Description
***Included with your AltMill MK2 4×4***
- SLB-EXT controller and emergency stop
- Partially pre-assembled rigid frame
- Inductive sensors for homing
- Sturdy metal legs with the ability to add 4ft wide shelving underneath
- Welcome package
***Not included with your AltMill MK2 4×4***
Check out our recommended products tabs for an ideal set up, but note the following ARE NOT included with your order:
- Computer or laptop
- Spindle
- End mills or bits
- T-tracks
- Waste board (e.g. MDF 2ft x 4ft sheet)
- Set of metric Allen keys, standard bits or drill for assembly
***Some photos may contain items for illustrative purposes, such as spindles, caster wheels, t-tracks, or additional shelving. There may also be cosmetic differences between the machine in the photo and the production version of the AltMill.
Lead times
This product has a potentially long waitlist, relative to demand and seasonality. For more info on expected shipping and delivery times, please see our Order Status page.
David S. (verified owner) –
It was missing the drag chains. After contacting support, I was shipped the missing parts. Waiting is hard, but once they came in I was able to complete assembly. Everything works great.
Joe Haase (verified owner) –
The machine is incredibly strong and fast. My student’s use is on almost a daily basis.
Paul Michtics (verified owner) –
Machine is awesome. Only issues I have had have been operator error, not the machine. Using my machine with a Makita trim router, and works awesome, but anxiously awaiting my spindle that I ordered. Im sure that will take my Altmill to the next level. Thanks for the incredible service and amazing CNC machime.
Dean (verified owner) –
Just wondering, what kind of grease you’re supposed to use in the grease zerk
Damian S. (verified owner) –
The AltMill has been fantastic and kinematically, it has exceeded my expectations. However, I found running it over USB using Gsender on both a new MacBook Pro and a new PC, extremely unstable. The machine would fail to respond at all after you stopped or paused a job, or randomly after running a probe. It would lag randomly when jogging the machine, then all of sudden move rapidly. There were no console errors either. I swapped multiple shielded USB cables, multiple versions of Gsender and of course, 2 different operating systems. I am a software engineer by trade, so I’m very familiar with the computer side of things. I have since swapped to ethernet for the last job and it seems to be much more stable. I never had issues running over USB on the same computers using Gsender with my much cheaper Nymolabs CNC. I just hope the swap to ethernet is a permanent fix. Mechanically, the machine is excellent, however running over USB without issue should be mandatory.
William Carter (verified owner) –
Altmill is totally amazing in its capabilities and best value on the market! Dust boot was a big disappointment. Shattered while doing initial spoil board surfacing. Needs a new design, which I thought you guys were working on.
Bryan Harnois (verified owner) –
First off, I believe this message is primarily meant for Andy and other top management as it raises basic issues/questions about Sienci’s current business model that as a 40 + year Canadian business person ( woodturner, toy and puppet maker, commission photographer and physician ) I believe need to be addressed. In response to the basic premise of this survey I’m actually overall somewhat disappointed in recent experiences with the company for a very particular reason. The engineering and build quality of the Altmill is awesome, and the partial assembly process has gone well. But, here I am 3 months out from ordering my 2.2 kw spindle kit still awaiting it ( required for the use to which I’ll be putting the Altmill ) …. I ordered within about 20 minutes of the email announcing Canadian pre-orders of the ‘ certified units ‘ was received in my inbox, so I’m hopefully somewhat I’m near the top of the shipping list. The fancy graphic posted in the blog at that time on order times > production starting > projected shipping time ( which looked like it would be in December sometime by my interpretation of the loosy-goosy graphic) was subsequently revealed to be January at best , and now most recently revised to sometime in February, if that is to now be believed. I understand turn around from China is long these days and the entire tariff mess has affected my business as well. You will perhaps argue that I could be using this with a router in the interval, but the nature of the production work I’m going to do with the Altmill makes that a useless temporary exercise, so the spindle is a necessity. I’m at a point where while I’ll wait for delivery of the 2.2 kw spindle unless delivery times are again pushed ridiculously even further into the future : over time I’ve been left wondering if I should have just gone with the available US kit given the now evidently optimistic inaccuracy of the published availability of the Sienci spindles, but I still hold faith that you will come through. THIS BRINGS TO LIGHT SOMETHING WHICH HAS BEEN STICKING IN MY CRAW MORE GENERALLY WITH SIENCI MORE RECENTLY , WITH WHOM, IF YOU CHECK MY ORDER HISTORY I’VE DONE QUITE A BIT OF BUSINESS SINCE I BOUGHT MY FOUNDERS LONGMILL MK1. While you folks are great at engineering you really seem to be stuck in a perpetual serial KICKSTARTER business model, where the customer puts up entire machine cost and shipping to fund your production runs and then waits months to see product delivery. I can see and understand where a total startup would find this an advantageous business model, but 6 + years out I would think you would be getting out of kickstarter mode. I appreciate you are investing in R& D heavily, and that is I