A really hectic month

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It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about how things are going at Sienci Labs. Well the answer is that things are going well. It’s been hard to get the time to sit down and blog as I usually do, especially with the Christmas rush and getting everything ready for 2018!

Here’s a few things that have been going on lately.

Looking for people to join our team

Our company has grown to the point that Chris and I need more hands on deck to grow. That’s why over the last two months, we’ve been looking for new people to help us run the business. Well I’m happy to say that we’ve gotten lots of job applications and are currently in the middle of onboarding two new people to our team! Stay tuned for updates and intros on our new team members.

If you’re interested in joining our team, feel free to reach out to work@sienci.com. We’ll probably be looking for folks in electrical or software engineering in the next few months as well.

Enclosure design

A masters student in mechanical engineering and I are working on designing a fully enclosed frame, which we plan on putting together as a new upgrade kit. Why a full enclosure? Well, a full enclosure results in a quieter, cleaner machine. The plan is to have first physical prototypes together in the next two weeks.

New software

We’re currently working on a modified version of Kiri:Moto to streamline the CNC workflow for CAM. This has been a ongoing project for nearly a month, and we’re working on setting up a server to run the program. It’ll be accessible with the public, which will help us gain feedback on improving the software.

Improved resources

We’re also working on creating a more streamlined resources page to help new users walk through each step of using the Mill One. This includes some sample projects that can be done to get users familiar with our machines. We hope to have the new version of our resources live in the next two weeks. Got an idea for a sample project? Email us at hi@sienci.com!

Small changes to 3D printed parts design

First change was adjusting the settings and tolerances on the electronics box to improve the quality of the print and allow the parts to fit together better.

Second change is with the router mount, which now has additional reinforcement around the bolt holes. This addresses the weak area around the nut traps on the mount.

Chuck’s videos

If you haven’t yet, check out Chuck’s first impressions with the Mill One.

We did have a few troubles with the assembly part, but we did figure them out. We’re always happy to have honest feedback and hear about what we can do to improve our machines and manufacturing so that we can continue to improve our product.

Once Chuck got everything running, he was really happy with the machine!

You can also check out his video on making a custom 3D printed holder for tools on the Mill One too.

Aluminum cutting end mills are back in stock

We recently sold out on all our end mills, but we just got a new batch of aluminum cutting end mills. You can check it out here.

UPS shipping option

UPS has recently offered us really competitive prices on shipping, with shipping speeds that are faster than Purolator. Based on the past week of shipping with UPS, it looks like customers can get their orders up to three days faster than before.

 

Those are all of the updates I can think of. Stay tuned for more as they come and happy holidays!

Nylock nuts on anti backlash nut kits (also you can get them $10 off until Nov 30)

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We’ve started shipping with nylock nuts. For most folks, this won’t make a huge difference, but it does add a level of security from having the M3 nuts back off over time, especially if you use your Mill One all the time. We try to keep finding ways to improve our products, of course, even if they’re small changes!

If you want to get an Anti Backlash Nut Kit, use the coupon code “10ABL” at checkout to get $10USD off the kit. The code will work until Nov 30!

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.