishable in this type of woodworking.
My hope with this new design is to primarily address two main issues with the old version of the Delrin anti-backlash nut. The first is the need to adjust the nut. Because the old version uses a screw to push apart the threads and is fixed in place, the user must adjust the screw as it wears down. In practice, this isn’t a big deal since the nut wears down slowly and the difference is minimal, but the issues arise when they are adjusted too tightly, causing premature wear, or not tight enough, introducing more backlash and thus sloppier machining.
The “original” T8 Delrin Anti Backlash Nut and the history behind T8 lead screws
So this is my sort of knowledge behind the history of this lead screw design and how it came to be, at least in our context. Back when we first started the company in 2016, home consumer 3D printing was still a pretty new concept but had established itself in the market enough to have some standardized components used between most 3D printers. One of these standard components was the T8 lead screw.
At the early days of building CNC machines, notably the Mill One, we used standard 3D printer components, namely the T8 lead screws as power transmission for the gantries. We also used these brass nuts that were also standard between 3D printers like the one below:
One of the main issues with these nuts was that since they had no backlash compensation, they would lack some accuracy, especially if it wore out.
We also used some spring-loaded versions of these as well, but they also sort of sucked, mainly because the springs were not strong enough to resist backlash at higher loads.
Spring loaded brass anti-backlash nuts
Going into designing the LongMill, we recognized that using the brass nuts wouldn’t cut it for a larger more powerful machine, so we found another nut design created by OpenBuilds that addressed the backlash issues. And they did work pretty well without many issues. Additionally, there were a lot of manufacturers that were making these for cheap so it was a pretty affordable option in the application, although, over time, we ended up manufacturing them custom to improve the quality of the nuts.
The idea behind the spring-loaded nut
One of the main weaknesses of the original Openbuilds nut is that you need to adjust it over time using only a single screw that is easy to under-tighten or over-tighten, causing issues due to being adjusted incorrectly. We see the issue of motors stalling because of this, especially for first-time users. If we could design a long-lasting nut that didn’t need any adjustment, then we could eliminate this main pain point.
We found some interesting designs in the market that use a “radially” loaded design, which basically pushes the threads into the root of the lead screw. Some of the main benefits of doing so is more even wear in the nut, leading to a longer life and higher precision. Here’s a good example of another radially loaded anti-backlash nut.
The initial designs that we came up with uses two split-threaded “arms” to pre-load the nut. We chose this because it allows us to keep the profile that we need to drop into where the old nuts were.
Prototype 1
In August 2023, we launched the first version of the new, spring-loaded anti-backlash nut. This was a limited batch of 100 sets, which were sold as working beta version of the product so that we could get real-life testing and feedback. Out of the 94 orders shipped to customers, we had fairly promising results.
The main feedback that we got was that the nuts feel a bit “loose”, and the main suggestion was to use stiffer springs, as well as a lot of people wanting a T12 version to come out as soon as possible.
Here’s some thoughts and notes on the responses and results from our own internal testing:
From our testing wearing down the nuts, the springs were able to account for backlash, but because of the angle at which the forces were being applied and the stiffness of the springs, there was a concentrated area of wear that would affect the performance of the nut.
Concentrated wear on the top edge of the nut
Overall, they did work, and pretty well for the most part. However we felt that if we were going to invest in this system in the longer term, that improvements to the design should be made before full scale production.
Prototype 2
To address the issues from the first prototype, we tried a whole bunch of different ideas to find ways to improve the nut. Some of these include:
Using a flexure, but due to the limitations of injection molding and machining, was scrapped
Using a circlip as a spring, which worked well but was not easy to determine and adjust the spring force.
We did however try making changes to the bending areas of the arm by tapering them down and having the spring push horizontally rather than vertically.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that one of the other main differences between this nut and the old version is the manufacturing complexity. We have several slots and features that make it a bit more complicated and expensive to make, so we started exploring making injection molding a blank for the nut itself and machining in the critical features.
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This allows us to reduce the bulk of the machining, which is a significant part of the part cost, enough so that we can keep the same cost for the new nuts as we old ones.
The main issue with the first batch was that there was deformation in the nut itself causing the dimensions to be warped. This meant that the threads were ok on some nuts and way too tight on others. Secondarily the threaded hole did not center properly causing the lead screw to be off-center as well. Thus through testing, we found that this would cause issues with binding.
After discovering this, we went back to the manufacturer, who made changes to the mold, machining, and clamping processes. We also sent them additional documentation for proper mounting to share the context of where the critical tolerances were. After a week of tweaking, you can see in the new video from the manufacturer that the nuts thread on much more smoothly.
Conclusion
At the time of writing, the first batch of final production nuts is on the way, and we will test, assemble, and post them available for sale when they arrive.
