- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Messages
- 1,531
Well, I know I am new here and I have enjoyed reading everyones posts lately. They have been very informative which is why I joined the forum. I have been self taught thus far and have added machining to my small performance shop as a service in which I provide to my clients.
I bought a Smithy 3-in-1 machine about 15+ years ago and it has actually served me fairly well. Originally I purchased it to be able to fabricate/produce small one-off items for the many custom motorcycles, sand rails, sand quads and Jeeps that I have built and work on. Most all of the small custom touches that I add to a chassis or project that I am building have been machined on my Smithy machine.
However, over the past year or so I have found that more and more customers are coming to me to merely machine and/or weld a small part of a project that they are working on. At first I was reluctant because it was taking me away from wrenching or building full-blown project vehicles but my wife and I discussed it and realized that if they don't have me build the entire project then at least some of my work will be on part of the project.
I started picking up more and more side machining and welding projects but quickly realized I was at the limit of my little machine as far as rigidity and accuracy. I have been able to hold quite tight tolerances, however, I really have to watch my dial indicators and have to take many more cuts than I would like to and I have to creep up on the dimensions. I would like to be able to have better repeatability and have the ability to hold tighter tolerances.
I have been doing a lot of research over the past 3 or so months and have heard many good things about the machines coming from Grizzly and Precision Mathews. Seems like the Asian machines have really stepped up over the past couple of decades. Anyway after talking to Matt @ Precision Mathews and having some questions answered by Ray C. I decided to pull the trigger.
I ordered a PM 1340GT and a PM 932PDF to replace my Smithy combo machine. I will post up some pics of when it arrives and setting it up as well as hopefully being more active on the forum as it seems to be a great place to share machining information.
Mike.
I bought a Smithy 3-in-1 machine about 15+ years ago and it has actually served me fairly well. Originally I purchased it to be able to fabricate/produce small one-off items for the many custom motorcycles, sand rails, sand quads and Jeeps that I have built and work on. Most all of the small custom touches that I add to a chassis or project that I am building have been machined on my Smithy machine.
However, over the past year or so I have found that more and more customers are coming to me to merely machine and/or weld a small part of a project that they are working on. At first I was reluctant because it was taking me away from wrenching or building full-blown project vehicles but my wife and I discussed it and realized that if they don't have me build the entire project then at least some of my work will be on part of the project.
I started picking up more and more side machining and welding projects but quickly realized I was at the limit of my little machine as far as rigidity and accuracy. I have been able to hold quite tight tolerances, however, I really have to watch my dial indicators and have to take many more cuts than I would like to and I have to creep up on the dimensions. I would like to be able to have better repeatability and have the ability to hold tighter tolerances.
I have been doing a lot of research over the past 3 or so months and have heard many good things about the machines coming from Grizzly and Precision Mathews. Seems like the Asian machines have really stepped up over the past couple of decades. Anyway after talking to Matt @ Precision Mathews and having some questions answered by Ray C. I decided to pull the trigger.
I ordered a PM 1340GT and a PM 932PDF to replace my Smithy combo machine. I will post up some pics of when it arrives and setting it up as well as hopefully being more active on the forum as it seems to be a great place to share machining information.
Mike.