Mike, I only have a 120GB HDD on my computer, and I have so much software only about 50GB is available for my use so I have to be very picky about what files I keep. Guess I should get a bigger drive!

My mill was manufactured in early 2013, but I was one of the first few to get one after they had switched over to using US motors. I think they only sold the blue mills with Chinese motors for a very short period. Guess you got one of those which is disappointing.

If you want to keep using the gear box with a new motor it would be straightforward to bore out the gearbox input shaft to 7/8" and make an adapter plate for a 145TC motor. That's basically all they did at the factory once they started using the US motors.

I think the best thing though would be to wait on any motor upgrades until the CNC conversion is complete and then do a belt drive and VFD.

Kurt