[cmadki4]

Buyer Beware: Please read complete thread before dealing with CNC Conversion Kit on eBay or CNCCONVERSIONKIT.com or CONVERSIONCNCKIT.com. And please keep in mind the original ship date promised for the complete machine was 4 days after payment. It is now going on 30 days and I still don't have everything. And many of the parts that I do have are wrong or of extremely poor quality. Just a word of warning if you plan on dealing with the aforementioned company. It has been and remains an unpleasant experience working with CNC Conversion Kit to get all the issues resolved and I don't want anyone else having to go through it if possible.

Intro:
I just recently sold my CNC plasma system to fund a machine that is better suited for my needs. I decided to go with a router for better cut quality on aluminum sheet and added versatility having a spindle brings. Coming from the 36" x 36" plasma I didn't want to reduce my working envelope much so I found a machine in that size range (sort of).

I found my machine on ConversionCNCkit.com, a company up in Canada.

Mfg.:
CNC Conversion Kit seems to offer their routers in a plethora of configurations; from the smaller more basic models, to the decked out higher quality component editions. I opted for the latter. Peter, my contact with the company has been very helpful throughout the ordering process and worked with me on the pricing and upgrading a few features on the machine.

Specs:

• 26" x 41" x 6" working envelope
• 60mm x 60mm extruded aluminum frame
• 1/2" and 3/4" Mic6 machined aluminum parts
• dual ballscrew Y axis
• Supported rails
• 1.5kW 220V spindle (ER11 and water cooled) + VFD
• Gecko G540 and upgraded 48VDC 12A power supply in aluminum control box
• Four (4) 380oz./in stepper motors
• Upgrade: full width T-slot table (only half shown in picture)

Application:
I'll be using this machine mainly for cutting aluminum sheet (5052H32) for fabrication custom aluminum computer cases. The plasma did a pretty good job of this, but lacked the refined finished cut of a mill or router. The aluminum also tended to warp with the heat and cut finish required a lot of filing and grinding, but the finished products looked good.

Having a router will also allow me to work with more materials like polycarbonate, woods and other machinable non-ferrous materials. And with the added control and precision of a ballscrew setup rather than rack and pinion, cutting will be much more accurate and predictable.

Future Plans:
The machine will not arrive until as late as the 3/18, so I have time to prepare my shop and gather my thoughts on how design the bench and cabinet for the machine, as well as order all my tooling and misc. items on my shopping list.

I've already ordered some tooling as well as an ELO touchscreen monitor, but I've quite a bit left to do before I'll be ready to setup the machine itself once it arrives.

To Do:

• run 220V to basement
• build bench for machine
• build control box (will probably use old PC tower case; HEC98)
• order tooling, collets and worklights
• design means of chip/coolant containment

Stayed tuned! I'll be posting updates as I go with plenty of pictures.

[Dirty Engineer]

Should be a nice router. Be sure to post of pics of it when you get it and continue with a build log. It will be interesting to follow.

[cmadki4]

Today is the scheduled ship date, but I don't believe he is going to make it. He will be out of town starting Friday, so hopefully he gets it finished and crated up today, ready to ship tomorrow. I keep asking him for pictures of the machine in progress (for piece of mind and worklogs), but he doesn't comply.

Anyone have any experience with purchasing from CNC Conversion Kits? He seems to do a lot of X3 mill conversion.

I don't think I have anything to be worried about, but its just a lot of money to me and honestly I need that machine asap. I've got orders for parts backing up!

I'm sure it'll be all good

[cmadki4]

The machine builder has assured me that the machine will ship TODAY. However, the electrical components will no ship until Monday because he still needs to wiring everything up. So, now my hope is to have everything together by 3/22. Still no pictures of the machine in progress, but I get the impression he is overwhelmed.

