Category: General News

Final exams are here and we are juggling a lot of things right now, but I wanted to let everyone know that Chris and I will be working full time at Sienci Labs coming January. We have both been accepted into the Enterprise Co-op Program at the University of Waterloo. If you have been following our progress since May, you may know that I have done the program once already, and I will be doing it a second time.

A little background info about our undergraduate studies- both Chris and I are in mechanical engineering at the University of Waterloo, which has a mandatory co-op program which gives us the chance to work in a technical job for four months. Out of the six co-op terms we get throughout our degree, we must have five full work terms. The Enterprise Co-op Program allows us to do a work term at our own company with support from the Conrad Business and Entrepreneurship Centre.

With over 100 new requests to order the Sienci Mill One since our Kickstarter, the demand has been overwhelming. The next four months will not only be dedicated to meeting that demand, but to also make sure we can give our users the best experience with their machines possible.

We are currently in the ideation stages of a new product as well, something we can work on during the co-op term. If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to send us an email!

If you have been following our progress finding parts for the first batch of the Sienci Mill One, you might have noticed that we are almost done getting everything. With kinks being worked out on our supply chain right now, I thought I would give an update on the progress of the last few things we are waiting for.

As you might have read, the power supplies sent initially to us were not correct. The supplier has given us a full refund and has let us keep the power supplies. While we will not be using them, we immediately started looking for a new source for power supplies. After comparing prices and other information, we have ordered the right type. I just received a message that the production of our power supplies are complete and they will be shipping them out as soon as they can.

Another component we are waiting for are the eccentric nuts. We have asked for a slight modification to the standard design to resist twisting as it sits in the gantry by increasing the bore length of the nut. There were some issues with shipping that unfortunately is delaying the arrival of the parts. We are in contact with the supplier, and based on their estimates, the parts will be shipped over within the next few days.

Adam from Boko has offered us a good deal on milling the frames, and based on his sample, it looks to be good quality work. We will be milling the first twenty frames next week and work with him to mill the gantries as well. The current design uses PVC gantries, but since HDPE is stiffer, and Adam and I will be working together to start the production of those parts as well.

By the way, thank you to everyone who has sent us the information requested on our backer survey! We are now in the process of making the appropriate router mounts for your machine. However, we may be contacting you if we need further clarification.

With shipping date still three months away, we’re making great progress. We hope to be able to get your machines into your hands as soon as we can, and we’re excited to see what you create!

Yesterday was a very busy day for Chris and I, with two events to attend.

First on the list was Velocity Fund Finals. Velocity Fund Finals, if you are not familiar, is a pitch competition for new and upcoming University of Waterloo startups. This competition gives the chance for companies to win either a 5K or 25K non-equity grant. Before this event, Chris completed the qualifiers, beating over 40 speakers to be chosen as the top 10 that would pitch at the finals.

Chris did a phenomenal job pitching, especially for his first pitch competition, and so did all the other companies. Unfortunately we did not win,  but we have high hopes for next time.

A few hours after the Fund Finals, we attended the Engineer of the Future Trust Showcase. We were invited to showcase our work because we had received funding from the Trust,  and it would be a sign of gratitude to show some of the people who had help fund us early on what we had accomplished with their funding.

There were a lot of cool projects that we had the chance to check out, and of course, a lot of interested people we met to talk about the project. It was a fun day, but a very hectic one.

As Chris and I were pulling out of the driveway about to leave to go to Princeton ON, where the machining for our aluminum rails were done, Tim came over. In a moment of spontaneity, Chris, Tim, and I were all heading to JGW Machine to go pick up the aluminum rails that had been completed on Friday.

Checking over the rails briefly, it seems that all the parts are up to spec and looking great.

When I was last at the facility, I had the opportunity to tour the place and explore all the services they provide. Rick from JGW was kind enough to show Chris and Tim around, who hadn’t until today toured the facility.

We got a chance to look at some huge laser cutters…

And even welding robots!

We now have 300 aluminum rails, 200 x 400mm aluminum and 100 x 200mm aluminum which will be used to build 100 machines. They look great, and I’m looking forward to putting them together and seeing how they work!

Adam from Boko Design Studio came by today with a sample of the Sienci Mill One frame today, and it all fits together quite nicely. We are working with him to start up the production of the frames and gantries. These new frames will also include carrying handles since some of our beta testers have mentioned that they move their machines around a fair bit.

