[gopher]

Hey folks i been lurking for a while on the forums, enjoying the builds.
I have order the 44991 yesterday with the 25% off new years coupon.
I assume this is being shipped from china? How long till i see something?
I have about a 500$ budget. I plan to use the mill to make some logos in sheet metal. I would like to purchase a bolt on cnc conversion kit before it arrives, so i can get right to work when it does.

Just thinking in my head i will need
computer interface / motor driver
3 steppers
leadscrews / ballscrews
motor - screw couplings
some type of position encoder
tooling / measuring tools

upgrade options --
upgrade taper?
belt drive?

lemme know what you guys think i will be sure to report back with pics as soon as the ups man arrives

gopher

[doorknob]

I ordered the same thing yesterday - the 25% HF coupon was too good to resist.

My understanding is that the mill will be shipped from a US warehouse rather than directly from China - I think that they said 7 to 10 business days, but I could be mistaken.

I've been planning what I'm going to get for tooling, a belt drive conversion, and eventually a CNC upgrade kit. My guess is that your $500 budget is on the low side. Figure on $300 or so for a "starter kit" of tooling, $100 to $150 for a belt drive kit, $300 or so for a Gecko G540 driver and power supply, $150 for stepper motors, maybe $560 for a CNC conversion kit, and so on. There may be less-expensive ways to get all of those things, though.

I've been discussing some of these items here: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/bencht...sion_both.html

There are a number of bolt-on CNC upgrade kits (not including steppers or driver board or power supply) that I've been looking at. One of the ones that I'm considering is at CNC Fusion (kit #4).

[photomankc]

I don't think you will touch a conversion plus tooling for $500. The conversion kits alone are going to run that much then there are the measuring tools, software, and cutting tools as well. I think you could get a decent start at around $700 to $750 on the cheap side.

[QSPSB]

Congrats on the X2 purchase... Your gonna love this little mill... Well at least i love mine.. lol

Don't worry about getting the steel gears for it if you plan on installing the belt drive.. Which i would highly suggest you do as soon as you can... Them plastic gears wont last for long... I purchased mine from.. X2 Mini-mill belt drive kit

and I'm very happy with it... probably should order a replacement belt with your order as well... Might come in handy someday

When you convert it over to belt drive it by passes all the drive gears in the spindle... Heck you could even remove them if you wish to... It wont matter either way..

As for tooling goes... 90% of your total milling start up cost will be just on tooling my friend... One thing to keep in mind here is... You get what what you pay for... now not all the tooling cost a fortune and you can get away with buying cheaper items at times.... But with the lower price means less precision... Stay away from the cheap stuff... save some cash and a ton of headaches and purchase some half way decent tooling... It may cost you more up front and take more time to get it but you'll be glad you did in the long run....

[dsdmax]

What is secret to getting one of those things? I am assuming you have to buy something there first - is there a minimum purchase. They just opened a store about 10 miles from here and there is a 5x6 bandsaw i have my eye on. A 20-25% coupon would be just the ticket!!!

[dsdmax]

when your ready to start your conversion check out Campbell Designs - CNC with Bob Campbell

wish i had seen that before i started mine. Lots of stuff to make the electronics part much easier. still might order a case from them as i am not happy with what i have put together so far.

[plasmator]

The 20% is a 'standard' coupon that you can find just about anytime on sites like retailmenot.com. They come in HF mailers, but people upload them and you can just print it and take it in to the store. Sometimes if you don't have one though, you can sweet-talk the gal at the register and she will pull one out of her stash.

Regarding tooling/measurement budgets: plan on spending at least what you spent on the machine itself to really get up and running. You might get away with an initial purchase of 50%, but you will quickly find yourself in need of more. Also, this figure doesn't include the cost of CNC conversion. You may think, "no way can it cost that much", but believe me it does. I'm sure others here can attest to this add well.

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[chipslinger69]

What is secret to getting one of those things? I am assuming you have to buy something there first - is there a minimum purchase. They just opened a store about 10 miles from here and there is a 5x6 bandsaw i have my eye on. A 20-25% coupon would be just the ticket!!!

I used a 20% off coupon to buy the 7"x12" bandsaw they sell. The web page shows a blue and whit model but the one they sell in the store is a machinery green color. $799.00 before the 20% off coupon. It is the same saw that Grizzly and other companys sell just branded with a different name and color.

[doorknob]

The 25% off coupons sometimes show up in your email if you sign up for their email deals. I got several emails ahead of Jan 1 with a printable 25% off coupon inside.

