[appicnc]

Hello Blue

That wasn't too hard, I just asked about the free trade agreement with the US of A, the pencil pusher realised straight away that he was wrong and said " oh, that shouldn't have been charged " yeah right, you would think that these public servants would know how to do their job but it needs a dumb schmuck to tell them, if I was syndical I would think they saw it as sport to get as much as they could from the general public.

As to if you can expect it or not, in theory, all parcels coming into the country are liable to have charges against them including GST, however, generally if the value of the goods are <$1000.00 then customs appear to leave you alone. If the goods come in from countries other than the States and we don't have a free trade agreement with them then duty could be payable as well, ( even ftom the States, if the goods are not substantially manufactured then duty is payable on them as well )

I think what is happening though is the volume of goods enetering the country is now so great due to Ebay and others, that the customs service is swamped.

As an example, I have bought in Nema 23 size steppers from the States in the past ( thanks woody ), 6 will fit into a 20 pound box from Elwood, the steppers will cost me about US300.00, Woody is another US$60.00 ( ish ) so id GST was levied on the steppers the AU gov' would get about $37.00. now if it was a gift then no GST is payable, the customs declaration would need to be read, a form filled out, sent to me, paid and collected, the collection would be done by Aust Post, who would then have to send it to customs, all for $37.00, would you do that if you were trying to maximise profits?

Bear in mind though that if you have to pay GST, then the goods you buy he will also have had GST charged on them so you are not any worse off.

Sorry for the long winded reply.

here are other ways of bringing bulky / heavy stuff into the country but since I'm thinking of selling linear rails of hobbyist cnc'ers you'll have to work that out for yourself/s.

Ed

[appicnc]

Sorry Shannon I only saw this after I hit the go button.

You could be right, AQIS ( Aust' Quarantine Inspection Service ) here charged me $113.00 to " inspect " the timber pallet the tubes were fixed to, what as a country did we get for that?? - not much, what did I get?? - I got to watch a customs " officer " walk about 50m, look at the pallet standing up from one position, and walking back 50m. now I'm guessing he had pretty good eyesight and he know what he was looging for but if that took 1.5 minutes, his hourly rate would be about $4500.00, but we live in a " user pays regime ". No doubt the fee was a flat fee, but it still is galling, particularly when customs had tried to charge me duty on the shipment ( read the other post ).

To put it into perspective though, I bought some 20mm linear rails and AL' supports last year, the buy price in Oz for 2 @ 1500mm was $1500.00, so all the agro and problems with importing them was well worth it.

Ed

[Big S]

That sounds about right, I have recently imported a CNC router from china into NZ and the customs charges were minimal. The guys in Aussie that have imported the same routers have a slightly different story, YMMV though. One of the guys also imports Mustangs (cars) from the US to Aus and he has some interesting observations about that too.

Like you say, even with the custom hassles things work out far cheaper than locally, I think if you are forewarned it becomes a bit easier to manage.

Shannon.

[appicnc]

Hello Shannon

One reason the cost would be cheaper to import a cnc router into NZ is you have a FTA with China and am running down tarriff levels to zoero in 2012, for cnc routers it is currently 5%, I'm not sure about GST but would think it is payable too.

Hope this helps.

Ed

[Big S]

Yeah we got hit with a $3k GST bill , but we had planned on that so it wasn't a big drama. Having customs that doesn't hit you with every charge imaginable helps heaps too.

Shannon.

[blasttiod]

Hi all,
HobbyCNC havea summer sale on so I've now bought their 3 axis package.
Hope I've made the right decision aft all the reading....lol

Regards

[Big S]

Sounds great, I got the four axis package a while ago to give me a bit more flexibility, That was before I got my Chinese router though.

Shannon.

[blasttiod]

Shannon,
Now ordered the 3 axis kit. Got the bearings/ nuts/ bolts/ 3/4 MDF/ Ali angle. Just got to find some threaded rod for the screws.
How easily did the kit go together ?...anything to watch out for ?
Also how did you power the end result. Did you get the bits to build a power supply from HobbyCNC.
From what I can make out you get the bits to build a power supply but have to source a transformer for it ?

Regards
Kevin

[blasttiod]

Shannon,
You might beable to answer a question I have.
I still have yet to source a router. I been looking at one of these:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Building-re...-162835216.htm

What do you think ?
I will want to cnc timber/ plastic and about 3 mm aluminium !

