Category: Production Updates

Another busy June has come and gone. Welcome to our latest update!

Lead Times For Major Products

AltMill 2×4 and 4×4 are now shipping quickly, typically in 2 weeks or sooner. We have stockpiled some assemblies and full machines to help keep our lead times low.

Batch 2 of 4×8 machines are now in production, and we are expecting units to start shipping for this batch in August.

All spindle kits (minus the ATC) are now shipping within 2 weeks as well. We are now in production of Batch 2 of ATCs, new orders being placed now are expected to ship in August-September.

For orders that have already been placed, please refer to the estimate provided in the month/week that you ordered the product. Please note that the lead times that are presented on the product page only refer to orders placed at that time. Your order lead time will be different if you have already placed an order in a prior month.

LongMill MK2.5s are shipping within 1 week, and LongMill MK3s are also expected to start shipping in September.

For the latest list of shipping timelines, please check out our Order Status page.

Catching up on Maintenance Stuff

The last few months have been pretty busy with new product launches, but now that we’ve gotten through all of the big things, you should expect to see a bit of cleanup on our end, including:

• Updates and cleanup to resources and documentation
• Updates and cleanup for open source files and documentation
• Uploading of maintence and replacement parts on our store
• Continued training for our customer support term
• Continued improvement in gSender, our firmware, and other parts of our ecosystem
• Development of ancillary technologies and products, like a cnc control pendant, sensorless homing motors, and vacuum workholding

I don’t think I can list every single little detail, but users should expect to see small changes come down over the next few months.

Tool Length Sensor

Although we’ve mentioned this a few times in saying that gSender fully supports a tool length sensor, and users can/have installed a tool length sensor on machines with aftermarket TLS, we have now finally made the TLS sensor available to all users.

As you may know, the Auto Tool Changer system requires a TLS system, and so we designed a TLS sensor specifically for our machines and systems.

Benefits of the Sienci Labs TLS:

• Greatly improves productivity for CNC projects that use multiple cutting tools by removing the need to manually re-zero each time the tool is changed
• Break-away magnetic interface prevents damage to tools or machine in the event of any errors during tool length probing
• Hardened 45HRC 4140PH probe disc ensures a durable tool probing surface and makes certain wear does not affect probing accuracy
• Optical sensor provides high accuracy and repeatability, unaffected by temperature like other sensors
• Flexible mounting allows the sensor to mount directly onto your AltMill or LongMill,  or other CNC other machines.*

The TLS is now available for purchase:

LongMill MK3

Last month we launched the LongMill MK3. We have continued to work on the production for the machine in anticipation of shipping in September this year. Most of our work has been in finalizing some of the mechanical design and pushing to production our fast turnaround parts.

Additionally, we have been finalizing our packaging design with plenty of destructive drop testing.

We also had a livestream to talk about LongMill MK3 engineering, design, philosophy, and more, so if you want to check that out, see below:

SLB-EXT V2 and SLB-LITE

We have continued to make progress in the second generation of SLB-EXT controllers. We have now received another 20 units of samples in early June for continued testing. Here’s some general work

• Continued work on the firmware configurator tool to allow for users to customize their firmware for their needs
• Minor fixes to board design and components (namely the fit and sizing of the power connector in this case)
• Testing of signal consistency and noise
• Real life testing and cutting with SLB-LITE
• Work on the expansion board for further functionality

Pricing Changes to gControl Panel Computer

Due to continuing instability in the cost of processors and memory, we are again increasing the price of the gControl panel computer. We are continuing to negotiate with our suppliers, but we expect that pricing will be updated for the following batch of units.

Pricing is expected to be updated as following: USD $529 / CAD $739. Please note that timing of the change and final pricing may vary over time.

As we’ve mentioned in prior updates, we do acknowledge that the cost of the computer is high, and so we are actively working on a longer term computing solution to bring the same or similar functionality at a lower price. This is not to say that the gControl panel computer is overpriced. In fact, for a industrial level, fanless panel computer, it’s quite inexpensive, but we do recognise that not all users need such an overkill piece of hardware.

Sensorless Homing

In a bid to reduce component count, reduce costs, and improve overall reliability, we are currently undergoing testing and development in sensorless homing technology in conjunction with our R&D with close-loop stepper motors.

Because of a close loop motor’s inherent ability to detect when a motor loses steps, we can also use this feature to understand when a motor has reached the limit of it’s travel. In a traditional machine, a separate homing sensor or switch is used, which is triggered when the machine hits a limit. However in a sensorless homing setup the motor is used to detect the limit. A close loop motor can do this because there is an encoder and electronics inside that compare the amount of rotation the controller has commanded it to turn versus the amount it actually turned. When there is a mismatch, the motor knows that it’s “lost steps”.

To make sensorless homing work, we need to tune and program the motor to improve the sensitivity of the motor, so that it can detect contact with the machine faster and more accurately. We can do this by varying the amount of power going to the motor, the speed, microstepping, touch off distance, filtering algorithms and more. Additionally, we need to consider the mechanical structure of the contact points.

While this is a bit of a tricky thing to get right, this technology has been proven to work very well in modern 3D printers, to the degree that most 3D printers rely on this technology alone for their homing sequence.

The advantages of sensorless homing is that we remove one of the potential weak points in the machine design, which is the homing sensor. While homing sensors are extremely reliable, due to the added complexity of installing them, the wiring, and the additional hardware, we believe that reducing component count can improve the overall reliabilty of the machine in the long run. Additionally, while the cost of the switches are fairly low, the cost reduction in removing the ancillary hardware, instructions for installing them, configuration, and more, we believe that we can see some decent cost savings overall.

