Updated mill order: Matt and Ray graciously allowed me to change from a 932 to a 935

G

GA Gyro

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First: THX to all the guys who kept commenting about how much they liked their PM935 mills; appreciate your postings! :man:

The budget said I should stay with the PM932V/PDF... however the Taiwanese quality really appeals to me!!!
Honestly, it was just bugging me day and night... :nuts:

Sent Ray and Matt an Email last evening, they were gracious enough to allow me to change my order in the 11th hour (and probably minutes counting); Upgraded from a PM932V/PDF to a PM935TS with a VFD.
THX Matt and RAY!!! :thumbzup3:

Here is the list of mill and accessories in the order:
PM935TS
Accessories:
*Installed Hitachi WJ200 VFD
*Halogen work lite
*X axis power feed
*Z axis power feed
*Easson 3X '12' DRO
*2X 5" vises
*11 pc R-8 collet set
*Clamp set (not on acc sheet)

Matt gave me what I believe was a GREAT deal on the price; Matt is a great guy to deal with.
All is in stock, there is a good chance the mill will be here by the end of October.

More to follow this evening.

GA
 
Good choice congrats! Yup I talked to Matt this morning & he says he's been selling a lot of them.

Yup, Matt is a great guy, has always taken care of me & once again today. Can't wait to buy my next lathe & mill from him.
 
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You did the right thing. Once you have something on your mind it'll continue to haunt you until the desire is satisfied :thumbsup2:.

Matt is not only a great guy but utterly patient as he must be dealing with a million questions from existing and potential customers, run a business and trying to have a life at the same time.<script type="text/javascript" src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/57a58d4a/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/57a58d4a/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js"></script>
 
+++1. Knee mill gives you a lot finer control than you would get with the square column mill and a lot more versatility.

There is a good reason why you see bridgeport style mills in machine shops everywhere, not so many manual square column mills.

If you got the space for the larger 935 (and the extra $$$), it is an excellent upgrade to consider.
 
Thank you all for your encouragement to get the mill I wanted... now if you can convince the paper my budget WAS written on... :allgood:
There are times one just had to do what they have to do... note I am not recommending to folks to blow their budgets... just get the machinery they want... (figure that one out :lmao: )

Thankfully... I have been busy with work and had a weekend fly-in last weekend (and one upcoming this weekend), so I have not had time to get caught up in the WAITING for a machine. :drink:--- ONLY after the flying is over... :)
On a positive note... I spent some time in the hanger last Saturday discussing build details with some guys... mentioned I was gonna set up a machine shop. I think I am gonna be as busy as I want to be... :rubbinghands:

Sent an Email to Matt this morning, looking to see if there is a collar for the quill of a 935, similar to the one on the 45/932--for a mounting point for the slide of a spindle DRO. They are looking into it.

Do not know when the delivery will arrive, however Matt said it was possible I may receive it the week of Oct 27th.

I went to Amazon and looked at castors... they have 50+ pages of them (wow).
Settled on a set of 4 of these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1MD3GF40AJX5AYV3BS5T
The weight rating is a bit higher than necessary, however from my research the suggested total weight rating for a set of 4 is based on the rating of two... probably has to do with rocking loads when moving whatever it is carrying.

Am planning to build a frame to carry the mill, similar to:
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php/21032-Ordered-a-PM-935TV-This-Week
See post #21
With some mods for the castor noted above.

One of the supply houses I deal with, the branch manager is a friend (he and his sister run the branch). They agreed I could have the mill shipped to their dock (back up dock), I will be there to receive it and inspect the contents. Then they will deliver it to my home with their lift gate truck and pallet jack... will have a couple of folks to help get it into the basement. Plan to get some pieces of 2" PVC pipe, and do the Egyptian pyramid building method of moving a heavy item.
I asked Matt how to get the mill through a standard 36x80 residential door... As always Matt has a solution and is willing to share it: Simply take the X axis table off... then push it in the direction of the Y axis. Machine would be considerably less width than the door. :thumbsup2:
And all this is costing me is dinner out at Red Lobster... :drink:

WAITING... WAITING... WAITING...
Oh well... need to get out and do some heating and AC work... then the waiting will go by faster... :allgood:

GA
 
My only concerns with these guys are the wheel axles and the wheel bearings. The small screws mounting the wheel axles to the shell caught my eye. I looked up the wheels on Footmaster's website and these wheels are nylon with no bearings. The Albions I used (21NG03201S) are glass filled nylon with roller bearings. Just be careful on the ratings. I got real skeptical on wheel rating after looking at the offerings on Ebay. It then boiled down to could I believe the ratings based on the way the casters are constructed. The problem is there is no uniform way to rate casters. Once a company comes up with a metric, how much are they guard banding their rating? What is the metric for the rating based on?

There are a few things I would have done differently with my base design. I used four swivel wheels and it would have been better to use two fixed. If you think about it, my mill weighs maybe 1600lbs due to the single phase motor. The mobile base and power feeds probably brings it up to 1800-1900lbs. I needed to move the mill maybe 25 feet across a pebble surfaced driveway with expansion joints and over the big expansion joint entering the garage. Two fixed wheels would have made this monster a little more controllable. Moving it in the garage was a bit of an exercise. I needed to move some equipment out of the out of the garage to prevent slamming into it. An object in motion tends to stay in motion and it is a ***** to stop once it gets going. It wouldn't always go where I wanted it to with four swivel wheels.

One of the guys suggested doing an outrigger design on the base. I change my plan to accommodate this. This was a real good idea since the mill is a bit tall. Also, it is best to keep the motor down while moving to lower the center of gravity to prevent tip over. All I can say is moving this guy around is like dancing with the Queen Mary. A humbling experience.

-Joe

GA said:
I went to Amazon and looked at castors... they have 50+ pages of them (wow).
Settled on a set of 4 of these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1MD3GF40AJX5AYV3BS5T
The weight rating is a bit higher than necessary, however from my research the suggested total weight rating for a set of 4 is based on the rating of two... probably has to do with rocking loads when moving whatever it is carrying.

GA
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