Happy New Year everyone! We’re looking forward to many new things coming down the pipeline for 2025.
End mill testing machine in progress
AltMill
If you haven’t heard, we are working on the launch of the AltMill 2×4 coming at the end of the month! We’ve also been working on some smaller concepts that are focused more on small precision parts and metal milling. Learn more from our article.
We made a big push to pack and ship AltMills for December. While we ran into a few delays getting parts, we managed to ship just over (put number of AltMills here).
We’ve continued to see growth in sales and popularity for the AltMill slowly, and we’re starting to run out of space in our shop to continue building them. We’re aiming to stock around 500 AltMills at a time by the end of the next batch, which means we’ll have much more significant space requirements.
For that matter, Mike has been looking at an additional 6000 sqft of space in the upstairs portion of the building, which would allow us to move some of the development and customer service team off the main floor of the building where we can expand production.
In other news, we are slowing chipping away at offering a larger, 220V 3.5KW spindle. While we believe the current 1.5KW spindle option is more than adequate, having a larger, more powerful spindle can unlock the full potential of the AltMill. There are a lot of different factors that are at play, including safety requirements, reliability, and costs that we are weighing to make sure that we get the best set up possible for users in the future.
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LongMill
LongMills have been shipping smoothly as usual.
LaserBeam and Vortex
LaserBeam is continuing to ship out as usual.
We are currently waiting on extra extrusion for the Vortex, so 30″ wide Vortex is expected to have a 1 week lead time, and 48″ wide Vortex has a 2 week lead time. Once we clear the queue later this month, we expect lead times to return to their typical 3-5 business days.
AutoSpin T1 Router
We also recently announced the new router, now officially named the AutoSpin T1 router. Learn more about it on the landing page or the article here.
Thank you so much for everyone participating in the naming contest!
gControl Panel Computers
Our second batch of 300 Panel Computers have shipped last month and are on the way to our shop. We expect to start shipping the rest of the batch mid to end of this month, which will allow us to ship computers to the rest of the customers who are waiting. We are expecting them to arrive mid-January currently.
Thanks to strong demand, we’ve started manufacturing a second batch of 500 computers. We’re expecting these computers to be ready to be ready to ship around the end of February to early March, which means that by the springtime, we’ll have enough stock to keep shipping computers out.
Gilberto has been working hard on getting lots of new features and guides implemented for gControl including:
Having gSender start up automatically when the computer is turned on.
We’ll be at the Toronto Woodworking Show from Jan 17 to 19th. If you want to see the AltMill, LongMill, and all our other cool do-dads and accessories, make sure to check us out at the show!
Happy New Year! Thanks for sharing your projects made on the LongMill/AltMill.
Last Week’s Winners
We are happy to announce that Jack Colgrove, Chad Allen Ritchie, Erika Carter, Jonathan Haggard, Luis J Garza, and Ian Pilling are the anything projects contest winners. A prize is on its way!
This Week’s Theme: Multi-Part Projects
This week’s theme is “multi-part projects” on the LongMill/AltMill! Show us your creations made from multiple assembled pieces—whether it’s stackable trays, furniture, layered signs, or anything else that comes together in unique ways. Share your projects for a chance to win prizes!
Happy Friday! Thanks for sharing your Christmas projects made on the LongMill/AltMill.
Last Week’s Winners
We are happy to announce that Luis Sanchez, Edwin Spijker, Shannon Davis, Margaret Lockie-Binkley, Craig Pidsadowski, and Gary Guilliams are the Christmas projects part 3 contest winners. Watch out for a prize!
P.S. Sienci Labs will be closed during the holidays from Dec 25, 2024 to Jan 1, 2025. We will reopen on Jan 2, 2025. Shipping and customer support will be on pause during this time.
This Week’s Theme: Anything Projects
To wrap up the year, share any LongMill/AltMill projects over the next two weeks! We’ll pick our favourites and send cool prizes. Happy holidays and see you in the new year!
Hey everyone. I’m excited to share more details about the AltMill 2×4 (the AltMill with a 4×2 ft working area) and other sizes coming soon. We are expecting the launch of the AltMill 2×4 A few months ago, Ben took some time to put together a version of the AltMill with a 2×4 foot (approximate) working area using spare and scrap parts left over from production and posted a video about it. Since then we had a lot of interest in smaller versions of the AltMill.