Naturally, people are going to ask if their existing machines will be able to support sensorless homing. With some generations of motors, it is possible. However this does require reflashing the motors and may require special tools. If your machine is working well with homing switches, it’s unlikely to be practical to move to a sensorless homing system and there is no practical performance differences when both systems are working well.

Vacuum Table Development

Over the last few months, especially coinciding with the AltMill 4×8, we’ve been working on a vacuum table solution in the background. As we continue to work on more advance systems focused on more professional level applications, we naturally looked to adding a vacuum table system to our machines.

Most of our work is currently exploratory, trying to understand:

• What sort of vacuum pump and architecture we should use
• How much performance we need and how much performance we can get in different configurations
• Potential shipping and logistics processes

Sienci Labs will be at IWF Atlanta

We will be at IWF Atlanta! We are working on the planning and logistics in coming down, but we’ll be bringing a few our team down to show case some of our cool products and chat with members of the community.

IWF Atlanta is one of, if not the largest woodworking fairs in the world.

If you’d like to attend, make sure to check out https://iwfatlanta.com/. Show dates are Aug 25-28.

Hey everyone, welcome back to our June 2026 production update!

More Open Positions at Sienci Labs

We have a couple official positions now posted on Indeed as we continue to grow our team. With continual expansion plus the development and release of new products, we’re constantly looking for new people to join our team.

We also have a few positions likely to come online in the coming months as well, including people to join our engineering team for hardware and electronics, additional software developers to focus on gSender development, and an in-house CNC instructor.

If you want to reach out to us because you feel like you could be a good fit with our company, please feel free to submit through our general application form.

Changes to Website Coming Soon

Ever since our beginning, our development on our website has been shared between a few different people in the company, but we never had a dedicated web developer on the team. But now, with the recent addition to our team to work on our website, you can expect to see some updates and changes coming down the pipeline. Our main focus right now is improving the user experience on the customer service side through our Contact Us page, plus the Resources to make it easier to find information faster.

LongMill MK3

The LongMill MK3 has now launched! If you want to learn more about it, read our article.

In other news, we’ve been continuing to work on a few things this month, including:

• Continual design and testing of packaging
• Development of the SLB-LITE
• Machine testing
• Dust shoe design and testing

SLB-LITE and SLB-EXT V2

A lot of work done on the new generation of SLBs, including:

• New samples of the packaging
• Testing and development of key features, such as the RGB LED support, Ethernet communication and board expansion design
• Reliability testing with early prototypes
• Manufacturing of key components, such as the front and back plates of the controller enclosure

AltMill 4×8

As mentioned in our last update, we’re in the process of ordering another 300 machines for the new batch. Otherwise we’ve been continuing to do long term accelerated wear testing for the AltMill 4×8, essentially running the machine constantly back and forth 100,000 times at high speed and acceleration, with sudden stops and starts. For context, this is a super extreme condition and we expect no one to ever come close to running it at these conditions.

Here are some of the findings:

• Change in backlash is essentially non-existent, under 2 thou
• Motors heat up to 92C, which is close to the 90C limit that the gearbox can handle
• Besides the bearing retaining ring on the gearbox starting to come loose, all other components are still at the torque they need to be

Overall, this means:

• Under normal operating conditions, it’s unlikely for users to see any significant decline in performance or accuracy
• Motors only heat up to their limit at the most extreme conditions
• We can reduce the chance of the bearing retaining ring coming loose with adding some locktite during assembly. However, given that the machine was run at extreme conditions where the amount of vibration is significantly higher than normal operating conditions, we believe that this is not an issue. We will include in maintenance documentation for users to check the ring during regular maintenance. The good thing is also that when this item becomes loose, it is visually obvious, which makes it easy to address if needed.

Clear Cut Dust Shoe

When we first launched the Clear Cut Dust Shoe for the 80mm spindles, we didn’t anticipate how popular they would be. We had originally set aside around 100 dust shoes for individual sale, which were all sold within a few days. The remaining dust shoes have been set aside to include with the Spindle Kits for the LongMill and AltMill.

We are expecting some more dust shoes to come in in 2 weeks and another batch in August. We will announce very shortly when they will be available again for single purchase.

Spindle Lead Times

Spindle lead times have been long for the past few months, as we received more orders specifically for the 1.5KW spindles than we were expecting. We’re happy to announce that a new batch of spindles have come in and we are working through backlogs. Please check the orders status page for the latest lead times.

Some Interesting Proof of Concept Projects

If you’re interested in knowing what else we have going on, we have a few “proof-of-concept” projects that we worked on in the past month. These are projects that don’t have any commercial direction at the moment, but highlights our interest in pushing the technology further and could be things you may see in the future. We have a lot of different “proof-of-concepts” that we work on, but these were two that I thought were particularly cool.

Perhaps it’s also worth mentioning that when you buy stuff from us, a lot of that money goes back into R&D to develop products and updates that benefits the ecosystem as a whole, so remember that it’s not just an investment you’re making today, but it can impact what your machine and the machines of others can do in the future.

