Info on Chinese suppliers, their reliability and reputation

[Boyan Silyavski]

BST automation on aliexpress / Fred/ is not an unknown supplier. I bought from him before a month all ball screws and Hiwin rails and carriages. Everything was machined to 0.01 tolerances and fit perfectly. All rails,carriages,ball screws, nuts and supports cost me what here would cost me only the carriages. Split your purchace when paying and avoid customs stating the half amount only. No problem from their side.

Dont start your build until you have all the before mentioned including spindle mount, as many times they will send you whatever they have at hand, meaning the ball screw housing and spindle mount different from the pictures.
Yesterday had to redraw my build entirely, due to this. A small price to pay.

Spindle is not same as router. I would like to see somebody cutting soft plastic and aluminum with router, the way that can be cut with spindle. No doubt for me there. There are other benefits like trip when problem, speed control directly from CAD/CAM and so on, worth the money. 2 mistakes on a expensive material that could be avoided by the spindle PC communication will pay you the spindle.

[Want2build1]

Dont start your build until you have all the before mentioned including spindle mount, as many times they will send you whatever they have at hand,

??? should I be concerned at this ??? !!!

[Boyan Silyavski]

??? should I be concerned at this ??? !!!

Dont know, you decide. Finished my drawing in Sketchup and ordered everything. As i have some laser cut pieces i decided not to order them until i have all here to measure.

While all the ballscrews were machined to 0.01 and fit perfectly in the supports, they send me ball nut housings which they had at hand, so had to redraw a whole day. That affected the Z width also and the Z distance from gantry, so had to redraw there too. Also the spindle bracket i bought is quite bigger than at the ebay listings picture and wider by 20mm, so i could have bought 1 only, not 2, and if my Z was ready it would not fit, because of the fixing holes situation.

I mean, make the bead structure, but careful after that until you have the main parts at hand.

[Want2build1]

I am concerned that if you order, and they just send you what they have , what happens if you need a spare/replacement ? will it fit ? or not ?

[Boyan Silyavski]

I am concerned that if you order, and they just send you what they have , what happens if you need a spare/replacement ? will it fit ? or not ?

Dont worry about that.

I am talking about ballnut housings and brackets. You will never need to replace that.

About the spindle, the only thing you could possibly replace there, are the 4 bearings, they sell them cheap at aliexpress. However possibly one day would be cheaper to buy a new one, depends how you value your time. 4 bearings cost ~20eur . I messed once with my spindle, but only because was desperate to finish an order, and because i want a bigger one, otherwise i would have simply bought a new one. Still works like a beast though.

About the ballscrews and nuts, i doubt you will ever need to replace any of them, but they are standard.

However things like HDT belts, HDT pulleys and so, i always buy extra, cause if i mess one, then have to pay extra shipping, they are cheap.

[Want2build1]

Thanks for your reply ... good info :)