Aftermarket Power feed

I bought a power feed for my milling machine from CDCO of Tower Road Schaumburg , Illinois .

Being in Australia I recieved it about 10 days after I paid the invoice. On opening the box I noticed the lack of decent packaging and there was some evidence of damage from some of the loose parts in the box hitting against the main unit.The parts and main unit were in normal plastic bags and he had put about a dozen of those foam peanuts in there which did nothing . I immediately e-mailed the owner and told him of the damage he replied saying that customs must have opened the parcel and removed the packaging . Well there was no "opened by customs" sticker so I would guess it was x rayed and not opened. I decided I could fix the cracked plastic cover and would live with the scratches . I decided to do a test fitiing the next night and found to my dismay that the mongrel thing does not fit my machine .I e-mailed him again and told him of the situation ,and said that I would send it back and take the value of the power feed in other good rather than a monetary refund. He replied that I should "sell it to my friends.: I replied that I did not have any friends that have milling machines and that I reside in a remote out back town and that I have no chance to sell it on .(like who would want to buy a damaged unit anyway). I asked If he had a unit that would fit my machine and sent an attached image of my mill. He replied that I should take a picture of it and sell it on Ebay Australia.

On futher investigation ,I will be able to fit it to my machine but it's going to be a major modification and manufacturing a new mounting bracket, and mods to the bevel drive gear to get it to fit . I will also be unable to fit the table hand crank wheel back on with the power feed in place.

Any way I have given up on this dog and am warning anyone contemplating purchasing any thing from him to steer well clear of him . He dosen't mind taking your money but when it comes to after sales service , well,he has none. I am also looking at lodging a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission which has an international consumer protection agreemanr with Australian Consumer protection group.

Reply to
Kevin(Bluey)
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I have bought from them before with good service, but I've never had an issue like that to see how their CS works. They do seem to have some good deals, but one experience like yours can negate that. Please do keep us posted.

Reply to
RBnDFW

You should have opened it in front of the truck driver, and refused shipment because it's damaged.

Then, if the guy doesn't make good, sue the bastard. (salesman, shipper, their relatives, you know the drill.) ;-)

Good Luck! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

I bought some stuff from CDCO and can repeat what Rex said. Those were more simple things, however.

In addition, I bought a (very likely) identical powerfeed from a similar distributor in the US. The powerfeed was packaged very decently. If CDCO resells the same powerfeed, I would concur with the assumption that the package was tampered with in transit.

i

Reply to
Ignoramus15924

I have had some items damaged in shipping to AU, but not many - but in my case the items were cheap, and the shipping was 10 or 20X what the buyer paid for the item - your machine parts are much more expensive there, but at least you get to try the thing out or at least inspect it first. Because of the cost of shipping, the advise to sell it locally may actually be really good advise - even with the damage, you may well get your $$ back out of it - and postage within AU is for more cost effective, even if you have to ship across the country, than international post. I looked at some machinery in a machinery surplus store outside Adelaide, and I was astounded - parts that I wouldn't pay $10 for were marked at $400 to $500, and a clapped out rusty wolhaupter head with no accessories was marked $950.

Perhaps if you post here exactly what mill you have, someone can tell you what power unit might fit it. Or, you can get a gear drive motor and make your own (guys like me, and probably Iggy have such small motors, and shipping to AU runs around $40 for a flat rate box if I remember right)

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Reply to
Bill Noble

I picked it up from the post office ,registered mail.

Reply to
Kevin(Bluey)

He admitted he repacked it in a UPS box for shipping ,the main unit was just in a normal plastic bag ,the mounting parts and the limit switches were also just in a plastic bag . The rest of the packaging included 6 foam peanuts floating around amongst the loose bags of parts . I also ordered a 0-1/4 keyless chuck and a J1 arbour to suit ,I have no issue with the drill chuck , I'm very happy with that.

When Australian Customs open parcels , they put a pamphlet in the box to alert you that it has been opened and it contains information on items that are not allowed to be imported , you also get a bright orange sticker on the out side of the box as well informing you that the parcel has been opened for customs inspection by Australia Post .

Since they now have xray machines at every port ,they rarely open parcels unless the xray inspector flags some thing thats not right. In five years I have had only two parcels opened ,one by Customs and one by AQUIS (Australian Quarantine Inspection Service) both parcels had stickers and pamphlets included , and both parcels passed through.