“Autofeedrate“

One of the challenging things with setting up a CNC for cuts is figuring out the speeds and feeds. With the implementation of “autofeedrate”, we can actively adjust the feedrate in real time based on the load on the spindle. In essence, we can take a current reading from the spindle cable and adjust the feedrate down to optimize the load on the spindle in relation to how much material it is cutting. This means that if there’s more cutting capacity that the machine can handle, it can automatically run faster. Or, and likely more important to the average user, reduce the feedrate before the spindle can stall.

In industry, this is a feature that is used to optimize feeds and speeds in manufacturing, where shaving seconds off the cycle time can result in significant cost savings in a production facility. However, the implementation of this technology can cost thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars.

The use of autofeedrate in a hobby level setting, on the other hand, would allow users to reduce the amount of guesswork required to set feeds and speeds on their machine, especially due to differences in material, machine, and tooling differences. In essence, one of the challenging parts of providing a streamlined experience in CNCing is the fact that there are so many variables to take into account. By having an active system in monitoring load and adjusting for these factors could help optimize cuts and reduce the knowledge needed to operate a machine.

The exciting part of this technology is that the hardware and sensors needed to implement this can be done on most existing machines and are fairly inexpensive ($20-50). The software and signal processing is the more complicated and expensive part.

gSender on CM4

Up until recent months, gSender has been a fairly processor-intensive program. With recent improvements to gSender, we’ve managed significant speed and reliability improvements. However, we mostly see and expect users to run the program on full scale computers and laptops.

Kevin (one of our senior software developers), has been working on a new proof of concept we are expecting to funnel into a wider development of a more affordable control panel to control grblHAL machines.

To be frank, a solution like the gControl Panel Computer, is expensive for the average hobby user. While we see a big chunk of AltMill users buy the gControl Panel Computer, very few use it with a LongMill. I suspect this has mostly to do with the market that we are serving with the LongMill since it is a lower cost machine.

So what is the gSender on CM4? CM4 is a compute module, or a single board computer. They are generally cheaper than full size computers ($30-100), and are designed more for embedded applications and for light computing. Oftentimes, a CM4 is used as a development platform for testing before going into a full integrated computer design, as they are easy to set up and can be purchased off the shelf.

Since something like the CM4 has much less processing power than something like the N150 Intel processor found in gControl. This means gSender for CM4 needs to be optimized for that level of processing without losing functionality. This proof of concept shows the screenc apture of an optimized version of gSender designed for CM4.

One of the key things to note is the redesign of the UI, which is made to be touch screen friendly and work on smaller screens. In the long term, we expect to implement this solution into a computer that can act as an affordable controller or pendant so that users don’t need to plug in a laptop or buy a gControl for their machine.

Welcome back, it’s our May production updates! We got lots of great news for you.

Chris Thorogood Leaves Sienci Labs as CTO and Co-owner

This past April, Chris Thorogood, our CTO and co-owner left the company. You can read more about the exit here: https://sienci.com/2026/04/29/%f0%9f%91%8b-blog-post-to-say-goodbye/

More Space Expansion

Back in the March 2026 Production Update, we mentioned that we added about 2500sqft of production space to our shop. I’m excited to announce that our office expanded again this month by another 3500sqft. This includes around 2100sqft downstairs, which used to be a large boardroom to be turned into media space, where we’ll use as a dedicated filming space for the marketing team. We’re also looking to potentially host classes and events there down the line as well.

The upstairs ~1400sqft is expected to be used primarily as desk space, with some focus for the customer service team, as the space has a couple of enclosed offices, which should allow them to make and take calls in a quieter environment.

AltMill 4×8 Now Shipping

We are excited to announce that starting April 16th we started shipping the first batch of AltMill 4x8s! A huge congrats to the production and engineering team for working diligently to iron out any last minute QC issues, as well as the customer support, marketing, and resource teams for pulling together the resources for the use and assembly of the machine.

For all of the machines that have been ordered, please check our Order Status Page for estimates on when your machine will ship. We are expecting new orders for the AltMill 4×8 to ship in August, so lead times remain long for the time being. The new batch (batch 2) is expected to have 300 units.

Youtube videos on the complete assembly of the 4×8 are now out, so make sure to check those out!

ATC Now Shipping

Extra exciting news is that the ATC is now shipping as well since April 16th! Again, a huge accomplishment for all of the teams at Sienci Labs for pulling off what is probably our most complicated project to date.

Our first batch of ATCs have sold out, and we are now in production for another batch. We are expecting orders for ATC placed today to start shipping in June. We are nearly sold out on our second batch of ATCs as well. If you order in our third batch, we are expecting those to ship out Aug-Sept. Please see our latest Order Status updates for lead times.

As you may or may not know, we also designed a TLS (tool length sensor) for the ATC process, but we’ll have those for sale to accompany regular spindles as well, so keep an eye out for that. This has been a feature a lot of people have been asking for.

Videos for ATC are also now out, so feel free to check those out as well!

gSender and Firmware Updates

There is a new major release of gSender! Check out the full blog post here: https://sienci.com/2026/04/16/gsender-1-6-0-release/. gSender 1.6.0, now the latest version of gSender comes with a huge number of improvements, such as faster loading times, a built in gcode editor, and new EEPROM settings manager, but also comes with new features required for operation of the ATC and AltMill 4×8 functions. This also aligns with updates to the firmware coming out, mentioned back in January. We are shipping machines now with the new firmware to ensure ATC support, and users will be provided with resources for updating their machines to new firmware in the ATC resources.