Availability to order the AltMill 2×4 is tentatively scheduled for Jan 29, 2025 and expect to ship at the end of March. The AltMill MK2 2×4 will be available for order on Jan 29, 2025 at 11AM EST.
AltMill MK2 2×4 (machine only) to be $3890CAD or $2790USD.Spindle and Dust Shoe Kit pricing at $690CAD/$515USD
Since showing off this version of the AltMill, the response from the community has been overwhelming, encouraging us to develop and work on exploring different sizes of the AltMill.
Why different sizes?
After building and testing the AltMill, it became clear to us that the design and platform had a lot of potential to be used in a lot of different applications. The main innovations of the AltMill come from optimizing the design for rigidity while making it as easy and efficient to assemble at scale, which translates to different sizes as well.
As it stands, we believe we haven’t fully unlocked the power of the AltMill. We still have a lot of development and progress to make with:
Higher power spindle options
Automatic tool changers
Coolant options
Advanced clamping, vices, and other hold-down methods
The main goal for building all the different sizes, ultimately, is to serve a larger audience who want to use their machines for different applications beyond just the typical woodworking projects that our machines and industry have been focusing on such as:
Aluminum milling
Steel milling
Plasma cutting
Fiber laser cutting
Automating tasks such as drilling and tapping
Fundamentally, the AltMill serves as a platform for CNCs designed for many different uses and leverages development across all of the different platforms to trickle through the whole ecosystem.
Who is it for (AltMill 2×4 and smaller)?
We’re not a 100% sure yet but here’s some of our thoughts.
People who want to do small-scale production for a specific part:
Although a larger machine is more versatile, for users who want to have a machine suitable for machining specific products and parts, a machine just large enough for that specific part may be the best option, especially in space-constrained locations. For example, the AltMill could be jigged up to make guitars in a production setting, as the workspace is large enough for a full neck and body.
Another advantage of the AltMill is that businesses that need to do production can in theory order and have a machine shipped to them directly on short notice (or at least once we finish optimizing our production), allowing them to scale production quickly when they need additional machines.
Education or use in an institution:
We’ve also gotten interest from people who want to use CNC for teaching or institutional use, where the focus is less on producing parts and more on learning and testing. This could be in CNC software companies testing their CAM software or colleges that need lower-cost CNC machines that are robust enough for students to use while fitting in smaller classrooms.
The AltMill works on the same core technology as any industrial CNC machine, which means that it can provide an entry into CNCing without the risks and costs which come with industrial machines. The open-source nature of our designs and company also allows for institutions to adapt their machines to their needs as well.
For fun:
While AltMills are not cheap, they do come in at a price point that makes it accessible to most dedicated hobbyists. We expect pricing for all versions of AltMills to be around the current price of our 4×4, with variations based on size and configuration. This means that users may choose to buy a CNC machine just for the heck of it.
Sm-AltMill (Small AltMill)
Concepts of a smaller, metal milling-focused CNC internally called the “YesHappy” or “Sm-AltMill” have been tossed around in the shop for some time. From our perspective, we feel there’s a gap in the industry for a small, benchtop-sized CNC machine for milling aluminum and steel. While there are some options in the $2000-5000 range, we feel they are either underpowered and only good for small parts, and consumers need to spend around $10,000-$30,000 to purchase a smaller milling CNC or VMC.
Prototype Sm-AltMill
Here’s a list of machines that we found that are sort of in this space.
