Hi everyone, we’ve updated our assembly part of our resources for the LongMill. Here are some changes we’ve made:
– Printable PDF versions of both V1 and V2 assembly guides
– New diagrams, graphics, and images to help with assembly
– Cues for where to find parts in your LongMill packaging
Make sure to check it out here: https://sienci.com/dmx-longmill/unboxing/
It’s Andy here. If you’ve read our blog, you guys will know I like to post updates about the company and the milestones we’ve had. This past April has been an incredibly busy time for us, especially with adapting to life with a global pandemic going on and a boatload of new orders coming in during this time.
Because of all the craziness I haven’t been able to post as much as I would like to, but we are continuing to adapt as best we can. Here are some updates.
April brought us more than double the number of orders than March. Ikenna and the rest of our team have been working hard to ship machines out as quickly as possible, and as we go into the month of May, we don’t see signs of stopping.
As far as shipping goes, we have been able to get most LongMills out the door within a week of when they are ordered, and we are currently working on some new ways to improve our speed and efficiency of getting machines out the door.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen an overall slowdown in the courier system. Packages sent through UPS and Canada Post have been slower than usual to be delivered. We have typically seen most packages impacted by 2-3 days, with Canada Post seeming to be more delayed than UPS.
Rest assured, our courier companies have been very responsive on helping us with shipments at this time and are doing their best to keep up with demand.
Here’s what you should know about shipping at this time.
We will continue to offer pick-up during business pick-up hours (10AM-4PM) Monday to Friday. Orders will be placed on our dock for pick-up in Waterloo ON.
With our current rate of orders, we expect stock for Batch 2 of LongMills to run out by July or sooner. We are currently working on building inventory for Batch 3 so that we’ll have machines ready to go as soon as we can once we run out of Batch 2.
We’ve also added additional racking to our space to accommodate larger batches of inventory and help us smooth out our operations and give us some additional space for new products and parts to come down the line.
I’m also happy to mention that between Batch 2 and 3, we’ve had a significant reduction of customer issues through implementation of better QA processes and engineering. You can read our post here about this topic: https://sienci.com/2020/02/18/a-list-of-common-issues-and-how-we-resolved-them-on-the-longmill-v1-and-how-we-improved-on-our-machines-for-v2/
We still aren’t 100% yet but we are working on getting there!
It’s been awesome to see a lot of growth and great vibes on our Facebook Group and Online Forum. In the last 30 days, we’ve seen over 4400 comments, posts, and reactions on our Facebook group and over 28,000 views on our Forum, which is amazing. Many of these interactions involve sharing tips, ideas, and assistance to users.
It’s also awesome to see several of our beta testers and many of our senior users continue to welcome newcomers and help them get their machines set up. Our team has continually been impressed at the quality and detail we’ve seen in customer projects, especially first-time projects.
We’ve been continually updating our LongMill Resources. A quick thank you to our customers who’ve sent us compliments as well as feedback on our resources. We’ve been working with our friend Aleks (https://agontarz.com/) to update the resources and assembly for the last couple weeks. If you don’t already know, Aleks helped us make the highly acclaimed Mill One Assembly Manual. You should expect to see changes happen over the next few weeks!
On April 25, 2019, we raised over $400,000 for the LongMill. It has officially been a year since then and we have now shipped over 600 machines to more than 30 countries. Over a million dollars worth of LongMills have now been sold. We are excited to see what our next year brings!
Want to take a trip down memory lane? Make sure to read our posts here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sienci/longmill-benchtop-cnc-router/posts
Hi everyone. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy out there. Yesterday we shipped another 50 machines, which covers for most of the remaining Feb-March orders. We are currently packing March-April orders and expect them to ship in the next week or so.
Now that we’ve cleared out our backlog, we will be shortening our lead times for LongMills.
LongMill 30x30s should take about up to 2 weeks.
LongMill 12×12 and 12x30s should take 2 to 3 weeks to ship.
We are still allowing pick-ups for orders, however, visitors will not be allowed inside our facility. If you want to arrange a pick-up, please email or call us to schedule a pick-up and we will leave your order on the dock.
Although we are still allowing pick-ups, we recommend having your order shipped to reduce contact. Shipping within the local area is typically quite fast (1-2 business days).
To reduce the spread of COVID-19, most of our production has moved to work from home. Ikenna, our operations manager remains at the office to conduct shipments and day to day activities.
Version 1 of the LongMill mounted the back steel plate for the dust shoe using the two M3 screws on the X-axis gantry linear guides which were finicky. The latest version for the LongMill now uses M5 screws mounted independently from the M3 screws that provide easier assembly and more secure fitment.
Thank you for everyone’s feedback on the fitment and design of our dust shoe, we are excited to continue to develop our machines and additional add-ons that go with it!
