LongMill Benchtop CNC

Name: LongMill Benchtop CNC
SKU: MACHINE015161
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.73 (48 reviews)

Rated 4.73 out of 5 based on 48 customer ratings

(48 customer reviews)

$1,200.00 – $1,500.00

The LongMill is a powerful and affordable hobby CNC router perfect for any workshop.

Scale it to your needs by choosing from one of it’s three flavours: 12×12, 12×30, and 30×30.

The machine name roughly corresponds to its cutting area in inches and each machine has 113mm (~4.4″) of Z-axis travel.

What sets the LongMill apart:

Simple and reliable design ➜ angle-aluminum plus thick steel gantries makes for a rigid and dependable machine
Lead screw driven on all axes
Mounts directly to any surface you wish ➜ freedom to integrate clamps or custom jigs that suit your work style
Tall cutting height ➜ don’t be limited when you want to cut large, intricate 3D surfaces or flatten large lumber slabs
Proudly made in Canada

Shipping is calculated at checkout.

Because of high demand and situations with the virus, lead time on the LongMill 12×12, 12×30, and 30×30 may be up to 6-8 weeks. For additional details, please read our latest update.

SKU: MACHINE015161 Category: Kits

Description

Turn your ideas into a reality with the LongMill Benchtop CNC

The LongMill helps you take your woodworking and fabrication to the next level. Its range of workable materials include: any species of wood, a variety of plastics, soft metals like aluminum and brass, and a variety of machinable foams and waxes for model making or metal casting. Make signs, engravings, mid-size furniture, stands and shelves, wooden toys and games, guitar bodies, and much more! (see more in our Gallery)

We offer our machine because CNC technology opens up a whole new world of making capabilities, especially to those who have a limited shop environment or budget. Our goal is to empower you by giving you access to both a machine that’s capable of a wide range of projects, and by assuring you of the assistance that you’ll receive from our team as well as our ever-growing community of machine owners: many of whom started off green to the world of CNC as well but are now happy to share what they’ve learned along the way. (see our Facebook group and Forum)

We designed the LongMill to be the best hobby CNC router in its class, offering rigidity, and reliability, while being easy to put together. With large extruded aluminum rails, fully supported Y-axes, 1/4″ steel gantries on all axes, and high precision MG-12 type linear guides on the Z-axis, the LongMill is the most powerful CNC router in its class and price point.

Every kit comes with all the…

Hardware, rails, lead screws, and gantries
Control box, wires, and motors
Instructions (downloadable from our website)

Assembly only takes a few hours and can be done with a set of wrenches, allen keys, and a flat head screwdriver. There is absolutely no soldering. We’ve spent thousands of hours designing and testing the LongMill to ensure that this machine is easy to put together. If you can put together IKEA furniture, then putting together the LongMill will be a breeze.

What do you provide?

Your own wasteboard/spoilboard (found at your local hardware store), this is the surface that you’ll be mounting your machine to. See the ‘Size’ tab above for more info.
A router (purchase one from us, use one you already have, or find one at your local hardware store/online)*

For routers, we recommend the Makita RT0700/RT0701. It’s a reliable and super powerful router that we’ve been using on our CNC machines for years.

Here are some other compatible routers we recommend:

Bosch Colt (some versions may have a slightly larger 72mm diameter which may not be compatible)
Dewalt 611

The LongMill can accommodate bore sizes of 52, 65, 71, and 80mm, Don’t see your router listed? Let us know the diameter of your router so that we can make a router mount for you. If you do not send us a diameter we will ship you a mount for the Makita RT0700/RT0701 (65mm).

Please note that routers/spindles which are

Over 2.7kg/6lbs
Wider than 80mm/3″

May not be compatible (but we’ll try to make it work)

*Routers that we supply will be 110V only (North America). If you live in a country which uses a different voltage, please purchase a router in your region. LongMills will come with a power supply that supports both 110V and 220V.

The LongMill and it’s software works on any computer and connects using standard USB. We sell the Vectric VCarve software but it’s not for everyone. Our machine is software agnostic so that you can find what works for you. Everything you need is available for free.

