Cedge
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2007
- Messages
- 1,730
- Reaction score
- 29
I noted in Rick's untimely but cheerfully optimistic post about opportunities that I'd just broken the intermediate gear in my mini mill. Any system has built in protection against total self destruction and the intermediate gear is that component of the mini mill. It's going to go before anything else gets whacked. I normally keep two of these gears on a peg behind the mill, but procrastination bit me in the rear end when two went in only a matter of days. OK... so I was hogging pretty heavy with the 2 inch boring bar and the 1/2 inch end mill warned me twice before it dug in and got the second one.
The problem is that when the gear goes, you're stuck with waiting for a replacement from Little Machine shop. Now those guys are always johnny on the spot and they ship same day, but UPS or snail mail are maddeningly slow when you are itching to make chips and all you can do is watch the trucks drive on by.
I decided to pop for their belt drive conversion kit and get away from the breaking gears. Easy decision since I didn't want to have to experiment with pulley sizes,ratios, spacing and finding a usable belt. The kit arrived last evening and I finally got to tinker with the installation this afternoon. All I can say is it took about 10 minutes to do the tear down and the install. Dead easy.
Everything aligned perfectly, all the required hardware was there, of class A quality, and you would not believe how much quieter the machine runs. The kit raises the top RPM capabilities from 0-1100 and 0-2400 to 0-1700 and 0-4700 for those tiny squint eyed size drill bits and very small end cutters.
Kudos to LMS and to Steele Co. LLC for an excellent product that actually solves a problem.
Steve
The problem is that when the gear goes, you're stuck with waiting for a replacement from Little Machine shop. Now those guys are always johnny on the spot and they ship same day, but UPS or snail mail are maddeningly slow when you are itching to make chips and all you can do is watch the trucks drive on by.
I decided to pop for their belt drive conversion kit and get away from the breaking gears. Easy decision since I didn't want to have to experiment with pulley sizes,ratios, spacing and finding a usable belt. The kit arrived last evening and I finally got to tinker with the installation this afternoon. All I can say is it took about 10 minutes to do the tear down and the install. Dead easy.
Everything aligned perfectly, all the required hardware was there, of class A quality, and you would not believe how much quieter the machine runs. The kit raises the top RPM capabilities from 0-1100 and 0-2400 to 0-1700 and 0-4700 for those tiny squint eyed size drill bits and very small end cutters.
Kudos to LMS and to Steele Co. LLC for an excellent product that actually solves a problem.
Steve