We plan to sell this first batch to current users, and if the nuts work well and people are happy with them, we can transition to having them available for kits as well. However, we don’t expect this to be the case for another 6 weeks since we are in production for the complete batch.
Hey everyone, welcome to our February 2024 Production Updates.
Media Room and Workshops
Since we’ve moved into our new space, we’ve dedicated an area as a “media room”. The idea is to build a space that allows us to make content more quickly with dedicated space, lights, and machines for filming and education. Additionally, we’ve gotten a lot of interest in doing workshops, and so we’re now looking into planning workshops in the space as well.
Production for the LongMill continues to move smoothly. Orders are shipping out within one week, however we are running low on controller boards. Lead times may get longer this month.
Check out this new racking we got for all of the rails! It looks very visually satisfying.
Injection-molded middle feet that are used for supporting the rails have finally completed production and are on the way to us. We expect these feet to arrive in early Feburary. For those who haven’t been following along on this change, we decided to start injection molding these parts since we make a lot of them using the print farm and we crossed the point where it would be faster and more economical to injection mold them. It should be noted that this change is to improve production efficiency and reduce costs, but won’t make a difference to the LongMill’s performance.
Injection molded feet
The bristles that we use for the LongMill dust shoes have come in earlier this year but we have been dealing with quality issues. We have been able to use some of the good bristles, but we’re also working on sourcing a new manufacturer to improve the quality.
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We are now starting production on Batch 9 LongMill MK2s. We currently have around around 750 LongMills in stock, and expect to start shipping Batch 9 machines in the spring of 2024.
Spring Loaded Anti-Backlash Nut
Second batch of prototypes
I know a lot of people have been anxiously waiting for the spring-loaded anti-backlash nuts. While they seem simple, these have been a really fascinating but challenging project as we needed to make changes and considerations to the design and manufacturing process of the nut.
For more details about the process of design and making the nuts, I wrote another blog article. The first 200 sets of T12 and T8 nuts are expected to arrive in the first week of February. Please note that the blog article will include more updates once the first batch of prototype nuts arrives.
Vortex Rotary Axis and LaserBeam
Parts for the Rotary Axis have arrived and are being packed and assembled. We have another 300 units in stock now.
Ikenna and Abeiku are also working on a new magnetic mount design and also a riser mount to be used with the Vortex to allow for easier laser engraving on round objects soon, so make sure to keep an eye peeled for that.
AltMill
We have our major components arrived here and are working on putting together and testing the first prototype. Based on looking at the linear motion and extrusions, everything looks great and we’re excited to get everything in to start building the first batch.
AltMill table, Daniel for scale
If you’re interested in ordering an AltMill, make sure to fill out our form.
Here are some other updates:
While we have received one set of extrusions, the full batch of 50 sets have had some QC issues and are being worked on now. We expect them to be finished in the next 2 weeks and get prepped for shipping
We have received a few additional closed-loop stepper motors for testing and will be working on having them set up for testing
We are working with Andrew at Expatria to figure out what modifications we need to make for the SLB to allow for use with AltMill.
Also, check out this new logo that Leandro made for the AltMill.
We are tentatively looking at a launch date for the end of March. We’ll keep people updates so make sure to follow along on the development through the blog and such.
CO2 Laser
Ikenna and his team have been continuing to work on the CO2 Laser. Here’s a photo of the mockup in progress.
I probably won’t be continuing to put updates for this project on the production updates here because Ikenna will make a separate post as updates come. Make sure to sign up for the CO2 mailing list for all updates as they come.
Sienci Router
Testing with the 400 watt motor looks to show that using BLDC is a promising technology and shows that power output even at 400 watts is comparible to the Makita router. However, we feel that to bring the most value to users, having a bit more power will be beneficial since:
Cutting using larger bits, such as the surfacing bit causes the Makita router to bog down
Additional headroom allows us to run the LongMill faster alongside other future improvements to speed and rigidity
Potential to be a viable option for higher-end machines and the AltMill.
Creates a differentiation between our router and the Makita router
Having a larger motor is more expensive, but still within our budget. Pricing is still yet to be determined, but we believe that if we have an option around the $250 mark will allow us to provide a tool that sits somewhere between a traditional router like the Makita RT0701 and a 3 phase spindle.
A second batch of motor samples are expected to ship in the first week of Feburary. We are also in the design and sourcing stage for the motor body and bearings.
A section view of one of the router designs
SuperLongBoard
Development continues for the SLB and third version prototype is currently in testing. Here’s some news:
SLB resources continue to be developed ahead of shipping
E-stop injection molded case, buttons, and circuitry have arrived for testing, and have started on full scale production
Enclosure parts are getting prepared for shipping
Otherwise we are just working through general bug fixes and testing as usual.
Demand for the SLB has been strong, and we are expecting to sell out of the first batch before we start shipping, so we are working on
If you haven’t checked out Chris’ last update, make sure to read it here.