Machine
Price (CAD)
Cutting Area(in)
Spindle Power(kW)
Motion System
4 Axis Compatible From Factory
Makera Carvera
7800
0.2
Slide Bearing
Yes
Shariff DMC
4550
2.2
No
Sainsmart Gemnmtsu
1945
0.4
Delrin Wheels
No
Yorahome Crossriver 6060
4107
24x24x5.8
0.5
Linear Guide
No
Carbide 3D Nomad
3640
8x8x3
0.12
Slide Bearing
No
Source Rabbit Quantum
12800
13x13x4
1.4
Linear Guide
Yes
Langmuir MR-1
6500
23x22x6
2.5
Linear Guide
No
Kitmill AST
11000
8x5x4
0.1
Linear Guide
No
Stepcraft-3 D420
3000
12x16x5
1
No
Coast Runner
No
Onefinity Machinist
2400
16x16x5
Makita
35mm Rail
Yes
Bantam Tools
11000
7x9x3
Linear Guide
Yes
So where do we land for this? Here are some considerations:
With our software and hardware stack, we can support advanced functionality such as 4th axis support, coolant control, closed-loop steppers, and more without additional development, since functionality has already been worked on and developed for AltMill and LongMill already.
Since we are already assembling and building AltMill at volume, we can take advantage of economies of scale for many of the parts used in the other-size machines.
The rigidity and accuracy of the AltMill generally exceed the majority of the machines on this list and can be optimized further. Based on our testing, we’re able to reach material removal rates on the regular AltMill 48×48 compared to the highest-powered machines in this list, and we expect that a smaller version of the machine would increase the overall rigidity to continue to meet or exceed performance across the board.
There are a couple of things that we’re working on now including:
Reaching out to people in the machining community to get their thoughts on this sort of product
Figuring out the balance between cost, features, and performance
Playing around with different add-ons such as ATC and coolant
Building a small batch of beta units
Testing metal-specific tooling
Larger machines (AltMill 4×8)
On the other hand, we’ve also been getting a ton of interest in a 4x8ft version of the AltMill. Our team has been considering this as well, and identified two main short-term challenges and one main long-term challenge in bringing this to market.
First is the packaging. One of the main advantages we have is being able to pack and ship everything through a courier like UPS. This avoids the need to deal with complicated freighting and equipment needed to load and move large CNC machines. However, using a courier for very large shipments can be expensive and sometimes not possible depending on the size and weight of the order. Additionally, shipping items through couriers run a higher risk for damage, as shipments go through many hands and get stacked and piled on top of other shipments.
We believe that using the courier method does make things more accessible since we can deliver CNC machines to residential locations. However, the larger and heavier the machines become, the more difficult it is to work around the limitations. That being said, we’ve seen lots of examples of this, and we believe, we can sort out something that works.
The second challenge is with power transmission. Since the Y-axis needs to get longer, it also means that the Y-axis ball screws will become more prone to whip if we keep the same design. This can be mitigated with a number of options, such as using rack and pinion, larger ball screws, or something else, but this means that we’ll have to engineer another way to move compared to the existing solution. Of course, designs and solutions already exist, and we believe that we’ll be able to figure something out in this area too.
Lastly, the other, perhaps long-term challenge comes down to our company scale. Larger machines take up more space, and although we just moved into a larger office about a year ago, we’d be looking at moving into an even larger space as soon as we start production for 4×8 ft CNCs. Additionally, and perhaps the even bigger challenge, is hiring and onboarding more team members to support the new product.
With that in mind, we do believe that there is a space in the market for an AltMill 4×8, and we have been chipping away at the design and logistics to eventually bring it to market. Make sure to stay tuned for new updates.
Pricing
There are some fixed costs associated with all versions of the AltMill, such as:
SLB-EXT controller
Spindle (although the specific version may vary depending on the use of the machine)
Closed-loop stepper motors
Gantries (although there may be variations for machines designed for milling metals to accommodate vices and additional workholding)
Couplers, bearing blocks, and other assorted hardware
On the other hand, costs for items that are size-dependent include:
Linear guides
Rails
Packaging and shipping
We predict that material costs for smaller machines will be relatively close to the 48×48 AltMill. Some additional costs include:
Resource and support costs for each variation of the machine
Unique packaging and assembly costs
Development costs
Additional machine-specific accessories such as coolant support and vices
All in all, we don’t expect pricing to be dramatically different compared to the current AltMill, which we believe is well-priced on its own. Customers should expect pricing for the AltMill 2×4 to be similar to the current price for an AltMill 4×4. Finalized pricing will be available near or at launch.
Next steps
Production for more AltMill rails is now in production, which includes approximately additional rails needed to build around 100 AltMill 2×4 We’re expecting them to arrive around the end of February, which means we’ll have the first parts needed to start building around 100 units.
