Sienci Mill One: Simplifying Desktop CNC Milling

July 21, 2016

It has been a really intense few weeks and I have not had the time to post anything new.

I have made a few new updates on the design that improve the performance of the machine.

1. We have switched the bed material to 1/2" PVC that lets us countersink the bolts and eliminates the need to thread the plates. PVC is also more cost friendly and easier to machine than aluminum. Something that I like about PVC as well is the fact that if you accidentally mill through your sacrificial bed layer for cut out milling, your endmill is not going to suddenly hit a harder surface than what you were cutting above (if you are milling something softer than aluminum.
2. Rather than magnetically attaching our clear dust guards/shields, we have added groves to the frame so that it can slot in. This design eliminates the unsightly magnets and metal contacts, which means fewer parts to deal with. Also, the groove secures the dust guard in all directions except up, which eliminates the chance of it falling off forward like it occasionally did with the magnetic guards.
3. The frame now has holes where you can use brackets to assemble the frame. A multi-piece frame lets us bring down the shipping box size over a one piece frame.

During the past week or so, we have done a few cool things as well.

We got a chance to tour Tiercel Technology, who contacted us to help us with designing our machine to be manufactured. They were awesome and gave us a lot of ideas to improve our design.

We also went to the Kitchener Market to show off our machine and sell some of the things we milled to prove that artists can mill things with our machine and to make money. We weren't there to make money, but we sold a few things and made $22.

At the Market, we also met Grant Greenfield from the KW Woodworking and Craft Centre. He showed me around this week and gave me a box of walnut wood to mill! He's a great fellow.

We received an extra $1600 in funding from the University today in the mail. We are still waiting on $2500 to come in from the Engineer of the Future Trust.

At this current moment, we have 2 of our 5 pre-production models claimed. Order yours now to get your hands on the first batch of machines. If you can wait, stay tuned for our Kickstarter!

It is late now and I must go sleep. Thank you for your support! Goodnight everyone!

July 8, 2016

Previously we were using steel 624vv v wheel bearings (and the family of 6–vv bearings) that were low cost and worked well with our machine, but we found that the small amount “wobble” in the bearings was translated into good-but-not-as-good-as-it-could-be performance.

So we started testing out Delrin V wheels you can find on a lot of other machines. They look like this

and with the two bearings sandwiched together, eliminates that “wobble” we were finding in the other bearings.

These wheels will also come with eccentric nuts which means you can adjust the tension (or preload) on the wheels against the rails.

Previously we were hesitant on using these types of wheels because of their higher cost, but we’re excited to share that we have found a supplier who is offering them at a very affordable price. There is a small increase in our BOM, but we believe that it is worth the extra cost to bring you higher performing machines.

Expect to see faster milling rates on harder materials like aluminum, as well as better finishes on the milled parts in the time to come!

June 28, 2016

We spend most of the day at the machine shop testing the Sienci Mill One with different pieces of scrap material. The materials we tested milling on include wood, plastic, and aluminum. Check out the pictures to see the results!

June 28, 2016

Daniel from Botfeeder came by today and dropped a couple of rolls of 3D printer filament for us to give away. Want a chance to win a 1kg roll of premium filament? Subscribe to our mailing list (http://eepurl.com/b7DMhH), like us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/siencilabs) and follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/siencilabs) to get a chance to win.

Botfeeder makes high quality, premium PLA, ABS, Filastic (flexible), and Filaglow (glowing) filament in Taiwan.

We’ll be drawing our winner at the beginning of August, so make sure to sign up soon!

June 16, 2016

I went to go pick up a set of frames milled by a CNC machine in Brampton, ON from Sawdust and Noise today as I was heading back from the Maker Festival Launch Party.

We got these CNC routed to make sure our machines are precise, and we can only make them as precise as the machines and people that make them!

June 5, 2016

Hey guys, we just got confirmation that we will have a booth at the Toronto Maker Festival. Feel free to come by to check out our machine and chat!

The Toronto Maker Festival is happening on July 9th and 10th. It’s a free event open to everyone at the Reference Library. More details are coming out soon, and we’ll make sure to update you as time goes by.

I also wanted to mention that we will also have a booth at the Startup Showcase hosted by the Entrepreneurship Society at UWaterloo at the University of Waterloo’s Student Life Centre. The event is on Thursday, from 11am to 3pm, so if you are in the area, come by to say hi as well!

May 30, 2016

Since we have the prototype up and running, we’ve had a bunch of fun testing it out by making some cool things.

The wood router bits came in so we were able to try doing some engravings with them. The carbide endmills and ballmills just arrived today so keep an eye out for milled metal.

May 23, 2016

So I printed out a mount for our 20 dollar rotary tool and stuck it onto the machine to test. We haven’t gotten any router bits for the Makita spindle yet, but we did have the rotary tool on hand so I thought we might as well try carving stuff out.

We carved out “Hello world” using G-code generated from Makercam and a diamond cone burr bit. Looks pretty good!

May 22, 2016

I went out to laser cut the frame on Friday and put the machine together today to see how it looks and test it out. The machine is designed to have 1 inch thick material for the frame (either wood or HDPE) but I just wanted to make a quick frame mock up using 1/4 inch acrylic.

Check out our video of our dry run!

Next step is to put together the wiring and electronics box for the machine. We’re really close to milling some actual parts so make sure to stay tuned for more updates on that!

May 19, 2016

I assembled the parts we’ve been printing on the Wanhao for the last couple of days and wired it to the controller, and it’s working pretty well. Check out the video for our makeshift testing setup to see it in action.