Hey there, thanks for checking in on our January 2024 production updates!
A lot of info to share here, some of which are updates we talked about in the December 2023 update here, so if you haven’t read it yet, then make sure to check it out.
Holiday Break
Please note that our offices will be closed from Dec 23 to Jan 1st. We will reopen on Jan 2, 2024.
During this time:
Shipping of items may be paused until we return.
We may not have someone answering phones at this time.
Responses to emails may be slower than normal.
NEXUS taxes for USA
Due to the scale of the company and sales in the US, we may have to start remitting sales tax to some US States once we reach certain thresholds. Starting Dec 18, 2023 and going forward, we will be collecting and remitting sales tax for Florida.
We are continuing to work with our accounting and finance people to slowly figure out how all this tax stuff works, so keep tuned as things may change over the coming year.
Move complete
Our move is done! We are now completely cleared out of our 372 King St N, Waterloo location. For any appointments, mail, and packages, make sure to send things to our new address Unit 1B/1D – 120 Randall Drive, Waterloo ON.
LongMill Production
Production for LongMills continues to go smoothly, with most machines shipping out within a few days. With some people taking vacation at this time, it may be a little bit slower than usual, but we are also expecting to have a few new hands starting for packing and operations starting in the new year.
Vortex Rotary Axis and LaserBeam
Vortex parts are on the way and are expected to arrive around mid to end of January, at which point we will continue to ship Vortex. Orders are expected to take a few weeks to ship.
LaserBeam orders are shipping within a few days.
CO2 Laser
CO2 Laser development is now officially in progress! Check out the amazing video here:
Interested in following along development? Sign up for the mailing list here.
Want to help us understand what you’re looking for in a CO2 laser? Fill out the survey here:
AltMill development continues to move along. We are now waiting for new parts to arrive for the AltMill. We were expecting parts to arrive by the end of December, but due to some initial shipping issues, we expect that it will be more likely to arrive by mid-January.
We’ve also started testing close-loop steppers with the AltMill prototype. With Daniel’s setup, we were able to achieve up to 17,000mm/min (around 670in/min) rapids on the X. We are waiting on a few more motors to come in to set up all of the axis, so that we can test them all simultaneously. For context, the max rapid speed set for the LongMill is 4000mm/min.
This is where things get a little dicey since the mass and inertia of the machine running that fast can definitely do some damage to a person. In practice though, having speeds that fast probably won’t matter that much without a spindle and bits that can handle it.
I have spent a few days in December working on a couple of personal projects with the AltMill prototype. Although this isn’t going to be the final version of the machine, I figured it would be a good way to start to understand the workflow of using a 4ft x 4ft machine. I also set up a Beelink computer and a touch screen for some testing of potential future interface for gSender.
Here are my notes:
I haven’t made anything that needs the full bed, but what I noticed was it is a lot more convenient to work with larger sheets because they need less processing
I can see myself wanting a 4×8 sometime down the line because you basically can buy one sheet and just keep cutting with it. I have been getting full 4×8 sheets and passing them through the back without cutting them down so far.
The machine is more solid and I have more confidence in pushing it harder. Because all of the defaults are set to the same/similar to the LongMill, everything seems slooooow.
Given this, I feel like going in the direction of close-loop zoomy steppers is going to make a big difference in the user experience
Having a chunkier machine does give a lot more confidence, especially not having to worry about stuff being adjusted correctly
Having the touch screen is actually mint
Controlling the machine is super easy, the keyboard and things pop up and disappear perfectly
The zooming sort of doesn’t work but you sort of dont really need it much
The networking to share files is basically seamless
We were expecting to receive the first set of parts at the end of December. However, due to some delays and issues with the shipping, we are now expecting them to arrive in mid-January. Once these parts arrive, we will be putting together the first prototype of the new design. It looks like the rails have actually come in but I haven’t gotten a chance to look at them yet.
I think that it’s hard to have a specific QA plan or process in place until we go into production. The fact of the matter is that the process depends largely on the actual scale of the production.
There are a few things that we learned from QA for the LongMill that carries over to the AltMill including:
Isolating parts and making them perfect, so that they can be eliminated as a source of error. For example. When we first started producing the LongMill, a lot of the parts were off the shelf, such as the coupler. What we found was that because the couplers from different manufacturers could be inconsistent at scale, we basically just designed and manufactured our own version at a higher level of specified tolerance. At this stage, nearly all of the parts that go into the LongMill are custom-made and redesigned internally, which has greatly improved the fit and finish as well as lowering issues that customers get with quality. The AltMill will almost certainly follow the same path, but likely even sooner because we have processes and manufacturer contacts that can make many of our parts.