Please note that this video only applies to customers with the latest version of the LongMill shipped March 2020 and later.
Folks assembling their dust shoe may find that fitting the t-nuts into the aluminum extrusion is easier by turning the t-nuts opposite to what is shown in the video. This will depend on the 2020 extrusion profile that was provided with your kit.
Happy making!
Hi everyone. As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected day to day lives of people all around the world, and we are no exception. This post will cover the extent of what that impact looks like to us and to our customers.
We want to thank everyone for their patience and support in this tumultuous time.
To slow the spread of COVID-19, the Ontario government has ordered all non-essential businesses to close. Under these new regulations, we fall under number 19 as an essential workplace ( https://www.ontario.ca/page/list-essential-workplaces ).
19. Businesses that extract, manufacture, process and distribute goods, products, equipment and materials, including businesses that manufacture inputs to other manufacturers (e.g. primary metal/ steel, blow molding, component manufacturers, chemicals, etc. that feed the end-product manufacturer);
On top of this, all online commerce is permitted at all times. We will be open for the time being under our own discretion and we will continue production as scheduled.
Visitors will not be permitted in our shop. If you have arranged for a local pickup of your machine we can prepare your shipment and leave it on the dock or make other arrangements. This is to ensure the safety of our employees and prevent the risk of transmitting COVID-19.
Pickups can be made between 10AM and 5PM.
If you want to pick up your machine from our office and you have received a notice for your pickup, please call us 10 minutes before pickup and we will leave your order on the dock. Our phone number is 1-855-220-1231.
If you want to purchase any other items and pick it up from the shop, please order items on our website ahead of time and call us 10 minutes before pick up and we will leave your order on the dock. Our phone number is 1-855-220-1231.
If you have indicated that you want to pick up your order previously, but would like for us to ship it instead, please email us with your order number and shipping address to hi@sienci.com. We will send you a Paypal invoice for shipping costs. Shipping costs within Ontario range between $30-50 for LongMills.
By the end of day today, we expect the first 100 machines to be shipped or ready for pick up by courier tomorrow. This covers orders between November to January. Orders from February to March will most likely ship by the end of this week or by the start of next week.
We are changing lead times for LongMill orders from 8-10 weeks to 4-6 weeks. We currently have stock for approximately 200 LongMills. As always, we try to orders as quickly as possible and there is a possibility that some orders may ship sooner than this.
Giving ourselves 4-6 weeks lead time to ship helps ensure that we can take appropriate measures to stay safe and healthy, as well enough buffer if we are further affected by COVID-19
Here are some things that may impact lead times for orders.
Things get worse with COVID-19
While business and production is currently not closed for us, there is a potential that 1) the Ontario government may place new regulations that may affect production 2) someone on our team gets sick, requiring us to go into quarantine.
Supply chain lines are affected by COVID-19
We send and receive components and shipments domestically and around the world. If supply chain lines are affected, such as couriers that ship orders to customers, that may affect lead times.
How quickly we can pack
The speed of which we can ship is determined by how quickly we can pack orders. This may be affected if some workers elect to quarantine or work from home. We will not be bringing on additional workers beyond our core team at this time.
We will continue to monitor the situation and provide production updates if there are significant changes to lead times for new orders.
We have started shipping orders! Customers should be expecting emails and tracking info from us soon. Please be patient as we get through our backlog.
Orders from Dec and January should be shipping this week and next week, and orders from February and March should ship by the following week.
We will be shipping all orders for LongMills, all order numbers will be fulfilled.
We will be getting in touch for customers who have opted for local pickups.
If you are unable to arrange for a pick-up due to the coronavirus, please contact us for other arrangements.
There are three or four customers that are waiting on replacement control boards. These will ship out in the next few days.
There are some small variations between LongMill V1 and V2 that have been documented in the assembly manual on our online resources. Most changes are very minor and both processes for assembly on the V1 and V2 are the same. However, if you require clarification or are stuck on assembly, please contact us and we will update the assembly manual.
For the last production update, please check out this post: https://sienci.com/2020/02/20/production-updates-for-batch-2/
As covered in the last production update, we have been waiting on the remaining batch of parts to arrive. As of current, we have the full balance of parts with the exception of the control boards. We are expecting the control boards to arrive by the end of the week.
As mentioned in the previous update, our goal has to pre-pack and prepare as much as we can so that we can ship everything out as quickly as possible once the control boards arrive.
We have completed packing and preparing for all backorders, and I have provided training to start assembly and testing to build and assemble the rest of the control components to everyone who is part of that process.
A couple of people have reached out about the connectivity with CNCjs for the gcode sender with our controller. I have since created a new version of the firmware which will be flashed on all new LongMills going forward. Those LongMills will be compatible with CNCjs. I have also been emailed by one of the developers of CNCjs to inform us that they have updated CNCjs to properly connect to the program for older versions of the LongMill as well.
