My new lathe - Precision Matthews PM1340

[sagreen83]

Great progress last night. Got a few more parts on the stand, the lathe leveled and powered up and spinning. I'm pretty surprised at how quite this thing is. I need to get some thin foam to put between some of the flat metal covers and the stands cause they are rattling when the spindle is running. Anyone have any other ideas on how to quiet these sheet metal to sheet metal points?


I ran it forward and reverse at the lowest speed for 10 minutes. I read somewhere that other people are breaking in in each gear. Can someone tell me what the best way to break in the lathe is?

Also, notice this thing has a foot break. Its kind of a pain to install, but works best if you put it on before you bolt the lathe to the stand. It has a big spring that keeps it in the up position until you press it. That spring is next to impossible to install. The area is too tight to put any tools on the spring, and you cant get enough leverage to pull it into place. Took me about 2 hours but I figured out an easy way to put it on. Kinda backyard engineering, but worked great. Heres how.


1) Reference attached picture Spring Install 1
2) Remove side access panel on stand under headstock.
3) Form a loop in the end of a piece of wire. I used electric fence wire.
4) Thread the wire under the stand, behind the foot break bar, and up and over the end of the spring.
5) I placed a hammer undernieth the stand to give the wire a smooth surface to pull against. I broke a bunch of wires first because the stand is sharp and when you pull the wire it breaks where it meets the stand.
6) Cut the wire about 2 foot outside the stand.
7) Wrap and loop the wire around a pipe or wrench. This is what you are going to pull with.
8) Move the footbreak to the up position.
9) Pull the pipe or wrench to extend the spring. I pulled it so that it extended just past the point on the footbreak where it connects.
10) If you have the spring mounted so that the opening in the end of the spring is facing you, you can jocky the spring while you are pulling it so that the footbreak will catch the end of the spring where it connects. Takes a couple of times to get it.
11) Drop the footbreak so that it catches the spring.
12) Cut and remove the wire.

I wouldnt put my hand in there while you are doing this. If that wire breaks its going to hurt real bad!

 

[adamsgt]

Scott, a couple of questions. did the leveling pads come with the lathe? The last picture you posted didn't show the DRO display. Assume you didn't get around to that yet. Did the lathe come with the DRO scales installed at least? I had to replace an X axis scale on a used mill I bought and wouldn't have wanted to do the drilling for mounting if I didn't have to.

 

[sagreen83]

Scott, a couple of questions. did the leveling pads come with the lathe? The last picture you posted didn't show the DRO display. Assume you didn't get around to that yet. Did the lathe come with the DRO scales installed at least? I had to replace an X axis scale on a used mill I bought and wouldn't have wanted to do the drilling for mounting if I didn't have to.

The leveling pads did not come with the machine. The way I level all of my machines is just use a 5/8" x 2" bolt, 2 nuts and 2 washers. I thread a nut to the head end of a bolt, slip on a washer. Put the bolt / nut / washer in the machine hole. Then put another washer and nut on the top. I level by adjusting the nut under the machine and lock the top one down when I am done. I use circular plastic furniture sliders under the bolts to keep from dinging up the floor. Works pretty good, and the 5/8" bolts dont flex! If the machine has a threaded hole to accept the leveler, I just use standard carriage bolts, and use the square on the head of the bolt to adjust the bolt with a cresent wrench (Make sense?). When I use a carriage bolt, I make a wooden square pad, and use a forsner bit to make a recess in the pad to accept the head of the carriage bolt.

When I bought the lathe the DRO scales were installed, I just havent gotten around to mounting the DRO on the head. Will get that done tonight and will post some more pictures.

 

[old#7]

I think you will be happy with your new PM lathe.
I have the PM1440 and think it's great. I am not to the point where I will be giving advice on machining but so far my machine is very accurate. Spindle nose runout measures .0002". and after leveling and adjusting a few things it cuts nice too. I cut a peice of bar stock down for a ring alignment tool. It was 8" long and measured .0004 different from one end to the other.
I have been cutting threads like a mad man for practice and the machine easily changes from one pitch to the next.
I can't wait to make a spider and chamber my first barrel.

 

[Don]

Anyone have any other ideas on how to quiet these sheet metal to sheet metal points?


I ran it forward and reverse at the lowest speed for 10 minutes. I read somewhere that other people are breaking in in each gear. Can someone tell me what the best way to break in the lathe is?

Minimum expansion insulation foam, pressurized can or calk gun apply in all resonating gaps, cleans up easy with acetone or scraping if dissassembly is needed.

As for break-in, most important thing is to clean out all the metal casting and machining particles, with a magnet, in all the various gear box areas, re-install new lubricant and start cutting chips. No other break-in necessary..............Don

 

[sagreen83]

Got most of the lathe put together tonight. All that I have left is the coolant pump and tank. I'm waiting to put that in place until I figure out how to deal with the shipment damages. More to follow...


