If you’ve been following the news, especially if you’re from the US, the exemption that previously allowed for products entering into the US under $800USD to pass without customs or duties has been abolished. This has caused disruptions in the shipping industry, with new rules being enforced for packages entering into the US.
With much of our products being produced in Canada, we have already certified our products under USMCA/CUSMA, which allows for products from Canada going into the US to be shipped duty free. This means that for the most part, our US customers will be unaffected by these changes. However, we have already removed the ability for US customers to purchase certain items, namely t-shirts and routers, to be bought individually since they do not comply with the USCMA trade agreement.
Due to the changes, Canada Post/USPS shipments going to the US have been suspended due to the need for shipments having to be cleared and duties paid before they enter the US. It will take us some time to implement this system. Instead, US customers currently are only able to ship their products through UPS. Due to our longstanding relationship with UPS, we have been working closely with them to reduce errors and issues with shipping, as well as continue to comply with changing regulations.
It should be noted and expected that shipping delays and errors are more susceptible to happen across all shipping carriers, due to ongoing changes with US regulations. We’ve had a more than normal number of shipments get returned or missing than usual.
Floor Removal and Production Space Shuffling
The past year has been pretty crazy in getting things organized for inventory and production. We’ve been using offsite warehousing to help store inventory, and getting things into our production space for assembly and shipping. To add some more space, we’ve taken out the old flooring used for power and HVAC. This means that we can increase the load capacity on the group and use more high racking and lifters to keep inventory.
LongMill MK2.5 Pricing Changes
We have some pricing changes coming down the pipeline!
Production for 2×4 and 4×4 has moved very quickly and we have pretty much cleared the queue, with some orders shipping in less than one week. We are now waiting on Batch 6 parts to arrive, and we expect the queue to fluctuate, but remain relatively short moving forward.
While most shipments are shipping much quicker than 5-7 weeks, we are keeping this estimate in place as we expect some slowdown in shipping while we shuffle around our production space.
AltMill 4×8 Development
The AltMill 4×8 launches Oct 29th!
AltMill 4×8 Render
In other news, lot of progress continues to happen in AltMill 4×8 development, more focus being put on:
Long term wear testing on the rack and pinion system
Improving the assembly process and structural rigidity of the base/table
Demo projects with our prototype machines.
We’ve now built two full prototype machines, and we are expecting to have some go to beta testers shortly.
New Endmills for the AltMill Now On the Store
Bigger machines and bigger spindles means we need bigger bits! We’ve added more end mills to our store. Check out all the new bits at the link below.
gControl Panel Computers have been selling more quickly than we expected and we are currently out of stock. We are waiting on new stock to arrive and expect it to arrive in early November.
I should note that the new version of the gControl will come with a slightly upgraded processor (N150). The older chip, the N100, is expected to be phased out over time, so we’ve gone ahead with having the next batch use the new chip. This new chip is slightly more expensive as well, so expect a small price bump.
Automatic Tool Changer development continues on at lightning speed. Here’s a cool new update for gSender and ATC integration, which will show different tool path colours based on which tool is being used.
A couple of notable parts of development include:
Stress testing the cooling system
Toolsensing system
Certified VFDs
As we discussed in our previous updates, we have been working on building our first batch of certified VFDs. We’re excited. We have now shipped the replacement VFDs to Canadian customers who have been waiting, and we have started taking orders for new customers. The new batch of VFD with certification is expected to ship in Jan 2026. In the meantime, customers outside of Canada will still be able to order our regular line of VFDs and spindles.
While certified VFDs are only being sold to Canadian customers at the moment, we are planning to change over to this design completely once the remaining VFDs for the US market have been sold out.
Clear-Cut Dust Shoe
Dust shoes go through a lot of abuse. While 3D printing has allowed us to scale up our dust shoe production quickly and make changes on the fly, 3D printed material isn’t the most durable. We are updating our 80mm dust shoe with our own, polycarbonate dust shoe.
Not only is polycarbonate stronger, the fact that it’s transparent allows users to see dust going through the dust shoe more easily and see how the bit is cutting.
Additionally, the new latching system makes it much easier to take the new dust shoe on and off the spindle, and the new magnet bristle holding section makes it much easier to remove for tool changes.
New spindle kits will start to ship with the new dust shoe soon, and we will start taking order for the new shoe soon as well. Early November is the estimated sale date of dust shoes as single items, and they will cost approx. $95 CAD.
AltMill production has been moving forward at a breakneck speed, with us shipping out nearly 100 AltMills per week. We are now stocking up for Batch 6 units for Oct 2025.
We have been addressing issues that some of our new customers have faced, some of which frankly are a little embarrassing, like sending two left side rails instead of one left and one right.
We appreciate everyone’s patience as we get some of these things ironed out. The team has been working to put in the proper checks to ensure that things like this don’t get missed, both as we understand it can be frustrating for the customer to have to wait a little longer to get their machines together, as well as our time and cost to do the replacements.
A lot of this is housekeeping to get production tidied up and streamlined, and we expect the overall experience for the user to be improving as we go along.
We did take a short pause on shipping to wait on restocking for power supplies, however we are expecting them any day now and expect lead times to stay within 5-7 weeks for customers that ordered in August. Once we get these parts in, we’ll be able to ship out the next few hundred machines and get prepped for the next batch!
AltMill 4×8
We’re excited to have done our first round of test cuts with the first prototype of the AltMill 4×8. Want to follow along on the development process? Check out Ben’s videos! These will be a series of videos coming out every few weeks, so make sure to subcribe to our Youtube channel if you want to keep up to speed!
