Buying a new lathe

[Splat]

Well, my new lathe, a PM1236 will be shipping to me this week!

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in my trails and tribulations incurred during the setup and installation? I will
be adding some accessories, such as a lever collet closer and a DRO to start with. Then some tooling as I move along.

Speak now or forever hold your piece. )
Gary

Hells yeah! Lathe smutt!

BTW, congrats on the new lathe. How long did it take since you ordered it? When I had called PM last year they couldn't give me any ETA on any of the lathes.

 

[GaryK]

Hells yeah! Lathe smutt!

BTW, congrats on the new lathe. How long did it take since you ordered it? When I had called PM last year they couldn't give me any ETA on any of the lathes.

I waited less than a month. I sent him an e-mail asking about stock and he told me that they were just waiting to clear customs, so I timed it just right. I had to wait longer
for the PM45 mill which I asked about at the same time. That was December 1. I should be getting the mill tomorrow March 6, so about 3 months wait for it.

Gary

 

[tripletap3]

My PM1236 has a norticable gear noise difference when the feed screw direction lever is engaged so its turning from headstock to tailstock (crossslide toward the middle). Quiet as a mouse in the other direction. I know the lever is a little tempermintal and you can go past the detents and cause the gears to clash, but this is with it in the correct position.

Ok I think I may have found my problem. I recently changed out the gears and I had the lower gear too tight. (Tough to get them adjusted with one hand.) I had to place a piece of paper between them and then tighten. Ran it for a few mins in both directions and no noise so far.

 

[Ray C]

Sorry Trip... I saw your post and meant to mention that. It's happened to me too. Once, I put some gears on when the garage was pretty darn cold. After a few hours of use and the heater going, I guess things expanded and I was getting a whining noise that freaked me out. Had my head inside the gearbox looking around and everything looks good. Huh? Don't know what lead me to it but, all went back to normal once I cracked a gear loose and set thing right.


Ray

Ok I think I may have found my problem. I recently changed out the gears and I had the lower gear too tight. (Tough to get them adjusted with one hand.) I had to place a piece of paper between them and then tighten. Ran it for a few mins in both directions and no noise so far.

 

[jmh8743]

Gary,

been interesting following this thread. One thing particular I was interested in has not been mentioned. Did your lathe include a q/c certification?

my JET did and I found the data to be grossly inaccurate. The rear bed-HS joint was filled before painting, a good indicator it had not been moved wrt shipping.

Particularly, the way-HS alignment. Further, is the PM HS pinned to the bed?

Also to my chagrin, the Rohm independent chuck I added was found to have misaligned jaws. As a novice, it took me a year to get this all worked out.:think1:

thanks,

Mike

 

[Ray C]

Mike,

FYI: My PM came with a QC inspection sheet but, in general, many aspects of any spec sheet aren't worth the paper they're printed on once the lathe is unbolted from it's test fixture, bolted to a packing pallet, stuffed into a cargo hold -and jostled mightly by fast-paced forklift operators...

A lathe or any piece of equpment that's expected to hold sub-one-thousandth inch toleracnes, needs to be properly setup and that topic has been covered here ad-infinitum (thankfully). When a large business purchases a precision machine, it shows-up in a wooden box and the next day, a field technician spends the next day or two (or week) setting it up and fine-tuning it.

If you see my thread here about the lathe bench, I just went through (after many months of using the lathe) doing a fine-tuned alignment using the Rollie and 2-collar method. After putting the lathe on the new bench and tightening the footer bolts, it took about 1/4 turn of an ajdustment bolt to make the lathe cut within 0.0001 over 8 inches. I'd say they did a good job at the factory.

The gearhead sits on the bed frame and can be fine-adjusted with several set screws then, big bolts clamp it into place. I never felt the need to mess with those screws. Even before I had it on a nice bench and before Richard King pointed-out the good ways to setup a lathe, right out of the box, the TS held 0.003" over 24" inches. 90% of the propellor shafts I work on are about that length and it was good enough to fix the ends as I usually do. Right now, it's holding dead on at 28" (thanks to Rich).



Ray

 

[jmh8743]

Ray,

naivete on my behalf. I should have paid for that as Richard suggested. He also stated I needed "help".

But all aside, I guess we don't really pay for that. My error as I thought ( yeah, right) I would get that delivered. My ignorance.

http://www.hobby-machinist.com/show...-independent-chuck-8-quot?p=105258#post105258

thaks for your reply and taking the time. Tok me a while to "get with the plan", I'm there now. This thread kinda put my experience and reading into a "oh, I see.....".

The REMF are still making life tough.


my best,
mike

 

[Ray C]

Mike,

I hope you didn't feel my response was harsh. It was not intended that way. Be apprised, I sneak these responses here in-between doing my real day job and the PT shop work. I think Richard is in the same boat. He's a really nice guy and I don't think either of us intentionally mean to be short with people... And please make allowances for the way written words are interpreted. Reading the same sentence twice with different mindset and cadence can reverse the intended meaning. -Happens all the time.

This is a web site where people come to learn. It's all good...


Ray


EDIT: I only glanced at your Rohm thread... I'll look more closely tonight. Anyhow (and I say this lightheartedly but with a hint of seriousness), chucks suck! When you gotta make a nice shaft, spin between centers. If you need to modify an existing shaft, use collets, If it won't fit in a collet, use a 4J and hope for the best. If you know it's ok to reestablish the geometry of a part, use a 3J. -Of course, all of this pertains to average quality chucks. When you start shelling-out a grand or more, things improve.

Ray,

naivete on my behalf. I should have paid for that as Richard suggested. He also stated I needed "help".

But all aside, I guess we don't really pay for that. My error as I thought ( yeah, right) I would get that delivered. My ignorance.

http://www.hobby-machinist.com/show...-independent-chuck-8-quot?p=105258#post105258

thaks for your reply and taking the time. Tok me a while to "get with the plan", I'm there now. This thread kinda put my experience and reading into a "oh, I see.....".

The REMF are still making life tough.


my best,
mike

 

[jmh8743]

Did not, learning is an everyday passion. I am grateful to this board for making my life easier.

Mike

 

[GaryK]

Gary,

been interesting following this thread. One thing particular I was interested in has not been mentioned. Did your lathe include a q/c certification?

my JET did and I found the data to be grossly inaccurate.?

Mike

Yes, it did. I don't really pay much attention to them though for the reasons that Ray stated. Also I don't know how must you can trust them.

Gary