I've attached some pictures of the final setup with DRO. Interesting thing is that the DRO comes with a manual that is completely in Chinese. I cant read it at all. The DRO is a Sino SDS6-2v. If anyone can point me to an English language version of the manual that would be greatly appreciated!!! Currently I have no idea how to set this thing up for decimal measurements.

I made my first chips tonight! I had a scrap piece of 1" id galvanized pipe laying around so I thought that I would true up the outside of it just to see how this lathe would work.

So, I already made the disclaimer that I am a total newb when it comes to metal lathes. Please reference my photos that I have attached to see how I inserted the bit. I dont even know if I put it in the QCTP correctly. Here is the bit set that I bought http://www.grizzly.com/products/g8787 I thought this set would get me started well. My goal was to face the material and end up with a decent finish on the part. I put one of the tools in the QCTP and I think it was the 80 degree tool and set the depth to just barely touching the material, and started moving the hand crank across the material. What I ended up with was a pipe that was true across the face, and some really pronounced grooves in the face of the material. Also, if you notice I screwed up the insert so that side of the tool is ruined.

Questions for the newb:

1) If you are facing a part, what angle of tool do you use? It would seem to me that you would use a 0 degree tool so that the face of the tool is parallel to the surface of the part. Otherwise you are always going to end up with grooves. Am I thinking about this wrong?
2) When you are cutting metal, do you always end up with grooves in the face of the material? If so, how do you smooth these out?
3) Can you go to the grizzly site, and point me to the tool that I should be using to face my material?
4) I have a compound axis on the depth of the cut. If I changed the angle on the cut, I could take the cutters that I have and make them face the material at a 0 degree angle. Is this what I am supposed to be doing?
5) When you are facing your material, do you use the hand wheel to move the tool across the face, or do you use the lead screw to move the tool over the face automatically.
6) Are the tools that I bought simply intended to put an angle on the end of a piece of material?
7) When you adjust the tool holder for its height, do you eyeball the tool in the center of the material?

I know that these are all super stupid questions, but I have never machined metal before, so I learning from scratch here with no one to show me what I Im doing wrong, so please bear with me while I learn from you all! Thanks in advance for your answers. If you can point me to the proper tools on the grizzly site, I'll order them pronto.

Scott...

 

[JerrySharrett]

Remember, it takes 4-years to complete the US Dept of Labor Bureau of Apprenticeship training to become a 3rd class machinist, by law. Don't be discouraged if your first test cut or your first "project" doesn't turn out to be perfect.

Go on eBay and buy a copy of the reprint of the South Bend Lathe "How to run a lathe". This will give you much of the basics of single-point metal removal.

After you get some instruction from this book or something like it about tool grinding, buy some HSS or HSSCo tool steel blanks and grind your own cutting tools.

These molded carbide inserts are the very basic of what is available in insert tooling. Most of this "package" stuff that comes in introductory kits are not by any means the best you can buy.

But the bigger point on tooling is that most of these bench top size lathes being sold today are just not rigid enough in headstock design and spindle bearing quality to be very efficient with insert carbide tooling.

And by all means wear good eye protection and do not wear loose fitting clothing that can get caught up in your new machinery.

 

[adamsgt]

Scott, this web site has on line videos on machine operation that are very informative. I'm going to review the ones on the milling machine again and view the ones on lathe operation this weekend.

http://techtv.mit.edu

At the first page enter machine shop in the search window. That will take you to a list of videos.

Here's the link with the search results attached

http://techtv.mit.edu/search?q=machine+shop&x=42&y=3

The SB book Jerry mentioned is a must for us neophytes. I even take my copy when I travel to have something useful to read in my motel room.

Brownell's has a book called "How to Run a lathe" at $7.95 that has lots of good info as well. Duh, I think this is the SB book. I picked up another one called the Amatuers Lathe. Think I mixed them up. http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/productdetail.aspx?p=18158&st=&s=

They also have pre-shaped lathe bits for barrel threading, crowning, and bolt facing.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/catsearch.aspx?k=lathe bits&ps=10&si=True

 

[ultramagmed]

Scott.......

I am also a newbie, I just bought my lathe less than a year ago. I have already chambered my first barrel having not ever ran a lathe before either, but I have a couple of machinist friends that have helped me a great deal. Not to mention all the great information found on this site. To help with some of your questions, I have found that carbide insert tooling seems to give a better finish at higher speeds, say 600 rpm or so. You can face by pulling the cross slide across the face of the material either manually or auto feed. I set my tool height by running tip of the tool lighlty against my center guage that is also against the work so that I have a slight angle just below the centerline of the work. Sorry if I confused you. Feel free to PM me if there is anything I can help you with. I also agree with Jerry about grinding your own tools, I bought a tool grinder and some hss blanks and have been grinding my own tools with excellent finish results and when the get dull, just a couple of swipes on the grinder and you have a brand new cutting edge. Hss cut at lower speeds, I like 360 rpm for most every operation with hss.