Focusing on good design and ease of assembly will pay large dividends in production. There are many aspects of the AltMill that take the strengths and weaknesses in the accuracy of the manufacturing processes to ensure that the machines assemble easily and are to spec. For example, and something we mentioned in the AltMill update video, is that because while aluminum extrusion is generally considered a process that produces very high-accuracy parts, it also has a tendency to twist and warp during manufacturing, having machined faces and using a frame that self-aligns itself allows us to compensate for minor deviations to our specs.
The cost-benefit analysis of good quality always outweighs the cost of customer service. The result of having bad-quality parts and products is that we need to do customer service to fix the issues, which costs the company time and money. Some of these costs could be the part itself, shipping, the time from our technical support team, lower customer satisfaction, and lost time for the customer in using their machine. While the cost of the part might be a few dollars, after the time, troubleshooting, and shipping, the issue might cost us a hundred dollars or more. So basically in almost all cases, it’s a better cost-benefit to check our parts better and produce higher quality items.
QA report of the rails from the factorySample photos of the rail
I think generally speaking the AltMill will actually be easier to QA for, because we’re bringing more the assembly in house, which will allow us to make sure the machine works before we get it to the customer, and second, we are using more higher precision components around the AltMill so that there should be less issues that come from mismanufactured parts.
There are a few concerns we still need to test and address including:
Because the machine is running faster and experiences more forces, making sure that bolts don’t come loose over time
Tolerance for lack of maintenance, since components like the ball screw and linear guides need proper lubrication otherwise can fail prematurely
To answer some of the general questions we got in the survey…
Q: Any option to cut vertically?
A: I don’t think we are planning to build anything that would facilitate this, and the weight of it would make it much more difficult. It seems a bit impractical at this size, even though I feel pretty confident that the hardware could handle it.
Q:Will the AltMill use the SuperLongBoard?
A: Not exactly. The SLB doesn’t offer any outputs for controlling external drivers except the A-axis/4th axis. However, we are most likely going to make a new version of the SLB that has outputs for the drivers and no integrated drivers, so that we can offer the same functionality of the SLB and use external drivers.
Q: Will this support an automatic tool changer?
We don’t have specific plans to make a ATC right now, but with the IO on the modified SLB, you should be able to integrate your own.
Q: What is the overall footprint?
The AltMill will have a minimum cutting area of 4ft by 4ft (with some extra travel room to spare), with the ability to pass through the back of the machine. The footprint is approximately 59 inches by 59 inches square. Size might change slightly at production.
If you want to learn more about the AltMill project, expected pricing, and more, please check out the video and the blog here:
After a bit of a mixup where we had the motor sent to the wrong address, we were able to get a new one and start testing. As we were discussing in the last update, we decided to dive into using BLDC motors because of the benefits we feel like worth getting over the universal motors we initially were exploring.
We found that for BLDC motors running at this higher voltage, there weren’t a lot of options we could find. We did find an off-the-shelf motor that are used in commercial grade blenders we got a sample from the manufacturer, and hacked together an old Makita router to build a sort of BLDC router frankenstein.
The motor that we got maxes out at 8100RPM, which isn’t the optimal speed for the type of cutting we want to do, but for the sake of testing, we tried to do some comparisons between the different routers we have here. We also have a power output limit of 400 watts.
Some notes and results from testing
Basically what is important is the torque of the motor at the given speed, since the motor can overcome the cutting forces on the bit. From Johann’s observations, at the lowest RPM setting on the Makita, the router stalls out at a torque of 0.47N.m, pulling 12.69A or around 1500 watts from the wall. The BLDC motor stalls at 0.45NM but only draws around 400 watts from the wall.
Additionally, the motor behaves the way we wanted it to, which is to run at the same RPM until it stalls. This is important because when a CNC machine starts cutting, there is a situation where if your RPM drops and your chipload and forces increases, it bogs the spindle or router down even more, eventually causing more issues.
It should be noted that based on our understanding of universal motors used in the Makita, the torque of the motor drops proportionally to it’s RPM, which makes sense because it is also partially limited by the amount of power it can draw from the wall.
The BLDC however is designed to keep the same level of torque through the whole speed range. We are specifying our second prototype to have a torque of 0.55N.m, which means that at 30,000RPM, it will draw a full 1500 watts, which in theory would match 1.5KW spindles. I think that in practice however, there aren’t much or any scenarios users would need to run their routers so fast, and we are focusing on having a max RPM of 24,000 instead.
We believe that if we modify the motor to run at the higher RPMs, the BLDC limited to 400 watts will run close to identical to the Makita router. However, considering that there are still situations where the Makita bogs down on the LongMill, if we can get a bit more headroom, that would be ideal.
Based on some general calculations, if we target a 0.55N.m spec on the BLDC, we can get about 1.3-1.5Kw of power, which may be close to on par of a spindle.