We are now deep diving into longer term stress testing for the 4×8. One of the key areas we’re digging into is the long term wear impact of the rack and pinion system. Some of the areas of consideration to improve longevity include:
Lubrication of the rack and pinon
Hardness of the rack and pinion components, and the impact of wear based on the difference of hardness between the rack and pinion
Teeth count, profile and shape of the pinon
Hardening methods including nitriding and carbourizing
Photos of rack comparison before and afterFirst cut on the 4×8
We have now ordered parts to build three beta machines that will have production parts and we should have of them to start by the end of the month.
Auto Tool Changer
A lot of progress on the ATC this month. Here’s a quick look at testing the software integration of the ATC.
A lot of new developments for the ATC system. We’ve now 95%-completed the mechanical design for the spindle and we’ve tested it to be powerful and reliable. A couple of features that come along with this include:
Manual mode button, allowing for tools to be changed by button press rather than with a programmed sequence
Status lights to indicate proper pressure before use
Some of the core focuses for this month have been with the tool rack, a couple of features developed or in development include:
Pivoting mechanism to prevent damage during crashes
De-dusting process to prevent dust and chips from getting caught in the spindle
Positioning and mounting to preserve work area on the machine
Tool length sensor
Also check out this video that shows off the early version of the ATC system!
AutoSpin T1
Last month we mentioned that we had put the router production on hold to resolve some issues around the certification. We are glad to say we’ve been able to work out the details and continue the production. We are in the process of recertification and expect it to be ready around the end of September. This is still in progress so we will have a more solid update by the next production update.
We’re tentatively expecting to complete production in early October. Our general plan right now is once we have our production units ready, we can open up units for pre-order after we’ve inspected the first batch of production units. If we stick to this timeline, we should see the new routers ready to ship in late November to early December.
Based on current estimates, here’s the general plan:
Receive updated certification mid-September
Receive first few units off production line end of September
Test first few units. If units work successfully, we will launch pre-orders
Production for approximately 2000 units completes early October; with shipping to our warehouse, we should expect to have units ready to ship by early December
We will continue to provide more info as we move forward, so stay tuned!
These are of course still tentative plans, and we will provide more news as time goes on.
110V 1.5KW ER20 Spindles and 220V 2.2KW ER20 Spindles
Both 110V and 220V spindles are now shipping! These are uncertified VFDs for the US market. These are shipping with AltMills (if ordered with machines) or have an approximately 3 week lead time currently.
We also have started shipping replacement certified VFDs to customers who have been waiting on them. More info in our blog post here: https://sienci.com/2025/08/12/everything-you-need-to-know-about-certified-vfds/. We are currently working on manufacturing for a new batch of certified VFDs to sell to the Canadian and international markets. We have now certified around 90 units and have started shipping them out to customers who are waiting on them. We are expecting to have these available to sale once we have completed shipping out the first batch.
Between the Racks Fireside Chat
For Waterloo Tech Week, we are hosting a small talk about hardware! Event will be Sept 11, from 6:30pm/
This past July was a busy month. Here are August 2025 Production Updates!
AltMill 2×4 and 4×4
Probably the biggest news of the month: we had our batch of materials we were waiting on to continue shipping on time. It’s sort of funny how we talk about when a shipment is on schedule, because we’re so used to things being late, we say it’s “on time”. This is why were letting people know that there was a good chance that we would have to start shipping in August. However, given that all the materials came in July, we have already started shipping and customers may be seeing their machines a few weeks earlier starting July 11th. Over the last three weeks we’ve hit about a hundred machines shipping out per week.
Additionally, we have reduced our lead times down to around 5-7 weeks, and we’re expecting lead times to continue go down gradually as we clear the queue. If we’re on track with our shipping rates, we should get there at the end of August and for us to complete Batch 5 in the first week of October.
We’ve brought a few extra staff members and have continued to hire more people for production to prep materials to get out the door. Batch 6 production is now underway, with parts completing in October as well, hopefully in time for when we run out of parts in the previous batch.
We also recognize that we do have a couple housekeeping things that we need to tackle, including more resources for the AltMill maintenance and offering replacement parts on the store. Our team is continuing to work on that, especially as we continue to grow our community.
In other news, Mike has set up some automation in the print farm to help print the dust shoe parts with a little less human intervention. We’re currently working on the injection molded version to soon take over 3D printed shoes, but we expect the manufacturing process to take another few months to complete.
AltMill 4×8
Version 1 of the AltMill 4×8 was constructed this past month. This was to get a general idea of scale, assembly, and everything that we can’t from 3D modelling it on the computer. We took parts from the original AltMill 4×4 to build this prototype. We’re expecting to start testing the full machine in the next week or so. We’ll post some testing and project videos showing the new machine soon.
While the X axis of the AltMill 4×8 will be more or less the same as the 4×4, version 2 and the final version of the 4×8 will use different Y axis rails to support the rack and pinion hardware. Another set of dies and extrusions are being produced now and we are expecting these to be arriving sometime at the end of August. We also have some of the production version parts on order so that we can have potentially a small beta testing run before going into full production to iron out any bugs. Based on our current timelines, we should have these around the end of September.
We are also starting to work on how big our batches are going to be, since we’re expecting a lot of interest. However, we’re already quite packed in our current production space, so there’ll have to be a bit of extra planning involved.
Bengineer on the AltMill 4×8 V1 prototypeFirst Assembly of the V1 prototype
AutoSpin T1
Due to some issues with working with our supplier, we are not certain of what direction we will be taking this project. Over the last few months working with this supplier, we had some general small communication issues, however, we ran into an issue with the the way the router was certified. One of the key aspects of the design is the control cable and electronics to allow CNC controllers to control the speed of the router. However, in the official certification documents, this was not included. From our perspective, this is a critical part of the product, and without this part included in the certification, we open ourselves up to additional liability.
