New Pm 1030v Lathe

I have a quick update after almost exactly 1 year of ownership of the lathe. Everything still works well and the machine cuts great.

I had some trouble recently with the finish going to crap and the machine starting to chatter way too soon with relatively light cuts. After taking the carriage apart, I realized I had never adjusted the carriage tension screw (because I didn't know where they are). There are 4 screws on each side, on the bottom of the carriage. Of the 8, 5 of mine were completely loose and the last 3 were barely tensioned. I should have adjusted that a long time ago. After less than 2 minutes of fiddling, it can again take cuts to the point that the motor starts struggling and there is no chatter.

I also had my power button break off yesterday. After what must have been several thousand button presses, the top part broke off the bottom part. The lathe is still in warranty for another 2 years, so I emailed PM about it and 2 minutes later, they responded asking for the address for them to send a new one.

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I also made a negative rake insert to try on it and the 1030v can absolutely handle negative rake tools. This is a screenshot from a video I took with the machine cutting .08" deep, or .160 off the diameter in 12L14 steel. You can see its making a nice chip, no strings, and leaving a nice finish.
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My switch broke too, I got one off of ebay for about 5 bucks using the numbers on the old switch. Can you give a few more details about the 8 adjusting screws (gibs?)?
 
My switch broke too, I got one off of ebay for about 5 bucks using the numbers on the old switch. Can you give a few more details about the 8 adjusting screws (gibs?)?

I am sure I could have done the same, but I figured I paid a little extra for the PM because of the warranty and service, so I might as well use it. In the past, they have shipped things to me same day and they have never charged for a part or for shipping.

About the screws. I don't know if you would call them gib screws because they aren't really gibs as far as I know. Maybe someone else here knows better what they would be called. I took some pictures to try to point them out.

This picture is of the top of the apron looking down. The arrows point to the location of the screws, but the screws come up from the bottom.
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It was very difficult to get pictures of the bottom because there is no light and no room to get the camera. This picture shows 2 of the 4 screws on the far side. They were the easier ones to get to.
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On the closest side of the apron to the operator, these are the 2 screws on the left side.
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On the closest side, to the right, there are 3 screws, but I think one of them is the carriage lock, only 2 of them are adjusted. I think the two that are highlighted are the correct 2.
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I don't think they get locked, and they couldn't be snugged up all the way or the apron locked in place. Maybe they are supposed to be shimmed so they can be torqued down and still allow movement without being loose. But just tightening them up made a world of different with the surface finish and chatter issue that popped up.
 
Thank you Shooter for taking the time to clearly show me what you did. I'm going to go take a look at mine now. This is good to know.
 
Another shoutout to PM customer service. When the power button broke, they had a new one to me in 2 days. It was easy to replace.

I think I now have my first major failure on the machine. During a relatively heavy cut, one of the fuses literally exploded in the machine. It destroyed the fuse holder and melted through the plastic nut securing it.

For reference, the cut was .08" deep (.16" off the diameter) in a 1.25" piece of 1018 steel, cutting .005"/rev and 500 RPM. An online calculator estimates that this particular cut used about .75 HP.

Here is a picture of the fuse holder on the machine. It is in the back panel, not the front one. You can see the melted plastic nut on it. It had to be cut off to remove.
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Here is the inside of the fuse holder. When I took it off, it just fell apart. The threaded cap with the metal insert on top melted completely.
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It was in the middle of this cut when it failed. Its a pretty deep cut for this particular machine, but it creates a fantastic chip and just drops them right below, no flinging. Also, the finish is pretty great especially considering it was a heavy roughing pass using a 90 cent chinese insert and a homemade 12L14 tool holder.
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I cant tell you how much more enjoyable turning is when the chips are well controlled. Its much easier and nicer to cut with the chips just dropping below instead of being chucked at you or creating really long strings. The machine was cleaned completely before I started. All of those chips were made in about 5 minutes.
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While I was searching for the part that failed, I took the front cover off and got a look inside the head casting. I have never seen a picture of that before so I decided to post it. Its not as thick as I thought it would be given how rigid and heavy the machine is. I also didn't realize that the part directly adjacent to the spindle nose is the head casting. I thought there was a piece of sheet metal covering it. They certainly do a better job cleaning up the casting on the outside than they do the inside. I also noticed that there is paint on the spindle shaft. I didn't expect that. I figured the paint would have been applied before the spindle was installed. Also, given how rigid the machine is, I figured the screws securing the head to the bed would be much bigger.
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Here is a closer look.
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Bummer on the fuse holder! Sure cant beat the customer service though, like you said. I wonder if the failure of the fuse holder was due to a poor connection at the fuse holder.
 
