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Thread: Buying my first CNC from China

  1. #21
    Community Moderator Jim Dawson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Buying my first CNC from China

    Quote Originally Posted by IonutZu View Post
    Hahaha you have friends in high places Jim Dawson. Thank you - so worth it over the EZ-TRAK??? I definitely plan on taking apart all the axis so that I can replace the leadscrews... should make it easier to move around. Already watched a video on how to do this... now it's pure will power at this point lol.
    I have friends that don't have any place to store their junk. We had to drag that thing off of the trailer with large truck. I put about $1K into it to get it operational, but it was worth it. I use it all the time for moving heavy stuff around.

    Seriously, I would be over there loading that machine right now. You can't beat the price. Absolute worst case you can part it out and more than make your money back. If it comes with the vise, there is $200 right there.

    Jim Dawson
    Sandy, Oregon, USA


  2. #22
    Member IonutZu's Avatar
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    Default Re: Buying my first CNC from China

    I'm gonna do it! Starting to make shipping preparations. And I'm calling around to see if I can get a price on the ball screw conversion kit. Have you converted a Series 1 to ballscrews before? this makes it seem somewhat within my range of abilities to perform the work.

    If that forklift showed up in my driveway, my wife would divorce me and she'd find a way to get me committed haha.



  3. #23
    Community Moderator Jim Dawson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Buying my first CNC from China

    I have never converted a manual machine to ball screws. Never had the need to do it. On the other hand, I've never found a Series 1 BP for $200 either. I thought I stole my machine for $1000, it was already a 2 axis CNC with a failing controller, but mechanically near perfect.

    Take a look at these guys https://rockfordballscrew.com/ballsc...idgeport-kits/ don't cheap out on the ball screws. They say on their website the installation time is a couple hours, not sure I believe that, but you should be able to do it in a day.

    I don't know what you have for equipment, but if you have a tow vehicle or a friend with a 3/4 ton pickup, you can most likely rent a drop deck trailer for <$100 / day from the local rental shop. The other option is to hire a machinery mover and have them set it where you want. That can get a little pricy depending on how hungry they are, but might be worth checking into. Renting a 5000lb forklift might be an option also, I've had a few friends do that.

    Regarding dragging stuff home and wives. This place is my ''man cave'', I bought the property and then told the wife about it, but then again I'm half crazy. On the other hand it was too good of a deal to pass up and I had to act instantly to even get it, an estate sale priced way under market. Fortunately I had just sold one of my rental properties so I just wrote a check for it on the spot. Also, I'm retired and get to do what I want. I'm old and my give a f*** tank is pretty much empty

    Last edited by Jim Dawson; 07-18-2022 at 07:29 PM.
    Jim Dawson
    Sandy, Oregon, USA


  4. #24

    Default Re: Buying my first CNC from China

    Call Eric at Winter Engineering and price out a set of Hiwin ballscrews. Last year, when performing my cnc conversion, I contacted Rockford and their rolled screw kit was more expensive than the Hiwin's which are ground. Both kits provide a yoke that specifically fits a Bridgeport. You need to replace the 6204 bearings in your bearing mounts with 7204 angular contact bearings. Don't skimp out on these bearings just like the ballscrews. Backlash will start to add up if careful attention is not taken.



  5. #25
    Member IonutZu's Avatar
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    Default Re: Buying my first CNC from China

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Dawson View Post
    Regarding dragging stuff home and wives. This place is my ''man cave'', I bought the property and then told the wife about it, but then again I'm half crazy. On the other hand it was too good of a deal to pass up and I had to act instantly to even get it, an estate sale priced way under market. Fortunately I had just sold one of my rental properties so I just wrote a check for it on the spot. Also, I'm retired and get to do what I want. I'm old and my give a f*** tank is pretty much empty
    You are a savage, Sir.

    Quote Originally Posted by toyoman View Post
    Call Eric at Winter Engineering and price out a set of Hiwin ballscrews. Last year, when performing my cnc conversion, I contacted Rockford and their rolled screw kit was more expensive than the Hiwin's which are ground. Both kits provide a yoke that specifically fits a Bridgeport. You need to replace the 6204 bearings in your bearing mounts with 7204 angular contact bearings. Don't skimp out on these bearings just like the ballscrews. Backlash will start to add up if careful attention is not taken.
    Thanks man, did you do the Z axis as well? I want to convert the knee too but it seems there may be some complications there.

    EDIT: Do you happen to have the Z axis ball screw dimensions?



  6. #26
    Community Moderator Jim Dawson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Buying my first CNC from China

    Good advice above about Winter Engineering, I had forgotten about them. Hiwin ball screws are good quality units, pretty sure that's what my machine has.

    Before you jump too far ahead. Think about if you want to be able to operate the machine manually after the conversion, this decision may affect your ball screw dimensions. I personally wouldn't have it any other way. I use mine in manual mode a lot. Especially the manual quill for drilling and some other operations. I have mine set up to be full manual, 2 axis CNC with manual quill, and full 3 or 4 axis CNC. I can switch between modes in seconds, flip a lever and a mouse click. My knee while powered, is not under computer control, just has a Servo brand knee feed unit on it. Using the knee as the Z axis is not the best plan in my opinion, but I have seen it done.

    I have never seen another quill feed system like mine, it does not use a ball screw. Took me about 6 months to design it, about a week to build it, and it has been working flawlessly for about 8 years now. Holds 0.0001'' when I need it to. I have the drawings and parts list if you're interested. Requires a 2 axis CNC to build.

    The lever on the side is the engage/disengage for the quill feed.

    Buying my first CNC from China-img_1209-jpg

    The best advice I can give at this point is to drag the machine home, then take some time to plan your attack. Bounce your plans and ideas off of the members here. There are a lot of really experienced members on this site, and you will get good advice.

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Buying my first CNC from China-img_1209-jpg  
    Last edited by Jim Dawson; 07-19-2022 at 04:01 PM.
    Jim Dawson
    Sandy, Oregon, USA


  7. #27
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    Default Re: Buying my first CNC from China

    for this small size chinese has a type of machine

    cast iron table and gantry
    moving table
    you can order with 6 pole motor and rpm will be around 3000-12000


    price is not 2000 , but machine would fit your requirements


    thi smachine has 400x400 sized table
    also exist 600x600 and 400x600

    for 2000 you going to get only wood and plastic capability
    can do aluminum but very limited, the 2000 dollar machine

    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2255...27103474%21sea



  8. #28

    Default Re: Buying my first CNC from China

    I completed my z axis a few months ago but I used the quill instead of the knee. I was going to do mine like Jim but eventually decided to go the conventional ballscrew route because I didn't have large enough gears at my disposal....Jim can elaborate more on his ingenious z-axis design. I bought a cheap 250mm long SFU1605 rolled ballscrew kit from Amazon for $40. I made all the brackets myself and used a stepper driver & Nema 23 stepper motor from Amazon as well. All in all, it cost about $250 to CNC the quill. It's not well-suited for heavy machining or extremely tight tolerance work but it does all of what i need it to do. I too can "disconnect" my z-axis drive for manual use....I remove 4 bolts and my chip guard which takes all of 1 minute. I wholeheartedly agree with Jim, I definitely would design around being able to use the mill as a CNC and manual mill.



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