Reply to
Kevin(Bluey)

The same or similar power feed is $600.00AUD here plus shipping and another $120.00 for a 240/110 2 amp transformer to power it. The main reason I bought from the US and the Aussie dollar was up at 85 cents against the US dollar.

My mill is a Taiwanese import , of around 2000 manufacture maybe earlier , it is floor mounted and is very similar to the mill that Grizzly sold as a wood mill ,the only difference I can see is that my mill does not has a dovetailed beam that carries the head that can be cranked in and out or the hole in the center of the table . I have the Grizzly manual and the parts manual both downloaded from the Grizzly website , the manual shows the power feed fitted to thier machine ,that's why I bough the power feed , it looks the same as the one I recieved .

All the badges have been removed so I can't even tell where it was purchased but I am certain it came from Hare & Forbes as I have seen one on Ebay Australia that is identical with the H&F labelling . I can e-mail images of it if that would help.

There is another type of power feed that is for bench mounted mill drills . I was prepared to pay return postage and exchange the power feed if it would fit my machine , he would have suffered no loss at all.

Reply to
Kevin(Bluey)

Actually I just looked at the Grizzly website and this mill is almost identical to mine ,except mine is an older model and does not have the variable speed , hand wheels are a bit different .This one looks to have longer shafts that the handwheels are mounted on. But the two bolt extension on the end of the table looks the same bolt hole pattern. The bearing housing in the extension on the grizzly looks to protrude further out

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The power feed I bought is the first on the left column and the one I reckon I should have got is the second one down.

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I've just looked at the installation manuals on the Grizzly site and may be able to fit it easier than I thought , the chingchong instructions that came with the power feed are not the clearest to say the least. I may not need that adaptor bracket that came with the unit just drill and tap the bearing housing on the end of the table to take the four socket cap screws.

Reply to
Kevin(Bluey)

That's what I'd do (and probably will for my mill, when I get around to it ). But, that's what I like doing, especially the figuring out how to do it. YMMV.

And I'd use a DC motor and servo amp. See my power feed on my lathe:

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Good luck, Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

You might find some ideas under the various mounting instructions on this page. One thing to be careful of is that you don't mess up your mill's bearing setup for handling the lead screw's thrust load.

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Reply to
Ned Simmons

...

And you thought Ned Kelly was dead eh?

Track down the Better Business Bureau in his city/locality (BBB Chicago and Northern Illinois -

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) and file a complaint. You'll get little or no response from any other organization.

Did you pay by credit card? If so, file with your bank for a refund in full. Same if PayPal.

N
Reply to
N Morrison

I never sell to any foreign country because of all this stuff. I have one rule that I do not violate, which is no sales to any foreign country.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus1057

I thought the only thing that CDCO sells is powerfeeds for Bridgeports?

i

Reply to
Ignoramus1057

Bill Noble wrote: I looked at some machinery in a machinery surplus

We have surplus stores like that in Texas, too. Apparently there are people who eventually pay those prices. or not.

Reply to
RBnDFW

this is your choice, but my experiences have generally been good, and I've made some very interesting contacts

Reply to
Bill Noble

I agree. It's not that difficult, and it's become a little less so in the past year. the forms became shorter for small stuff

Reply to
RBnDFW

If you look at his website it doesn't say what they fit ,obviously he has no clue .He cannot offer advice because he dosen't have the mechanical knowledge or skills or experience to offer knowlegedable advice. I find that typical of some vendors both here and the US ,they have no clue as to how to use or install the equipment that they sell .It's just a profit thing with them ,grab the dollars and offer no after sales service.

Reply to
Kevin(Bluey)

Credit card Yes . Well old Ned had nothing on this guy .Ned only robbed the rich ,this bastard would take the money from a blind man's beggings. Thanks for the link , I'll check them out and send him a good arse kicking .

Actually I've just about got the thing fitted , so I'll make do with it ,as long as it ok electrically and it works but I will still stir this bastards pot .

Kev.

Reply to
Kevin(Bluey)

Well, either the post office damaged it, or the guy shipped crap.

Either way, there _should be_ some recourse. Maybe call one of those ambluance-chasers who advertise all over the place.

Good Luck! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

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