LongMill MK3 Development

LongMill MK3 development continues to chug forward. Most of our work this past month was tweaking the design, general testing, packaging design, and planning for the resources development. As mentioned at some point in one of the updates, we are expecting to open pre-orders late May, with shipping expected to start around mid to late August. Keep an eye out for the “Everything You Need to Know About the LongMill MK3” blog releasing this week as well.

A couple of key directions we’re looking to go down at the moment include:

• More of the machine pre-assembled in house, which means faster set up time for the end user
• Streamlined packaging, since less bags and boxes required when parts are already assembled into units

SLB-LITE/SLB-EXT V2

Development continues to move along for the SLB-LITE and SLB-EXT V2. We have now been doing testing and troubleshooting for the new boards for the last few weeks and working on tweaking the design for the second version.

Things done this month include:

• Design and production of pulp molds for packaging
• Ordering of mounting bushings and other parts needed for case assembly
• Ordering of e-stops
• Initial test production batch of 200 PCBs, and if no issues, we’ll push for the full batch (around 1000 controllers)

Otherwise we expect to be continuing testing and design work for the new controllers into May and June.

It’s another month, another production update!

Notes on customer service times

First off, I just wanted to mention that the last couple of months have been pretty busy on the customer service and support side of things, especially as we were coming down from our busy winter season, which meant that response times were a bit longer than usual. I’m happy to share that we did bring on another support person to our team with a lot of hands on experience being a former customer, which means we now have five full time staff for customer support, plus, some of our engineers and product management team also involved in the customer service and resource development.

We’ve now caught up on tickets and replying back on our typical timely manner.

With the AltMill 4×8, ATC, and a bunch of other stuff going through our pipeline, we anticipate our demand for support to continue to grow, so if you’re interested in joining our customer service team, feel free to share with us here: www.sienci.com/work

AltMill 4×8

We have been full swing on AltMill 4×8 production, with a bunch of stations now set up for assembly of the new machines. However, we have been delayed a few weeks, and current first machine shipping date is set at April 10th April 17th. Due to some components being off tolerance and needing rework, we are putting extra effort to make sure that the first batch of machines don’t have early stage issues. Some things that are being addressed include:

• Pitch error on the racks
• Tooth profile tolerances on the pinons
• Gearbox backlash

On the bright side, we have ordered enough extra parts so that even with a higher than typical number of QA rejects, we are able to fill a substantial number of the first batch. We are also working on remaking parts to ensure that we can complete the rest of the production batch. We are building and assembling as much as we can as we work through the process in the meantime.

We are also now in production of batch 2, bringing additional considerations and QA processes to reduce potential issues and delays.

In other news, the engineers and marketing team have been working on putting together the full assembly resources and videos over the last few weeks, getting ready to post once the machines start shipping.

LongMill MK3

A lot of work/progress so far with the LongMill MK3, with most of the work done around general testing and reliability.

We have now completed a round of rigidity testing to compare between the LongMill MK3, LongMill MK2, and the AltMill. Check out the results on our blog. (TL;DR) = the LongMill MK3 is between 65-80% more rigid than the LongMill MK2, signifying a big jump in performance.

In other news, we continue to work on the development and production of the LongMill MK3. We have now ordered the majority of the components needed, with the exception of controllers and power supplies which are still in development. Based on current timelines, we expect to open up pre-orders mid-May, and start shipping in and around July.

In other news, we’re clearing out of the last set of LongMill MK2.5s . We have around 50 of the 30×30 and 50 of the 48×30 in stock, so if you are looking to get one of those machines, they’ll probably still be available for the next few weeks before we sell out.

SLB-EXT V2 and SLB-LITE

We have made a few key decisions around the SLB family of controllers. First, naming:

SLB-EXT V2: The new successor to the original SLB-EXT currently used on the AltMill. The SLB-EXT V2 is designed specifically for the AltMill and power handling of 48V.

SLB-LITE: Designed specifically for 24V architecture of the LongMill.

Our first prototype boards have been produced! We will go through initial flashing and testing of the new board over the next few weeks in April, and make revisions as needed before going into production.

Additionally, new molded cable samples have been made with a nominal width of 7mm, over our current nylon sheath design with a width of 10-12mm. Why did we unify all of the cables into one mold? Because:

• Simplifies wire management
• Makes wiring of the machine during the assembly process more intuitive
• Allows more space in the drag chain for additional cables and accessories

Auto Tool Changer

The ATC production is now in full swing as we get prepared to ship out existing orders. We have set up production stations to start with assembly and we are building our first units now.

Unfortunately we are continuing to work on a few straggling details in preparation for shipping, and we expect that we will begin shipping in the third week of April. Some outstanding tasks include:

• Completion of the resources and installation guides
• Completion of the new firmware testing

Otherwise the completion of the hardware production and assembly for the first batch of ATCs are scheduled to complete on April 10th April 17th, in tandem with the 4x8s.

I’m also excited to share that we’ve also implemented a new station with the ATC to machine some aluminum parts in house. We’re expecting to slowly integrate more parts over time that we can machine in house to give us an opportunity to stress test our machines and products, as well as give us more production flexibility or adjust designs more quickly as needed.

Hello there, welcome to our March 2026 Production Updates!

AltMill 2×4 and 4×4

Lead times for 2×4 and 4×4 machines are now fairly short, with most machines shipping out within 2 weeks. Lead times for 1.5KW and 2.2KW spindle kits may vary. 2.2KW spindles for the AltMill are expected to ship in approximately 1-2 weeks as well. 1.5KW spindles are backordered, and are expected to be restocked in mid-to-late April. We will provide a more detailed update on the product page once we have more details.

Orders for AltMill 2×4 and 4×4 will ship out separately, which means that users can assemble their machines ahead of time.

Office Expansion

We just expanded our office again! Mid-last year, our upstairs neighbours moved out so we took over around 6000sqft. There was also a part of the office with a stairway that lead to nowhere. Now, that stairway leads somewhere! We are knocking down that wall to take over a portion of our next door neighbour as well. This move adds another 2000-3000sqft, which will be used for some assembly work, especially for electronics, as it is more isolated to the larger office and we can reduce the amount of dust for those parts.

LongMill MK3 Development

LongMill MK3 development continues to chug along.

We set up our first machine with our beta tester, Dave! Since he’s our first beta tester, we learned a few things, including:

• Starting the Y gantries at the front of the machine makes it easier to put on the X rail, especially if you have limited access to the back of the machine.
• Putting the X rail onto the Y gantry can be a bit finicky. We are potentially going to update the design of the Y gantries to allow the rail to drop in sort of like the AltMill.

Other changes and updates in progress include:

• Redesigned Z-motor mount to allow the inductive sensor to sit higher up, allowing for more travel.

We are still looking to onboard and work with two more beta testers, which should happen in the coming weeks.

We are also slowly starting production on some of the major, long lead time components in the coming weeks.

Additionally, we are coming close to the end of the LongMill MK2.5 batch. Once we have sold out on the remaining machines, we will not have LongMills available for sale until the new batch of MK3 machines start shipping. We are currently checking inventory to confirm how much longer we have, but we estimate approximately 1-2 months of stock remaining currently. LongMill MK2.5 machines are shipping within a week.

SLB-EXT V2

The development of the new controller continues to be underway. For those not up to date, we are working on a new version of the SLB to be better optimized for cost and manufacturing, while still keeping the same functionality of the original SLB.

A ton more work done with the new SLB, including:

• Updated layouts for the traces and components
• Design and development of the advanced breakoutboard
• Design of new plugs and cables to improve wire management

We will start the process of making a batch of prototype boards and conducting testing in the coming weeks.

AltMill 4×8

As of Feb 23rd, we have received all of the parts needed to start building 4×8 machines, with the exception of some screws and small straggler parts such as some allen keys, warning labels, etc. Much of the work is currently with testing and QA for incoming components, as well as working on the setup for the rest of the production area to get ready for assembly of major components in the next week or so.

Automatic Tool Changer

We have now received the majority of the parts needed for ATC production and are currently putting together space for the assembly and testing. We are expecting to start shipping out ATCs at the end of March, which will be a few weeks delayed compared to our original anticipated delivery time. Macros for the ATC, which are programs for controlling the ATC functionality can now be found online here: https://github.com/Sienci-Labs/atci_macros. We are also expecting to have updated versions of gSender plus online resources complete by shipping time, so the small delay is allowing us to get some of those things polished up.

Clear Cut Dust Shoe

We’re excited to announce that the Clear Cut Dust Shoe is now available for sale! However due to higher than expected demand, the ~150 units we had stock were sold out within 24 hours, plus more with units that were sold with spindle kits.

We’ve put a pause on selling Clear Cut Dust Shoes individually for now, and we are currently working on ramping up production on that. We have a separate amount of stock for the spindle kits, so that we will ensure they are included on all of the spindle kits we ship on a 1:1 basis. We’ll have another announcement coming out soon to let everyone know the production schedule for the new dust shoes.

Informal Call for New Staff

I want to put some feelers out in the community for someone looking for jobs/roles in finance and HR. Up till now, we’ve/I’ve been managing this side of things since our company is not quite large enough to have someone fill this role full time, but given how things are going, I feel like we need to look in earnest for people to fill some of our company admin roles.

If you feel like you might be a good fit in a finance or HR type position at a startup or small company like Sienci Labs, feel free to send in an application here: https://sienci.com/work/

Oh also, we are looking for an electronics/embedded design engineer as well, so feel free to apply for that as well.

Hey everyone, welcome back to our February 2026 Production Updates!

AutoSpin T1 Has Launched

We’re excited to finally launch the AutoSpin T1! Learn more about it here: https://sienci.com/2026/01/20/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-autospin-t1-router/

We received our shipment of approximately 2000 units on February 2 (it was supposed to be mid- February) and will get routers shipped out to customers shortly after.

AltMill 4×8 Production

We continue to wait and prep for the arrival of AltMill 4×8 components. Based on our schedules, the last remaining parts for the 4×8 are scheduled to arrive between Feb 20th to March 6th. Other parts are expected to arrive sooner, which means that assembly for the first units will start approximately mid-February, allowing us to make progress in advance before all parts arrive.

In other news, resources for the 4×8 assembly continue to be worked on, with filming for the assembly video scheduled for the second or third week of February in preparation for customers to start receiving their machines in March.

LongMill MK3 Development

Thank you all for the overwhelming response of applications for LongMill MK3 beta testing. We’ve now received the rails and started internal testing. We will be sending out beta testing units to selected individuals in the next few weeks.

