I would not be in a hurry to tear down the head, I found mine to be nice and clean when I did, there are many areas that will benefit from tweaking, particularly all the axis dovetail slides and gibs, the spindle bearing pre-load, the base/pillar connections and a pivot locking plate to replace that beneath the"big nut"
If you would like the belt conversion but are short on cash you might like to consider making your own after developing your machining skills to a competent level. There are various designs free on the net and apart from the belt you can get a lot of the metal and fasteners from scrap very cheaply. I made mine over a few days using nothing more than a 7x14 mini-lathe X2 mill and a 2" boring head and various standard metalworking tools
Gerry
Leeds UK
________________________________
> To: GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com
> From: rcody@creativecad.com
> Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:07:04 -0800
> Subject: RE: [GrizHFMinimill] New Mill, Newbie Operator---
>
>
>
> Hi,
>
>
>
> Just my 2-cents but you may want to do the belt conversion sooner than
> later. If you are new to machining you will end-up breaking the
> plastic gears in the first few weeks. IF you break them it's not worth
> replacing them with new plastic gears. As for teardown unless you
> separate the mill gear head from its mount to the Z-axis you should be
> fine. Note: They are connected by 4 bolts that you can only access if
> you remove the head from the column dovetail. In the long run you will
> need to tram everything but if you are just learning make it easier on
> yourself for now.
>
>
>
> Ron Cody
>
> KF7MKY
>
>
>
> "You learn from your mistakes...Today I hope not to learn to much."
>
>
>
> From: GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of ae1282_rv8vt
> Sent: January 11, 2012 4:39 PM
> To: GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [GrizHFMinimill] New Mill, Newbie Operator---
>
>
>
>
>
> Ok, so I finally gave in and got the HF X2 mini mill. New Years
> coupon=Christmas present :-)
>
> I'm now in the middle of cleaning it, and I've got to a point that I
> can't seem to find an answer to. Can I take off the plastic gear and
> put it back on? I want to completely strip the machine and check for
> swarf/sand in all of the machine, and it sounds like they used to have
> problems with this area. I want to go with a belt conversion
> eventually, maybe in a couple months, but the $$ isn't here yet.
>
> Jason
>
>
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