Got My New Pm-1340gt Lathe Last Night

Lookin' good there Dan and congrats on getting it up and running. Nice looking setup you have there now.

Just out of curiosity, what is that cylindrical aluminum piece just above and to the right of the hi/low speed range lever? Looks like it is attached to the gearbox cover/lid.

I wouldn't worry about a fan as it already has one built in like Mark points out above. I have been wanting to put a passive vent in my enclosure, again like Mark posted above, but according to Hitachi's literature it only requires a certain amount of clearance around the actual VFD. As long as it has the adequate clearance they should be fine. I have been keeping an eye on the heat sink in my enclosure and so far it seems fine, I didn't want to put a vent because then it is open to swarf but that is just me and the chances of quite slim of something getting past. If I ever feel like it gets too warm I will then go ahead and cut in a vent or two. On our VFD's at work we have no vents and they have been fine, but it is your choice.

Mike.
 
My mill has a vent, it looks like it was made by the PO, mounted on the side of the box. I think I'll make a similar one if I have the right piece of scrap aluminum. It does a good job of keeping the swarf out and I haven't had an issue with cooling on that one.

Mike, the cylindrical piece is a magnetic holder I use to hold prints on the machine to keep them close by. They're very helpful and the aluminum makes them easy to clean up the swarf.

Mark, I think I have the fan programmed to 01 but would have to check to be sure. I will vent somehow, thanks for the heads up on the louvered covers. At first glance the chuck does look very nice. I haven't had a chance to check runout yet but when I do I'll post results. Interesting item, the chuck is not a direct mount but uses a cast iron mounting plate that the chuck bolts to.
 
sanddan said:
It lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Huge thanks to Mark (mksj) for the schematics, programming info and general help and also Mike (zmotorsports) for inspiration as you can see that I took many ideas on the electrical layout from his installation. The lathe started up first time and all functions work as I had hoped. The frequency pot was working backwards which was fixed by a swap of 2 wires. The wiring was a long and tedious process, about 10 hrs total, and I still have to figure out how I'm going to do the DRO and accessory light. I am running out of access to the wiring box on the lathe, only one cable port left and 3 cables required. I could just plug the DRO into the wall outlet but I like the idea of having everything turned on/off with one power switch. I have the splash shield off as it made the access to the motor mounting bolts easier and I needed it off for the DRO install anyway so I can't mount the light yet so I will figure out the wiring later. The finish on this lathe is very nice, much better than my Chinese made Enco. I feel pretty good about my purchase and I haven't even made any chips yet. Still some work to do but making progress.
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Looking good! :encourage:
 
A quick update, sorry but no pics. I got the break in procedure completed yesterday and the oil changed in the headstock. I refilled useing ISO 32 oil and added a couple of magnets for good measure. I spent some time on the cad laying out the carriage DRO scale mounting. I am going to change the cross slide lock to a bolt and space the scale out to accommodate it. I also just checked the runout on the 3 jaw chuck. The first order of business was to free up the jaws as it took a fair bit of force to move them. I ran the scroll out releasing the 3 jaws and cleaned them before reassembly. I also ran the scroll without jaws, using a cordless drill and lots of oil, which helped loosen thing up. Now with things working better I checked the runout and got about .0035". I then checked the body of the chuck and got the same number. I marked the position and then removed the chuck and cleaned the mating surfaces. The cast iron adapter plate was very dirty but other than that everything looked good. I remounted the chuck in the same position and still got .003" runout so then checked the other two possible positions getting .002" and then .0015" in the last spot. I marked that spot for future reference and buttoned things up.
 
Dan,
I just ran across this, and just wanted to ask how your lathe is running now after having it for several years? Anything that you would do differently now in the VFD wiring or setup? I'm just curious as I have just bought a PM-1340GT configured for 3Ph power and am planning on wiring it up to a VFD just like you did. Love your write-up and pics. Looks great!!!!! Any info is greatly appreciated.

Mitch
 
I have had my 1340GT for over a year now and I high recommend Mark Jacobs control board and VFD setup.
 
Since this resurfaced, reading the OP's first post about delivery brought back memories regarding delivery of my PM-935. From my own website:

So the mill arrived, with some heart-stopping drama.

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.
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