One is always living in fear of one of the plastic gears in the mini-mill
breaking. The procedure for changing the gears is somewhat tricky and as far
as I can tell involves the expense of $25 for a set of new gears (they
recommend changing all even if only one breaks) and a $70 kit to effect the
change (reusable with each change).

OTOH the Little Machine Shop sells a kit whereby the mill is converted to a
belt drive. This is a bolt-on procedure taking 20 minutes (to quote LMS).
The cost: $130.

I am seriously considering this option but would like to know if anyone else
has attempted this and what results they had. Are there any cons to doing
the conversion?

Thanks,

--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC