Lol thanks!
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Does this little coupler really get attached to a little piece of screw on top? Doesn’t seem like to little grub screws will hold it, I figured it would go over a nut or something so there would be a flat area for the grub screw to push against not a screw thread or is mine missing something?
OK so the deed is done, but I must say those who said it was a simple and easy to do upgrade must’ve been lucky with there machines. For those who are thinking of upgrading let me go through what is was like for me. Btw don’t let this change your mind as it’s a kick ■■■ piece of equipment once it’s installed.
First off be thankful for those in the forum who upgraded before you, as the unit comes with zero instructions and while it’s not a hard install there are thing no one tells you beforehand
For one the holes were not lined up right for my x-carriage (while some members machines match perfect and some others I spoke with had the same issue as me, just be aware as you may be). Not sure if this is an error of cncnewbie or inventables. Either way it was an easy fix, just needed to drill out the holes on the x-carriage a bit bigger to get the the holes to match up.
.
The one thing no one ever mentioned was getting 2 1/2 years of machine screws off that have tons of loctite on them 
. Oh the joy with the smaller sized allen keys and cheapo screws (Don’t strip them). The funny part was my grub screws were nowhere to be found in the pulley on the stepper motor or where just completely striped, either way had to use a vice, hammer and get creative to pry that baby off without hurting the stepper rod.
Speaking of stepper motors, make sure you have some spare wire around as the stepper motor wires and homing switch wires need to be lengthened to reach. Luckily I still had all the scraps from the original build (
Pack Rat). So out came the soldering iron, solder, heat shrink, and heat gun to take care of that.
Like many other devices the coupler that connects the stepper to the screw is 4 baby grub screws again (I hate these things), remember to have loctite blue on hand or they won’t last a week. The homing switch comes on the unit and is a really nice upgraded switch compared to the original, but if you don’t have the right terminal sleeves laying around, soldering them is a pain. Not sure what metal the connectors are made of, but took forever to get the solder to stick to them. Oh wait! almost forgot, If you are like me and haven’t removed your dewalt from its sleeve in 2 1/2 years since switching from the original ones that came with the unit; it’s a ton of fun trying to get that out of it’s sleeve 
All and all the unit itself is made really nice, and is a huge improvement on the stock z axis. But like I said it’s far from the easiest upgrade i’ve ever done. So have your supplies that I mentioned ready and it should make life a bit easier for you.
Ps. you also have a few Grbl items to change such as the z steps (if you look up in the thread the changes are discussed and give you a good starting point.)
Have fun, it’s time to carve!
Brian
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You and your epilog… 
Get some dust collection while you’re at it (that’s me still being bitter!) 
lol, I really need one, next trip to Harbor Freight. I never use the shop vac cause of the noise
I had the same problem, the holes were very close but did not exactly match up. I drilled one size larger and it went on nicely.
I haven’t been able to do a lot of carving with it yet but from the time I have on it, there is a noticeable reduction in chatter.
I am still able to get quite a lot of flex on it but I don’t know of that just because of the height of the z axis vs the short height of the z carriage?
Overall I am happy with the upgrade.
So I am sorry if this has already been asked but what is the weight of the new z-axis compared to the old one is there any weight savings or does it add weight to the system?
thanks
Not sure of the weight, but definitely heavier. No weight savings unfortunately
hmm alright I just ask because idk I just worry about the x-axis rail taking on to much weight and flexing
Mine is 5.8 pounds with a 269 oz-in stepper motor attached.
@WorkinWoods in my experience the added weight helps, I used to put a weight on the original z to help reduce chatter 
I am looking at buying an X-Carve, Do the new models benefit from this upgrade, I am looking at the 1000x1000.
Is there any major differences between this model vs the belt drive model?
Always a clown in the bunch! Just didnt know all in all if anyone saw a huge advantage going direct drive
The major difference is that the direct drive (of the screw) makes for a much more rigid Z-travel.
The belt is a flexible medium and will never be “rigid”. Since the drive screw / run block are solids they can be run with faster acceleration without stretching / chewing on a belt.
Oh, its cooler too 
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Was looking at going with the direct but was unsure how hard it was or what it involved to change to steps?
I initially went with a new belt driven z-axis, but later on converted it to a direct drive because I was losing steps while 3D carving with a high plunge rate. Since I converted, no more lost steps.
I was just looking at what you bought on a previous page i have the same one from 3d motion and am thinking about going with this one. I was just unsure if it was worth it or not
I kept that one and just converted it to direct drive, it was pretty easy to do.
curious on everyone’s thoughts about this
correct me if I am wrong but those lm series linear bushings they use have no lube ports and the only to lube them in my experience and according to the manufacture spec sheet is to rub grease on the balls
so you will need to take your entire z-axis apart just to lube it and then go over the entire procedure of tramming, surfacing, etc just to do a simple lube job