Category: General News

If you’ve been following us for some time, you might know that we’ve received a lot of support from the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business. Well, we’ve been asked to join them for the grand opening of their new space in E7!

If you’re in the area and want to join us, we’ll be bringing by our machines to show off and doing demos.

Location: University of Waterloo E7 building

Time: Oct 29, 2018

• 1 pm | Open House – Venture showcase
• 3pm  | Engineering Grand Opening Ceremony
• 4pm  | “How did we get from there to here? The Conrad Story” by Howard Armitage and Mark Weber
• 5pm | Informal networking and connections. Refreshments served.

Tickets here:

https://ticketfi.com/event/2591/conrad-school-grand-opening

Hey everyone. Just wanted to announce that we’ll be holding our first CNC milling workshop at our new space at 44 Gaukel in Downtown Kitchener in a few weeks!

Workshop attendees will get a chance to learn and design using CAD, create G-code using CAM, and cut out a design with a CNC machine.

To sign up and more info, please go to https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/beginner-cnc-milling-workshop-tickets-51654328487

I’ve been working with some of our first batch of beta testers who have reported issues with reliability, especially on the Y axis. If you missed that, you can read more about it here: https://sienci.com/2018/10/04/longmill-beta-y-axis-drifting/

There has been a couple of changes made to combat that. First was with adding a second power supply and an extra driver to the control box. This means upping the current, as well as putting less load on the Y axis driver, which had two motors wired in parallel.

This should improve reliability by

1. Giving more headroom for the power supplies
2. The two Y axis drivers can be set to a lower current rating, so that the drivers don’t run as hot
3. Reduce the chance of issues from back EMF and resonance from driving two motors on one driver

In production, we’ll probably switch to one large power supply and perhaps increase the voltage as well to make the electronics more simple and allow the machine to run faster, but as of right now, we have a lot of smaller power supplies tossing around that we can connect in parallel to do the job.

The other change has been to switch from NEMA 17 motors on the Y axis to using NEMA 23s (on the larger version of the LongMill). This should also improve reliability since

1. NEMA 23 motors are rated for higher currents and torques, so that the machine can push through material faster.
2. The larger body should help dissipate more heat

As for the smaller LongMills, the pair of NEMA 17s should be more than sufficient, but we’ll have to do some more testing to confirm.

As so far as testing goes, I’ve been running the machine through a bunch of different projects, stress tests, and scenarios. I’m happy to say that there are significant improvements in speed and reliability. That being said, pushing the machine to the absolute limit artificially, such as moving the axis at max speed over the period of more than 15 hours, does still sometimes start to cause drifting and overheating on the motors. For normal milling, the projects are coming out perfect, so I will keep moving forward in updating machines and sending out new ones for now, and keep working to improve reliability.

If you’re reading this and you are one of the beta testers, here’s what you should know about your machines.

If you got your beta machine already:

I have already gotten in touch with you with info about the changes or I will have sent you this post as an update. I will update your hardware for you. Since there is a lot of extra hardware, it might take a little while for me to get all of the parts in to do the upgrades, so please be patient.

If you haven’t gotten your beta machines yet:

I will send out the machines with all of the updated hardware. Since there is a lot of extra hardware, it might take a little longer than the expected 3-4 weeks to get the machines out, but I am working as hard as I can to have the machines ready.

If you signed up as a beta tester and you haven’t gotten accepted into the program yet:

I am currently completing the second batch of orders that have come in from people interested in being beta testers. Initially, the plan was to start accepting people in for the third and last batch around this time of the month, but we are going to hold off on that until we are a bit more solid on the electronics and the first two batches have their machines up and running properly.

So first things first, we’re going to call the “LongBoi CNC’s”… “LongMills” now. Feedback was saying that “Boi” was a bit too meme and unprofessional. LongMill sort of follows the Mill One name, except that it is longer, obviously. If you want to learn more, you can go to our landing page for the LongMill!

The first batch of beta testing machines are out in the world now, and they’ve settled in nicely. It’s cool to see that people have already made some enclosures and other things for their machine, as well as using them for their own projects.

This also helped uncover an issue that we are working to fix on some machines, which is that it appears that the Y-axis is drifting, usually after 30-45 minutes into a cut. From what I can tell, this is coming from the stepper motors on the Y-axis overheating.