[bill south]

Dang!
I just lost my first response to this due hitting a wrong button!
Once again!
Please check with those with more experience and knowledge, but I would question the use of a high speed spindle for cutting aluminum! The problem is that friction from the cutter will melt the aluminum, clog the cutter and the results will be a damaged part with most likely a broken tool. The spindles I'm familiar with do not have a lot of torque at the lower speeds which will be required for aluminum cutting. If you cut at high speeds, you'll need a good cooling system to cool the tool and evacuate the chips. Otherwise, $$$$ wasted.
I hope this helps and please, someone with more experience chime in here and correct me if I'm wrong!
Bill

[cmadki4]

I think you're sort of on point, but even at higher spindle RPMs there are ways to effectively (though maybe not ideally) machine aluminum. I've been recommended O flutes and 2 flute tools from Onsrud and Amana that are supposed to be perfect for machining aluminum at high RPMs. It requires higher feed rates and shallow DOC to get the proper chip load, but it's doable.

[bill south]

Please keep us posted on how this works out! I have an XYZ Tech 1212 and a home built 36"X36" router with 2.5 KW Spindles. I would love to do thin aluminum on them. I just never pursued it because I mostly cut wood for guitar parts and signs. I really didn't want to trouble with the mess of a cooling system.
I look forward to your input!
Have a good weekend!
Bill

[jckstrthmghty]

I have an XYZ Tech 1212 and a home built 36"X36" router with 2.5 KW Spindles. I would love to do thin aluminum on them.

I think 2.5kw is more than suffice to mill aluminum. Although not ideal I use a 2hp router and I can mill aluminum easily without cooling. This is on a MDF based router table at that. I cut around 10 ipm and only 0.0625" depth with a 1/4" bit but it seems to do the job. If your frame is ridgid you should be able to cut faster and more material than I can.

[cmadki4]

So it's the 16th now and still no pictures or tracking information... I'm losing what little patience I had.

If the builder makes anymore excuses and pushes the ship date out much more without any evidence he's actually building the damn thing I'm going to ask for a full refund. And if he doesn't comply I'll go to the credit card company.

[jckstrthmghty]

So it's the 16th now and still no pictures or tracking information... I'm losing what little patience I had.

It's been 2 days since the original shipping date and you are losing what little patience you had? On top of it you expect the builder to take WIP pictures taking away additional time away from the build process?

[cmadki4]

It's been 2 days since the original shipping date and you are losing what little patience you had? On top of it you expect the builder to take WIP pictures taking away additional time away from the build process?

No it's been 9 days since the original shipping date and still not everything will ship for another 3-4 days. The date keeps getting pushed back and I was led to believe the machine was already built and ready to go and wanted pictures of it. (When you pay someone you don't know in another country a lot of money, taking a picture isn't too much to ask).

But I did just get a tracking number for package 1 of 3. This is the base of the machine. Packages 2 and 3 with the gantry, spindle, PC, control and motors is supposed to be shipping out Monday or Tuesday.

So it is in progress, making its way here piece by piece. But I just wish he would have told me outright from the beginning "we are building your machine now and it will take some time" rather than make excuses that just didn't add up. But he seems to be a good guy, I have faith he'll deliver an excellent machine.

[cmadki4]

Small update:

The bottom section of the machine was just delivered today. I haven't been home to check it out, but my wife says it's in a well-made wooden box and there appears to be no damage.

The gantry is complete and boxed up and tracking information was provided last night. Fedex will probably pick this up today and it should be on its way to me by tomorrow.

The electrical components (driver, power supply, motor cables, etc.) are still in progress. He hopes to have those boxed up and shipped in a few days.

I'm excited that it's starting to come together!

[cmadki4]

Okay, so the base came in and it looks okay. The machined blocks on either end of the ballscrews are pretty rough. The bearings have retainer bolts that don't even touch the bearings. One bearing has a lot of play in and other has a tight spot as you rotate it. Some of the faces of the machined parts have been really roughly hand filed.