I'm definitely not an expert, but that fuse looks like it didn't "blow" on the strip that usually burns through. Rather it appears that the connection between the fuse and the holder simply got hot enough to burn the surrounding material. I wonder if that fuse wasn't effectively too "high"? It might have been rated to give at 10 amps, but actually held through 15 or 20 amps which then allowed the holder & wiring to melt?

Thanks for the detailed accounts of your experiences with the lathe. I'm new at all this & reading detailed accounts like yours sure helps me understand which machines might be appropriate for my use.

Howard
 
I'm definitely not an expert, but that fuse looks like it didn't "blow" on the strip that usually burns through. Rather it appears that the connection between the fuse and the holder simply got hot enough to burn the surrounding material. I wonder if that fuse wasn't effectively too "high"? It might have been rated to give at 10 amps, but actually held through 15 or 20 amps which then allowed the holder & wiring to melt?

Thanks for the detailed accounts of your experiences with the lathe. I'm new at all this & reading detailed accounts like yours sure helps me understand which machines might be appropriate for my use.

Howard
I don't think the fuse blew the way it was supposed to either. I have blown fuses on machines plenty of times and you can usually hear a pop or a crack when it stops. This time, all I heard was the power relay stopping (same click you hear when you hit the start/stop buttons). It was a weird failure for sure and several things don't entirely add up. The fuse is a 15 amp fuse and its connected to a 15 amp residential circuit. That circuit is also powering several other things such as the light over the lathe, the outside sprinkler system, the house internet, and a computer, and a fan. I do trip the circuit breaker fairly regularly but if the fuse blew, I can't see how the circuit breaker wouldn't have been tripped sooner.

I also calculated the force required for the cut I was doing and its estimated at .5-.8 HP which means the fuse shouldn't have had more than 750 watts going through it. A 15 amp 250v fuse should be able to manage 3,750 watts without burning up.

So it was a failure, the fuse or fuse holder did not function properly. Both have been replaced though and the machine is back up and running.

I am glad this post has been helpful for you. I try to update it fairly regularly because when I was shopping for it, there were lots of questions I couldn't really answer about these machines without having already owned several machines. Questions like: What kind of cuts can the machine handle, how reliable can I expect them to be, what kind of accuracy can I expect from it, what kind of features do I really want and what features would I never use? I hoped this would help some people decide if this lathe is what they are looking for. I am happy to answer any specific questions if you have them.
 
Lathe is back up! Only down for a day this time. I got an inline fuse holder and fuses for $8 at a local auto parts store and connected it in about 5 minutes.

Here is the part I was working on when it broke. Its a spindle for a micro lathe I am going to build specifically for pumping out custom screws and bolts for me. That is a AAA battery for scale. The bearings are both a light press fit and the thread on the back is 7.25"x20 TPI for a lock nut.
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Shooter, after seeing all you've done with this lathe I ordered one for myself today. I expect to have it next week.
Thanks for sharing your experience with this machine.
Your fathers chess set it awesome BTW, great job!
 
Shooter, after seeing all you've done with this lathe I ordered one for myself today. I expect to have it next week.
Thanks for sharing your experience with this machine.
Your fathers chess set it awesome BTW, great job!
Maybe its time I start charging PM commission to keep this thread going. :)

I am glad I was able to help you reach your decision. PM makes a great product and I have been very happy with mine.

Thank you for the compliment on my dads chess set. Unfortunately that project has been stalled for a while since I don't have the equipment I need to make the knights. I need a 4th axis on my mill for that...

Stay tuned, I have some big projects planned with the lathe soon. Among them:
-Acme lead screws and nuts for the micro lathe I am building
-An ER32 collet chuck for the lathe
-A custom collet system similar to a 2C collet system for the micro lathe
-A BT20 or BT25 spindle for a future milling machine
-Rotary hex broaching
-An electronic lead screw

Best of luck with your new machine. Let me know if you have any questions or there is anything I can help with when you get it.
 
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