There are a couple of ways forward from here:
Let the current supplier properly certify with the correct specifications
Find a new supplier to work with
Put the project on the backburner
We’re still going back and forth with the supplier to determine how we want to move forward, but we expect the project to be delayed until we get this part back on track.
New (Larger) Bits Coming Soon
With the growing community of AltMill users, we’re also expecting to launch larger tooling soon. We are currently working on documentation and testing for a new batch of end mills that are more specifically designed for the AltMill. This includes larger diameter bits, surfacing tools, and more.
We are quite close to releasing a 2.2KW version of the spindle using ER20 collets, which will also play nicely with the new bits, more details for that to come as well.
New Spindles and VFDs
We have a couple new VFD and spindle kits coming down the pipeline. We’ll have a separate post and pricing for this in the next few weeks, but this includes:
220V – 2.2KW ER20 Spindles (AltMill only)
110V – 1.5KW ER20 Spindles (AltMill and LongMill)*
*We had initially stated that we didn’t recommend the ER20 spindles for the LongMill. The engineering team has let me know that we want to retract this statement, and also to provide some more context.
The spindle is NOT plug-and-play compatible for machines with the originalLongBoard (MK1 and MK2). Support and resources are limited for implementing this set up. Please read this article for more details. Customers who have the LongMill MK2.5 can use the spindle.
These kits are currently only available for customers outside of Canada. Kits certified for Canada are coming soon. More updates to come.
The 1.5KW ER20 spindle kit for the LongMill can be found here.
Working on assembly of our own VFDs
Close Loop Stepper Motor Kit
As we talked about in the last blog post, we had gotten a lot of feedback for interest in a “close-loop stepper motor kit”. We got nearly 400 respondents with a strong interest in this type of kit. Given the interest, we believe that this would be a viable kit for us to make available.
There are a couple of practical considerations before we move forward with this sort of kit:
There is a lot of documentation that needs to go into helping users set up their systems
We need to buy more inventory, which eats into the capital that we are already allocating to our AltMill production currently
We’re already working on several projects, including the ATC and the AltMill 4×8, which means that we need to consider how thin we’re spreading ourselves with the development
It’s likely that when we get to purchasing Batch 7 in around October, we’ll look again at ordering parts for the kit, or figure out some ways to work on this kit without overburdening our engineering resources in the meantime to get this kit available sooner rather than later.
Automatic Tool Changer
A lot of work continues to go into the ATC project, with a lot of focus in the software and user interface side of things.
We’ve also been ordering some more parts and doing some design work in July as well. We’ve ordered some more parts for this which should arrive in the coming weeks. We’ve now finalized the manifold design and electronics, leaving us with finalizing the design for the toolholder.
ATC Exchange
gControl Panel Computer
A small piece of exciting news, in July, we shipped our 1000th gControl Panel computer. Which was something that we were expecting to be a minor accessory has been a surprising success in our books. With the popularity, our team is working to offer more resources to help support users. If you haven’t checked out the latest video, here it is:
If you haven’t checked out our warehouse tour, make sure to check it out here:
Cost, quality, speed?
While the lead times for newly released products, especially the AltMill, tend to be a sticking point for many customers, our process is intentional to provide products at the lowest cost and the highest quality possible. Long lead times is temporary, as once we’ve establish and mature our production process, the average lead time drops significantly. To learn more, check out our article here.
Average AltMill Order Completion Times by Month
AltMill 2×4 and 4×4
AltMills continue to ship to clear out the remaining materials from Batch 4. We are now waiting on some of our Batch 5 parts to arrive which are needed to continue shipping in July. Based on current shipment tracking data, we are expecting parts to arrive July 9th, but still have a chance to be delayed. Due to this uncertainty, plus time to destuff and sort parts, after Batch 4 is complete, there is a chance that machines will start shipping in August.
While we continue to wait for our next batch of parts, our team is continuing to pre-pack and assemble parts on hand so that we can ship remaining orders in the queue rapidly as soon as we have everything ready to ship. This means that the first few weeks of July won’t have much shipping out but as soon as the new parts arrive, we’ll be aiming to ship around a hundred AltMills per week.
We are expecting to have a strong shot at significantly reducing our lead times, because when the final parts for Batch 5 arrive, we will have more materials on hand than machines currently sold. However, we do expect demand to pick up further as from August we’ll be entering into our busy season.
grblHAL merge
For current and upcoming CNC users with the SLB or SLB-EXT, our team is currently working on a grblHAL merge. As of current, the AltMill is using a modified version of grblHAL that branched off into it’s own version a little more than a year ago, with machine specific features and modifications. This code merge is intended to merge all of the features we’ve developed, plus all of the new features and support in the latest main version of grblHAL together. Our goal in the future is to allow new versions of grblHAL compatible directly with the boards and users will be able to update using the web builder for different use and configurations of SLB or SLB-EXT.
Once this merge is complete, we should see some smaller improvements, such as the handling of various alarms and motion planning, as well as integrating better support for toolchanger workflow.
gSender 1.5.0
A new, overhauled version of gSender is now out, with improvements to the user interface and new features.
AltMill 4×8
First assembly of the Y axis
Development continues to move forward with the AltMill. As we alluded to in the previous update, our main development challenges currently revolve around improving the accuracy of the Y-axis system. After additional testing with several different gearboxes, we’re happy to announce that we’ve had acceptable results for the latest batch of gearboxes. We are currently working on improving the placement of the additional components to optimize for space efficiency.