Current users and new users should be able to connect to CNCjs with no issues. There have been no other changes to the firmware so if your machine is working fine, there should be no reason to update your firmware. However, if you are interested in the firmware update process, you can check out the guide here: https://sienci.com/dmx-longmill/grbl-firmware/
We will not be updating the current 8-10 week lead time for new orders until we can confirm that the boards have arrived and we are shipping machines at a consistent rate. However, I expect that by next week I will be able to provide a new updated lead-time estimate. Please note that orders will still be shipped based on the order in which they were made.
Patrik from Sienci Labs connected us with Alex from Curate Vintage to trade a custom made table for some custom Sienci Labs swag. In this project, we are carving the logo into a table using the LongMill and filling in the pocket with epoxy resin.
For this particular project, we are using Easel by Inventables (http://easel.inventables.com/users/sign_in). Easel is a free, web-based, and simple to use CAM software that is excellent for beginners looking to do 2D projects like signs, trays, and lettering. Easel is compatible with many CNC machines, including X-Carves and Shapeokos.
There are many video tutorials on using Easel available online.
By using Import — Image Trace on Easel, you can import JPG images to cut with your LongMill. Images that are black and white or made up of solid colors typically work best for this process. You can also watch this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-sfK-QxwzQ) which covers a slightly different method of using an image to create a carving.
The feeds and speeds used for this project was 60in/min (1524mm/min), 15in/min (381mm/min) plunge rate with a 0.125in (3.175mm) depth of cut. In the video the depth of cut says 0.18in, however since the pocket is shallower than the max depth of cut, it only cuts 0.125in down. These speeds are fairly conservative and should work with most types of woods.
For this project, we used a ¼” downcut end mill (https://sienci.com/product/1-4-spiral-down-cut-end-mill/). We chose a downcut end mill because we knew that we would not be able to sand or finish the surface of the table after it had been cut or poured, as the surface would be ruined, and using a downcut end mill would prevent any splintering or fuzziness on the top surface.
We bought 946mL of resin for this project and ended up using approximately 2/3s of it. This was our first time using epoxy, but we found it was a fairly easy process. Our particular resin required a 1 to 1 mix ratio which was measured out by scale. We added powdered color mica resin dye to provide the color. Our particular resin brand was called “ArtResin” which hardened in about 24 hours, but you can find an epoxy that fits your needs.
This was a super fun project, and things turned out pretty well.
If we were to do this project again, we would probably want to use solid wood or high-quality plywood for the table material. This is because melamine covered MDF does not allow for us to sand or mill off the surface of the table. Instead, we needed to be careful to drip resin onto the uncut parts of the table.
Thank you again for following along!
We have a couple of new additions to the store to mention!
We’ve had a lot of folks highly recommend Vectric software for their LongMills, so we’ve decided to become their official reseller to sell their software. We’ve started with selling VCarve Desktop as it provides 2D and 3D carving functionality, includes great tutorials and resources, and design for 2D and 3D projects. VCarve Desktop comes with the limitation in work area of 24″x24″, but can be upgraded to VCarve Pro which has no work area limitation by paying the difference in price. https://sienci.com/product/vectric-vcarve-desktop-v10/
We’ve decided to offer the LongBoard CNC Controller as an item on our store for folks who want to build their own CNC machines and routers.
Current options for higher power (above 2.5A per motor) CNC hobby CNC controllers are hard to find, especially for an all in one, plug and play system. Most hobbyists must resort to building their electronics from many separated pieces, which can be complicated, time-consuming, and difficult to troubleshoot.
We built and designed the LongBoard controller to eliminate the need to do all the wiring and assembly to build the electronics for CNC machines. The LongBoard Controller stands out as a robust, simple, and affordable CNC control option. https://sienci.com/product/longboard/
We now offer rails for sale available on our store if you are trying to upgrade from a smaller to a larger size LongMill, or just need to buy rails and lead screws for your own project. https://sienci.com/product/size-upgrades-for-the-longmill/
We are happy to announce that Sienci Labs is a sponsor for the 2020 Maker Expo in Kitchener! We are putting $2500 towards supporting this event. We’re really excited to come full circle from tiny startup to a less tiny startup and doing our part to support the maker community in our region. It is thanks to our close-knit community and tech ecosystem that we’ve been able to come this far.
Maker Expo and its organizers are dear to our heart as we had our early starts showing off our Mill One and LongMills at these events. We have lots of great memories and gained a ton of customers through these events. In fact, although we have customers in nearly 40 countries, we have the densest population of users in the KW region.
Make sure to go check out Maker Expo’s GoFundMe (https://www.gofundme.com/f/2020-maker-expo) and provide your support to make Make Expo 2020 a fun and free event.
You can also make sure to stay up to date on the event through Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/517083805604520/
