Help, Spectralight 0200 damaged in shipping

[LC02]

Bought from ebay, did not specify seller to insure. Thought that mabey seller would package well and not ship it on its side, but thats another story.

The Z's stepper mount was badly damaged, needs to be replaced. There is a small plastic disc that is a part of the coupler, it is broken. And the spindle motor mount was bent.

When i unboxed it, it looked real bad, but these are the three main problems. I tore the machine down and checked the column as it took the load. All is fine there. The Z's stepper needs to be replaced, but that should be easy to find. The spindle motor mount isnt bad from Sherline. Light machines dosen't list this machine anymoe as far as I could see, and would probably want to much for parts anyway.

Any ideas on an affordable fix? Do others use this type of shaft coupler? Or would anyone be interested in duplicating their parts? I thought about buying handwheels to do this, but thought there may be a more cost effective approach as I will not need them once repairs are made.

On another note, I have read here that others have upgraded to another controller. I want to do this as I have no software. Can someone tell me the pinout on my XY steppers. And was the spindle speed knob and Estop able to be integrated. How do I tell if the spindle motor is the 90V DC one or the older one? The cable has a three wire connecter near the motor if that alone will help.

Thanks for any help, and if anyone is interested in makeing these parts for me PM me a price.

[NC Cams]

If you paid with credit card, contest the purchase IMMEDIATELY.

SHortly thereafter, file a claim with the shipper - concealed damage. Typically such claims get resolved 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 (recipient, shipper, seller).

If you didn't mark the bill of lading as being damaged when you signed shipping reciept, you're screwed. Consider this to be an expen$ive learning lesson.

You'll be surprised how fast the seller will try to work things out when the contested credit card thing happens. If you paid COD, hopefully you did it twice - first and last time - for what now should be obvious reasons.

[Ken_Shea]

I see two mistakes here, unfortunately both of them by LCO2,

did not specify seller to insure. Thought that mabey

I do not see where contesting the charge is appropriate or fair, also do not see LC02 as blaming anyone just wanting to get it fixed.

[Al_The_Man]

I believe there is a certain onus on the shipper to pack objects according to weight and value, I had a recent ebay item shipped UPS, (70lb motor) the motor was in an empty cardboard box, no packing whatsoever.
UPS aren't renown for their genteel handling, so it go severely damaged, fortunately I got full refund from seller.
Also my experience with the Can/US postal service insurance, do not expect to get a speedy or just result to your claim, I had to take mine to the Can. Post Ombudsman to be corrected and took 9 months.
One thing I have found with UPS, if you can show it was their fault (adequatly packaged), they do settle fairly promptly.
Al.

[LC02]

I would have to agree with Ken, the two big mistakes were mine. I have learned from this experiance. I paid via paypal and there is a dialog box, message to be sent with envoice. This will now be filled out with DETAILED shipping instructions. If the seller then wants a handleing fee, so be it. I will no longer work on the assumption that people have common sence. I understand that the machine might be a little heavy. And that it was easier to put the box on its side, then slide it in. But would it have killed him to take a second to wright THIS SIDE UP. Anyway I have learned something through this. I will take my lumps, and move on. I will just be happy that the damage was limeted to mounts. It could have been much worse.

[RepairmanSki]

The same sort of thing happened with the Spectralight I have. I have yet to dive into it as I picked it up from a salvage run intending to use it for a summer project. My Z-axis stepper is damaged also, and the mounting plate too.

I have the controllers but am unsure how to proceed. I don't really want to dump money into new controllers if all I need is the right software. I guess I just need to troll the boards more and hope someone knowledgeable about this model can fill us in.

[LC02]

I have the controller, but no pci card or software. From what I have read this card is no longer available. You can upgrade, but expencive.

I like the mach software so I want to use that anyway. Along with a 4 axis Zylotech board. I am looking at this situation as a chance to rebuild the machine a little bigger. During disassembly I noticed that the Y is limited only by the column, screw, and spindle offset from Z. The plan is to buy an extended X table, this will give me an extra 5" in X. Take the screw from the X and use it in the Y, on the XY base. This will give me 13 x 9 in XY. Mount the XY base to one of those cheep granit surfaces (not solid granit epoxy granit, and I think aluminium ). They are ground to .0005 and should work good. And am working on a design on the Z column that uses the existing hardware, but reinforced by steel backing what I have, and offset the extra 4" roughly. This will be attached to the back of the column base and to the heavyer Z motor mount. All mounted to the Granit base. This should give me X 13" Y 9" Z 8". All with the prescision of a Shirline, and the added mass and rigidity to bite off around twice as much without the bad vibes ruining the finish. Any feedback on the Idea welcomed. But it works good, at least in my head!

[LC02]

Should have mentioned for those that don't know, this is based on a shirline mill. 5400 I think, but the number slips my mind. 5000 something, its been a long day!