For this month, we are expecting to complete a first stage full size prototype with incoming set of rails and additional parts. A couple of things in progress include:
An “eloquent” way for joining rails together accurately.
Continued design on improving the positioning of the gearbox.
Long term wear testing.
Automatic Tool Changer
Toolchanger development is moving along well. Some of the main development done in the past month focuses on improvements to the design of the pneumatic systems:
Testing with using different air compressors commonly available to the general public
Changes to the manifold to improve compactness
Testing of overall reliability (over +700 tool changes completed so far)
Certified VFDs
As we talked about in some of our previous updates, we’ve been working on building a certified version of the H100 VFD, since they are not certified for sale within Ontario. Since we have completed the certification, we are now waiting on parts to arrive to start shipping replacements to customers in Ontario new VFDs if they have opted in. We are expecting these to arrive mid to end of July.
Close Loop Stepper Motor and SLB-EXT Kit?
It’s been a pretty popular request, but perhaps an even more popular request recently for us to release the SLB-EXT and close loop stepper motors to the public. We primarily haven’t up to this point simply because we’re trying to hold onto them so that we don’t run out of them for the AltMill production.
I believe there are a couple of other factors playing into seeing some additional demand for this solution to be launched, which include:
Closure of OpenBuilds, which provided the popular “BlackBox” series of controllers
Production uncertainties around third party controller supply availability for some OEM manufacturers
Increasing popularity in grblHAL platform, DIY builds, and growth in new hobby CNC manufacturers
What are some things folks may expect to see with a kit like this?
Ability to retrofit close loop stepper motors to the LongMill family of machines*
Ability to retrofit close loop stepper motors to many, if not most hobby CNC machines on the market
A simplified option for DIY builders
The ability for other CNC manufacturers like us to use the same electronics platform across many different types of machines
And why would a kit like this be the ideal solution for these people?
The kit is already tested and proven on the AltMill CNC as they share the same components.
At an expected price point of around $500USD, one of the least, if not the least expensive complete kit of it’s type.
Compatibility with other accessories in our ecosystem, including gSender, gControl, AutoZero touch plate, and more
Open source, which means that companies and individuals can reproduce and modify source code and designs to fit their needs, regardless of whether Sienci Labs continues to exist or not.
So what’s next?
As of current, we are knee deep in sourcing for Batch 6 AltMill. A survey to determine demand would help us understand how many additional components we should order to support upcoming demand.
We need to determine what sort of resources and documentation to provide to allow users to retrofit the kit to their own machines.
We need to see what type of machines people are looking to retrofit, so that we can have proper wire and cable lengths on hand.
If you want to help, please feel free to answer the survey below!
Hey everyone, welcome to our June 2025 Production Updates. Here we go!
A lot of development continues to happen, so some of these are updates from previous blog articles. If you want more context, make sure to check out our blog for our monthly production updates.
Order Status Page
I’ve been seeing a bit of chatter about the Order Status page. I just want to reassure everyone that no one is skipping the line, unless you are a big-time content creator (at the current time, Hamilton Dilbeck and Ryan Drapela are the only people who have received their machines early for marketing purposes).
We get bribed a lot by individuals to skip the line. We will never accept these.
There can be discrepancies that make it look like the order of which machines are being shipped don’t look like they are in order. Here’s how that can happen.
The specific variant of the order has a different shipping schedule. For example, the 2×4 and 4×4 AltMill are built on different schedules, but they are both on the order page.
The order isn’t fully complete. If the order is partially shipped based on part availability, the order will not show as shipped. This can create gaps between each order on the list.
The customer asked us to put their order on hold.
We do our best to ship based on the order of which they are placed. There can be some variation sometimes, for example, if we can batch the products together, so we build all of the 2x4s in one go for example, we can reduce the overall average time to ship units because we don’t have to go back and forth with setting up production stations constantly. While it may throw out the order a bit, overall we expect for people to get machines quicker this way, which I think is a reasonable tradeoff.
Tariffs
As referenced in the previous update, we had been experiencing a lot of shipments being turned away at the border. One of the changes in the process was that all shipments in a truck crossing the US must have customs pre-cleared before it can enter the country, and any truck that had even a single item without proper clearance would be turned away. The below email references issues causes by some 3rd party brokers which appears to be resolved recently.
Email note from UPS
Shipping seems to continue to be a bit of a mess, but generally speaking, the issues have reduced a lot since the tariff war. Fewer orders are getting shipped back, and more are clearing without issues.
Starting April 23, we’ve also re-updated our shipping system to note DDP for all US-bound shipments. I should also note that most US-bound shipments prior have also been changed to DDP as well. For those who don’t know, DDP (delivery, duty paid), designates the shipment to have any duties and fees charged to the shipper (us). We used to have DDP set up, but during the trade war, we changed it to DAP (delivered at place), which would have the receivers (you) pay duties and fees. Since we are able to clear pretty much all of the shipments without duties and tariffs, we’ve reverted to this. Some customers were being charged brokerage fees and tariffs, even though they shouldn’t be, and it seems to be happening to other folks, not just in our company. We are helping customers get refunds, but now that we have changed things to DDP, any refunds will be able to be processed just through us without customer intervention.
AltMill
First off, we’re excited to share that the AltMill MK2 assembly video is now available!
Some folks were also confused about what batch their order for the AltMill is in. For the customer, it should not matter because the machines between Batch 4 and 5 are the same, and we don’t have a specific delineation for orders between the batches. However, if you ordered your AltMill around mid-April, there is a good chance that your order is in Batch 5. We expect to complete shipping Batch 4 at the end of this month the start of June.