There is still a lot of testing and benchmarking to do, but we are continuing to make progress. The next sample will probably take 2-3 weeks to be made, so I would guess we’ll have them at the start of next year. In the meantime, Johann has been working on the mechanical design and housing for the motor.
gSender
Meeting to talk about the new features in gSender
The gSender team have been continuing to work hard to put together a new version of gSender which will merge features and functionality from gSender Edge to the main version of gSender. For complete list of features in gSender Edge, please check out the resources here.
Improvements and bug fixes for running the Vortex
Probing with touchplate on all corners
Communication, flashing, and additional features for the SuperLongBoard
Faster and smoother gcode visualization screen
Warning for zeroing
Improvements to the gamepad/controller functionality
Improvements to remote mode/pendant functionality
Maintenance warnings and tracking
All of our beta testers and myself have been using the latest version of gSender Edge to test the SLB and our machines and help with the bug fixes. So far the extra features have been amazing. You can also check out the latest version, V1.3.10, here.
We expect to have more updates and information come out around the middle to end of the month when the new version of gSender is ready.
Some people have been asking us about replacement 1/4″ Makita RT0701 collets, and Garrett wanted some for his store so we made a batch of them together.
These collets work with any Makita RT0701 router. If you ever lose yours, you can now get them from us!
Hey everyone, here’s our December production update! Many things happened in November.
On a side note, I just turned 27. I think it’s sort of crazy I’m in my “late-20s” now?
Holiday Break
Please note that our offices will be closed from Dec 23 to Jan 1st. We will reopen on Jan 2, 2024.
During this time:
Shipping of items may be paused until we return.
We may not have someone answering phones at this time.
Responses to emails may be slower than normal.
We will have a shipping cut off of noon on Dec 22. Please place your orders if you’d like to have it shipped before the end of the year.
Moving
Moving continues to chug along, with the final moving to be done before the end of the month. Please note that response times and shipping may be a little slower than usual.
Our new address will be Unit D, 120 Randall Drive Waterloo.
LongMill MK2 Orders
LongMill orders continue to ship as usual. We were a bit low on bristles for the dust shoe, which meant that some orders took a few days extra to ship.
Thanks to a grant from the government, we are getting a new CO2 laser cutter and CNC mill partially subsidized for prototyping and production use. We’re planning on taking the old CO2 laser which we’ve been using for the last 3-4 years and taking it apart for R&D use for our CO2 laser project.
We are now waiting on injection molded feet for the LongMill, which we expect will help reduce our reliance on the 3D printing farm by about 25-30%. This should help us free up more capacity for printing other parts, such as dust shoes and LaserBeam parts so that it will be less of a bottleneck for production in the future. Ron, our print farm manager, also started working with input shaping, which is a feature that allows for faster movements with less resonance by analysing the printer’s movements and adjusting its movements to cancel vibrations. This also is helping to improve print quality and increase print speed by 15-25%.
LaserBeam and Vortex
LaserBeam continues to ship as usual. We are currently waiting on a new batch of heatsinks, drivers, and cables to arrive in the next few weeks so that we can stockpile more units.
Vortex also continues to ship but we now have around 17 (at the time of writing) left. Probably by the time this post goes out, we probably will have a few less. There is another batch in production now for 300 units, which should be ready to ship early January.
SuperLongBoard
Chris just put out a update video about the SLB which can be found here:
I’ve taken a step back from helping Chris with the testing side of the board currently and working on some of the manufacturing along with Daniel, but it appears that the testing in the back room continues to happen at a blazing pace. I just placed an order for another 40 controllers to ship in the next few weeks for final testing.
The designs for the SLB controller case have now been finalized and in production. We expect samples from production to be ready in the next 3 weeks, and parts to arrive in the new year. One of the main differences for the new controller is that it is designed to mount directly to the Y rail on the LongMill, which allows it to take a bit less space on the workbench. However, users will still be able to mount their controller using the screw holes as well.
Design for SLB case
We are also wrapping up the design for the new E-stop buttons and macro buttons as well now and starting production for it this week.
Pre-orders are slated to come in December 4, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled for that! For more info about the pre-order, please check the Blog post here.
AltMill
As we were alluding to in the previous updates, we’ve started working on the AltMill. Kelsey and I are currently working on the shipping of the first batch of parts for the AltMill.
For the latest update, please see our blog article.
Thank you to everyone who filled out the survey. It looks like we have quite a bit of interest in the AltMill. We’ll continue to post updates here and prepare for pre-order availability as we move forward with production on the first batch. At the time of writing about 5 days after the survey went out, we have over 50 respondants, half of which are ready to put down money to get the new AltMill.
Initially I was expecting sales for the AltMill to start out pretty slowly, maybe 15 machines per month, however I feel pretty confident that sales will be much stronger especially given the lack of information we have out for the AltMill at the current time.
Sienci Router
Continued development on the Sienci Router has been fascinating, especially as Johann and I have been looking beyond AC universal motors found in most power tools like the Makita RT0701.