Technical Details:
– Laser cut, steel gantry plates for high rigidity
– Standard profile, extruded aluminum rails on the X and Y axis and MGN12 linear guides on Z axis
– Delrin V wheels with variable eccentric nuts
– 4-start, 2mm pitch, 8mm diameter ACME lead screw for high torque and fast movement
– NEMA 23 stepper motors on all axis
– 3D printed and aluminum parts
– Mount for Makita RT0701C routers, or request a custom mount size
– 24V power supply
– Arduino board loaded with GRBL firmware
– 4A TB6600 drivers

Our machine uses open-source hardware and firmware, letting users build and modify their machines. Not only that, many of our components are standard and easy to source or 3D printable, making replacing parts easy.

Additional information

Weight	60 lbs
Dimensions	8 × 10 × 40 in
Size	12×12, 12×30, 30×30

Size

Once assembled, each model of the LongMill (12×12, 12×30, and 30×30) is designed to generally fit on a 2×2′, 2×4′, and 4×4′ surface respectively. The diagrams below show a more detailed view for each model:

The red area inside the main box shows the cutting area as an offset from the foot base. It’s based off the center-point of the router, thus you can plane an area larger than what’s stated if you’re using a large surfacing bit.
The blue area outside the main box shows the hanging parts as an offset from the foot base which makes up the total machine outline.
If you have the dust shoe attachment in place, it’ll reduce your cutting travel in the X-dimension by approximately 50mm.

At the end of the day, this leaves you with:

Model	LongMill 12×12	LongMill 12×30	LongMill 30×30
Cutting area	307mm x 345mm (~12″ x 13.5″)	792mm x 345mm (~31″ x 13.5″)	792mm x 845mm (~31″ x 33″)
Max stock width (distance between feet)	435mm (~17″)	920mm (~36″)	920mm (~36″)
Machine area	650mm x 610mm (~25.5″ x 24″)	1135mm x 610mm (~45″ x 24″)	1135mm x 1110mm (~45″ x 44″)
Machine height	About 14″, but if you’re planning to build an enclosure you should make it at least 20″ tall to ensure enough space for hose management, manipulating cutting material, etc.

If you’re looking to properly size a space to put your machine or are making a dedicated table, ensure that you leave enough room for the LongMills control box and any other peripherals that you might be using like a laptop, monitor, keyboard, etc.. The control box is roughly 150mm x 280mm, has holes so that it can be easily screwed or mounted to any surface, and has a USB port on its left side which allows for you to connect your computer to control the machine. By default the clearance height under the X-axis rail is 104mm (~4″) so if you’d like to take advantage of the full 113mm (~4.5″) of Z-axis travel that the LongMill has to offer, the feet can be spaced up by two strips of material on each side to gain more height clearance. If you’d like to see some tables that our community members have built for their own machines, we’ve got a page on it here: Community Table Builds

Add-ons

You can include add-ons to improve the functionality of the LongMill. These are all optional.

	Trim Router We recommend using the *Makita RT0700/RT0701 router 110V* with your LongMill. This router comes with speed control from 10,000 to 30,000RPM and has 1.25HP of power. This router is compatible with 1/4″ shank tooling and can be adapted to 1/8″ shank tooling using a 1/4″ to 1/8″ collet adapter.
	Dust Shoe The Z-axis independent dust shoe allows you to attach standard vacuum hoses to your CNC machine, allowing it to suck up dust as it’s cutting, making clean up easier and keeping dust out of the air. This dust shoe is adjustable in the Z direction, and the front bristles and vacuum hose can be easily detached to make it easy to change bits.
	Touch Plate Our *3-axis touch plate* allows you to set the ‘origin’ or starting point of your cutting tool very accurately based off the surface of the material you’re going to be cutting. Place the touch plate onto the corner of the material to locate the cutting bit in both X, Y, and Z-directions to start your cutting job, or use it to set the Z-height of the tool to accomplish tool changes on more complicated projects.
	Bit Starter kit Our *End Mill Starter Pack* comes with a basic set of end mills to get your started for many projects you might have in mind. Each pack comes with: 1/4″ Spiral Up Cut End Mill 1/4″ Spiral Down Cut End Mill 1/8″ Flat End Mill (x3) 1/8″ Ballnose End Mill (x3) 1/4″ to 1/8″ Collet Adapter

FAQ

What materials can it cut?

The LongMill can cut materials like wood, plastic, foam, and soft metals. We’ve also had customer cut tougher materials like thin stainless steel and copper sheet.

Where can I buy end mills and other tooling?

End mills and bits are available on sale on our website as well as online such as Amazon and Ebay, or at your local hardware store such as Home Depot or Lee Valley.

What software can you use with the LongMill?