We’ve already started testing and working on some redesigns to fix this issue and make the machine the best it can be, and changes will be rolled out to current users once we’ve completed this design cycle. I guess it’s both good news and bad news, bad news that there is still lots of work to put into getting this design and best it can be, but good news that I feel like the changes we’re planning on making to update the design will make it a much more powerful machine.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Things have been really busy with the building and development of the LongBoi project. Progress is slow but steady. Some of the assembly was delayed since some of the parts were coming in slowly but we are on our suppliers and manufacturers to get parts in as soon as possible.

Here are a couple of changes that have been made from our initial designs:

• Shorter belt loop between the Z-axis lead screw and motor. This brings the motor closer in toward the gantry and improves stiffness in the motor mount.
• Redesigned Y-axis rail supports and motor mounts. The new design makes it easier to install and adjust M8 bolts along the rail.
• Additional points across the machine to increase wire management options.
• Polymer anti-backlash nuts on all axis.
• Redesigned Y-axis gantry to move the router closer to the axis of rotation.

Stay tuned for more updates on this project!

Interested in becoming a beta tester? Sign up here: https://goo.gl/forms/Rei7ghZIDg6tlMhl2

Over the one and a half years that the Mill One has been out in the wild, it has accomplished its role as a simple, affordable desktop CNC machine perfect for hobbyists and makers to dive into the world of CNC milling. We’ve designed a new machine (codename LongBoi) that holds that same focus, but as a new platform to allow for processing of larger materials.

It’s exciting to finally have this new machine out in the world for testing, especially since we’ve been working on the design on and off for the last couple of months. Here are our goals with the new machine:

• Simplicity: The LongBoi holds the same philosophy as the Mill One to be a mechanical simple machine by reusing design cues throughout the machine, such as utilizing the angle aluminum v wheel design found on the Mill One and using a limited variety of parts.
• Rigidity: The LongBoi has a 3×3 inch aluminum rail along the X axis, as well as a supported 2×2″ Y axis rail. The Z axis utilizes 12mm linear guides, allowing the Z axis to be rigid and extremely low profile. All gantries are made from 1/4″ steel or aluminum
• Precision: Unlike some of the other larger, hobby grade desktop CNC routers like the X-Carve and Shapeoko, the LongBoi uses leadscrews on all axis, which means higher precision and no belt stretch.
• Openness: The design of the LongBoi allows for a variety of modifications, especially with the simple design and use of 3D printed components. The Longboi uses standard and off the shelf parts that can be easily interchanged or replaced.

We currently have two sizes being beta tested, a machine with a 1ft x 1ft work area and a 2ft x 2ft work area. Want to be a beta tester as well? Check out this form to learn more and apply to be a beta tester! https://goo.gl/forms/Rei7ghZIDg6tlMhl2

A fun way to try new things on the Mill One is to try out new end mills and other hardware. That’s why we created the Mystery Pack! Sign up for the Mystery Pack and we’ll send you an assortment of cool stuff every month.

Are you interested in getting your hands on this Mystery Pack for free? Share your projects with us and we’ll send it to you completely free of charge. To sign up for free Mystery Packs, go to https://goo.gl/forms/ObkEJPFXMklOTBwB3 to sign up and for more details.

We’ve released a new firmware update for the Mill One. This update will work with all Mill Ones. Download it here:

https://sienci.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/GRBL-1.1g-Sienci-Mill-One.zip

This firmware update increases the speed and acceleration settings of the Mill One. GRBL v1.1g has general improvements and bug fixes that improve reliability and performance.

Things to know about this update (please read this carefully if you are updating your Mill One since there are some specific instructions):

• This firmware update takes the Mill One from running GRBL v1.1e to v1.1g. You can learn more about the development of GRBL on the GRBL Github.
• You can update your firmware the same way as you uploaded it the first time. Instructions can be found on our Resources pages.
• Before you start, make sure to clear your EEPROM. EEPROM is where the Arduino stores all of the GRBL settings. Some settings from GRBL v1.1e may persist if you do not clear the EEPROM. An Arduino program in the downloaded firmware folder can be uploaded to the Arduino to clear the EEPROM.
• If you have installed a library into Arduino for an older version of the firmware, you will have to delete it and replace it with the new version. You can find the old libraries in the “Arduino” folder, which can usually be found in the “Documents” directory. Go to the “Libraries” folder and delete the “grbl” folder. This will delete the library and will let you install a new ZIP library.
• Installing this update will undo and delete all your old settings. If you made any changes to the firmware, make sure to save all your settings. You can look at your settings by sending the command “$$”. If you need to make changes to your settings after the update, you can refer to the GRBL Configuration wiki.
• If you run into issues with the firmware, please let us know.

If you want to revert back to GRBL v1.1e, you can download the firmware here.