Hopefully the gantry comes in better shape than the base. I suspect everything will need a little TLC to get running smoothly and properly. Anyways, here are a few pictures:

[cmadki4]

Here's the issue I'm talking about on the ballscrew ends. One is worse than the other. Do you think those screws on either side of the bearing are meant to retain it? If they are, they are no where near doing do. They're spaced to high up and out form the bearing itself.

[cmadki4]

Builder will be sending replacement parts tomorrow. That's awful nice of him. I could probably shim the loose bearing, file out for the tight bearing and redrill the misaligned retainer screw holes, but seems silly to have to rework a brand new machine. So that's good to hear that he's shipping those out.

This hasn't been the smoothest transaction, but the builder has been very compliant and is continuing to communicate fairly well. Despite my frustrations of this being dragged out longer than I was led to believe, I do believe I'll have a good machine in the end.

The gantry arrives today and I don't have to work tomorrow, so I'm excited to see it together! Hopefully the electrical components get completed today and will be here by early next week. I'm ready to cut parts!

[cmadki4]

The gantry arrived yesterday and it looks good. There are a lot more machined parts on this than the base, but they look good. I'll still disassembled the unit clean things up and reassemble with Loc-tite. Overall I'm pleased. I hooked a drill up to it to run the X back and forth. Feels good.

[harryn]

To me at least, it looks like a really nice machine. Yes, these things do take time, and keep in mind it isn't a mass produced item coming off of a stamping line, it is a custom, hand built machine you are receiving. Parts like that don't always come in on time to the builder either, and are far too expensive to have sitting around in stock.

If you had any experience buying machinery like this from third world countries, you would also be impressed with the workmanship of what you are receiving. Just MHO. I think you will be very happy with that setup.

[rnbrown]

To me at least, it looks like a really nice machine. Yes, these things do take time, and keep in mind it isn't a mass produced item coming off of a stamping line, it is a custom, hand built machine you are receiving. Parts like that don't always come in on time to the builder either, and are far too expensive to have sitting around in stock.

If you had any experience buying machinery like this from third world countries, you would also be impressed with the workmanship of what you are receiving. Just MHO. I think you will be very happy with that setup.

While that is very true, the builder could probably do a little more of "under promise, over deliver" on ETA's. I'm sure the OP would of never been miffed if the original ETA was just 2 weeks longer than when it was first promised.

I saw a some of these pics over at hardforum, i'm looking forward seeing the work you produce with that machine in the future cmadki

[cmadki4]

Since Peter from CNC Conversion Kits was unresponsive to emails and a voicemail I decided to call today since today was yet another promised final ship date for the rest of my machine.

1. He did not ship the replacement parts Saturday like he promised. Now he is demanding the mangled ones back before he'll ship the replacements.

2. He will not be shipping the rest of my machine this week. He said he will Friday, but with Good Friday I don't think it will go anywhere until Monday.

3. He got pissy with me for calling him to check the status of my machine. He also said "you better not push me". I have to admit, that comment rubbed me the wrong way, especially after having paid in full and being strung along for the last 20 days.

He is currently stating that there is an issue with the driver. It is giving a red fault light and he doesn't know why. He has said he will figure out what the issue is in the next 2 to 3 hours and told me to call him after 4pm. He has also said he will have a tracking number for me after 6pm.

@rnbrown, you are absolutely correct. I would have no problem waiting 40 days if he would have told me that from the beginning. Under promise and over deliver sums that up nicely, thank you.

My experience with CNC Conversion Kit may be unique, but so far I would rate this company as poor and not recommend them to anyone. However, I am hoping they (Peter) really steps up, stops with all talk and follows through with a good machine... and soon! We shall see.

[gio666]

Here's the issue I'm talking about on the ballscrew ends. One is worse than the other. Do you think those screws on either side of the bearing are meant to retain it? If they are, they are no where near doing do. They're spaced to high up and out form the bearing itself.

If it is the Free end bearing on ballscrew it should have room to shrink and expand and nothing holding bearing in. So screws should be away from bearing .