Our team is currently working on media and marketing materials to prepare for the launch of AltMill 2×4 on the store, which is tentatively scheduled for Jan 29th.
We expect AltMill 2×4 to start shipping in March.
Additionally, we are in production for an additional 25 sets of rails and parts for a 16×16 inch working area machine (Sm-AltMill), which will be focused on metal milling. We do not have a specific launch plan for this yet, but we are collecting feedback and doing market research to understand how we want to configure the design for this. We will be reaching out directly to potential users for sales of the first batch, so if you’re interested, make sure to fill out the survey.
We are expecting the Sm-AltMill to be sold and built on an individual basis and customized and tested for different uses, which means that they will not be publicly available for sale at this time.
FAQ
Is there going to be a way to upgrade from a 2×4 to a 4×4?
It is likely we will have a kit available, but we likely will need a few months after the launch to sort out the product and resources for size changes, so we recommend picking the size you’ll be committing to up front for now.
What is the footprint of the AltMill 2×4?
The footprint is approximately 52in wide and 39in deep. From the bottom of the foot to the top of the motor, the height is approximately 56in.
Do the legs come with the AltMill 2×4?
Just like the AltMill 4×4, the AltMill 2×4 comes with steel legs.
What accessories work with the AltMill 2×4?
Any accessory that works with the 4×4 will work on the 2×4. This includes any spindles, gControl panel computer, Vortex Rotary axis, and more. We expect that future add-ons and features designed and developed for 4×4 will work on 2×4 as well.
What is the price for an AltMill 2×4?
Official pricing has not been established, but users should expect pricing to be similar but slightly less than a 4×4.
When are AltMill 2×4 expected to ship?
2×4 machines are expected to start shipping in March 2025.
Where can I buy an AltMill 2×4?
Pre-orders will be available on our website at the end of January.
Will there be any other sizes of the AltMill?
Besides the Sm-AltMill with a working area of approximately 16×16 inches, we don’t have any immediate plans for other sizes at the moment.
Happy Friday! Thanks for sharing your Christmas projects made on the LongMill/AltMill.
Last Week’s Winner
We are happy to announce that Lou LaRock, Chrystal Sabyan, Russell Crosby, Daniel Pilkey, Candace Toppings, and Gerald Tooke are the Christmas projects part 2 contest winners. Watch out for a prize!
This Week’s Theme: Christmas Projects Part 2
Week 2 of festive fun! Keep those Christmas LongMill/AltMill projects coming. We’ll be picking our favourites to send some cool prizes to!
Hi there Johann here. First of all, a lot of the beans are already in the product page of the hybrid router, so go check it out if you haven’t already. Having said that, this is more of a “the rest of the beans” article, so if you’ve been following up on the Sprouter project for the past year and wanted more commentary, read on.
The road to the hybrid router
One day last fall 🍂, Andy came into work, tore open a Makita and asked if any of the engineers were interested in building a replacement. This was not that long after the pandemic and the then recent batches of Makita routers all had overheating bearings due to supply chain issues.
The goal was simple, to build a better (and ideally best) version of the Makita without the overheating bearings, and as a still naive engineer who is looking for something dramatically different after the Vortex project, I signed on to lead this effort. What a rollercoaster it has been since.
Not going to give a full account of the entire process, but here’s a couple twists and turns along the way:
Initially we thought it would be easy to just find a Makita equivalent motor, bond it to a different shaft and off we go. However, after two months of looking, we realized that all power tool motors we can find are mass produced designs, and any substantial customization will require us to spin up a new production line, with a lot of technical and monetary risk that both us and the manufacturers are not particularly keen on.
Next (and partly as a way to give us more design flexibility), we started looking into brushless DC motors. Our initial assumption was that they are going to be way too expensive for this use case, but the prices of new brushless power tools from the big names hinted at the maturation of this technology. We reached out to a few motor suppliers, and we genuinely found a lot of promise, especially around how it can offer spindle-esque performance at a lower price while being more tightly integrated (no VFDs).
