Well I just finished refurbing a Spectralight 0200 mill. I didn't have to put one dollar into it but there was a great deal of work involved. It got dropped, quite literally on it's head. The connecter for the Z-axis stepper was bashed beyond recognition and the Z-axis stepper mount was tweaked from the fall.

Once that was fixed and I had motion on all axes I started to tear her down for cleaning/maintenance. There was, no joke, about .375" backlash in the Y-axis from the drive collar doohickey being improperly installed. There was about .100" backlash in the X-axis which sucked up at least 1/2 the total invested repair time. It's great that the X-axis leadscrew is beneath the bed protecting it from chips etc. but holy cow, what an unbearable cuss that thing is to adjust.

Total cost from taking posession to first cut: $0. Okay, I DID have to buy a chuck key so $4.

Now to figure out what the hell I am doing with it... :rolleyes:

How do you adjust the backlash in the z axis on one of these machines?
I just picked one up and it seems to plunge into the wood every once in a while. I am new to this so I am guessing its a backlash issue.

There is a retrofit kit available from Sherline. See:

http://www.sherline.com/4017Zinst.htm

Is that what would cause these dips in this picture?
http://www.siliconesoapmolds.com/images/deepholes.jpg

I think you would have to watch where the deep spots are relative to your toolpaths. The deep spots would be where the tool crosses an area that has already been cut allowing it to drop.

Apart from that I don't have any real guidance for you yet. As soon as I got the mill working my wife's motorcycle crapped its oil pump. My garage floor has literally been covered with body and engine parts for about a month. New stuff is on the way and I hope to have much more milling time in my future.