As it stands, we’re super excited about the LongMill MK3 as we expect to bring a massive leap in performance over the LongMill MK2 and 2.5, while keeping it at a super competitive price point. Some additional work we’re doing to bring down BOM costs include:

• An easier to manufacture, significantly improved dust shoe with easy to replace bristles. This means not only is the overall cost of the dust shoe less, but users can extend the life of their dust shoe by replacing just the bristles. We will provide users with extra bristle in each kit.
• Integrated cables. With current cables being a combined bundle of motor signals, power, and inductive sensor signals sheathed in one nylon cover, we’re looking at molding a single cable to reduce the overall unit cost of the total cable.
• SLB-Lite. With the SLB-EXT being a major cost in the total BOM cost of the LongMill MK3, development (see in the next section of the article) is expected to keep all of the core functionality of the SLB and SLB-EXT, in a smaller, lighter, and more affordable package.

SLB-Lite

In our discussion about the LongMill electronics, we mentioned, especially with the Closed Loop Stepper Kit, that the overall cost of the electronics currently makes up a significant portion of the LongMill MK3 bill of materials. This is primarily because the electronics were specced and designed for the AltMill. However, for the smaller and less power hungry LongMill, the AltMill electronics are functional but overkill for the application.

Peter and Daniel and have continued to work on the newest generation of electronics to act as the successor to the SLB-EXT used in the AltMill. We expect a number of improvements for the new controller, currently code-named “SLB-Lite”, including:

• Lower cost, with the board expected to be around half the cost of the SLB-EXT
• Improved wire management
• Overall smaller footprint, allowing for lower shipping cost and easier integration into LongMills, AltMills, and other CNC machines.
• Ability to use power supply voltages from 24V-48V and the ability to provide up to 100 watts per motor.
• Ability to connect an additional board for added features and functionality beyond the SLB-Lite, while still being less expensive in combination than the SLB-EXT.

Lastly, by using the same controller on all of our CNC product lines, we expect to see savings through the economies of scale by essentially doubling the number of units produced. Plus we expect to reduce our inventory management costs with fewer unique components, and a more unified experience between the LongMill and AltMill lines.

Additionally, coming to all controllers is new SLB and SLB-EXT firmware, with overall performance and stability improvements, and specific features like faster and better handling of motor alarms and resetting, support for advanced plug-ins used for the Automatic Tool Changer, and unlocking of SD card features allowing for running gcode and files directly from the controller. More details on the new firmware and ability to have access to beta firmware before the wider launch available on our blog.

To coincide with SD card support, the upcoming gSender Edge (our beta version of gSender), will be coming out with the interface to communicate with the SD card. When both systems have been tested to be reliable, full support for the new firmware and all of the new improvements will come to the main version of gSender.

To hear Kevin talk about SD card support in the next gSender Edge release, check out this video here:

gControl Panel Computer Pricing Updates

Due to the recent RAM and memory shortages, pricing for the gControl has been increased. We are keeping an eye on the pricing for components as they change, and are hoping that pricing will come down soon. We will update pricing when RAM and memory prices come back to normal levels.

Certified VFDs are Now Shipping

After a long wait, certified VFDs have finally arrived and have undergone testing. Customers who are waiting on VFDs will receive them shortly.

ATCs Sells Out; New Batch Added

Due to higher than expected demand for the ATC, we have sold out of the first batch. Customers who place orders moving forward will be part of the second batch. The first batch is expected to start shipping in late March, and the second batch is expected to ship in June.

Curious on how this whole ATC thing works? Check out Johann’s breakdown video here:

Hey everyone, happy new year! It’s time for a very exciting 2026!

Potential Resolutions for UPS Issues

We had some interesting visitors from UPS, including Sean Griffin, president of UPS Canada, Dean Tabakos, Director of Business Development at UPS, and Frank Perez, UPS President – Americas Region & International, Healthcare and Supply Chain Solutions (SCS) Engineering, and our UPS rep, Todd McCracken.

As we mentioned in our previous updates, we’ve been having some issues with UPS shipments, primarily with things getting stuck at the border. This meant that we were getting a lot of shipments being sent back without any reason. We were also being charged a lot of taxes and duties when we weren’t supposed to.

With all this going on, some of the high-level execs from UPS decided to stop by our office to take a look at what was going on and let us know some of the work they were doing to get shipping back on track.

Reducing issues with customs declarations

With the change in regulations requiring all shipments entering the US to have customs clearance (before it was just for shipments above $800), UPS and other shipping and logistics companies were slammed with a significant volume of declarations needing to be made. With a big part of this process being human-driven, many shipments were being held at the border or sent back for customs issues and errors. We were told that with the implementation of new systems and AI, they are now able to automate more than 95% of the processes, meaning that the error rate and speed have gone up dramatically.

Reducing border hold-ups

When a multi-part shipment is created, but all parts of the shipment are not in the same truck, every item in that truck is sent back. Initially, this caused a huge number of shipments to be shipped back. With the change in generating separate manifests, shipments are accounted for on a truck-to-truck level, which eliminates issues created when multi-part shipments don’t travel together.

This is expected to reduce the number of shipments being sent back from the border, but also reduce transit times and lost packages because prior to this change, multi-part shipments needed to be held in a facility until all of the parts of the shipment are ready to cross the border. This specifically impacts us because most of the machines that we ship must be shipped in several packages, which means that if all boxes for that shipment are not together, they will wait in a warehouse until they are. This creates more opportunities for damage as they get transported around the warehouse as they wait, or get lost if they are misplaced.

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It’s hard to say how much things are going to change in the short term, but we are obviously optimistic that as we get settled into the new normal of more complicated reporting and customs processes, we will have fewer shipping issues.