Hope this helps,
MED

 

[twistedspline]

Ok im new to the sight. I have been lurking on here for a bit watching this thread and the other one started about purchasing a grizzly. I am purchasing a lathe in the next few weeks and sent pm an email that they replied to finally yesterday. I guess they have been out of the office at the manufacturers or something to that matter...
How are you liking the lathe. I know you say you are new to it and so am I. I own lots of other fab equipment like plasma cutters, tubing benders, etc but want to take my abilities with metal work to the next level and with my budget fall into the categories of the grizzly and the pm in this size lathe... Do you honestly feel now that you have the product that it was the right purchase for your dollar? If you dont want to answer that in an open forum will you shoot me a PM? Thanks.

 

[old#7]

Ok im new to the sight. I have been lurking on here for a bit watching this thread and the other one started about purchasing a grizzly. I am purchasing a lathe in the next few weeks and sent pm an email that they replied to finally yesterday. I guess they have been out of the office at the manufacturers or something to that matter...
How are you liking the lathe. I know you say you are new to it and so am I. I own lots of other fab equipment like plasma cutters, tubing benders, etc but want to take my abilities with metal work to the next level and with my budget fall into the categories of the grizzly and the pm in this size lathe... Do you honestly feel now that you have the product that it was the right purchase for your dollar? If you dont want to answer that in an open forum will you shoot me a PM? Thanks.

I didn't start the thread but, I have had my PM1440 for three months and I don't regret it one bit.
I am in the same boat as you. Lots of fab equipment like welders, plasma, grinders, drill presses, band saws ect. I have been learning alot as I go and from lurking around sites like this one. My machine is accurate and I think maybe more important it is repeatable. I looked at alot of machines before I decided to go with the PM. I spent a month researching and settled on the PM because It was made in a certified shop and came with a test report. I was looking for a machine in the 4k to 5k range with good accuracy and features. Pm had both.
Just my .02

 

[sagreen83]

Ok im new to the sight. I have been lurking on here for a bit watching this thread and the other one started about purchasing a grizzly. I am purchasing a lathe in the next few weeks and sent pm an email that they replied to finally yesterday. I guess they have been out of the office at the manufacturers or something to that matter...
How are you liking the lathe. I know you say you are new to it and so am I. I own lots of other fab equipment like plasma cutters, tubing benders, etc but want to take my abilities with metal work to the next level and with my budget fall into the categories of the grizzly and the pm in this size lathe... Do you honestly feel now that you have the product that it was the right purchase for your dollar? If you dont want to answer that in an open forum will you shoot me a PM? Thanks.

Twisted,

Hard for me to say at this point how much I like the lathe, cause I have only had a chance to turn 1 part and it turned out crappy and it was my fault. I need to learn a bit more. I am out of the country this week so I wont have many updates to this thread as far as use before I get home next Friday. At first blush, I dont think you will be sorry going with the PM. They were out of the office last week so thats why you couldn't reach them. I got an email from them last night, and they are going to take care of all of the damage that happened during shipment. I have had at least 10 emails with Matt, and at least 5 different phone calls, and he is great to work with. No complaints there. I expect that a Mill will be in my future at some point, and have no doubt that I will go back to PM for that purchase. I have every intention of continuing this thread throughout my lathe learning process, and as soon as I get a chance to turn a part where I feel I know what I am doing, I will post an in-depth review based on my experience. Stay tuned...

Adamsgt,

Thank you so much for the links to the MIT videos. I downloaded all 10 of them and have them with me in India right now. I have plenty of time to watch them. These things are great for a newbie! I have been through all of the lathe videos, and now am going back to the start of the series to check the rest of them out.

Ultramagmed,

Thanks for the tips on the HSS bits. Couple of questions:

1) Do you buy pre-cut HSS bits as the starting point then re-grind them when they get dull, or do you buy complete blanks?
2) Are you using a standard bench grinder to do your HSS lathe tool grinding? I have an 8' slow speed bench grinder, that I believe if I put a better tool rest on it, would work pretty well... Your thoughts?

Once again, thank you all for your comments so far!

Scott...