The LongMill is compatible with dozens of free and paid CAM software. The LongMill is compatible with standard G-code. You can check out our resources page at www.sienci.com/resources and look under the software tab. We’ll be hosting webinars and creating additional resource videos to help you learn to design and program your CNC machine.

What system requirements are there?

You can run your machine off virtually any modern laptop made in the last 5 years running Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.

We’ve tested our machine with Intel Celeron and AMD Phenom processors with less than 2GB of RAM with no issues (although it is a bit slow).

For any other downloadable CAD or CAM programs that don’t run on the cloud, please check with the software creator for minimum system requirements.

What spindles or routers can I use?

While we recommend the Makita RT0701/RT0700, you can also use other trim/palm style routers. You will be able to let us know what tool you want to use and we will send you the appropriate mount.

Can I add end stops?

Although end stops are not needed on this machine, they can be added. Our electronics support end stops and is easy to integrate.

We’ll have more details on adding end stops soon.

Will there be 4th or 5th axis support?

In the immediate future, there will not be 4th or 5th axis support for the LongMill.

If you would like to implement an additional axis to your machine, we encourage users to try creating their own and sharing it with the community!

Warranty

The LongMill has a 90 day warranty once it’s received.

We want you to have a great experience with your machine, so if any parts are found to be missing or damaged, please email us. We will ensure that you receive the support you need to restore your LongMill to operating condition or provide a full or partial refund.

You may cancel an order if it has not shipped yet, please contact us if you wish to do so. We do not offer returns for LongMills that have already shipped.

General Warranty and Limits of Service:

Effective March 4, 2019

Throughout this policy the words “we”, “us” and “our”, or “Sienci Labs” will be used to refer to Sienci Labs Inc. herein and “LongMill” or “machine” will refer to Sienci Labs’ Sienci LongMill 12×12, Sienci LongMill 12×30 and Sienci LongMill 30×30. Additionally, the words “you”, “your”, “user”, and “operator” will refer to the original purchaser/customer, user, or viewer of any of the products or media provided by or through Sienci Labs.

Sienci Labs Inc. (the “Company”) grants the LongMill (the “Product”) a standard warranty within Canada and the US to the original customer to be free from missing parts, defects in material, and defects in workmanship for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of receipt by the original purchaser. Sienci Labs Inc. will ensure that the appropriate support is provided to the original customer to restore the LongMill to operational condition or provide a full or partial refund under the sole discretion of the Company.

This warranty does not cover damage due to improper use or assembly, lack of maintenance, normal wear and tear, or modifications to the LongMill which are not produced or authorized by the Company. Consumables such as cutting tools and sample or stock materials which may have come with your LongMill are not included in this warranty.

This warranty will become void if the operator does not follow the Safety Warnings and Guidelines, uses the Product for illegal purposes, or intentionally causes damage to the Product.

The original customer must contact Sienci Labs Inc. within ninety (90) days of receiving their order to make a warranty claim to be eligible for warranty service. Proof of purchase, tracking number, email address, or other material will be used to confirm the original purchasing date and the identity of the original customer. If damage was due to shipping, original packaging materials must be kept in the original received condition. Photos, videos, written descriptions, and other items may be requested to assess and validate a warranty claim. In the case Sienci Labs Inc. requires the original parts to be returned, the customer is solely responsible for packing all items securely. Damage incurred during return shipping will not be covered by the warranty. A method of payment such as a credit card may be requested by Sienci Labs Inc. to cover shipping costs or damaged items if Products are not eligible for warranty service.

48 reviews for LongMill Benchtop CNC

5 star		81%
4 star		14%
3 star		2%
2 star		0%
1 star		2%

Showing 7 of 48 reviews (4 star). See all 48 reviews

Rated 4 out of 5

Mohan (verified owner) – June 22, 2020

This is my first CNC machine and excited to have the machine assembed and working now.

Assembly process was not complex, but had couple of hiccups. One of the threaded roads was out side of tolerance on one end and I had to use a trick to thread the flange bearings from the other side. The z-axis plates were not truly parallel, but was easily fixed. The initial purchase with Bosch colt router adapter didn’t work, as the adapter was made for the previous version. Customer support was great and quick and got a different adapter sent over.

All good now and I am able to do few test pieces and I am generally happy. I am still learning to do relief cuts as I need some more bits and probably slight more tuning. Hoping to work it out.

I got the 12×30 machine and happy with it for now. I am glad that I have option to move to next size by just changing the y rails, which should be pretty simple considering the assembly was not very complex to start with.

