Author: siencilabs

Everything is on Thingiverse

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Github can be confusing, especially if you’re not a software developer. For the uninitiated, Github is a repository commonly used by software developers to share and collaborate on projects, as well as provide version control over the project being developed. That being said, it can be a little confusing to navigate. You can still find our stuff on Github but it will be out of date.

To make things more approachable, we’ve taken many of the files you need to build your own Sienci Mill One and put them on Thingiverse. You can also find a lot of other files, including designs and sample gcode on our Thingiverse profile as well.

For the rest of our open source files, make sure to check out https://sienci.com/resources/hardware_resources/open-source/  to get all of the files you need to build or modify a Mill One! We have started to add community contributions, so if you have anything you’d like us to add, make sure to get in touch with us!

 

Sienci Mill One Air/Oil Mist Coolant System

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There’s been talks and photos of different coolant systems on the Sienci Mill One Group over the last few months, but this is the first full guide I’ve seen on setting it up on a Mill One. Check it out here: https://www.instructables.com/id/Sienci-Mill-One-AirOil-Mist-Coolant-System/

So why a coolant system? Well, when it comes to cutting aluminum, one of the biggest challenges is to keep the end mill from clogging with aluminum chips that weld themselves due to the heat created by friction. Aluminum has a fairly low melting point, making it a material susceptible to this.

There are a few methods to make sure you don’t damage your end mills. One is to make sure that the chips you’re creating are large enough to carry the heat created away from the cut. This is where using a single flute aluminum bit works well, since the single, large flute creates larger chips than what a 2 flute or a 4 flute would typically do. This works great with most jobs, and typically you won’t reach those temperatures. However, with long jobs that can take several hours, some sort of cooling is nice to have.

Andrey’s method of using a mist coolant system is commonly used in industry on large, industrial machines. It uses a blast of air, mixed with a stream of vaporized coolant, pointed toward the end mill to lubricate and cool the part and the tool. Unlike flood cooling, which uses a stream of liquid coolant that sprays at the tool, mist cooling requires far less coolant, and if properly set up, a lot less messy.

If you’ve had this mod in mind for your Mill One, check it out!

 

 

Chris Zindrik creates PDF templates for making Mill One frames

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Chris Zindrik, one of the members on our Sienci Mill One Group, was kind enough to share his PDF files for the Mill One frame to make drilling holes and cutting easier. You can check out the files here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/166433110494695/files/

In other news, we’ve welcomed our 300th member to our Sienci Mill One Group! Make sure to join if you’re interested to stay in the loop for the latest developments in the community.

 

One week left on the October Project Contest

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Hey everyone! Just a reminder that the contest will be closing in a week!

To enter:

1) Share project photos and videos on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with the tag #siencilabs
2) Share speeds and feeds and other tips and tidbits in the description for extra points.
3) Top three of our favorite projects will win prizes!

More details can be found here:

October Project Contest!

Tom uses the Mill One

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If you have been following Tom Salanderer and his livestream on the Mill One, you’d know that he finished up that livestream without getting to the milling part. Well, he’s gotten back on the horse and got the Mill One up and running in this new livestream!

So, some good results with the Mill One for this first run. We’re looking forward to seeing the results for some of the new things he makes with the machine, and it’s pretty cool to know that this is the first desktop CNC machine to be on his channel (besides the MedelMax 3D printer he put a spindle head on).

CNCing faces using the “3D Face Reconstruction from a Single Image” demo

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So a couple of months ago I had a friend who asked me if I could scan and CNC mill a copy of her face. CNC milling? No problem, we could certainly do that. However, we didn’t have access to 3D scanning tools to create an accurate 3D scan of her face.

Accurate scanning tools that can capture a face at a high level of detail are somewhat expensive and hard to come by, but I have used the free app, 123D Catch (now discontinued), which allowed users to use a smartphone to create a 3D model. It was frustrating to use though, due to the fact that it could take forever to process the images into a 3D model, and resulted mixed results. It is also worth noting that using a scanner like 123D Catch needs the subject to be still for some period of time as the scanning takes place, and unless you have $60,000+ 360 degree scanning rig, it would be the case for most scanners. Needless to say, we shelved that project.

Then one day I came across this interesting project from the folks at the University of Nottingham, who had created a tool that could take a single picture and turn the face in the model into a 3D model. And so for fun, I decided I would try using a photo of one of our professors to create the 3D model.

 

 

So I took this model and converted it from a OBJ file and imported it into Kiri:Moto, then carved it out from some wood. Two tool changes and an hour and a half later, I had a little face in my hands.

Well what can I say. It looks like a face, although I don’t feel like the AI got it 100% right. I suppose we’ll have to see over the next few years how this technology progresses, but it looks like we won’t be getting super realistic masks out of the Mill One just yet.

 

Small changes to XZ gantries and electronics holders

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Hey everyone, we have made some small updates to the XZ gantries and electronics holders to make the Mill One slightly better. These improvements have been made to improve ease of manufacturing.

XZ gantries:

We have changed the spacing slightly on the gantry to allow for more freedom of adjustment for the v wheels. Some users may have noticed that there is not a lot of room to tighten down on the v wheels. We have had two different batches of aluminum having come from two different sources. Thus some users have angle aluminum that is slightly wider than the first batch which reduces the amount of space to adjust the v wheels.

If you received a Mill One in the past two weeks, you will have received the latest version of the XZ gantry.

Electronics enclosure:

We have made a small change to the size of the plastic around the notch that holds the cover on the electronics enclosure to make it much more difficult to break. You can find the latest model here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2288412

 

October Project Contest!

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We’re hosting a contest to encourage Mill One users to share their projects! Read below for more details:

How to enter:

  • Post your project photos and videos made using the Mill One on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram with the hashtag #siencilabs. Using the hashtag will help us find your projects online.
  • Extra points for sharing feeds and speeds, and other tips and tidbits for your project in the description/caption.
  • Posts must be made between Oct 2, 2017 and Oct 31, 2017.

How to win:

  • We will choose three of our favorite projects and contact our winners via phone, email, or social media.
  • Winners may choose from one of the three prizes. The first place winner has first choice, second place winner has second choice, and third place winner has third choice.

Rules:

  • You can post as many projects as you like, but you can only win one prize.
  • Your project must incorporate the Mill One.

Prizes:

  • 4 inch low profile drill press vise
  • Tooling pack containing one 1/4″ to 1/8″ collet adapter, set of three 1/8″ flat and ball end mills, and two 3mm aluminum end mills.
  • An official Sienci Labs t-shirt

One year Kickstarter anniversary

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Can you believe it’s been a whole year since our Kickstarter campaign was funded?

It’s amazing to think how far we’ve come since we were funded in 2016. Since then we’ve shipped over 150 desktop CNC machines to over 20 countries to be used for thousands of different applications, from model making to creating medical devices. We’ve put our CNC machines in over two dozen schools, universities, and makerspaces, and helped educate hundreds of students CNC technology.

 

It is with the support of our Kickstarter backers and the community we were able to create low cost desktop CNC machines and make this technology more accessible for makers. You have provided us with the capital and engineering expertise to bring our product to life. Not only that, it is through your support we have been able to continually improve the quality and performance of our machines.

What can you expect from the coming year? We plan on scaling up production even further, as well as investing more time and money into developing new and affordable technologies for CNC.

By the way, check out our latest video, Introducing the Sienci Mill One Desktop CNC!