Regards
Kevin

[Big S]

Kevin,

Those trimmer routers are great, have used the Makita version on a film job in Wellington. The main thing is that they don't have variable speed. I would also consider getting a genuine Makita one if you are going to be using it a lot. The genuine ones retail around NZ$130

We were hand routing about 20mm ply and 3mm alloy with them. I broke a carbide bit doing the 20mm ply though. You might like to take shallower cuts than that with a cnc(chair) .

I think the Hobby CNC kits go together easy. If you have had any experience with soldering electronics kits then you should be alright. Just make sure to double check everything as to not blow up your computer
I used three PC power supplies paralleled on my board for about 36volts. Cost me all of $6 :devious:

Shannon.

[boydage]

Hi Guys. How old is this thread? I am tacking onto it to see if anyone in NZ knows who can machine some ballscrew ends for me at a reasonable cost. I have been quoted $1000 to machine two 1605 screwends to 12mm, four ends in total. It is understood the price is fair given the fact the machinist has done them before and it took a long time. But if you guys know a machinist anywhere in NZ who can do the job for me at a better rate can you get back to me?

Regards Boyd

[pippin88]

Boyd,

It would be far cheaper to buy new screws from eBay with the ends machined (many sellers will do custom machining)

[boydage]

Hi Pippin. The screws I ordered were supposed to be machined and turned up without it from China. So I have to wear that one. The Chinese are very apologetic but sending them all the way back to China is not an option. So yeh, I need to work out a way of utilising what I have. There are several options though. But if anyone knows of a company in New Zealand who is geared up for machining ballscrews please let me know. Regards

[jetman88]

boydage Do you still need those ballcrews machined machined? I have my own to do and may be able to help you out

[boydage]

Hi. I found a guy in Akl who did two of them for $240 plus Gst. But I still have a couple of the 16mm, here along with a short 20mm rod. Although I am thinking I will design a rolling carriage that rotates the nut instead of the whole screw. Are you a machinist? Would you like to e-mail me on [email protected] as there may be me and another guy here in Nelson needing some done. Best Regards

[izambard]

I have 3 x stepper motors + 3 x motor controllers which are surplus to requirements at this stage. They are all brand new and unused.

Regards
Izambard (Wellington)

[mrpackethead]

Any more details on those motors?

[pock]

Hi guys. I have imported some parts and just wanted to share my experiences.

I found some stepper motors on alibaba.com that were a good price. I had been warned that there are a lot of unscrupulous sellers on that site, but I seemed to have a good experience. I ordered 3 Nema 23's and they were shipped to me from China in ~ 2 weeks.

I found some stepper drivers on deal extreme, ordered them. 2 out of the 3 were on back order (have now been shipped). I received the first one ~5 weeks from ordering, still waiting for the other 2 (7 weeks on...). I've ordered many things from deal extreme and I have had mixed results. Some things come really quickly, some things took 6 months to come.

It's kind of frustrating waiting for these parts, but the difference in price makes it worth while, and it gave me time to get everything else ready.

[boydage]

Hi. Mate what do you need? I have a few ballscrews here. and some other bits and pieces like linear rails and runnning blocks. Short but good for a Z axis. I am also building another gantry so that will be for sale along with a 1.5kw spindle, inverter, festo libear slide 1275mm travel, a 50mm travel Z linear slide complete with stepper mountings and mountings for the spindle. They work ok. There is a little twist in the gantry that could be fixed with some square blocks. I have been cutting MDF, Timber and 18mm alloy plate. The festo slide needs to be stripped and the belt rotated where the common area the spindle works in and perhaps a new $10 bearing here and there as it can be a little jerky. Ball screws will be my next move for the X. But this setup will be up for sale in a few months as soon as I have built my new gantry, My Z axis is finished.

In fact I still have the plans for a Z axis to hold a spindle probably with 200mm travel all alloy and a stepper nema 23 mount. So can probably build one of those for you. I have bought stuff from Yantai. The spindle is air cooled and the steppers and drivers are excellent. Although the steppers are a little prone to losing steps on the long 1800mm run but we are talking minimum like 0.01mm.

I dont buy stuff in NZ - I have not seen it but the Chinese have been fine with what I have built which is nice and reliable. Oh. Spend $70 on a decent XP computer. Makes a big difference.

But like I say, list what yoy need and I might be able to help.

[boydage]

Oh and I have a festo slide here available now. I paid $200 for it and am not looking for profit. I believe in karma keeping this hobby alive and affordable. It too is a little jerky but rotating the belt should sort that. They were over $1000 when the guy bought them new. Let me know what you want and need. I am away for a month in August. Best regards.