I would say 5 stars if there were no hiccups. Probably 4.5. Overall very happy with the purchase.
-Machine ordered May 27, 2020

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Rated 4 out of 5

Michael Ray – May 30, 2020

The crew at Sienci Labs are great. I am new to the CNC Hobby world however with their support and resources it makes the learning curve fairly low. The community that has been fostered around the Sienci Labs products is also a huge bonus. If you have a question just ask because someone knows the answer. It has been a great experience and I am very happy that I went with Sienci Labs. Thanks Chris and the crew at Sienci Labs.

Michael Ray
-Machine ordered Sep 24, 2019

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siencilabs (store manager) – May 29, 2020

Shawn, thanks for the feedback. We sell the LongMill as a hobbyist machine, so we hope that we weren’t setting your expectations on it being more than that. I wouldn’t recommend the LongMill for dedicated metal cutting, or as a dedicated production machine simply because it was designed to be a reasonably capable machine at a good price-point so that Woodworkers and other home shop owners could get started with CNC without breaking the bank. For example, though the feet are 3D printed we’ve been printing these parts in-house for more than 4 years now, tuning our part output so they are as strong as can be. It also helps that our design has a total of 8 feet to fully support the rails. That said, there are little things that we’re still working to improve so I appreciate your critical comments.
Rated 4 out of 5

Shawn Green (verified owner) – May 29, 2020

Mostly Well designed and built, but very clearly from a hobbyist perspective. I cant stand plastic so am replacing all the feet with proper aluminum. 3D printing is not a robust manufacturing process . I’ve also added front and back rails in an attempt to increase rigidity. I feel like the machine is 85% ready to work out of the box.
Basically, it needs to be more rigid. I have mounted mine to a 1/2 aluminum plate. but the design of the feet is so poor and makes use of a “toe-nailed” screw its impossible to mount it properly to anything. Hence i spent last night milling aluminum feet.
little things that bother me to no end are the horribly inadequate length of the motor wiring. it traps the control box in a stupid place and there is just no reason to save money on that.
the horrible cable trays all broke on installation, again, why cheap out?
The wheels are not long for this world, but I will run them to failure out of curiosity.
The whole dust shoe is a joke and feels like an after thought. its horrible to adjust and doesn’t really sit nice no matter what.
the lead screws need support, as someone used to machining i cant stand watching them bounce around.
I fully understand trying to keep the price point down, but there are better ways to save money.
Anyway, Glad i bought it, but have defiently spent more time redesigning than i have making actual use of the machine.
-Machine ordered Jan 16, 2020

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Rated 4 out of 5

Joseph Wilson (verified owner) – May 28, 2020

Overall, I love the Sienci Labs 30×30 LongMill CNC! The setup took me a full week to complete by doing a little more each day. I also had to build a bench for it to sit on which took a few more hours. The bench setup was expected. LongMill setup was tedious but thankfully Chris had very detailed videos on YouTube to help me through the process. The other challenging part is figuring out which CADCAM software to use. I found this quite frustrating as there are so many and most have a major learning curve. I settled on Easel which did come with a subscription price but allowed me to focus more on the creative side of having a CNC and less on figuring out complex software. I would recommend the LongMill to friends for sure and feel it’s a solid product with solid construction.
-Machine ordered Feb 11, 2020

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Rated 4 out of 5

Ron (verified owner) – May 28, 2020

Hardware and installation was good. Software instruction was spotty. Could not get the probe to work. Ron
-Machine ordered Mar 18, 2020

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Rated 4 out of 5

Ken – May 28, 2020

I knew when I ordered the cnc that it would take a few months. At first there was very little info on where my order was “ in the list”. About Nov. there was more info coming out and it gave me a better time line. By mid Dec. the info on machines completed was much better and I now had a pretty good access net of when my order would be filled. In all I was pleased with the communication that was on your feeds
-Machine ordered Oct 15, 2019

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Rated 4 out of 5

Ryan Campbell (verified owner) – May 28, 2020

I would recommend this unit to any hobbyist looking to start with CNCing. It has been a VERY large learning curve for me as I just dove in head first, but the Sienci team has been willing to answer every and all calls I have made. The setup was long, but very worthwhile and easy to follow with the online videos/instructions. Furthermore, the forums have been very helpful as well. For me the machine itself has performed nicely, but I have only made a few signs in some simple barnboard/pine.
-Machine ordered Apr 15, 2020

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