Tax Registrations for Nexus

Some customers may have seen us charge sales tax for certain US states. This is because we have reached Nexus in these states (usually $100,000 or $200,000 in annual sales, although rules and calculations vary by state). Taxes will be automatically calculated and charged, and we will remit them directly to the state to comply with US state tax laws.

• Arizona
• Colorado
• Florida
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Maryland
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• North Carolina
• New Jersey
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Virginia
• Washington
• Wisconsin

Some of these states are new, some of them we have reached Nexus for some time ago and we have been collecting taxes already.

AltMill 4×8

Production for the AltMill 4×8 continues to move forward, with business as usual with:

• More short and long term wear testing ongoing
• Packaging planning and design
• Resource development for the 4×8
• Working with and gathering feedback from beta testers

ATC

Auto Tool Changer work continues on as we wait for production to complete for parts. Some work done for December and ongoing include:

• Continued testing for software and hardware
• Packaging design and optimization
• Testing of different compressor sizes and configurations

ATC production and development continue to move forward.

Closed-Loop Stepper Motors

First off, our closed-loop stepper motor kits are now available for sale! This kit allows users to install closed-loop stepper motors onto their LongMill.

In other news, we got a batch of closed-loop motors which had the wrong firmware onboard, which gave us a chance to reprogram and look into the tuning parameters for motors. Going through this gives us an opportunity to look at continual optimization of different aspects of our machine systems.

Certified VFDs

As we mentioned in some of our previous updates, we have certified our VFDs for the Canadian market. We initially certified around 100 VFDs in our first batch and are in the process of getting our next large batch of VFDs to ship to customers still waiting on their units. We were able to get around 40 units done early, so we will ship them to customers currently in the queue. We expect the remaining units to arrive in January to complete the rest of the queue.

LongMill MK3 Development

LongMill MK3 is in official development. Here are some design goals:

Reduce part count and variability

Reducing the number of parts reduces the amount of time needed to assemble the machine. Additionally, reducing the number of unique parts also allows the assembly process simpler by copying the same processes across different areas of the machine, plus reduces the amount of supply chain and inventory management we need to do. We expect the LongMill MK3 to have 30% fewer unique parts over the LongMill MK2.

We have a mix of parts that come from the LongMill MK2 and the AltMill, plus a bunch of new, unique parts that are specific to the LongMill MK3.

Improve reliability

The LongMill MK3 will use the latest family of SLB-EXT and closed-loop motors, self-adjusting anti-backlash nuts, and linear guides to provide significant improvement to machine reliability over the LongMill MK2.

Keep affordability

With improvements to our assembly and QA process, changes to the design, and larger economies of scale, the LongMill MK3 will have a target price with beginners and hobbyists in mind.

Lower the barrier to entry

The LongMill MK3 comes in conjunction with many new features and products, including:

• The AutoSpin T1, which aims to provide spindle-like features and functionality at a lower price point
• Inductive sensors included by default, implementing homing and other positioning checks

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Currently our main focuses are in:

• Producing and testing our first batch of prototype rails (expected to arrive end of Jan)
• Producing and testing our first batch of laser cut steel gantry parts
• Designing and developing a new set of electronics (currently code-named the SLB-lite), to bring down the cost of the electronics used in the LongMill to better fit the needs of beginners

AutoSpin T1

As mention in the last month’s blog post, we have now completed production of the AutoSpin T1 and are currently waiting on the arrival of the tools. We are expecting them to arrive mid-February.

10 Year Anniversary Party

Can you believe it’s been 10 years since we started Sienci Labs? We’re planning something to celebrate. Details are still percolating but this is what we have in mind.

Open House (afternoon): Shop tours, demos, and hang out/meet our team

After Party (night): Big, casual party and rave in our back warehouse

Everyone is invited, stay tuned on our social media for more details coming soon.

Our first Kickstarter video from 2014:

We’re now in the final month of the year! What a crazy year it’s been, especially with the growth of the AltMill platform, the launch of the ATC, new tools, accessories and more. We’ve seen significant growth in 2025, with our company and sales doubling from 2024.

Holiday schedule

Our offices will be closed for the holidays from Dec 25 to Jan 1, and we will reopen Jan 2, 2026.

We will continue to ship orders up to Dec 24th, however, we recommend placing orders in advance if you need them to be shipped out beforehand.

Customer service, shipping, and other company functions may be limited at this time.

ATC

The ATC has now launched!

Production is now underway, with our intial batch of parts ordered for the first 160 units. We are aiming to start shipping units in Jan 2026 based on our current schedule.

We also have a livestream scheduled on YouTube, so make sure to check that out.

AltMill 4×8

AltMill 4×8 was just launched and is currently in production as well. Most parts have been ordered, but a few major parts such as the extrusion and gear racks are going through final sample checks before full batches are ordered.

Now that the 4×8 is launched, we’re mostly in a waiting game for parts. We are slowly starting set up processes to get ready for the assembly.

AltMill 2×4 and 4×4

AltMill 2×4 and 4×4 are continuing to ship. However, we’re currently waiting on more 1.5KW and 2.2KW spindles to arrive, expected in the second week of December. This means that the machine and spindles may ship for some orders at different times. Once the spindles arrive, we are expecting to clear out of the remaining queue fairly quickly.

AutoSpin T1

We’re excited to announce that the AutoSpin T1 is now in production. We received our first production sample at the end of October and started our final set of testing. Although the performance and function of the tool met our standards, we had to get a second unit built to ensure our text and logo matched our standards for packaging and silkscreening, since they were a little bit off. However, we have checked the latest version and were able to accept it for final production.