One of the main important things we’ve been looking at has been the efficiency and actual power output of the Makita router. Based on loading and testing the router, we see that the true power output of the router is much lower than the 1.25HP rating in some scenarios.
In theory, this means that a more efficient motor could use less power, but get the same cutting performance as a Makita RT0701.
This is where we’ve been exploring brushless DC motors (BLDC motors).
One of the main advantages of BLDC motors is that they are much more efficient than a universal AC motor. Based on the suggestions from the company we are working with on developing the motor, it may be possible to use a 400 watt BLDC motor in place of a 1200-watt AC motor.
Additional advantages of using a BLDC motor include:
Higher efficiency and lower power consumption means less heat, which also means a smaller fan that creates noise
A wider speed range, allowing the router to be used more effectively at slower speeds
No need for replacing brushes, which also lowers noise caused from the brushes rubbing
Sample motor with BLDC
BLDC does have a few disadvantages. The first is the price. We expect a production-ready motor to cost 3-4 times more than a universal AC motor. Second is figuring out the additional complexity in understanding the motor control systems and feedback loops we can implement to ensure that we have steady and accurate speed control.
That being said we believe it is possible to keep the overall BOM cost overall low to keep the router affordable and we’ll be able to use some off-the-shelf designs and external expertise to optimize the speed control for the router.
We expect to receive some motor samples in the next week or two, and we’ll start conducting testing to determine if BLDC offers an effective option for the Sienci Router.
CO2 Laser
I just talked to Ikenna to get an update about the CO2 laser development. The CO2 laser development team just finished filming an update video today and plan to release it in the next few weeks. There will also be a survey to help us direct the development for the new product. We expect to start purchasing prototype parts in the next week and expect to have a working prototype at the end of January.
Hey everyone. We’re excited to share that the SLB will be launching on Dec 4, 2023. Chris and our development team have been going full bore in bug fixing, testing, and doing the final prep to get the SLB ready for production.
There are simply too many features and updates to share in one blog post, but we do have lots of different content and information you can check out to find out more about the SLB on the Youtube video, the product page, and our blog article, Next Big SLB Update .
Hey everyone. As you guys might have seen in the November update, we are now back working on the AltMill. If you have been following along with us since 2021, you might have heard about the AltMill project.
From 2021 and 2022, there were a couple of reasons and factors that led to us putting the AltMill project on the back burner, which included:
Not having enough space for the development and production of the machine in our current space
Continued need for development and focus on the current LongMill product
A general decision to focus on the lower end/hobby of the market at the time
However, in 2023, we’ve now established a strong process for the LongMill and with the move to the larger building, we feel like it’s a good time to put the AltMill project on the front burner again.
Things are already moving forward with the AltMill, as we currently have 50 machines in production for our first batch. We expect parts to start arriving for assembly in the next 2 months.
What is the AltMill?
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The AltMill is a CNC router that uses ball screws and linear guides and has a 4ft x 4ft working area. This addresses the two big “asks” we get from the LongMill community for a new machine, which is to:
Having a larger working area
Getting rid of v-wheels
The AltMill focuses on the same core ideas as the LongMill, which is:
Be simple, affordable, and easy to maintain
Come with excellent support
Be beginner friendly
The AltMill is aimed towards:
LongMill users who want to upgrade to a faster, larger, and more powerful machine
Hobbyist, prosumer, and small business owners who want to use for small scale production work
The AltMill is a completely new machine, with basically no parts shared between the LongMill, but users will find the process of running the machine to be almost identical.
Specifications
10,000mm/min rapids with closed-loop stepper motors
Higher rigidity with HG15 linear guides on all axis
Higher precision with 16mm ball screws on the X and Y, and 12mm ball screw on the Z axis
A working area of approximately 50″ x 50″ on the X and Y, and Z travel of approximately 6.5″ (with 4-5″ Z-clearance under gantry)
The original design used SBR16-type linear guides, which had a few advantages, with the primary one being that the height that the linear guide blocks sat met up with the exact same height as the ball screw nut, making it possible to mount everyone on the same plane like shown in the picture below. In this design, we mounted everything to machined plates.
We initially avoided using “square rail” guides because of their cost and need for more careful assembly, but with our new experience working with different manufacturing techniques and other factors such as finding a well-priced supplier for the components, using rails such as the HG15 family of parts became viable.
HGH15 components
One of the main manufacturing techniques we’ve come to understand better and use is extrusions. We’ve used this technique for making the LongMill rails, LaserBeam heatsinks, and the t-track clamping system, so we now have a better understanding of the tolerances we can achieve, and because extrusion allows us to space the components as we want to, we’re able to make more rigid structures while keeping the whole machine lighter. Additionally, we can add extra features to the rail and position components where we want.