This was a really fun time of the project, where we’re doing a lot of testing to figure out the size and power of the motor we need; getting highly custom samples made, and doing even more testing to validate the samples. A lot of this is probably trivial to a seasoned motor engineer, but to me it was a time of learning and one that is truly enjoyable.
Despite how promising BLDC is, the reality is that we still don’t have a solidified product by May time. So after a trip to China to visit suppliers and a bit of soul searching, I made the following table which made it clear to me that the BLDC cake would require more time in the oven than we have. It also told me that we need to shift the priority to pushing out the LM spindle and work on a speed control version of the Makita clone that has a more assured path to market.
This decision, and another half a year’s work brought us to this point in December 2024, where we have a beautiful product that’s perhaps not the best thing since sliced bread, but a very neat little tool that is in my opinion the best execution of the Makita clone in the industry so far.
What is so special about this router?
I think of this product as a three layered cake.
The foundation is a well-tested, finely tuned motor with best-in-class bearings. Getting the motor right wasn’t as easy as we initially thought. After testing what’s on the market, it became clear that many clones are underpowered or poorly tuned. Even with our current supplier, it took three sampling runs to nail down the basics. If you explore the product page, you’ll find detailed speed-torque curves and load responses compared to both the Makita and our 1.5kW spindle. This level of diligence is something I am quite proud of and hope inspires confidence.
The second layer includes all the CNC conveniences we could think of—like ER collets and extra-long cables. While these are not that novel, we made an effort to include them all. Unfortunately, an LED light didn’t make it into the final product, despite our efforts (It still pains me that I asked Jon to design it and it got cut).
The icing is of course spindle mode. It offers PWM speed control designed for maximum compatibility. While similar features exist in other products (like SuperPID, AMB 1050 DI, and funnily enough a product called the “Sprouter” for Onefinity), our version is by far the easiest to set up and polished. There’s no need for input power or doing potentially dangerous mods to your existing router. My hope is that you’ll find spindle mode such an intuitive feature that you’ll wonder why it wasn’t done sooner.
What’s the Plan from Now to Launch?As of November 12, 2024, we’ve paid for a pre-production order of 35 units, with delivery expected in two months (though there’s a 50% chance it could take three). Once the beta units arrive and pass internal testing, we’ll launch a two-week open beta program with 25 units in late January or early February.
If the beta goes smoothly, in February we’ll begin the certification process (~60 days) and production (~30 days) immediately afterward. Pre-orders will likely open around this time.
Our goal is to start shipping by April or May 2025.
I’m sure Andy will keep everyone updated on production progress along the way as well.
Naming Competition?
We’ve never run naming competitions before—probably because we’re not especially fond of Routy McRouteface. However, we’re taking a different approach this time. We’re considering branding this product under a separate company, similar to how Onefinity launched their RedLine spindle brand.
The goal is to reach a broader audience beyond the Sienci ecosystem, which would be difficult with a name like “Sienci Hybrid Routing System.” We’re looking for appealing names that resonate with new users and build the brand around the best fit. Vote for the People’s Choice winner now by submitting the form here (Just for fun)! The winners of People’s Choice and the official name will be announced on December 13, 2024, so stay tuned for that!
Support for Non-Sienci Machines: A Small Caveat
The CNCs listed on our website should, in theory, all be compatible with this router. We’ve already tested it with many machines on the list, including the Onefinity Elite. However, there are two important caveats:
Shapeoko 5 Pro / HDM: We haven’t tested with the Warthog controller yet. Their PWM implementation is a concern, as their double NAND buffer signal conditioning has caused issues for others, such as for PWNCNC. In the worst case, accessing the headers on the PCB directly may be required—but we will cross that bridge when we get there during beta testing.
Onefinity Elite: This machine will need a firmware update to an upcoming version. Currently, a bug in PWM control mode causes the spindle to turn on during controller initialization.
Prototype working on an Onefinity Elite
Lastly, if your CNC is not on the list, we support 3-5V 0.8-10kHz PWM (nominal), so unless your machine is exclusively 0-10V speed control or has some really high impedance output it should be compatible.
I like what I’m seeing, how do I support this project?
Join the Beta Program: Help us make absolutely sure we’ve ironed out every kink before we place the big order of 2,000 units. Your feedback is invaluable (especially if you have a non Sienci machine).
