New Pm 1030v Lathe

shooter123456

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I have been looking to upgrade my current lathe for a little while now. I started on an HF 7x12 to learn the ropes, decide if I liked machining, and see if I was any good at it. After spending at least 250 hours in 5 months on it, I decided that I liked it and wanted to move on to bigger and better things. I sold the HF lathe and this Wednesday (7/27) I ordered the 1030v with QCTP. I got the call from the UPS terminal this morning (7/29) that it is ready for me to pick up. I had heard of long wait times but that thing got here in a day and a half. (Pittsburgh to NC).

I will be going shortly to pick it up and I will post pics later of everything is anyone is interested. The plan is to have UPS drop in on a trailer, back the trailer into the garage where it is going, then slide it off the trailer in front of the bench. I am going to see if my brother, my dad, and myself can lift it 3.5 feet up onto the bench but if that fails, I have a reservation for an engine hoist tomorrow.

I sent 8 emails back and forth with Matt at PM and he answered a whole ton of questions for me and I don't think any of the responses took more than an hour.

If anyone has any ideas for getting the lathe up onto the bench without an engine hoist, I would be happy to listen. I was thinking of trying to rig something up with a 3 ton floor jack that will get it about 2.5 feet, then placing the lathe on jack stands and finding a way to lift the jack up off the floor and lift it the last 1 foot. I am not willing to risk damaging a $2000 machine though to save $20 on a hoist rental so if it seems at all sketchy, I will abandon that idea.
 
From my own experience I'll suggest you get the right equipment and manpower to safely move the lathe. I broke both bones in my leg and crushed my ankle with a lathe in 2009. Another $50.00 in rental fees would have saved me thousands in medical bills. Three surgeries and seven years later, it hurts most everyday. My impatience and frugal attitude was foolish.
 
Too sketchy, and too dangerous! What is the shipping weight of the lathe? If you divide that by three and it is something you think you three can handle easily, then go for it. Do you have plenty of access so the lift will not be awkward for anybody? Getting it up even a few inches will make the lift easier. Lifting a lathe is not worth hurting a back or foot or anything else. Watch out for engine hoists, they are usually narrow at the mast end. You may need to jack it high enough to get the hoist under it, and you must also be able to get the hoist under the stand/table.
 
It's a 400 lb. lathe. Two strong guys can pick it up and set it on it's stand. If you don't have two strong guys available, use a engine hoist, strap it up properly and lift it onto the stand. Emphasis on strapping the lathe properly, i.e., balance the lift, don't wrap the strap around the leadscrew, use a properly rated strap, etc., etc..

And congrats on the new lathe! :)
 
First be careful and use good common sense. My 40+(YO) son, a strong 16 year old nephew and myself, 60+ (YO) lifted mine off my trailer. It was heavy but doable. I now have a 2 ton engine hoist and would use it when needed again. I may be unloading a knee mill next week, I hope that is enough for that 2000/2400 lb beast. :)
 
I wouldn't take the chance of getting hurt or damaging your new lathe. A hoist will let you take your time and set it down exactly where you want it.
 
Perfectly doable by yourself--IF CAREFUL.

My PM 12x36--assembled, & moved by myself + the engine hoist.

Best to you
Jerry in Delaware

upload_2016-7-30_11-46-51.jpeg
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. What we ended up doing was getting the crate onto a dolly, then sliding that right in front of the bench, taking the crate apart, and taking the chip tray, chuck shield, and tail stock off. Then we slid a 2x6 under the headstock foot and I lifted from the tail stock and we were able to lift it without a problem. I was going to get an engine hoist, but by how easy it was to move the crate, we went ahead and give it a try.

I got the chance to use it for a while today and my impression is somewhat mixed...

The good:

-The motor is very strong, much stronger than I am used to
-The QCTP is excellent, very fast tool changes
-The power cross feed is excellent, I don't know how I lived without it
-I like being able to rough cut quickly and switch to finishing speed quickly
-You can set the speed and turn it off then turn it back on and it returns to the same speed
-Tachometer
-Three jaw chuck was very accurate and the chuck key is beefy
-Tailstock was almost perfectly aligned
-Tailstock utilizes a lever lock
-Great surface finish in stainless with carbide insert tooling

The not so good:

-The gearbox is leaking oil from somewhere underneath. I will have to try to figure that one out sooner than later
-The drip tray had fallen off the lid at some point and was just laying on top of the machine
-There are mulitple typos and mis-spellings on the machine itself
-The included manual is not accurate for the machine, full of typos and spelling errors, and tells me a lot more about machining than the actual machine (ie it says you can rotate the compound rest to turn a taper, but it doesn't say how to rotate the compound).
-The screws to mount the 4 jaw to the adapter plate were too high and there wasn't enough clearance between them and the spindle plate

Here is the crate at the terminal. I moved it more toward the middle about a mile down the road. It was bouncing the hitch up and down really hard so far back.
KUIfVOl.jpg

I didn't take any pictures of the moving process because we were a little pressed for time and we were busy trying not to break anything. Here it is up on the bench. It will be leveled out sometime this week.
e5gPLqB.jpg

Here is a muzzle brake suppressor mount I am almost done with.
LdZUiv5.jpg

Spot the typo.
9ALnGef.jpg

There's two of them here.
DTJBREt.jpg

Here is the screw on the 4 jaw, the picture is taken level with the rear of the adaptor plate.
0xcYFxk.jpg

I ground it down (not while it was attached to the chuck) and there is still enough meat to grab onto with the allen key.
Q9AcjRF.jpg

Here it is with the clearance. The mark on the spindle is for the 3 jaw. There wasn't a mark already on the 4 jaw.
NCimL2B.jpg


Overall I am very happy with it so far. Some of the oversights and the manual were disappointing, but so far I am confident that the machine itself is capable and accurate.
 
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Congrats on the new lathe. Matt has been really good about taking care of issues on my lathe. The typos and manual are typical for Chinese machines. I think mine also has the "Don not remove knobs when machine is running warning" (Do not move knobs when running!).
 
**Edited to make the post less negative and to clarify my frustration with the manual, not so much the machine and QMT. As you saw, at 6 oclock on a Sunday, Matt was around to help offering advice. Thats not something you will see from many companies.**

I have been having some trouble with the change gears to cut a thread. The manual doesn't provide a ton of insight. Maybe it is due to my relative inexperience, or just because my work has been entirely with a HF 7x12 until now.

Step 5 says 'Install the gear couples according to the thread and feed table and screw the gearwheels onto the quadrant again."

So I need to know how to install these gears correctly. What the proper order is (Square nut, e clip, coupler and gears, washer, and nut?) and how tight they need to be, how tight with the other gears, etc. How do these square brass nut things work? How do I screw them back onto the quadrant?

Step 8 says "Readjust gear backlash by inserting a normal piece of paper as an adjusting or distance aid between the gear wheels."

How do I adjust the gear backlash? What am I tightening or loosening and how tight or loose should it be? Where is the paper supposed to go? Between gear wheels as in the teeth or the flats between adjacent gears?

The gears are incredibly tight and sharp... Not sure yet if they need to be broken in or if I am doing something wrong.

The manual could use some improvement, but Matt has said they are working on that.

What do the H's and L's mean on the gear charts?
 
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