Adding features like t-slot and locations on the ends to tap holes, we are able to reduce the number of parts needed and provide more freedom in mounting different things to the machine.
We use three main extrusions in the X, Y, and crossbracing of the table that keep the machine rigid while reducing the number of parts needed to put it together.
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Switching to an extrusion-based design also helps drastically to increase machine rigidity, without increasing weight. In the LongMill MK2, we were able to increase the rigidity of the X-axis beam while simultaneously decreasing moving mass by switching from a solid ‘open channel’ angle aluminum profile to a ‘closed channel’ extrusion. This makes for a significant strength-to-weight ratio improvement, which has been the case of the AltMill’s latest design revision as well.
This is especially relevant for the case of the X-axis beam in most CNC routers, since tend to deal with very high torsion loads; twisting the beam. Closed channels (tube structures) are the most optimal shape for dealing with these loads, the closer a profile gets to becoming a perfectly round tube structure, the better it is at handling this load, and the better our machine will perform.
Simulation of an X-axis extrusion profile iteration, stress concentrations shown on right
The new AltMill’s X-axis extrusion has also been sized to be much more robust than the LongMill’s X-axis extrusion. With better linear motion components, faster cutting speeds, and more utilization of higher-powered spindles it’s important to rebalance different components of the machine to ensure there are no weak points.
The rigidity coefficients of the AltMill’s X-axis extrusion at various wall thicknesses, compared to some other extrusions
In a CNC router, you generally want to balance any deflection across all components evenly. Having a very rigid machine with a single weak component that causes it to perform poorly usually doesn’t make sense from an engineering or practical standpoint. Looking at a breakdown of various sources of deflection on the LongMill, we can see that with the exception of the V-wheels, the LongMill does a pretty good job of balancing this across major parts and sub-systems.
Since we’re now removing V-wheels from the equation in the AltMill, we now look towards some of the largest areas of deflection, since these will make up the bulk of deflection. Some of the more trivial areas such as the router mount, and deflection from the Z-axis linear bearings (MGN12 pitch deflection) can be addressed by better component selection, but the X-rail deflection stands out as an area where improvement will be needed at the design side.
Another, unrelated takeaway from looking at these charts is the variance of how much deflection the V-wheels on the X-axis contribute depending on their tuning and wear state. This can be problematic when you’ve set up your cutting parameters to fully utilize the rigidity of the LongMill (or any V-wheel machine), only to have them wear or fall out of tuning causing your rigidity to decrease and affect the quality of your project.
This isn’t to say that V-wheels aren’t more than adequate for the purposes of a hobby CNC router, but this matter becomes more of a concern when dealing with much more strenuous, repetitive projects where consistency over a long period of time is needed.
LongMill MK2 deflection breakdown by component/system
Another change not specific to the new design of the AltMill is the decision to pursue a closed-loop stepper motor system.
With regular stepper motors, the motor driver will instruct the motor to move some amount, and the controller will assume the motor has moved by that amount. If there’s nothing wrong with your machine, and you’re not running into anything that’s stopping your motor from moving, this almost always works fine.
When your motor driver instructs your motor to move some amount and it fails to move, or does not move the exact amount as requested, things get out of sync. This scenario is generally referred to as ‘losing steps’ since your stepper motor has skipped moving a few steps/increments and is not where it should be, or where the controller thinks it is. This is bad for a couple reasons such as:
The next toolpath your machine makes won’t be where it should be, typically meaning your cutting paths will appear ‘shifted’ in some direction
On a ‘moving gantry’ machine with two Y-axis motors, if one motor skips/loses steps, your X-axis will no longer be square with the Y-axis, and in serious cases you may damage parts or induce excess wear running it like this.
If the motors are unpowered (such as between jobs), bumping into the machine, or pulling one the router/spindle may move the motors causing them to lose position and create ‘shifts’ in your project the next time you run it.
Unlike a regular stepper motor, a closed-loop stepper motor will keep track of it’s position using a sensor known as an encoder. The sensor typically relays this position information back to the motor driver (ergo, closing the loop), to let it know if everything is in sync and motor is where it’s expected to be, or if something has gone wrong.
If something is off, the motor driver will correct for the difference, and move the motor’s position to wherever it should be. If it’s unable to, such as in the case of running into one of the travel limits, the motor driver will send an alarm signal to the controller to let it know that something has gone wrong, in order to salvage the project and prevent any sort of serious machine damage.
Closed-loop stepper motors also have some other neat benefits such as:
The ability to run at high speeds with reliability
More efficient operation (and resultantly with less heat)
In some cases, quieter operation
There have been a number of advances to hobby CNC technology and industrial technology in general that have made closed-loop steppers more affordable and easier to use. We’re excited to bring some of the new hardware into our designs.