imagine where profit is largely going as you rapidly innovate ( great ) but this ongoing model of expecting clients to not only in large part fund your production runs but also wait months to get product is getting old for me as a repeat client. A a professional with a business to run and with specific plans for this machine that is currently sitting partly built in the shop this is costing me a lot of lost opportunity. Among the professional and prosumers here in Atlantic Canada and elsewhere who know I’ve been a big fan of my Longmill , I get asked about my Longmill, and Sienci products generally, and I’ve more recently taken to being much more noncommittal in my responses based on these availability issues. I’ve never been outright negative in my discussions with them , but now I can no longer be super enthused and talking things up as I have in the past. They, like me, are looking for solutions that can implement into workflows quickly, not piecemeal and over months of delays in availability : while such delays may be acceptable to total hobbyist makers who are more interested in posting videos on fancy enclosure builds etc posted to YouTube , the segment of your market I’m in and which I gather you are trying to pursue more aggressively based on your engineering plans as posted on the website ( Altmill 4 x 8 and ATC ) is not going to tolerate this marketing approach based on my 40 plus years experience in business, and you are not likely to thrive with that potential segment of your market without a retooling of your production and provision plans. Again, I think Andy and other upper management need to see this note ( and it not just be buried in a ‘ survey response ‘ file ) , and I think that while its great that Sienci pours huge resources into R&D and come up with great products as an engineering firm, you are dropping the ball on provision of product, and in my opinion, that my friends is likely going to bite you at some point in time, particularly with the challenges that I can envision might be facing you at present with a significant part of your market being in the USA. So at this point I have a machine assembled to the point of drag chain installation, and I’m not wasting any more time in assembly until I have the spindle in hand to finish assembly and finally test this promising machine as I now begin my production for the Mothers Day and Valentines Day seasons with the tools I have. As I have not been able to test the Altmill yet, you will be hearing from me once I have installed the spindle and finished the build about discussing my warranty starting from that date. As a further note, my Longmill Mk1 V1 lives on in production work : I cut down the Y-axis rails on my 30 x 30 Longmill V1 MK1 to the size of a 12 x 30 Longmill and installed a Vortex and that machine is now devoted to making rotary puppet and toy parts : that has been successful so I have been contemplating adding another Vortex to the Altmill as well to share space with the Airweights vacuum system I’m installing, however will be reconsidering adding the Vortex based on the issues I’m raising here . You’ve asked for an honest opinion and you are getting it from a loyal client and now somewhat wavering Evangelist for the Sienci brand, and again I think the management team need to consider the issues I’m raising and I’d even appreciate a response from Andy or someone else in management ( not just a SOP canned response would be appreciated ).
Mark (verified owner) –
Great value for the price.
Scott J. (verified owner) –
Was a good bit of assembly required but very well explained in writing as well as the video resources online.
Allan L. (verified owner) –
As someone completely new to CNC I was impressed with the quality of all the components, everything was very well packaged with plenty of spare hardware. Only thing missing was one metric nut for the adjustable feet. PDF assembly instructions are clear and assembly was straight forward and easily accomplished without help. Everything ran as it should as soon as it was connected to G sender. Absolutely no regrets on choosing AltMill, now if I can just master Carveco Maker ……
Michael Gustafson (verified owner) –
This is my first CNC machine and I love it! I own a small business called GustoVans in Spokane Washington that does custom campervan conversions and we are using this awesome machine to increase our efficiency making panels for walls, ceilings, floors, cabinetry and more, so that we can add value and accuracy without increasing prices for our customers. Definitely one of my best purchases of the year! I only wish that I had waited a little while and gotten the 4X8 machine and the ATC system! Sienci Labs is great!
Terry Jones (verified owner) –
Excellent customer service. Excellent assembly instructions. Only had to adjust the Z-axis sensor so that it was level with the top of the recess during first moves. Fumbled with the gSender and gController setup a bit, but quickly figured it out. Note: turn on the gController and update the software before proceeding to connect the machine and spindle. The SLB power cable connector seems flimsy and doesn’t really snap into the connector. The cable between the SLB and power box is very short and the cord on the other side is also short. It would be great if there were a place to mount the power box on the machine and enough cord to place it on the left, right, or back side with some sort of bracket. I added a 1×4 board between the front and back left side legs to mount it on as well as a power strip to plug everything in. I added leveling castors (had to drill out the holes for M12) as I need the machine to be mobile. Not a fan of the SLB power button being tiny and on the back side. It would be better visible in the front and larger.