Having rammed a flycutter into a lump of steel on my unmodified mill, those crappy plastic gears are not looking too healthy. I'm now at a stage where I'm 50/50 on whether to simply replace the gears or convert to an AC motor with VFD. I already have the expensive bit - a 1.5kW Altivar inverter with 240V supply and 3-phase out, so conversion is going to require a suitable motor and whatever pulleys and belts are required.

I don't want to strip the machine yet as it is still operational, and I may need it to make some parts for the conversion. Have any of you guys done the conversion already? All pictures, diagrams, advice, etc are welcome. In particular, any information regarding the spindle diameter, length, gear sizes, etc will be useful as I can't measure anything without taking the head off. Bit of a catch 22 really.