I took delivery of an Industrial Hobbies Mill back in August of 2013 with the Intent of throwing the CNC kit on it quick and having it going within 2 weeks. Well it is October now and only part of the way done.
Along the way I ran into some issues and I also decided to do a bunch of extras on it being I will already have it apart. I have been taking pictures of it along the way and have been meaning to post them on here but haven’t had the time until today.
Before I received the mill I saw a posting on the forum of people complaining about lack of support and many people having issues getting parts and such from the company. I contacted IH a few times on the phone and sent many e-mails with questions that I had for them and they responded all most immediately and even asked them about the issues. I found out the company switched hands and there was a new owner now.
I must say that I have had nothing but excellent service from IH – they always respond to e-mails right away and usually you can get someone on the phone.
When I purchased my mill and CNC kit the instructions were not updated so they sent me some old plans – there were a few changes but mostly correct.
For the money I paid for the CNC kit I did expect more then what I received – According to their website “ The only things you will need to complete your CNC conversion are a computer, monitor, basic hand tools, drill, drill bits, taps, and about $100.00 in extra electrical components. “ well the statement about $100 of electrical components is false. I spent well over $300 so far on electrical components and still need some minor electrical connectors to do it right. If I had to do it over again I don’t think I would buy the kit – I could have probably saved about $2500.
Enough with the boring stuff…..
The first thing I started with was the stand – I was going to go with a basic stand but started looking online and saw some people were going with flood coolant. I liked that idea so I mocked up a design in Solidworks and started the build. I wanted something to contain all of the liquid so I planned on making an enclosed cabinet design with removable sides if I ever need to fit something big in there.