Cletus' PM-935TS-3PH Mill Log

[Cletus]

Control and Power Module

 

[Cletus]

Today's project for the mill completed.
230V 30A / 115V 15A drop and 125PSI 4-outlet Shop Air drop
.....now to have a shower and sit back with a fine T-bone and a good bourbon!

 

[Cletus]

Milling area has been readied (got some grey epoxy paint from an offshore rig) and set an anchor point to winch the mill from the garage to the shop via the kitchen and laundry. My line laser confirms it’s a straight shot through the three doorways thankfully!
Once the mill’s in the shop, I can inch it into final position with the cherry-picker .

 

[Cletus]

Just completed my "Rolling Tool-Crib". The blue work-surface is removable and in there will be my 9"x12" Granite Surface Plate.

 

[Cletus]

Well, looks like the DROs are in stock, so I am hopeful my huge brown box will ship out next week!

 

[Cletus]

More stuff arriving and mill yet to be shipped out of PM.
Noga arm and mag base, a couple extra mag bases to build a couple Lexan chip shields, endmills and more endmills, Woodruff cutters, Arbor and slitting-saws, 5C Collet system, hex and square 5C blocks, granite surface plate, V-blocks, 115pc cobalt drill set, 10ths dial indicator, rotating R8 rack, built a rolling tool-crib, chucking reamers and the list does not end! ......I'm pretty far down this bottomless rabbit hole!

 

[Pcmaker]

Yeah, it's a super expensive hobby. My mill is worth 2x more than the car I drive

 

[Cletus]

Well, looks like it will get out of PMs's doors on Wednesday (fingers crossed)

 

[kb58]

Getting it from the delivery truck into position can range from a non-issue to an epic tale. For your entertainment, here is how delivery of my PM935 went:

Things started out well enough, with the truck arriving on time. The first thing to note is that for some reason, someone decided to sit the enormous 1,676-pound crate (with its integral pallet) on top of a weak and partly collapsed second pallet. That made it tough for the driver to get the pallet jack under it. The there was that he parked the truck pointing uphill, so once on the pallet jack, the crate wanted very badly to roll toward the rear of the truck. I asked if he’d like to turn the truck around, but he said no problem. Okay…

The only thing stopping the entire affair from rolling out the back was him dropping the floor jack and letting the pallet skid to a stop, and we haven’t gotten to the fun part yet.

So as he’s nearing the lift gate, I said that the pallet looked longer than the lift gate. Again, “no problem”, but I wasn’t buying it. As he rolled the heavy pallet onto the lift gate, it sagged, further increasing the downward angle, making the whole thing try even harder to roll off the end. At this point, he had the controlling wheel of the pallet jack about 12″ from the rear of the lift gate, yet there was about 13″ of pallet still in the truck bed. I was sure that we were either stuck, or that it would end up in the street. So at this point, he (now having to stand to one side) had to raise the pallet jack just enough to let it roll a bit more, yet stop it before the pallet jack wheel rolling off the end of the lift gate. He did, stopping it—I kid you not—1/4″ short of disaster. Of course, that meant that there was still 1.25″ of pallet in the truck bed, which was a big problem. The truck facing uphill, the lift gate bending downward, and the pallet still not fully on the lift gate. At this point, he couldn’t let go of the pallet jack handle because it would have swung down, likely causing the entire thing to end up in the street. So then he asked me to lower the lift gate a little. I asked “are you sure?” “Sure.” Ugh, okay, so I lowered it about an inch, and as feared, the front edge caught, causing the entire crate to tip even further towards disaster. He said, “drop it another inch.” Sheeze, okay…. (in hindsight, who’s fault would it be if it fell off? Hmm.)

With a crack and a thump, the 1,676-pound load broke off the leading edge of the bottom weak pallet, and it was finally entirely on the lift gate, and safely lowered to street level—I could breath again. It really was that close to disaster.

Once at street level, there was then the task of pushing it up the driveway, and it took all of our combined strength to get it there, but finally it was in the garage. The pictures show the rest of the story, having to cut away the pallet in order to gain access with the engine hoist. What’s not shown is the 1-2 hours my brother and I spent trying to get the mill onto its stand, which involved using tubes for rollers and literally “greasing the skids.” Then there was removing the mystery preservative on the surfaces, installing the power drives, and, what will take a fair bit of time, wiring everything, including the variable frequency drive.

 

[Cletus]

Hahahah! ......luckily, at this end, there's a Plastics and Household Chemical factory opposite to my house which I used to manage at one time. I still consult for them and have access to their fork-lifts , so getting it off the truck and into my garage should present little problems. Then, I will need to cut the pallet to size, remove the table and Its a straight shot to drag it from the garage via the kitchen and laundry (wife's gonna kill me) into the shop. I have a winch and anchor points setup to make that happen already. I also have my super-modified "cherry-picker" ready to do the heavy lifting.
(sorry, shop was in a mess for that photo)