Spread the Word: When the product launches, buy it and share your experience with friends. This is our first custom product in the spindle/router space, and with your support, we hope to bring you even more innovations in the future (cough… BLDC… cough… cough… toolchanging… cough…).
The End 🙂
Feel free to comment below or reach out on Facebook or our forums if you have questions or want to dive deeper into the discussion.
Happy Friday! Thanks for sharing your Christmas projects made on the LongMill/AltMill.
Last Week’s Winners
We are happy to announce that Mark Martin, Glenn Striker, Casey Guin, RandyT, Steve Dills, and Steve Kryworuka are the Christmas projects part 1 contest winners. Watch out for a prize!
This Week’s Theme: Christmas Projects Part 2
Week 2 of festive fun! Keep those Christmas LongMill/AltMill projects coming. We’ll be picking our favourites to send some cool prizes to!
Due to port strikes in Vancouver, some parts that were expected to arrive earlier in November have been delayed. We have been working on packing and preparing everything else so that we can make a big push for the end of the year to get the remaining AltMills in Batch 2 out the door.
Rails and other parts have just arrived at the start of this month. and we are resuming shipping AltMills.
All of the parts in Batch 4, which is our next 250 AltMills, are expected to finish production and arrive at the end of January.
Ben and Daniel have been chipping away at the packaging layout for the 2×4 AltMill, here’s a photo of some 3D modelling that’s been done. We are now officially starting production for the 2X4. More info to come. If you’re interested, please feel free to fill out our survey. https://forms.gle/LV9erqPFEr1boPWx7
Also, amongst other cool stuff we’ve been playing around with, here’s a look at Mike and Jon’s “SmaltMill”, designed to automate some of the tapping we do for LongMill and AltMill parts. This is part of us dabbling with the idea of using our own machines to do some of the machining and production for the LongMill and AltMill.
Vortex Rotary Axis including the closed-loop stepper motors are now shipping!
LongMill
LongMill kits are shipping without delays. Our team has recently pre-packed around 150 LongMill in advance of the AltMill parts coming in, so we can focus efforts on clearing the rest of the queue.
gControl Panel Computer
We have now shipped the first 45-50 computers out! We are now in production for another 300 computers. We are expecting them to arrive in mid-January and ship to the remaining customers in our queue. We are also working on a new production batch for another 500-1000 computers as the gControl computer has been more popular than expected.
We have received a small number of customers who have not been able to turn on their computers. After working back and forth with the manufacturer, as well as doing some of our own testing, we found that a standoff may contact part of the screen driver board, causing it to turn off. We’ve addressed this problem in the upcoming batch that is currently in production.
Otherwise, we’re super excited to see that folks have already set up and started using gControl, and we look forward to getting them out to the wider audience soon.
In other news, a lot of customers have been asking if the gControl has upgradable RAM and memory. After going through the process of opening up the computers, the answer appear to be yes. Although we believe that users will not need to make changes to their computer, we believe that having the peace of mind that these parts can be upgraded and replaced is valuable to the user. You can learn more about memory updates here: https://resources.sienci.com/view/gcontrol-memory-and-storage-upgrades/
LightBurn Seller and Pricing Changes
There are some changes happening with Lightburn. If you guys don’t know, Lightburn is a software for laser cutters including the LaserBeam. We have been an official reseller for this software for some time.
The first major change is in the pricing. The original price started at 60USD and is now going to come up to 100USD. While we understand that a higher price isn’t necessarily great for customers, we do think that the software at 100USD is extremely reasonable and provides incredible functionality for lasers in general. Additionally, given that the Lightburn team has continued to provide support and updates frequently, the additional income from license sales are expected to help push development and improvements on further. This is called “Lightburn Core” now
The second major change is in the licensing structure. Originally, we were able to freely sell the software. At this moment in time, although there is no specific agreement in place, Lightburn wants us and other sellers to only offer the software as a bundle to another product. This is to reduce the number of unsavory sellers in the market who do things such as selling the same license code three times. Since each Lightburn license can be installed on three computers at a time, they can sell the same code thrice. When customers have tried to install licenses on multiple computers as they should be able to, they have found that they are not able to and adding extra burden on the Lightburn team to resolve.
