Positioning Pm932 And Pm1236

[65Cobra427SC]

My PM932 is in the crate waiting for me to finish a couple things in the room where it and the PM1236 will go. And my PM1236 hasn't arrived yet... plus I've never used a mill or lathe before... so I could (really) use some help on how to position them along the same wall. I attached a drawing showing dimensions of the wall and how I initially intended to place them. But now that I finished the drawing, I'm having second thoughts and could use some advice.

One issue is how the ceiling drops towards the left side of the wall. Not that the PM932 won't fit under the dropped ceiling, but there would only be 1" of clearance... and that's assuming everything is perfect so I decided not to chance it. So I updated the drawing to show it just to the right of the dropped ceiling and now think I should swap their positions.

I can do anything at this point but could use some opinions. For example, since the table on the mill moves towards the left/right, I'm not sure how much clearance I need between it and a wall... or the lathe. Also with the lathe on the left, even though there is more than enough room under the dropped ceiling I can't put it too close to the left corner so I can feed metal though the bore.

 

[Franko]

I'd switch sides. There may be times when you need to run a long tube or rod through the spindle bore of the lathe.
I've also found that there are times when I want to stand on the right side of my mill to see what I'm cutting.

 

[65Cobra427SC]

Thanks Franko. I was leaning in that direction and that makes sense.

For anyone with a PM932 mill, I don't know how much work space I'll need to the left and right of the mill. Could someone please give me the measurement from the center of the mill... i.e. center of stand or crossfeed handle? Once I have this, I can plot exactly where the machines will go which will tell me where to install the electrical outlets. Thanks.

 

[Smudgemo]

I have that same sort of drop on the left side, so I put the lathe on the left and the mill on the right. The mill is angled 45* in the direction of the lathe, and it's far enough from the wall that the table doesn't hit full left. I also have more space to walk past it (unless I leave the table centered or to the right.) No downside found yet.
-Ryan

 

[65Cobra427SC]

Thanks... smudgemo? That's unique!

Since the logical thing to do is put the lathe on the left and the mill on the right, I updated the drawing and removed anything unnecessary. With 3 feet of space on the left side of the lathe, I would have 8 feet of room on the right side for the mill. I would think 8 feet would be enough, but can someone confirm this since I have no clue? If anyone thinks I should space this differently, please let me know. Thanks.

06-19-2015 Updated drawing to reflect changes described in later post.




View attachment 105876

 

[tmarks11]

Left side of the lathe: just enough room for the cover to open and for you to get in there to change gears, etc. 3' is way more than minimum needed. I get away with 18-24".

Between mill and lathe. Move the table all the way to the left. Now think about how much room you would need if you were standing on the left side of the machine during operation without being squished between the table and the lathe. Probably the spacing you have shown is good... looks like with the table all the way left you would have 20-24". Same thought process for the right hand side of the mill. Sometimes during cutting it is better to stand on the side of the table instead of the front of the mill... out of the arc of hot blue chips.

 

[Franko]

I wouldn't put the lathe any closer to the wall on the left. Some time you will want to put a long piece of stock through the spindle bore.

You could probably put the lathe and mill closer together. I was pressed for space, but I had my mill so close that the table was almost even with the tailstock crank when cranked all the way left. It was never in the way, and the mill table was a little in front of the lathe so long pieces would clear the lathe. The mill table is rarely cranked to full left or right and lives pretty much in the middle most of the time.

Having enough room on the crank side of the mill so you can look down the bed without tilting your head can be useful.

 

[65Cobra427SC]

For the lathe... it's 3 feet from the left wall for exactly what Franko said. But if I want to feed a 1" OD x 36" long shaft, can't I just feed it from the right by going through the chuck? If not then what's the maximum length I can feed from the right side?

For the mill... I only showed it in the middle of that space because I didn't know any better (ha, at least I'm honest) and figured 8' was more than enough. The (useless) manual says the tables longitudinal travel is 560mm (22") which I think is the total travel. So does the table travel more to one side than the other, or does it extend the same distance on both sides?

 

[JimDawson]

For the lathe... it's 3 feet from the left wall for exactly what Franko said. But if I want to feed a 1" OD x 36" long shaft, can't I just feed it from the right by going through the chuck? If not then what's the maximum length I can feed from the right side?

If you remove the tailstock, you can feed in any length you want from that end. I've had to do that before in my old shop. I also drilled a hole through the wall on the head stock end to run the stock through.

For the mill... I only showed it in the middle of that space because I didn't know any better (ha, at least I'm honest) and figured 8' was more than enough. The (useless) manual says the tables longitudinal travel is 560mm (22") which I think is the total travel. So does the table travel more to one side than the other, or does it extend the same distance on both sides?

22 inches is the total travel. It should move about the same to either side of center, there might be a small difference, but not much.
.
.

 

[65Cobra427SC]

Thanks Jim... exactly what I was looking for.

So if the mill is in the center of an 8' space there is more than enough room to move the table the full longitudinal travel of 22 inches. But if the table is at the extreme of either side, I would only have roughly 21" of space beyond that end of the table... and that would be less any additional space taken up by the crank, etc.

Now I understand the other replies better so this helped a lot. I'll think about this more in the morning when I'm more alert, ha.