Hey folks. Chris is here with an update on the SuperLongBoard! Explore the latest enhancements, news, and more.
For more information, check out our video and blog.
Video:
Blog:
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Looks very fine, Chris. In a previous blog, I believe that you and/or Andy mentioned that the super long board would have true 4 axis capability so that we could do away with the Y to A switch that we now need when using the Vortex. If I am remembering correctly, it would be good is you could mention that in future presentations.
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Thanks Grant! I’ll try to remember to mention that more prominently the next time around, because the true 4-axis functionality IS really very cool and opens up doors for not just the hassle of switching from one axis to the other but also to get simultaneous multi-axis cutting that can’t be done with the current setup 
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Thanks Chris for the update on the Superlongboard, very much appreciated. I’m getting exited to see the finished product next spring.
One of the main reasons why I bought the Longmill in the first place was your commitment to open source. While I have the background and knowledge to fiddle with your products I love the fact that I don’t have to (I would rather be making something beautiful or useful then taking apart the tool).
Everything I saw in the video update addresses either my concerns or my desires. I have had many issues with EMI and disconnects that I fixed by placing the Longmill and my computer on the same dedicated circuit (not shared with anything else) and by better grounding of my dust collection. I didn’t realize that GRBL has issues with USB communications and may have contributed to some of my issues, good to know.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks Guy! As testing continues I hope the reliability of the new setup we’ve created will be proven as far as addressing connection issues. There certainly still are areas that could exist around these points like power brownouts, pulling too much power from a single circuit, and perhaps other areas that I’m not sure currently that the SLB could be impacted by. These would also equally impact other higher-end controllers too though I’m sure
As I mentioned in my post, I’m really hoping that some of our Beta testers who have had problems with disconnections in the past will be able to swap in the SLB and let us know what parts of those original problems are solved or still outstanding so that we can pass that along to everyone else. I hope all the common ones will disappear though 
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Thanks Chris for the update on the SuperLongBoard.
I agree on the pre-order of the SLB.
One of the reason for me to upgrade to this new SLB is the ability of using a screen only (and not a dedicated laptop) . Is this the functionality that will not be part of this new SLB version?
Thanks and great work.
ralph
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Thanks Ralph. Yes I put more details into my blog post about it, but we were finding that the SLB project was beginning to take much longer than we thought and we hit many roadblocks to make it run without hooking up a laptop so instead we found a way to still make the final board work how we want but split the work up into two parts.
The version we’ll be releasing soon will have all of the first parts like better motor drivers, faster processor, more reliable, etc. but still require a laptop to be hooked up. Meanwhile the second part of the project will continue afterwards and be released at a later date. We have so many improvements we want to make but it was very ambitious to do them all at once so this will allow us to make the improvements a bit more methodically
C
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Hi Chris,
I just read in your update that you still plan on placing the board on the x axis. I cannot overstate how bad this idea is. Your company is currently exploring the need for a spindle with more power, as future Makitas are becoming less viable due to price increases. I have researched spindles extensively and you will find that with more power comes more weight.
It makes zero sense to load up the x axis with any additional weight that is not dedicated to horse power! I already own a long mill 2 so ultimately your decision will have no effect on me, but it is a shame to see a good product spoiled by a poor design choice.
Looking forward to the added static control this board offers
Hi Steve, I understand your concern and agree that it wouldn’t make sense to load up the X-axis with weight. I might’ve misspoke in the video but the plan is to put the box on the Y-axis, not the X. I also mentioned in the video that we don’t plan to force people to place the box on the Y-axis, they can also mount it wherever else they wish 
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Awesome! I’ll be posting some pics of my latest projects soon.
Who could fall asleep during that. Wow your are supercharging the machines. LOL Way to go Chris. Looks amazing.
Will this be a standard board for any new Longboard units being sold in the future?
That looks like that plan they are always improving things and pushing them out to the users to have I would guess so. Have to wait until they are all in production until they ship with the new machines.
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Are there any plans or intentions of screening or certifying the new hardware for EMI/EMC performance per ISED or FCC? That would give you as well as your customers some confidence that at least the most significant issues have been addressed and improved over the current longboard. (More so than just from the anecdotal evidence found through beta testing.) If certification with a full official report is out of your budget, at least an unofficial screening at a certified lab for your own peace of mind could be of some value and would potentially cost much less. These test procedures include both susceptibility (how tolerant the system is to electrical noise and ESD), as well as emissions (how much electrical noise the system emits). Maybe susceptibility alone is most important so you could limit your time at the testing lab to just those tests and keep the cost lower. As a EE, many times the system hardware I’ve designed is required to pass certain tests for certification before they can be sold, but also the testing and screening can uncover hidden issues that weren’t known beforehand. I just thought I would bring this up in case it was helpful towards really ensuring the new board is the best it could be.
Very good points Aaron, and yes the plan is to get testing done to get certification and see if we’ve missed anything else for the reasons that you mention. I’ll talk about it more once we know we’re ready to begin and how it goes, thanks for the comment
@2DogwoodenConcepts, yes the long-term plan as Greg mentioned is to ship these as standard with the LongMill in the future - we’re still feeling out what the timeline on that will be but it won’t be for another couple months minimum. I talked more about it in our newly released update video and I think Andy mentioned it in the newest blog post too:
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Thanks for the update. You said that two y-axis sensors would not be part of the initial release but the inputs are there. Is the extra sensor something you would sell separately for those of us who were looking forward to that feature? I like the thought of the machine squaring itself every time is homes.
Yeah exactly, an extra sensor that we’d make available
Can you comment on how the Ethernet connection is made?
Does the SuperLongboard plug into a router and subsequently communicate through its assigned IP address, or is there a direct crossover cable connection from SuperLongboard to PC?
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Our current testing is running an Ethernet cable from the Computer directly to the SLB - we likely won’t look at running it on a network until sometime after release since the list of features we’re already aiming to support and document is already quite large