 

[twistedspline]

Thanks. A mill is in my new future as well... The reason I chose your guy's bulletin bored to watch is because even tho i build motorcycles and rock buggies i know some of the machine work involved by you home gunsmiths. I respect your guy's opinions on fabbing these kinds of products that compare to what I want to build for motorcycles. I will keep chatting with the guys at PM and think that i will most likely purchase the pm 1236 some time this week if it all works out.
I was concerned when you talked about shipping damage but if they are stepping up and replacing the parts that's a load off my chest.
Thanks for your input and info!
Guess tomorrow or Tues I will call them and place an order in person to make sure it all works out lol...

 

[sagreen83]

Thanks. A mill is in my new future as well... The reason I chose your guy's bulletin bored to watch is because even tho i build motorcycles and rock buggies i know some of the machine work involved by you home gunsmiths. I respect your guy's opinions on fabbing these kinds of products that compare to what I want to build for motorcycles. I will keep chatting with the guys at PM and think that i will most likely purchase the pm 1236 some time this week if it all works out.
I was concerned when you talked about shipping damage but if they are stepping up and replacing the parts that's a load off my chest.
Thanks for your input and info!
Guess tomorrow or Tues I will call them and place an order in person to make sure it all works out lol...

I think you are making a good choice. If it wouldn't have been for a build log just like this one I am doing, I wouldn't have bought a PM. I read through that build log (a 12x36) and the guy loved it. I hadn't seen one on the 13x40 so I thought I would do one over here. Like I said, Matt has been great to me. He offered to replace the lathe (by refusal of shipment), or replace the parts, my choice. He has answered every one of my emails, and is great to work with on the phone, cant say enough good things here.

Scott...

 

[twistedspline]

Thanks scott. Thats what I wanted to hear lol... good customer service goes a long way!

 

[sagreen83]

Ok, got back in the country on Friday and got some time to work with the lathe again over the weekend.

My problem that I had earlier with turning the pipe was totally my fault. I was using the threading function of the lathe while trying to face the part. So, I put a piece of aluminum in the lathe and changed it to use the power feed, and slowed the motion down to as slow as I could get it. VERY NICE cut quality!

I actually had my first real world use of the lathe over the weekend. I am building a CNC router, and one of the motor couplers that I had had a hole in the coupler for a 1/4" shaft. My motors are 3/8", so I chucked up the coupler, put a 3/8" drill bit in the chuck in the tailstock, and bored a new hole. Wow, that worked so nicely! I can tell that there is going to be a ton of things that I used to do that will be a lot more accurate now!

I also added some more tooling that I ordered to my first post. Once I get all of these new tools figured out, I'll update the 1st post with a list of tools that I would consider a starter kit.

If you are a beginner and haven't watched the MIT videos that were suggested a couple of posts ago, I recommend that you watch them. Very nice info for beginners!

More to follow.

Scott...

 

[littledevil2873]

Scott I am going to Troy NC to take their machine shop course they offer through the NRA. The course only last 2 weeks. I do not have any hands on experience with lathes of mills but have farmed all my life and work on my own equipment. There are other courses you may be interested in as well. There are about 5 community colleges across the country that offer these courses. I think there is a link for the courses on NRA's websight. One question, do you feel hampered by the spindle bore of your lathe at 1.5 in vs say the 2 in bore of the Grizzly machines made for gunsmithing?

 

[Butch Lambert]

Littledevil,
I will jump in and say that very few times did I need more than the 1.4375 bore on my Clausing. It wasn't even a gun part that could have used a 2" bore. I wouldn't worry about anything larger than 1.5"
Butch

 

[Jim Wooten]

Scott I am going to Troy NC to take their machine shop course they offer through the NRA. The course only last 2 weeks. I do not have any hands on experience with lathes of mills but have farmed all my life and work on my own equipment. There are other courses you may be interested in as well. There are about 5 community colleges across the country that offer these courses. I think there is a link for the courses on NRA's websight.

You will learn a lot about lathes and mills in a short time with that course. I took it last year, as well as another on truing and barreling a Remington 700. I think you will be making a base for a front rest this year, and next year will be the windage top for it. Last year we made a set of weights to check trigger pull, and I can tell you that it is a LOT more involved than it sounds.

Say hello to John Davis from me.He will probably say "Oh no, not ANOTHER Benchrest shooter" . John is a very good teacher who will require that you actually reason through what you need to do, rather than just telling you what to do or doing it for you. You will come out of the course with a good basic understanding of introductory machining.

If you haven't made reservations yet, I would recommend the Eagle Springs Inn. Lots of the NRA course students stay there.

Jim

Photo of Weight System
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v356/mbogo375/South%20Bend%20Lathe/TriggerPullWeightscopy.jpg?t=1241489148

 

[littledevil2873]

Thanks Jim, I have already made reservations at the local B&B. They had a discount for people takeing courses at the college. I had originaly planned to take this course and then take the action truing course later but it filled up quickly. And on second thought I might be better off trying to get some experience in before I attempt that course.