728VT & Priest tools, your thoughts

[55fairlane]

So after years and years of using the most miserable HB "milling machine" (it was a gift with love to me from a dear friend, so I can't really complain), I did it, I bought a new PM 728 VT, DRO, X power feed, 4 inch Glacern vise, Lyndex collets. ( for anyone interested at the big shop, where I am the head machinist/ production super, we have Glacern vises & Lyndex collets, as good as Kurt vises & Hardinge collets, but a ⅓ cheaper)

Even if you don't have a 728, but have Greg's stuff, please chime in on quality, ease of use, set up, ect.

Give me the good, the bad, the ugly. His quill deapth stop leaves a little to be desired & looks less then rigid (but I'm probably gonna get on) a scale (like a Bridgeport has) will be improvement 1 . The spindle lock looks a little awkward to use, but effective.

Ok guys , fire away.

 

[Just for fun]

Congratulations on the new mill!

 

[a.smith]

I have the pm-728 power drawbar. It's well made and seems to work well for the limited amount of time I've used it. I did switch over to a real TTS R8 collet that pulls the tool holder against the spindle nose for repeatability. The included collet is a basic R8 so the Z height isn't repeatable.

 

[koenbro]

I have the power draw bar and am not impressed as I have consistently had problems with it. Part of it surely is my noob-ness, but here is my experience with the device.

As mentioned above the collet he sends is not machined flat, so I am using the Tormach one.

That tongue you slide in and out (to lock the draw bar in position so the cylinder can push it down) catches, or gets stuck so is very unreliable. I spend a lot of time futzing and fiddling with it. Also the cylinder seems weak, although I guess he added the option of a two-stage cylinder since I bought mine. I will try to replace the left sided supports with bolts that stabilize the cylinder assembly. Problem is he uses imperial (1/4"-20 screws) on that side, whereas the machine casting is M5. That sort of thing -- mixing imperial and metric in one project is not first class design. When it works, I love it, but I wish there were another solution.

Finally, when I ordered it originally, he was late to deliver, so I called him, and there was a supply chain delay (two-stage vs one-stage cylinder, even though mine was a one-stage) but he finally sent it out. I don't think that is a negative, as delays were commonplace during the pandemic, but the attitude on the phone was a B, not an A.

 

[55fairlane]

I have the pm-728 power drawbar. It's well made and seems to work well for the limited amount of time I've used it. I did switch over to a real TTS R8 collet that pulls the tool holder against the spindle nose for repeatability. The included collet is a basic R8 so the Z height isn't repeatable.

I have the power draw bar and am not impressed as I have consistently had problems with it. Part of it surely is my noob-ness, but here is my experience with the device.

As mentioned above the collet he sends is not machined flat, so I am using the Tormach one.

That tongue you slide in and out (to lock the draw bar in position so the cylinder can push it down) catches, or gets stuck so is very unreliable. I spend a lot of time futzing and fiddling with it. Also the cylinder seems weak, although I guess he added the option of a two-stage cylinder since I bought mine. I will try to replace the left sided supports with bolts that stabilize the cylinder assembly. Problem is he uses imperial (1/4"-20 screws) on that side, whereas the machine casting is M5. That sort of thing -- mixing imperial and metric in one project is not first class design. When it works, I love it, but I wish there were another solution.

Finally, when I ordered it originally, he was late to deliver, so I called him, and there was a supply chain delay (two-stage vs one-stage cylinder, even though mine was a one-stage) but he finally sent it out. I don't think that is a negative, as delays were commonplace during the pandemic, but the attitude on the phone was a B, not an A.

Thank you both for the honest reviews, luckily enough I am not going with power drawbar. It's not that big of a deal for me to use a wrench on the drawbar.
I did order his deapth stop & spindle lock. I hope these meet my expectations or I will will raise heck with Greg Priest....I am planning on modifying the deapth stop to add a scale, kinda looks like Greg cheaped out and didn't include that item,but I will get that added.