As mentioned in the last blog post, we expect Batch 5 to start shipping in July based on the arrival of additional components. Our team is working to update the order status page based on updated news on parts arrival as shipping dates approach. Please have patience as these days may vary a bit based on the continued news. We are continuing to pre-assemble parts to prepare for another large push of shipments in the next coming weeks when everything arrives.
We have started building some of the 2×4 AltMills as well. The shipping for these may be a bit sporadic since we need to switch back and forth with the 4x4s. This may contribute somewhat to the spottiness of shipping on the Order Tracking list as well.
We’ve brought on a number of new packing staff and implemented additional production hours towards clearing our queue. Michael and the rest of the production team have continued to accelerate our production significantly, with this past month having shipped around 180 AltMills. While it feels like we’re making little to no progress (perhaps it even looks like we’re slowing down), we’ve doubled our production volume in the past 6 months, which is a significant achievement for the team. Unfortunately, or perhaps not unfortunately, as we’ve accelerated shipping, we’ve been met with an accelerating volume of sales for the AltMill as well, offsetting our gains in scaling up production and where we are with decreasing lead times.
As mentioned in the previous update, we’re waiting on shipment of components for another 750 units, and our supply chain team is also working to prepare components for an additional 750 units to arrive in the fall. This is an aggressive amount of purchasing as we are working to eliminate parts availability as one of our production bottlenecks and prepare ourselves for the peak season for sales in the fall and winter.
AltMIll Shipments
AltMIll Shipments
AltMIll Shipments
VFD certification
Adding to last month’s news, we’re excited to announce that our first VFD was certified on May 5th and we are now going through the process for building a new batch.
If you ordered a spindle in Ontario and are still waiting on it to ship or are waiting on a replacement, then we will switch to this option automatically for no extra charge. For customers who are wanting to order a spindle for the Canadian market, these will be available as well, albeit at a slightly higher price than the non-certified option.
In somewhat good news, as we continue to work on the development of higher power spindles, we’re finding that we are able to build different variations while keeping the same casing and form factor, which we expect will make upgrades and replacements much easier in the long run. Additionally, since we know that our base design is compliant, we expect future safety approvals to be much faster and straightforward.
As of time of writing, we’ve started getting our first batch of sample components for our testing and finalizing some design and wiring processes as we prepare for our larger batch of manufacturing.
Auto Tool Changer
As we’ve alluded to previously, we’ve been working on a tool changer solution for the AltMill. While ATC is community supported, we currently don’t have official support and resources for this yet and likely a bit complicated for the average user.
We’ve now received several ATC spindles which we’ve been testing with different tool holder sizes and body types.
ATC on SmAltMillATC square body and round body on AltMill 2×4
Of course there is a ton of consideration being put into place as we continue developing an ATC solution, including:
What power spindle do users need
Placement of tools and toolholder
Toolholder fork design
Pneumatics requirements
Dust shoe compatibility
Software interface and user experience
At the end of the day, we want to make sure that we have a product easy to use and accessible to both beginner and advanced users, and while we could be putting out a product for the sake of it, we’re focusing a lot of effort in making a product traditionally quite complicated into something simple.
AltMill 4×8
We continue to work on AltMill 4×8 development. Want to help us make some design decisions? Check out our survey below:
Much of the work so far has been around improving the rack and pinion design. While we’ve made great progress already in the design, we’re trying to reduce backlash in the system as much as possible. This has been in the way of testing different systems such as direct drive, using a pulley system, and gears. Reducing backlash is important as it will affect the dimensional accuracy in parts, especially in the Y direction. We’re also researching and playing around with motor tuning design to optimize between performance and accuracy.
We’re also working on designing the machine to reduce the overall footprint, especially focusing on the stickout from the motors. Additionally, we’re also looking at optimizing the form factor and design of the machine to make sure that the ATC placement is optimal.
We’re expecting some of the prototype parts to arrive in June or July, which should allow us to build and test early stage prototypes, and we’ll continue to work on and test smaller scale versions over the coming weeks.
We’ve gotten a lot of questions on why we’re not using a rotating ball screw design. Simply put, a rotating ball screw design is more complicated and expensive, and since the ball screw needs to be one continual length, this makes shipping extremely difficult compared to rack and pinion. The fact of the matter is that most industrial CNC machines of this size use a rack and pinion. Although a rack and pinion design is not as accurate inherently, we don’t expect users to need as high levels of accuracy in a way that a ball screw is the only way to go. Just for context, we’re talking about a difference of dimensional accuracy of between the thickness of one or two sheets of paper. It isn’t a design we’ve completely eliminated, but in general, we believe that it’s drawbacks outweigh the advantages.
LongMill
We continue to ship LongMills consistently. To improve production efficiency, we are slightly increasing lead times to 7 to 10 days. We currently have parts in stock, however, to reduce the need to switch back and forth between production of the AltMill and LongMill, some days will be dedicated to LongMill production only so that we can stockpile completed machines and ship them as needed. This means that many if not most customers will get machines shipped sooner than the estimated lead time, but depending on the production schedule, it may take up to 10 days to ship.
LongMill Shipments
LongMill Shipments
AutoSpin T1 Router
The AutoSpin continues to make progress as we prepare for initial production. One thing we’re working on is further testing and resource development as we prep it’s use for common hobby CNC routers. We’ve found some small quirks for setup that we’ll make sure to address in the setup process for each machine. For example, users with a Onefinity machine will need to plug their router directly into an outlet rather than the relay controlled plug on some controllers.
We’re also working on the packaging and incorporating a couple important features, including containing basic information about the product, links, safety notes, while protecting the package. Additionally, to keep shipping costs as low as possible, we’re aiming to make packaging as compact as possible.
gControl Panel Computer
Production of another batch of 500 gControls have now completed and are awaiting shipment. We currently have around 70 more units, which means that it’s likely we’ll sell out of them before the new batch arrives. However, we don’t expect the delay to be more than a few weeks as the new batch should arrive shortly after the old one runs out.
