PM Matthews Taiwanese Mills' Quality

[Dogdoc]

So far my new pm935 is doing great but only had it about 6 weeks

 

[B2]

I would visit if they were a 2 hour drive, but not the 4+ hours

To bad you live a distance away, although 4 hours is not an unreasonable trip. I computed 304 miles every weekend for several years, which took ~5.5 hours each way. I was much younger then!

So when I purchased my PM1440GT I went to the PM shop and spent several hours doing measurements at floor level of the stand dimensions. They took it off the pallet for me to do so. I made these measurements so that I could make a dolly/caster device to move it about on. Then I went home and made the dolly from steel parts. I later went back and they had the lathe on their shop/set up floor, which you can almost eat off of it is keep so clean. Tony helped me again and I spent all day assembling the casters and dolly parts to the lathe. I drilled and tapped holes in the stand and assembled the dolly. Tony used the fork lift to lift it up and down and move it around for me .... 2 or 3 different times. After it was assembled we rolled it around in their shop and I took a video of it but did not get their permission to post the video so did not do so. We put it back on the pallet with the "wheels" and fastened it down. Later they brought it to my house, along with a fork lift, and placed it into my walkout basement (up 3 steps). I had built a platform for them to sit it on intermediately so that they could get a second grip with the fork lift and straps. I paid them extra (shipping?) for the service, but it was well worth it. You can see some pictures of the casters and lathe at the following link. The Blue floor is the PM shop floor. I am not advocating that PM would do this routinely, but they were extremely helpful for me. Without these "wheels" it would have been much harder for me to place my lathe into the tight back room in my basement.

https://www.hobby-machinist.com/attachments/imag2235-jpg.394060/

https://www.hobby-machinist.com/attachments/imag2243-jpg.394063/

https://www.hobby-machinist.com/attachments/imag2227-jpg.394058/

etc...
or click the next link and ...
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...ctronic-components-pm1440gt-vfd-3-phase.95058

See Part 1 of these reports for some photos.

I live in Pittsburgh, PA so I went to the PM shop and assembled and mounted the casters onto the lathe there. Hence, when they delivered the machine to me it was already on the casters. We put it in my basement and just rolled it through a small crooked hallway into a small room which I use for metal machining for its final install location. Tony and all (PM) were very helpful. We even made a short video of Tony pushing the lathe around. It is very strong and does not wiggle on the stands at all when rolled around. I was going

Anyway, what they have done for me is testimonial to their helpfulness and cooperation.

Below I have attached some more photos of the lathe, so that you can see some of the PM shop and working equipment in the backgrounds. The one picture of the old looking area is part of my basement. The short and narrow hall way leading to the small room via the open door is where we wheeled and turned the lathe into. The pictures of the PM940M CNC are provide to sort of show the room where the lathe was headed as well as the plexiglass flood coolant box I built to machine the steel caster mounts. The door way is to the left of the mill and the lathe eventually was placed against a wall on this, left, side of the room.

 

[StevSmar]

My decision to buy a Taiwanese Lathe and Mill from Precision Matthews started when I stopped at Busy Bee tools in Calgary. I left there quite dejected about the quality of the machinery they stocked.

Eventually I spoke with Precision Matthews and said “I’d like to buy a higher quality machine rather than end up with a lesser quality one” and they steered me towards their Taiwanese products.

The level of quality is what I was after. It suggests a tool that was put together with quality as a criteria, rather than lowest possible price.

 

[SSage]

I've been satisfied with my purchases, two Chinese machines and various tooling and a DRO for the mill. Everything still works fine. The little PM727 has worked good for moderate use for years. I only work with steel, mostly tool steel, lots of drilling. I didn't expect "professional" level performance from hobby quality machines, but I run them in my tool and die business. I started out making punch dies on a huge Bridgeport, that sucker was a pain to move! I decided to go to a little bench mill, no regrets. I still have some old American machines, but I won't buy anymore 440 volt monsters that need phase converters. I only have a residential sized 220 volt power panel for the shop, so I like the smaller 110/220 motors too.