New PM-728-VT Setup

[mikele1]

@bburns0909 nice looking mill! I just ordered one last week and it will not arrive until late June/July. I was just wondering how you are liking it?

 

[bburns0909]

@bburns0909 nice looking mill! I just ordered one last week and it will not arrive until late June/July. I was just wondering how you are liking it?

I'm liking it so far. With sharp/quality tooling it has handled everything I've thrown at it. Any problems I've had with chatter, surface finish, etc. have been related to very cheap China cutters or me trying to push it too far and too fast. Bite the bullet and get some good quality cutters. Be careful with the powder coat finish. It's not very durable at all, and I'm a little disappointed in flaking if you hit it with anything. The quill wrench is a piece of junk with very sharp corners. I dipped mine in Plasti-Dip just so I could hold the thing. Being a small mill it has very little room between the head and the vise. Hard to see things and I suggest getting a ring light like below. Fairly cheap on Etsy. Also it's a little tricky getting the gibs and the backlash adjusted into a sweet spot. I still need to play around with that. Most of my projects so far has been accessories for the mill...

• Quill Stop
• Vise Stop
• Mini Pallett
• Vise Handle Magnetic Retainer Plate
• Quill Clamp Indicator Holder (Indicol-like bracket)

Let me know if you have any other specific questions. Happy to answer/help. Also happy to provide drawings/models of the accessories if wanted.

 

[mikele1]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply! This is really helpful advice. I've been wondering where I could find one of the ring lights. I will check out Etsy. I'm pretty much starting from scratch on tooling. The cheap stuff is tempting but I know you are right. Spend the money now and avoid the headaches.

Thanks again!

 

[7milesup]

Numerous options for ring LED lights. I have purchased from here before.

Search Results For "ring light" | LED Halo Rings | Accent Lighting | Super Bright LEDs

Search Results For ring light.

www.superbrightleds.com

 

[mikele1]

Thank you for the link! I may try to 3d print my own.

 

[davidpbest]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply! This is really helpful advice. I've been wondering where I could find one of the ring lights. I will check out Etsy. I'm pretty much starting from scratch on tooling. The cheap stuff is tempting but I know you are right. Spend the money now and avoid the headaches.

This is on a different mill, but it might give you some ideas. I bought the light on eBay - search for "angel eyes" and pick the diameter you need for your specific mill. For my application, I bought a 100mm diameter.

 

[mikele1]

Thanks for sharing David! I really like your design. This looks like a real fun project.