A very fond farewell to Chris

[gwilki]

I suspect that some here do not routinely read the Sienci blog. Today’s blog is particularly bitter sweet to me, and I believe it will be to many members.

Here is a link

Sienci Labs' blog | Sienci Labs

Chris’ last request in his blog post was to ask us to share our own experiences with Chris. I had done that and then realized that my post read more like an obituary than an au revoir.

So, I believe that I will simply say to Chris that I have enjoyed our conversations over the years that I have been the forum moderator. I wish you well in your future endeavours.

[whitewolf]

Agreed - I do not have much to share but Chris has been helpful to me and so many others, not to mention his role in the company as a whole.

[KNS]

Though I never interacted with Chris, I sincerely wish him the best.

[Spamming_Eddie]

Please also share any of your own experiences you’ve had with me, pictures of your setups, or any other way you’ve felt impacted as I’d be very grateful to carry that forward with me as a memento.

Was I impaced when I bought my Longmill, had it lay at the customs (20km down the road) for weeks because UPS didn’t believe it wasn’t for commercial use, and demanded my companies registration number, and only released the machine after Sienci intervened.

Was I impacted after I assembled my Longey and managed to burn out my makita within a wink of an eye because in stead of flattening a board, my 22mm flattening bit slowly spiraled into the wood and caused the clamping to realease, leaving me a wood tossing monster that had me hiding in my office untill it spew out smoke and killed the circuit breaker leaving me in the dark… behind an electric garage door… looking for the keys of the back doow… with a lighter.

Was I impacted when a giant of a hells angel burst into tears after he counted the rings on the memorial plaque to finally put on a still borns grave, and it turned out to be the same as the number of years that had passed since the sad event happened..

Or when my neighbor mentioned that the plaque I made of him on his beloved classic tractor would be on his grave in stead of the simple wooden cross he always said would be on his grave..

Or the tears I saw in the eyes of our dog trainer when I revealed a hand painted, laser etched 3D carve of her recently passed dog..

Was I impacted when an old colleague summoned me at his dying bed to tell me his last wish was for me to create a piece for his wife to remember him by. Was I impacted when the wife called me up in tears after it got delivered a few months after the passing of her husband?

You bet your skinny bleep Chris, and many, many, many more people, because this is only the tip.You have created an iceberg even the captain of the HMS Titanic would respect. Be proud, be very very proud.

So thanks for all the tears, Chris!

[chrismakesstuff]

Thanks so much all, to @gwilki for being an amazing moderator that Sienci is lucky to have and who I’d consider a friend, and thanks @Spamming_Eddie for giving me tears in return; your pictures are also amazing.

I tried to already write most of what I could think of in my blog post, so can’t think of much else to add other than to re-echo how great it’s been to build this community alongside you all and how lucky I feel to have been able to make such an impact in the hobby CNC space - an impact that I hope has been broadly positive and that will continue into the future. One of the important lessons I learned over the years as someone starting with a passion for CNC and not as much business sense, is that if you aim to help others, make tools available that have meaningful use and impact, and continue to push forward using that passion, then you can create a strong community and great products without having to compromise on principals of openness, support, affordability, and reliability. I hope that this has helped the broader CNC community better understand what they should be able to expect from the space as a whole; that machines and the companies behind them can be great in all these aspects without compromise. CNCs truly are a great tool that I’ve seen help so many by either reconnecting with pastimes or being new to the world of making, it’s also great when people are able to make such personal gifts for each other or help within their communities.

Be well all! I may still mosey through here from time to time, what can I say except it’s hard to imagine leaving behind a Forum I created 7 years ago and have since spent 1.9k days visiting and a total of 13 days reading - or another way I’d put it is old habits die hard

Chris

[JohnOCFII]

Best Wishes for whatever the future holds, Chris! I met you at MRRF in either 2018 or 2019, and was thrilled to be one of the early customers for the SuperLongBoard. While I don’t have a Sienci machine, the SLB is a perfect match for my MilkCr8 CNC. Thanks for launching one of the premier CNC companies for the hobby/midsize market!

[_Michael]

I’m a bit late, I just got an Email that mentioned the blog post about Chris’s departure.

I want to thank you, Chris, for your part in making Sienci, this forum and the state of hobby CNC in general what it is today!

I wish you and yours all the best! Live long and prosper!