Perhaps an exciting note to make is that gSender Edge (our early access version of gSender which eventually gets pushed out for the main version) now supports portrait mode. This means that users will be able to use their gControl computers in the portrait direction, just like the Masso controller. There are a few improvements that development is still working on, but features like “pinch to zoom” in the visualizer, have now been incorporated. If you’re interested in checking out gSender Edge, make sure to check out our Github.
In other news, Gilberto and the rest of the marketing team are working to release some new instructional videos to help users update, customize, and optimize their gControl experience, so keep an eye out for that soon!
Hey there, here’s another month of production updates from Andy Lee, and our latest production video with even more info and updates.
Tariffs
Tariffs continue to cause confusion. You can read more about the current situation here.
As referred in the article, we’re seeing an uptick in people who are running into issues with shipments to the US. We’ve been able to resolve issues without too many issues, but we are asking folks to be patient as we work through them. At the beginning, we had quite a few hiccups but we’ve been able to get through most of them and are finding issues are happening less frequently.
Unfortunately at this time we are finding a large number of shipments are getting returned to us without any obvious reason, which are slowing down our production rate. Although initially we suspected this to be due to incorrect customs documentation, even orders that have proper documentation and have historically been unproblematic are being returned.
While this does not directly impact us at this time since we don’t use DHL, it’s a significant signal on the complicated customs situation. At this moment, all shipping couriers are under immense pressure to update compliance, and DHL is the first as far as I know which has folded under the new change.
It has been reported that Trump intends to change deminimis rules that originally allowed most goods under $800USD to enter into the US without duties and taxes on May 2nd. The implementation of this may have a crippling effect on all shipping couriers since all Chinese shipments will be charged the current tariffs or be charged with a $100 flat fee, whichever is higher. While deminimis rules will not change for non-Chinese goods, these changes will likely negatively impact the transit times of all goods.
48″ T-Tracks
To better support the AltMill line, longer 48″ T-tracks are now available! We’ve designed these more specifically (although you can use them in other machines or applications) for the AltMill, as it allows users to avoid having to join more than one track together when setting up their wasteboard.
48″ T-tacks
48″ T-Tracks
AltMill 2×4 and 4×4
AltMill 2×4 and 4×4 have started to ship this month and we are working our way through the queue! We’re expecting to ship another ~200 AltMills this month to wrap up Batch 4. However, we’re expecting to be waiting on more parts to arrive come June to continue production on Batch 5. Batch 5 will be larger, with 750 units being built for this new batch. New orders for AltMill are expected to start shipping in June or July and will be part of Batch 5.
AltMill 4×8
Although we’ve pulled back a bit with development on the 4×8 AltMill so that we can focus more on the production setup on the 2×4 and 4×4 AltMills, we’re continuing to make progress. We are currently working on a couple of things:
Ordering and testing each type of rack and pinion system (different pitches, helical vs straight, etc) for precision and accuracy
Considering shipping options for longer parts, such as the 9-10ft Y-axis
Long term mechanical testing for reliability and wear
I don’t have too much news at the moment but expect to see some more things to come down the pipeline as development continues.
LongMill
LongMills continues to ship without delay. We expect existing stock to remain until this fall.
What is notable is a jump in aluminum extrusion costs, around 21%, from our previous batch in December. From what we understand, this jump comes a combination of a change in demand for North American manufactured aluminum parts, tariff pressures, and layoffs and lost jobs in the aluminum raw material production sector. We are not planning to adjust pricing to reflect this at the time. However, we’re keeping an eye out on aluminum prices
VFD Certification
In our last production update, we mentioned that we were looking into proper certification for the H100 VFD. Prior to this, we were purchasing the VFDs from the same supplier as the spindles. Since they are not the manufacturer of the VFDs, we were told that the VFDs could not be certified. During Johann and Daniel’s trip to China, they were able to track down the original manufacturer, and not just that, able to learn that the H100 line was certified in 2022, but the certificate expired and was not renewed. This give us a lot more confidence in being able to certify the VFDs, as we don’t believe there to be any significant changes between the 2022 and current version of the H100. This also brings us to two longer-term potential directions. We are in talks about renewing the certificate, but we expect this process to take a couple of months.
This means that we can start providing the stock H100 VFDs, pending certification approval with ETL or UL equivalent certification. This may help open up markets that require more regulation, such as in schools and institutions that may need specific certification.
Additionally, with our new knowledge of VFD and spindle design, we have been working on VFD enclosures and systems that may improve the wiring and installation of spindle kits in general, which this manufacturer is willing to work with us on. We’re working on some VFDs in-house now that will have SPE1000 certification for compliance that should be similar to a new design that can be manufactured in China or here. We are expecting to have inspections done on these devices in the next few weeks.
VFD Prototype
VFD Components
VFD Components
2.2KW Spindle
Somewhat related to the VFD-related work we’re doing, we’ve been also working on figuring out what to do about offering the larger spindle options. Here’s the situation:
For customers who only have access to 120V power, the 1.5KW is the most powerful option we can offer due to electrical limitations that come at that voltage. However, 1.5KW, while acceptable for the majority of cases, doesn’t unleash the full potential of the AltMill.
To be able to provide more performance, we must use a higher voltage. 220V and 3-phase are generally considered the most common options, with the 220V being a lot more common for residential use. This allows for power over around 6KW.