I am not really a big fan of “bundling” software with products, as I believe that users should have as much freedom as possible when choosing software, especially when there are multiple options, which is why at this time we haven’t bundled or offered the software for sale on our site at the moment.
We are discussion possibly using an online portal instead, where users can buy software direct from Lightburn, but allow us to take a commission and provide some support to customers as well. I have found this to be a fairly straightforward and easy way to allow software providers to have control over the software distribution.
We are still working through this, as we do want to make sure Lightburn is able to sustainably provide software. If you want to purchase the software, you can still do so directly through them on their website.
LaserBeam and UltraBeam
As you guys might know, Ikenna has been at the forefront of the LaserBeam and UltraBeam projects. Not only have these been big projects in general but also brought to light thoughts and discussions about the structure and ownership of these projects and products. While initially, the plan was to keep UltraBeam under the Sienci Labs umbrella, it became more clear that we had to reconsider this as the project progressed.
Since the UltraBeam CO2 laser project has encountered complications as we previously noted, we have put that project on hold until we figure out the best path forward. We have heard from customers regarding our current LaserBeam product, and we continue to support the LaserBeam. However, as we’ve revisited our LaserBeam line, we’re making plans in developing and offering newer improved versions of a diode laser attachment soon. Make sure to stay tuned for more news.
Hey everyone! Thanks for posting your sign projects made on the LongMill/AltMill.
Last Week’s Winners
We are happy to announce that Steven J. Arndt, Chris Posey, Marcus Stapleton, Michael Boorsma, Donald Rutan Jr., and Vincent Schad are the sign projects contest winners. A prize is on its way!
This Week’s Theme: Christmas Projects Part 1
Happy holidays! Kick off the season by sharing your best Christmas-themed LongMill/AltMill projects with us. We can’t wait to see your festive creations!
A number of customers have expressed concerns over the potential trade tariffs announced by Trump, so I’d like to address this in an article. The proposed 25% tariff on Canadian imports by President-elect Donald Trump marks a significant escalation in trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada. Framed as a measure to address drug trafficking and migration concerns, the tariff threatens to disrupt one of the world’s closest economic partnerships.
We understand that this may be a concern to our American customers, in case they should be expecting additional costs to bring their machines and other products from our company in Canada to the US.
Likelihood of a tariff being put into place
With such a significant amount of business being done between US and Canada, this tariff would potentially create a huge impact on both economies, with potential price increases for imported good in the US, and slower sales for Canadian companies. Additionally, this creates a burden on the customs systems put into place, which could mean longer times for products to clear across the border.
It should be noted that, at least according to Trump, these measures are put into place to address drug trafficking and illegal immigration by creating a potential economic punishment for governments that don’t crack down on these things. If both governments are able to find a way to solve some of these issues, it may mitigate the need for a trade war. Additionally imposing tariffs between US and Canada may potentially violate the USMCA trade agreements, which allow for easier trade between United States, Mexico, and Canada, which can cause other economic implications and political repercussions. The USMCA took over a year of negotiations and nearly 3 years to fully implement, and unravelling that could have serious consequences.
All this means that the situation is very nuanced and complicated. I don’t expect there to be dramatic changes right away, but we are keeping an eye on the situation as it progresses. There may be a chance that there won’t be any tariffs levied, the tariff amount is smaller than originally proposed, or it may be only to certain products and materials that pertain to us.
What happens if a tariff gets put into place
We intend to honour our pricing and responsibilities to cover duties and taxes for products shipping to the United States as we have continued to do so in the past few years.
However, an import tariff will impact our costs and the bottom line of the business, and we may need to address that when we know what will move forward with tariffs if there ever is one. We will reconsider pricing for our products once we learn of changes in the tariffs if or when it occurs.
From my personal experience and opinion, while there may be some tariffs imposed, the direct impact to us and our customers in general may be more nuanced, such as interventions from the Canadian government to support Canadian companies. There have been many changes in the political and economic landscape that our company has faced, and I believe that regardless of what happens, we’ll figure out a way through like we always have.
