New PM 1340GT Lathe & PM 833T Mill

[Bill Kirkley]

Greetings all! I am new to the forum. I am a hobbyist. I've been dabbling in the world of machining on and off for about 35 years. I mainly design and make tools and gadgets for personal use.

About 9 years I took my first of many blacksmithing classes. I enjoy smithing as a hobby as well.

As the title of the thread indicates I purchased two machines from Precision Matthews. It has taken about a week to get everything set up and running. The staff at PM are quick to answer questions and concerns.

My only issue with the lathe is the cross feed dial is graduated in 2 thousands increments. I assumed it would be in thousands. The DRO compensates for this draw back. I may have overlooked it, but I did not find this mentioned in their description of the machine.

My only problem with the mill was that my interstate collets would not fit. The staff at PM came up with several solutions that didn't work. They said I could send the spindle and they would check it out. Needless to say I had no desire to dismantle the machine!

I felt the problem was that the upper end of the R8 cavity was under sized by 1 - 2 thousands. So, I increased the ID of the upper end of the spindle's R8 cavity 1 - 2 thousands. That fixed the problem. Here is a link to a video showing the fix:

Over all I think they will be great machines. I'm planning my first project.

 

[T Bredehoft]

Welcome, I applaud your chioice of tooling, I have smaller versions, 10-30 lathe and PM 25 mill. I consider myself lucky to have found this board and PM tools.

 

[wrmiller]

I also have a 1340GT, and didn't even notice the cross slide dial until someone here brought it up. Then I completely forgot about it until you mentioned it again here.

I have had DROs on my machines for a number of years now and never look at dials anymore.

 

[Bill Kirkley]

T Bredehoft, how do you like your mill? Will it handle milling 1/4" slots in 3/16" steel?

Wrmiller, for those using a DRO the dial isn't necessary. For those who don't have a DRO, a scale of one thousands increments would be a nice feature. There is plenty of room on the dial for one thousands marks.

 

[T Bredehoft]

T Bredehoft, how do you like your mill? Will it handle milling 1/4" slots in 3/16" steel?

I like my mill. Yes It could be bigger, but I haven't encountered a NEED for a bigger mill. If I had to cut a 1/4" slot in a piece of 3/`6 steel, I'd make several passes with a 3/16 cutter to get through, then a pass up and back for size. The PM25 probably would cut 1/4 by 3/16, but it wouldn't be accurate, probably would wander.

Let me suggest you put the base of your vise, the swivel part, inside the cabinet. I removed mine before I assembled the mill. my vise is kee'd to the center T Slot, straight every time I put it on (straight enough for me.)

 

[Bill Kirkley]

Thanks T Bredehoft!

 

[wrmiller]

T Bredehoft, how do you like your mill? Will it handle milling 1/4" slots in 3/16" steel?

Wrmiller, for those using a DRO the dial isn't necessary. For those who don't have a DRO, a scale of one thousands increments would be a nice feature. There is plenty of room on the dial for one thousands marks.

When I first saw the scale, I tried interpolating to a thou and used my DRO to see how accurate/not accurate I was. Worked pretty well. If I had to use the dial only, I'd just make a new one, slightly larger in diameter and mark it in one thou increments.

 

[qualitymachinetools]

Very nice pictures in place, and great information. Just please, if anyone reads this, do not try to bore your spindle without talking to us first. I am not quite sure of the problem, as I did not see it, but each one is checked with a test bar as part of the spec test. Great, informative video, but I just do not want someone to see this and start boring their spindle if not needed, thats all. People read all sorts of things online and I just needed to put this out there.

Looks good though, hope you are making chips soon!

 

[mksj]

On my previous BF-30 mill I had purchased some Interstate R-8 collets and had fitment issues and they were returned, I subsequently purchased some Lyndex and Royal collets and they fit w/o any issues. Since the specs are very tight, any small tolerance difference will is result in them not fitting. The other common problem is the guide key is larger then the slot in the collet. I ended up removing the guide pin in both my previous and current mill. Nice machines, have fun.

 

[bretthl]

I love the way he bored that out! I wonder if the other R8 tooling had the same fitment trouble?