They also occasionally have in-store events where you can pick up a 25% coupon. For example, for the New Year's Day 25% off coupon, supposedly if you bought something in the store during their 2-day After Christmas sale (Dec. 26th and 27th), they would give you a coupon. In my experience, I went to the store on the 28th and they had a stack of the coupons by the register that anybody could grab.

The coupon stated that it was good on January 1 only, either in-store, or for online orders or for phone orders. HF did not accept the coupon code when I tried to use it online, but it worked fine via phone order when I ordered the mini mill (my local HF store does not carry the mini mill in-store, but the coupon would also have worked fine in the store, except that they were out of stock on the 30" shear that I wanted to get - that's a whole other story, though - I ended up getting it today at a different store using a 20% coupon that I cut out from an issue of Home Shop Machinist magazine).

[gopher]

hey guys thanks for all the good info, i cant wait to get it.
My other hobbies are gonna be taking a back seat so i can dump more $ into this thing.
gopher

[wildonewest]

I went to eBay and bid on some Harbor freight coupons. And for $3.00 I received 10 coupons at 20% off each. They also sent the whole page for each coupon for other savings as well. I was wondering if they would even work and it did because I used one of them to order my HF 44991 mill a few days ago. I'm also going to use another coupon tomorrow to purchase a parts washer so I can clean the mill and another coupon for a 20 ton press that I need.

Now I'm thinking about Northern tool coupons on ebay if there is such a thing. I need a Hobart mig welder




http://www.youtube.com/user/strangef...ature=mhum#p/a

[chipslinger69]

I went to eBay and bid on some Harbor freight coupons. And for $3.00 I received 10 coupons at 20% off each. They also sent the whole page for each coupon for other savings as well. I was wondering if they would even work and it did because I used one of them to order my HF 44991 mill a few days ago. I'm also going to use another coupon tomorrow to purchase a parts washer so I can clean the mill and another coupon for a 20 ton press that I need.

Now I'm thinking about Northern tool coupons on ebay if there is such a thing. I need a Hobart mig welder




YouTube - strangefire1's Channel

I have seen those on Ebay and I cannot believe people actually buy them when you can download and print them for free. You can print out as many copies as you want and it only cost as much as the paper you print them on, and yes the stores still take them. I usually print out a whole sheet of them and cut them out and use a few and give a few away. You can usually locate them and other coupons at this link.
Harbor Freight Coupon Thread - Slickdeals.net

[wildonewest]

I have seen those on Ebay and I cannot believe people actually buy them when you can download and print them for free. You can print out as many copies as you want and it only cost as much as the paper you print them on, and yes the stores still take them. I usually print out a whole sheet of them and cut them out and use a few and give a few away. You can usually locate them and other coupons at this link.
Harbor Freight Coupon Thread - Slickdeals.net

I guess $3.00 is a lot of money for some people but hey, that's why we are on this forum so we can learn!!!:cheers:




YouTube - strangefire1's Channel

[chipslinger69]

Nope, $3.00 ain't nothin. But a penny saved is a penny earned. Plus if you print them you can have them now instead of waiting to get them in the mail.

[Everrest]

I ordered mine late Saturday 7pm cst with the 25% off and it was shown as on backorder. Website shows in stock now.

[wildonewest]

I ordered mine late Saturday 7pm cst with the 25% off and it was shown as on backorder. Website shows in stock now.

I just checked my Fed-Ex confirmation and it is in transit from Florence, SC? I thought they came from CA way since they are from China.

[gopher]

Well it arrived. I was surprised to see it delivered right to my door, I figure the woulda just left it in the driveway. The mill was totally covered in red goop, which was expected. So I started a complete dissassembly, cleaning, lube, reassembly. Im using mobile one synthetic grease on the friction rails.





Nice to see stryafoam





There were only 2 screws holding the motor on and they were almost falling out.



This how the motor was!!!



The current state of things.






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[luv2ride]

Congrats! It felt great when I got and saw the stryrofoam also, good packing. I don't know if you will like cleaning the red goo though, what a pain. It help to get to know the machine by tearing it apart I guess.

[gopher]

Right. I have a problem already. Check out my x axis . I assume I put it toghter wrong? I mean 2 whole spins of backlash, is that right?

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s6ZPEdWodk"]YouTube - Hf 44991, is this normal?[/nomedia]


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[SCzEngrgGroup]

Right. I have a problem already. Check out my x axis . I assume I put it toghter wrong? I mean 2 whole spins of backlash, is that right?

YouTube - Hf 44991, is this normal?


Sent from my SGH-T849 using Tapatalk

See the way the knob moves closer and further from the end of the table? You don't have the thrust bearings installed correctly. There should be no axial movement of the leadscrew.

Regards,
Ray L.