# G0704 Experiences and belt drive



## SEK_22Hornet (Jul 27, 2013)

I recently purchased a G704 mill new from Grizzly - I had read all about the plastic gear failing, the replacement always on back order, etc.  I thought I would be careful enough to not have any problems.  Wrong! I hadn't had it a week before stripping some teeth off the gear.  I've been waiting on my 2 replacement gears for 2 months (still not in stock). What are other people's experience with this mill?  I really liked the large table, built in quill DRO and other features - the quality just seemed a little better than the other mills I looked at (I went to the Springfield showroom before buying mine). I am in the process of building my own belt drive conversion and would be interested in how others may have accomplished this.  so far I have two timing pulleys, one that I have bored out to fit the top of the quill drive and I plan on using the two screws that hold the tach ring on to hold the pulley.  I'm thinking about adding 2 or 4 more holes to this to get four or six screws.  Any thoughts or experiences on this?  

Dan


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## davidh (Jul 27, 2013)

*Re: Grizzly Go704* "I've had mine for about a year, and am very happy with it. It has great table travel

, and with the tapered gibs and boxed column, it has good precision and rigidity for its size. If you have any thoughts of converting to CNC, it is a great mill for that. Lots of info and parts available. Like any of the smaller mills, it has it's weak points. Some people have had problems with the motor overheating. Lots of people do a belt drive conversion, and there are plans available for that. There are a lot of users on the CNC Zone discussion board, under the "Benchtop Machines" heading, here:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/benchtop_machines/

Also check out this website:

http://www.g0704.com/

Check out the YouTube

 videos he has links to there.

Bottom line, IMO, it's a great design, marred by the usual Chinese manufacturing issues, and overall good value

 for the price."



copied from another forum
does this help any ?

DAVIDH


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## Wheels17 (Jul 29, 2013)

The belt drive conversion is your best bet.  When I bought my G0704, on February 20, 2013, I ordered a spare gear, planning to be ready when I made a mistake and broke the gear.  I called last week, and they now believe delivery of the gear will be in September!!   They seem to have them to put into new machines, but can't get parts for 7 months??  Unbelievable. 

That said, I do like the mill.


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## Smudgemo (Aug 2, 2013)

A machinist friend said to try contacting Boston Gear for something more substantial to replace the plastic.  He thinks in addition to cheap it's more quiet to run plastic as the reason for that sort of junk.  I haven't tried BG, yet but if you do, please post your results.

I wrecked my gear only maybe a month into ownership, then the machine sat for 2-3 months waiting for back-ordered replacements until I asked to return the whole thing and upgrade to something more substantial.  Magically, they noted it as a warranty and claimed to pull a gear from a new machine for me.  I like the machine, but I don't care for worrying it will be out of service again.  I will upgrade at some point to a small knee mill, but when it's working, this is a nice mill for the size.

-Ryan


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## Wheels17 (Aug 2, 2013)

Just received a note from Grizzly that my gear is being shipped.....


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## Ray C (Aug 2, 2013)

This is extremely common for this machine.  The factories that produce these things realize that almost everyone who buys these things performs various after-market upgrades and it's a machine commonly converted to CNC.  In essense (and this is not intended in a negative way) it considered more of a "kit machine".

I've had this discussion with Matt from Precision Matthews.  He's asked the factory to produce these things with metal gears but, it turns-out, most people would swap that out anyhow and go with other solutions.


Ray


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## Smudgemo (Aug 2, 2013)

Thanks Wheels17!  I had two on order and didn't get a notice.  My cc number was changed due to fraud activity since I ordered them forever ago, and they were having trouble processing payment (of course.)  Not sure if/when they planned to notify me, but I'm all set now.

Word of warning to everyone else, stock is already getting low, so they say...


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## SEK_22Hornet (Aug 3, 2013)

The two gears I ordered a couple of months ago are supposed to be here tomorrow. I have been working on a belt drive conversion scheme of my own design since then.  I was hoping to get some discussion going on that subject as well - I've seen the videos of Hoss but just can't see paying his price for a bunch of drawings - most of which I wouldn't use.  I also lucked into a RF30 style machine at an auction for a good price so I have been cleaning it up and making minor repairs to it, so I guess I have a spare now, so to speak. I stripped a few teeth off my gear, so I was able to adjust the mesh and keep playing with it while waiting on the parts.  I did chat with Grizzly about the problem and let them know I wasn't happy to have a brand new mill crippled for a couple of month waiting on repair parts. I suggest anyone in the same situation make their displeasure known to them as well.  I bet they use up this order of gears just filling back orders...


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