Once you get above a 2.2KW spindle on 220V, the size of the spindle also increases, which makes current dust shoes and spindle mount for AltMill not fit. This means these parts need to be redesigned.
This is our current plan – while we are still working on the higher power spindles, because 2.2KW 220V spindles are so readily available, it’s an option we can provide with little additional development. So we’ve went ahead and ordered a few hundred in the meantime as a stop gap for a potential larger option.
Wrapping into the VFD discussion, we ordered the 2.2KW spindle motors themselves but we are still working on a few decisions around the 2.2KW VFD as well. This means that although we will get the spindle motors first, we won’t be able to ship full systems until we get the VFD as well.
AutoSpin T1 Router
We’re excited to share that the beta testing phase of AutoSpin T1 Router has been successful. Johann and Daniel also went to visit the factory which will be manufacturing this product and start the production soon. We are going through the first phase of safety inspections which is expected to take around 20 days, then we’ll start a production cycle for around 2000-3000 units which is expected to take about 50 days.
This should put us somewhere in the summer for having the product ready to ship.
gControl Panel Computer
We have continued to ship gControls this month without a wait time. However sales have continued to increase and we expect stock to run out around the start of June. A new batch of computers are currently on order and is expected to arrive mid-June, so we are not expecting major changes in ship times moving forward.
LaserBeam
I forgot to mention this in the video for the production update but I’ll mention it here. We have completed selling the stock we have for the LaserBeam and have currently put the product sales for this on pause. We still have replacement parts available for service to support current customers, which are available on the store.
For those who still want to add a laser to their machine, we full support the majority of laser diode modules from other manufacturers. Resources for this can be found here: https://resources.sienci.com/view/slb-manual/#laser
I felt that after a few years of LaserBeam sales this product is due for an update to make it competitive in price and power to new developments in the laser space. We have it on the roadmap to work on in the coming months so keep an eye out for news soon.
Hey everyone, here are April 2025 production updates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW8kxUtdDj0
Inventory count day
Building Expansion
March was highlighted with the first half of our expansion in our current building, where we moved our desks upstairs to a new office space allowing us to make room for the downstairs to expand production. Our upstairs, being around 6000sqft will be used for general desk work and meetings, housing our customer service, engineering, administration, and marketing departments. Things like our prototyping and production offices are remaining downstairs.
We are expecting to knock down a wall sometime this summer to add another 3000sqft of downstairs space from our neighbours next door who are planning to expand into office space next to theirs as well. It’ll be a bit of shuffling around for everyone.
US Canada Tariffs
For latest news on tariffs, please visit our article here.
We’re expecting more news to come out April 2nd, at which point we will work out another message for everyone to keep folks update about the situation.
gSender is Getting a New Look!
Education
We are slowly expanding our business reach by exploring the education sector. We’ve now opened up ordering for schools and institutions through our education form. This is if you’re representing a school or institution and may require more specific ordering and payment processes.
Spindle Certification
Earlier last month we were in touch with ESA about having proper certifications for the H100 VFD that is used as part of the AltMill Spindle and Dust Shoe Kit and the LongMill Spindle and Dust Shoe Kit. As far as we understand, they require us to have certain safety certifications for this unit to be used in Ontario. Because of this, we’ve reached out to customers in Ontario who may already have this and paused the sale of this VFD within Canada. Once we have completed it, we will resume the sale of this item.
At the time of writing, we’re working with a certification body to safety certify the VFD, and we’ve contacted any customers who might be affected directly with more info and additional updates if necessary. From what we have learned, we may need to produce a modified version of the enclosure that complies with certain standards, but keeps the same internal parts. We’ve consulted with the certification firm and are in production of an updated VFD enclosure now and expect it to be completed in the next few weeks.
CAD design for sheet metal enclosure
At the time of writing, as well, we have not heard any reports of injury or damage. While this does not necessarily imply that the unit is unsafe, the ESA has asked us to comply with their directive for compliance.
AltMill
Most of March was spent preparing for the big shipping push this April. Now that we’ve cleared out of stock on AltMill MK1s, all new machines going out will be MK2s.
We are expecting to start shipping machines at the start of April, and aim to push 200 units per month, or 50 units per week until stock runs out again. We’ve just received parts for both AltMill 4×4 and 2×4!
As we mentioned prior, we’re gradually building up larger amounts of stock to decrease lead times for AltMill, and we estimate around 50 pallets of parts stocked up at a secondary warehouse now to help fulfill demand.
Jon opening crates of new AltMill rails
LongMill
After a short pause on shipping of LongMills, due to a shortage of SLB case parts, we are now back to a 1-3 business day lead time. This means all LongMills will ship within a few days.
gControl Panel Computer
gControls are back and we have another 500 units to ship out. We’re expecting to have around 150-200 units in stock after we clear our queue, or another 2ish months of stock. We’ll be starting another batch of 500 as soon as we’ve cleared the queue so that we don’t have another backlog again.
AutoSpin T1 Router
Exciting news! We’ve now received the first batch of AutoSpin T1 Routers for beta testing. We received a total of 35 routers for our first batch of testing, which have gone out to LongMill, Onefinity, Shapeoko, and other CNC users.
Speed testingOnefinity testing
Once beta testing is complete and we’ve finalized the details, we’ll be starting production in the next few weeks. Johann and Daniel are in China to visit the factory which these will be produced in to figure the last few details, and we expect us to get units ready for sale in about 3-4 months.
Hey everyone, here are March 2025 Production Updates.
Hiring
We currently have quite a few new job postings. Check out our Indeed postings here. Can’t find a specific job opening but want to share your interest in working at Sienci Labs, please check out our general application.
