New PM-1228VF-LB

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Aukai said:
Humph, at least you got yours. I heard the container was in, but no communication if it passed QA, and if it was going to ship yet. Happy for you
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They were really good with communication on my order and it shipped pretty quickly once their container was in -- although my order was in June so I may have been near the top of the list? Maybe shoot them another email?
 
Here are some setup pictures. It came through shipping well although several heavy items like the 4-jaw were just tossed into the crate. The stand is sturdy and has pretty decent fit and finish. I didn't have any problems getting the lathe lifted and bolted down. A quick cut on some brass rod was pretty ugly so now I'm doing the first quick tune-up and shimming/leveling. There's a lot of binding in the compound feed to sort out as well. Overall, however, I'm very pleased with this machine!

Crate.jpg
Setup.jpg
 
Frank Hoose did an awesome set of videos on youtube about this lathe. Here is the first one, the other ones follow it:


I am seriously considering buying the same lathe. To me though, the stand seems kinda flimsy at 90 lbs. What are your thoughts on it?

LMS
 
Hey LMS -- I was pleasantly surprised with the stand. Many of the sheet metal parts are very heavy (4-5mm?) and the fit and finish are pretty good compared to similar import stands I've seen. Genuinely "OK" welds and decent paint. It came with good hardware and assembly was straightforward. I'd definitely buy the stand again.

Stand1.jpg
Stand2.jpg


I'll have more thoughts in this thread about the lathe itself as I get it up and running.
 
The first thing that needed a little attention was the compound slide -- crunchy and binding in an unpleasant way. I pulled it apart and cleaned a lot of gritty grease out. I think the main problem is that the graduated dial is too thick so that binds between the handle and the bearing face of the slide. For now I added a washer and things turn smoothly. Maybe when I get a chance I'll take 0.015 off that dimension. You can also see a few pretty good dings on the dovetails. I stoned these gently and I don't really think they'll cause much trouble?

CompoundParts.jpg
Dial.jpg
Ding.jpg
 
Looks great, I bought the stand as well, may I ask what your shipping weight ended up? Mine has a big trip ahead of it, and is going to have added freight. Thank you
 
Hey Aukai -- Shipping to Hawaii must be rough! How much does that generally add to the cost? My total weight with lathe, stand, and a 4-jaw chuck was listed as 780 pounds. The lathe and accessories came in a wooden crate and the stand was in a cardboard carton strapped on top.
 
Ahh -- update to below before I confuse everyone -- it turns out there is a little set screw which I didn't see that tightens this. It still seems awfully loose :)

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Hmm... Got the compound back together and there's tons of play (along the axis of compound platform motion). Pulled it back apart and noticed that the feed nut, which lives in a recess in the bottom of the little compound platform, is super loose. I think this should be a very snug fit with almost no play at all.

Here's a video of the play in the nut -- as I'm wiggling the nut I'm actually pushing it into its hole.
 

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  • FeedNut2.mp4
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Thank you for the weights, Matt's 200 plus 350.00 figured at 650#, so the freight will go up.
There is a post by fradish above about those nuts, and the modification to keep them from jamming. Not sure if it will fix the looseness though.
 
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