Pricing
We expect the base price for the AltMill to start at $3600CAD/$2650USD, which comes with the mechanics, hardware, and electronics. This price does not include a spindle or router, but we anticipate that we’ll have something available at the time of shipping that would be suitable for the AltMill, such as a spindle package or our Sienci Router that is currently in development for around ($250 to 800CAD).
Because the AltMill uses a frame structure to ensure the whole machine is level and square, we are planning to have specially-made table legs that can be added to the machine to allow the AltMill to be its own standalone bench, eliminating the need for users to need to build a bench like the LongMill. We expect this addition to come as a kit for around $150-300.
Other accessories (and necessities) such as T-tracks and dust shoes will be available specific to the AltMill near the time of launch as well. Most accessories that currently exist for the LongMill system of CNC routers will be compatible – this includes things like the LaserBeam, Vortex Rotary Axis, and any of the future add-ons that pair with the upcoming SuperLongBoard controller.
Users will need to provide a wasteboard (3/4″ MDF) to be mounted on top of the machine.
Production
The AltMill is already in production and we expect the first batch of parts to arrive at the end of December. We expect to have our first working machine in February. We are ordering enough parts to build 55 AltMills and expect to yield a minimum of 50 units in this batch. We expect to have units start shipping in March or April.
50 units is a pretty small batch to start with at our scale, but since we’re not sure how much demand we’ll see for the product, we’ve decided to keep the number pretty low. I think even if we only sold 50 machines, since they are fairly simple and use a lot of off-the-shelf parts, we can keep them supported on a small scale as well. My expectation in the long run however is to be able to ship and sell around 1000-2000 AltMills per year.
Ordering
We expect to start pre-orders sooner or later based on the demand for this machine. Basically…
If people want to give us their money right away and pre-order now, we will set things up so that can happen. This would be the ideal situation since it would be less risky to invest in this new product for us financially, but be the most uncertain for the customer on when they would be getting their machines.
We launch the pre-order when we have a fully working machine so that people can see what it looks like and have more confidence in a specific launch date.
We start to sell and ship once we get all of the parts in and the design is complete. There would be a short wait time as we build and pack machines.
Let us know what you think. If you’re interested in ordering an AltMill now, please fill out the survey below.
FAQ
Technically not an FAQ, but more of an anticipated FAQ…
Will the AltMill be compatible with a spindle?
Yes, we actually believe most customers will want to default to a spindle to take advantage of the AltMill’s higher speed and rigidity. We will be working on a spindle or higher-powered router option at the time of shipping that will be able to be used with the AltMill.
Can I upgrade my LongMill to an AltMill?
No. Because this is a completely redesigned machine, there will be little to no parts shared between the two platforms.
I want to pre-order an AltMill right away. Do I need to put down a deposit?
At the current time, we are planning to ask customers to pay the full price of the machine upfront once we decide to open up pre-orders. You may change or cancel your order at any time before your machine ships.
Do I need to assemble the AltMill?
The major parts of the AltMill such as the X-axis rail and Y-axis rails will come pre-assembled, but will have some basic assembly to help keep shipping costs low. We expect set up for an AltMill to take around 2-4 hours with a basic set of tools.
Will there be a 4×8 AltMill?
At this time, and for the near future we will only be offering a 4×4 AltMill. It’s possible we may look into creating a 4×8 variant of the AltMill much later on.
Will there be an ATC (auto tool change) spindle/system for the AltMill?
It’s not in our immediate plans to offer an ATC system for the AltMill, however, this is something that could be possible much later on as we continue development on the Sienci Router project. In the short term, it will likely be possible to integrate such a system on your own since the AltMill’s controller will run grblHAL firmware which supports more advanced tool-changing features needed for these systems to function.
Will I need to connect a computer to control the AltMill?
The short answer is, yes. The AltMill will need to be tethered to a computer at the time of launch. That being said, some of the development to move the computer onto the board or for us to provide a separate computer module applies that we’re working on with the SuperLongBoard for the LongMill, so we expect at some point, we’ll have a more integrated system for the AltMill. Currently the options we are assessing are expected to cost around $200-300.
Hey everyone! We have a small change we’ve made to one of the key components to the LongMill that we’ll start shipping for machines going out in the next few weeks.
For the uninitiated, every LongMill comes with a “Maintenence Wrench”. We include this in every LongMill kit as a tool for assembling the machine and adjusting things like the ACME locking nuts and eccentric nuts. Every LongMill comes with a wrench and a set of Allen keys for assembling the machine.
Functionally, the new wrench remains the same but with the biggest difference being:
Adapted to fit new ACME locking nut hardware
More ergonomic shape
And most importantly… a bottle opener!
We hope that small improvements like this make a big difference in your enjoyment of the LongMill.
Also, it looks like the hanging hole got missed…but should still be functional the way it is, but we’ll have to fix that in the next batch.
New wrench on the left, old (V1) one on the right. V2 not shown