Last night I went to Toronto to compete in the GSEA (Global Student Entrepreneur Awards), pitch Sienci Labs, and meet some amazing entrepreneurs.

The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) is the premier global competition for students who own and operate a business while attending college of university. Nominees compete against their peers from around the world in a series of local and/or national competitions in hopes to qualify for GSEA Finals. Founded in 1998 by Saint Louis University, GSEA is now an Entrepreneurs’ Organization program.

There were many interesting businesses, from companies developing video games for underprivileged children in countries like India to an allergy medicine patch, and everyone who competed did an amazing job. Each competitor was selected from a pool of applicants and gave a 12 minute pitch about their journey as an entrepreneur.

Something that was unique about this event was how incredibly encouraging the members of the EO and everyone there were. They genuinely were interested in our companies, and it was from their generous contributions we received awards ranging from cash to consultation sessions.

At the end of the night, Sienci Labs was awarded fourth place. It was a great experience and I’m looking forward to next years competition! A special thanks to Jeff Lem, who organized this event, and Jeremy Choi, who mentored me through the creation of the presentation.

Last week we pitched our company to three judges from Velocity to have a chance at winning $25,000 in funding for our company. Unfortunately, we did not make it to the finals. However, Chris gave an amazing pitch at the 5K qualifier night, so Chris will be pitching for the Velocity Fund Finals on December 1st, competing against other startups in the UW region for $5000. We’re super excited for the competition, and have a lot of work preparing for his three minute pitch.

Learn more about the competition at http://velocityfundfinals.com/

A whole lot of stuff (over 700lbs) just arrived on our doorstep, from fasteners to motors, leadscrews to couplers, which means there is a lot of sorting, testing, and packaging to do. From our initial look over the shipment, everything is there and is of high quality, but the motors and the power supplies were not exactly as we specified.

While we might be able to use the motors if they are up to spec, the power supplies with need to be sent back for a replacement. While this is unfortunate, our supplier seems to be willing to fix the situation, and we believe delays in our production schedule will be minimal, if there is a delay at all. We can generally have parts ordered and shipped within a few days, and the whole process takes about a week an a half, so with full cooperation from our supplier, we hope to have the right parts soon.

There are still other parts that require more time to produce, and we do not expect this part of the process to be our bottleneck. We will continue to have updates on our progress!

Some of the people we meet in public have been asking about Tim, one of the guys who was in our Kickstarter, and what he’s been up to.

Since the early days of Sienci Labs, Tim has been working with me in many aspects of the early development of the Sienci Mill One. From doing machining and prototyping for the early iterations, as well as putting in early investments into the company, Tim helped jumpstart the company and bring about the first working prototypes. Since then, he has done extensive work in online marketing, social media, and public relations.

Since the end of our Kickstarter, Tim has been finding new opportunities in research, and as an brilliant academic minded person, something more suited to the career path he intends to pursue. A

Since our University requires students to be part of the co-op program, Tim plans to work at a firm in Ontario doing finite element analysis, or find an internship in the US. However, he has been working with Chris and myself in all sides of the business. We still pretty much see each other every day.

Anyways, tomorrow is his birthday, so here’s a photo of his hair after I cut it for him a few weeks ago. Happy birthday Tim.

As you might know, several of the parts on the Sienci Mill One are 3D printed. With all of the orders we are filling this means there is a lot of 3D printing to do! To meet the demand, we have several 3D printers dedicated to making parts for the Sienci Mill One, working almost 24 hours a day.

If you read our previous blog posts, we ordered two new Maker Select 3D printers. Unfortunately one of the printers had bad LMU88 linear bearings on the Y axis, and so we had to get it sent back. We’ve ordered another one which should arrive in the next few days.

Here’s a photo of our current setup:

Chris and I went to Walmart last night to pick up one of these shelves to put our 3D printers on, and soon enough, it will be full of 3D printers!

We also went to Mississauga to pick up 25kg of 3D printer filament. It should keep us busy for about a week and a half, but it looks like we’re going to have to order more soon. Luckily we were able to get a really good deal on them, and the quality has been quite good. If you’re in the Kitchener/Waterloo area and want us to pick some filament up for you the next time we go, feel free to email us!