Office Expansion
When we first moved from our roughly 8000sq/ft location to our current 15,000sq/ft location, it felt like expanding into that space would take forever. Well, perhaps we spoke too soon. With the incoming shipments for increasing batch sizes for the AltMill, plus with the anticipated 4×8 ft AltMills and Sm-AltMills, we’re running out of room to build everything.
With about 40-50 pallets coming in the next few weeks, we’ve also started off-site warehousing, which means that some of our materials will be held in storage a few minutes away, ready to go when we need them.
We’re currently in discussion with our landlord about expanding our space by another approximately 9000 sq/ft, including part of the downstairs area of our neighbour and the upstairs portion of our current unit. Once we’ve taken possession of the space, we’ll most likely start building out the new space in the summer.
AltMill
AltMill shipments have been going out intermittently depending on the availability of SLB and SLB-EXT cases and case end plates. We have run out of those parts, and although we were expecting them to arrive already, they have been delayed in shipping. We have another batch expressed to us expected to come near the end of Feb, which means that we should be able to pick up shipping without much delay.
A large number of shipments have come in as we prepare for AltMill MK2 to ship. We are pre-packing and pre-assembling so that we can start shipping AltMills quickly once all of the remaining parts arrive in March.
STL files for stepper motor covers are available to download for free from our Resources. A link to download can be found at the bottom of the page. These covers were designed for the AltMill MK2 to help protect the wiring of the closed-loop stepper motors. They come included by default with AltMill MK2, but MK1 owners can print and install them if they want.
We are also making progress on 4×8 AltMill design, with Ben showing us a first look at the rack and pinion design he’s been working on.
I also happened to come across a few Sm-AltMills under construction in the back shop. Not exactly sure what the plans are for those but it’s exciting to see some come to shape.
LongMill
We’ve had one short pause on shipping for the LongMills due to a shortage of inductive sensor cables extensions needed for the 48×30 variants of the machine. However, we’ve since switched to including inductive sensors with 5m cabling instead, which forgoes the need for the extension cable and overall improves the reliability by reducing another connection point.
As we mentioned above, we have slowed on shipping for LongMill slightly as we wait on more of the SLB enclosures to come in, but we expect that to be resolved by the time this blog post comes out.
gControl
The next 294 units have now shipped for Batch 2! We are now waiting for a new batch of 500 computers to arrive early to mid-March. We expect to clear the remaining queue once they arrive, and new orders are expected to ship within a few days once we have ready-to-go stock.
AutoSpin T1
We have now collected a small group of beta testers for the AutoSpin T1, which span users of LongMill, Shapeoko, and Onefinity, allowing us to confirm and test compatibility for many major hobby CNC machines.
Beta test units are expected to go to users in the next few weeks.
Hey guys, here’s our Feb 2025 Production Updates. I am currently on vacation so I will be writing this from out of the office.
AltMill
We have continued to ship out AltMill MK1s to the last of the customers in the queue and are expecting to finish in the next two weeks. Afterwards, any machines still in the queue will receive a MK2. At the time of writing, we currently have around 50 machines still left to ship in MK1.
This past month was highlighted by the launch of the AltMill MK2 and the new 2×4 foot variant. We are now expecting MK2 rails to arrive in mid-March, which will allow us to start shipping AltMill MK2 4×4 and 2×4 in late March. Given we have a reasonably large queue, we currently have approximately 300 machines to build in the queue, which means that customers ordering now may be waiting around 2-3 months for their machines if they order today.
Batch 4, which contains machines for MK2 contains 500 units, which is a mix of 2×4 and 4×4 AltMills.
AltMill MK2 2×4
We’ve recently hired a number of new team members for the packing team to help speed up the shipping for AltMills and other products and accessories. We’re also expecting a large influx of parts in Feb and March, which means we’ll also be starting to restructure and organize our space to allow for more storage space.
Batch 5, which we have started initial production planning will likely contain around 750 units, additionally to help alleviate lead times.
In other news, our engineering team has been working on a new rack and pinion system to potentially be used in 4×8 variants of the AltMill MK2. Although we don’t have a specific timeline for the development and release of this machine, we expect more news to come out near the end of the year.
LongMill
Most LongMills continue to ship out as usual. Due to a shortage of extension cables for the inductive sensors, we’ve now switched to offering inductive sensors from the AltMill with longer wiring as an alternative to be used on LongMill MK2.5 48×30 machines.
We are expecting to get new cables in the next 3 weeks, however, we are debating whether we should just offer the longer cable inductive sensors or keep the extensions in the kit.
gControl
We’ve now received our next 300 computers which are being packed and shipped right now. Since the production of the computers we’ve made some updates to the operating system to significantly improve the loading time for gSender. We do have instructions on how to do this on our resources, but we’ve decided that re-flashing all the computers would improve the customer experience and would be worth the extra work.
We are now sold out on our second batch of 300 computers. Due to high demand, we’ve ordered another 500 computers, which are now on the way. We are expecting them at the start of March, which is when the next batch will also ship.
Pallets of computers ready to be packed
The majority of the new batch from the 300 have now been shipped and we are continuing to pack and ship as we clear out the new stock.
Vortex Rotary Axis
We are still waiting on additional extrusions for the 48″ wide variant of the Vortex Rotary Axis due to customs inspections for the parts en route. We are expecting to receive these parts and resume shipping the Vortex Rotary axis in the next 2 weeks. 30″ variants are continuing to ship without delay.
AutoSpin T1
We are expecting the first batch of around 35 routers for testing to be completed in Feb 16. We will ship them to around 20 assigned beta testers and industry partners once they arrive. We’re currently working on testing with a wide variety of machines including Onefinities, Shapeokos, and more, to ensure compatibility.
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!
