PM-932M or PM-835S on the fence

Skowinski

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Hello All,

For a long time I wanted to get a Bridgeport and restore/refurbish it. But, retirement finally came, the dream shop arrived (1,100 sq. ft. with heating/AC, yeah!), and I'm setting up. I have a LOT of motorcycle related projects to get to and am rethinking the old Bridgeport idea, having spent 6 months recently restoring a South Bend 9" lathe, it was a big project and ended up consuming way more $ than I originally thought.

Long story short, I'm now thinking to get a PM mill, a set up and go machine. And, lately I am going back and forth between a higher end bench mill PM-932M and a lower end knee mill PM-835S. The one thing I really want is a 3 axis DRO and if I outfit both with that option I'm looking at about $3,800 for the 932 with a stand, or about $5,000 for the 835.

I'm a hobby machinist in the true sense of the word, was around machine shops for years because of my work but am by no means an expert or professional, and will be making single one-off pieces or modifying existing parts as needed.

For those with experience with these machines what do you think? I want something nice, don't want to cut too many corners, this is my shot at having what I want. But, wondering first if I'm overshooting what I really need with both of these machines, especially the 835. Thanks for any info or thoughts!
 
I think the high end bench mill they have is the 833T or TV, made in Taiwan. I recently got the TV and I have zero complaints. I was originally looking at the 935TV but a few folks talked me into the 833. You can find my thread once I received it here and my thread asking similar questions to your post here. The second thread may help you in your decision.
 
I've had several bench mills, and they did what I needed to do. But I knew that a knee mill would simplify many of the operations I do (mostly pistolsmithing), so I finally popped for a PM935 and am very glad I did. I don't need large machines, but I do want quality and accuracy and the PM Taiwan machines have met my needs.

Not recommending one or the other (machine types), just describing my experience. YMMV. :)
 
I purchased the 833T a while ago. Other than the cheapo HF mill I had, this is my first so I cannot compare to a knee type mill. The reason I chose the 833T is because of the possibility of converting it to CNC down the road, which is certainly in my cross-hairs. I don't know if a knee mill can be converted to CNC, but obviously a nice bench mill can. Wish they had the 833TV as an option when I ordered mine. Would make conversion easier.

The 835S was also at the top of my list, but because of the aforementioned CNC, I chose the 833T. Not saying one is better than the other, but just my thought process.
 
Unless you absolutely need the flexibility of head tilt/nod of the knee mill, I recommend you go with the 932. I would much rather have the geared head of the 932 on a square column than the Bridgeport type J-head on a ram. Read the attached, and while it is specifically about the alternative of 833 versus 935, the same comments apply to the 932 versus the 835. I absolutely detest the J-head in comparison to the geared head I had on my RF45, and all that is fully discussed in the attached.
 
Thanks for sharing that file on the comparison David...the 833 is close to the top of my list

Cheers

Wayne
 
Thanks for sharing that file on the comparison David...the 833 is close to the top of my list

Cheers

Wayne
I wasn't suggesting the OP consider the 833, although that would be a good candidate as well, provided you get the geared head version. I am not convinced the variable speed belt-driven 833TV has enough low speed torque to do a good job machining harder metals like steel. The geared head unit certainly does.
 
I just realized I posted the wrong version of that mill comparison document. So I have deleted that old version and attached the updated one here. It goes into more detail about the 833-TV drive system and the low speed torque reservations.
 

Attachments

  • Benchtop versus Compact Knee Mill.pdf
    1.4 MB · Views: 1,005
Thanks so much for all the thoughts and information! And thanks @davidpbest for the writeup, very helpful.

One question I did think of - for the bench mills with a stand, functionally are they similar to the knee mills, meaning the stand isn't in the way is it? Just looking at the pictures it looks like you might have to lean over to operate the X and Y cranks more than you would with a knee type mill where the table is held out away from the machine some. Sorry if that's not clear or a dumb question, I have never used a bench type mill.
 
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