- Joined
- Jun 13, 2015
- Messages
- 97
Awhile back I had emailed QMT to enquire about their PM-950v that has the Taiwan head on a Chinese body. I was looking at the hybrid mill to save some money for tooling from my milling budget. Matt let me know that he had a 9x49 factory sample mill that was built in Taiwan and of the same quality of his PM-949 coming in. He gave me a price on it that, well, only a fool would have refused. Caveat was it only came with a 90 day warranty and it was green.
I know it's a lot of machine for a hobbyist but I wanted something I would grow into, not out of. The other reason is I have the room for a big mill.
So technically this is not a Precision Matthews machine but seeing how it came from QMT and is of similar quality as the PM-949, I decided this would be the best forum to put it in. I'm not sure if Matt has plans on carrying this machine or not.
I'm not much of a reviewer so this will be more of a picture review.
Yesterday the Fedex truck came by with the crate. I don't know who packed it up for shipment at QMT but a HUGE kudos needs to go out to them! This machine was not moving anywhere. The only box that seen any sort of damage at all was the rotary table, that I purchased to go along with it.
Rotary table box. The rotab was fine, just box damage.
The mill is a Van YSM-15VS. I can't find too much information on this machine online but I can say they are very well built.
You don't truly understand just how heavy a machine of this caliber is until you physically have to move one. I was on my own when it arrived and after I had the top of the crate taken off, it took more than an hour just to get it off the pallet and onto the floor. Once it was on the floor, it took another 30 - 45 minutes to get it picked up just high enough with my shop crane and move it 15 feet to it's temporary home. I was so engrossed in getting this thing moved safely that I completely forgot to take any pictures of the process........
Here it is in it's position in my garage.
The mill didn't seem to have a whole lot of cosmoline on it but what was there was a royal pain to remove. I really don't remember my lathe taking so long to clean. Little bulb in my head came on once I had already started cleaning to take a couple pics.
There were a few asking about fit and finish quality of the PM-949 and this machine is awesome. Everything on this mill is tight meaning very well fit. I made zero adjustments to it and the backlash on the Y axis is .002" and .004 on the X. I didn't check the Z though, maybe today I will. All three axis move like silk.
The finish on the table and ways is very good. It's not a high shine finish, more of a satin finish.
I could find no flaws in the casting anywhere but there were a couple of small dings on the table ways. Not sure what they are from but picture does make it look worse than they actually are.
That was pretty much all I could muster yesterday. My mind is young but my body is getting older. I'm pretty sure I used muscles that I never even knew I had. I did shim up the base and level the mill somewhat. I have plans on building a base for the machine to sit in so I can move it easily if need be. The best idea I have seen so far is the one firestopper (Paco) built for mksj (Mark). It's post #107 in the Show us your welding projects thread.
Today I plan on hooking up temporary power to it, installing the power feed, tramming it and if things go good, start on the DRO installation. I ordered a Easson 12B from Matt as well. I will try to get more pictures of my progress posted up later on.
I know it's a lot of machine for a hobbyist but I wanted something I would grow into, not out of. The other reason is I have the room for a big mill.
So technically this is not a Precision Matthews machine but seeing how it came from QMT and is of similar quality as the PM-949, I decided this would be the best forum to put it in. I'm not sure if Matt has plans on carrying this machine or not.
I'm not much of a reviewer so this will be more of a picture review.
Yesterday the Fedex truck came by with the crate. I don't know who packed it up for shipment at QMT but a HUGE kudos needs to go out to them! This machine was not moving anywhere. The only box that seen any sort of damage at all was the rotary table, that I purchased to go along with it.
Rotary table box. The rotab was fine, just box damage.
The mill is a Van YSM-15VS. I can't find too much information on this machine online but I can say they are very well built.
You don't truly understand just how heavy a machine of this caliber is until you physically have to move one. I was on my own when it arrived and after I had the top of the crate taken off, it took more than an hour just to get it off the pallet and onto the floor. Once it was on the floor, it took another 30 - 45 minutes to get it picked up just high enough with my shop crane and move it 15 feet to it's temporary home. I was so engrossed in getting this thing moved safely that I completely forgot to take any pictures of the process........
Here it is in it's position in my garage.
The mill didn't seem to have a whole lot of cosmoline on it but what was there was a royal pain to remove. I really don't remember my lathe taking so long to clean. Little bulb in my head came on once I had already started cleaning to take a couple pics.
There were a few asking about fit and finish quality of the PM-949 and this machine is awesome. Everything on this mill is tight meaning very well fit. I made zero adjustments to it and the backlash on the Y axis is .002" and .004 on the X. I didn't check the Z though, maybe today I will. All three axis move like silk.
The finish on the table and ways is very good. It's not a high shine finish, more of a satin finish.
I could find no flaws in the casting anywhere but there were a couple of small dings on the table ways. Not sure what they are from but picture does make it look worse than they actually are.
That was pretty much all I could muster yesterday. My mind is young but my body is getting older. I'm pretty sure I used muscles that I never even knew I had. I did shim up the base and level the mill somewhat. I have plans on building a base for the machine to sit in so I can move it easily if need be. The best idea I have seen so far is the one firestopper (Paco) built for mksj (Mark). It's post #107 in the Show us your welding projects thread.
Today I plan on hooking up temporary power to it, installing the power feed, tramming it and if things go good, start on the DRO installation. I ordered a Easson 12B from Matt as well. I will try to get more pictures of my progress posted up later on.