We now have the first 2,000 units in production. We are expecting production to complete around mid-December, and we should have them arrive at our shop around the end of January.

Closed-Loop Stepper Motor Kit

A few months ago we put out a post to test the waters for interest on a closed-loop stepper motor kit. Since then we’ve received quite a lot of interest for a kit for adding CLS motors to the LongMill, as well additional inquiries to retrofit the motor and control systems on non-Sienci Labs machines.

Otherwise, we are currently wrapping up the remaining ordering of parts and finishing the resources and documentation that will be available to help users do the installation at the time of launch.

We’re excited to share that we are reaching the final stages for supply chain, testing, and resource development for a kit. We are now working on figuring out pricing as well as the potential tie in with the LongMill MK3 in development. Keep an eye out for launch info coming out in the next 3-4 weeks!

gControl Panel Computers

We’re happy to have received another batch of gControl Panel Computers, so we’re shipping out to folks who have been waiting first (roughly a month.) We are expecting to have stock until January or February. We have also ordered another batch of computers expected to arrive early next year as well.

We are experiencing a new potential issue. RAM and memory prices have skyrocketed in the recent months, with news reporting that demand for these parts have increased due to AI. Because of this, the newest batch of computers that are currently in production will ship to us without SSDs and RAM. We are hoping that the price of those components will go down early next year. If not, we will have to reconsider pricing for the computers.

Hey everyone, we have another exciting month ahead for November. I am currently on vacation, so you might not see me for the typical video update, but here’s the blog that covers everything. This post might be a bit shorter as well, but rest assured there is a lot going on. A lot of news is a continuation of prior months, so make sure to check out the previous updates to learn more.

Updated Shop Layout

We have now fully removed the floor from our main production space, opening up area to put in new racks and getting prepared to scale up production of AltMills. While our overall floorspace didn’t change, being able to use the taller racking and getting our forklift to other parts of the office will allow us to build more vertically.

A lot of stations use a system of having the assembly on the ground floor, and then materials above, which allows us to store a lot of materials for quick access. The racking is also fairly modular, allowing us to build different configurations.

Shipping Issues

We are still seeing a large volume of shipments coming back from the border, largely due to issues with customs handling. Unfortunately this means that returned orders need to be repacked and reshipped, especially if we see shipping damage.

We are continuing to work on several different things, like updating our customs documents and forms, submitting forms proactively, and working with UPS to understand where errors are happening. However, we ask that at this time – and thank you in advance – that customers are patient if shipments take a few extra days to arrive.

AltMill 4×8

The AltMill 4×8 is now available for pre-order! You can now order it on the product page. If you want to learn more about the product itself and what it stands for, make sure to read our article, Everything You Need to Know About the AltMill 4×8

In other news, we have now acquired beta testers and have started working with them for testing machines as we go into production based on our first initial sales numbers in the pre-order. Certain parts, especially parts like motors, fasteners and electronic components (which will be shared between other AltMill size variants) have been ordered earlier as part of a larger batch of components.

Most of the work with the 4×8 this past month was mostly making final design tweaks and decisions, plus lots of testing and filming in house to get marketing materials ready. This also happens to be a good time to make some new furniture around the office!

ATC

The launch of the ATC comes this month, with some final considerations and tweaks being done in ATC development over the past 30 days. We’ve decided to move our launch date to mid-November, rather than on Oct 29th (same day as the AltMill 4×8) as we are doing final testing and refinement design work before a full launch. We need to have our bill of materials and kitting configuration decided on, as this will determine the pricing and packages we can offer for customers.

LongMill

Last month we launched a price decrease on LongMill kits across the board. We haven’t seen a big difference in sales volume, although it is present, which seems to suggest that pricing isn’t playing as big of an impact on the demand as it is currently. Perhaps this means the LongMill is due for a revision, or perhaps it means that there is less demand in this market segment in general?

Most of our efforts are in the LongMill redesign, and production isn’t quite ready yet as we wrap up development with our two larger projects, the AltMill 4×8 and ATC, but we’re currently doing some preliminary testing with the close loop steppers designed for LongMill. As we mentioned in a previous post, we are currently in consideration and progressing with offering the electronics (SLB-EXT and close loop stepper motors) in a way to allow for conversions to close loop stepper for the LongMill and other CNC machines.

While this is still a work in progress, we now have the SLB-EXT available for sale on our store. While not officially tested and supported, customers can order them on our store.

AutoSpin T1 Router

We’re excited to announce that the AutoSpin, which had been in rocky territory for the last few months with certification and supplier issues, has seen a lot of progress. I didn’t want to share too much, just in case things didn’t work out. However, we’ve hit one of the main milestones of completing certification, which means we can move towards production now, and we’ve started doing testing with our pre-production units, and if that all goes well, we will move onto production. This could mean that we’ll have AutoSpin T1 routers ready to ship in a little over 2 months.

While we are optimistic we are approaching the end of the process of launching the AutoSpin, due to the complexity of the project, we may still run into issues, and so we will not have pricing or a release date provided until we are confident that we’re able to deliver a product that is up to our quality standards, and on a firm timeline.

We have another action packed month to share.

Removal of the US De Minimis Exemption

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!

Check out our new post for more info

AltMill 2×4 and 4×4 Production

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!

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.

https://sienci.com/product-category/end-mills-bits/new-2025

gControl Panel Computer

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.

For more info, please check out the article: gControl N150 Update.

Automatic Tool Changer

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.