- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Messages
- 1,531
Well it was a long wait but my Precision Mathews PM1340GT lathe arrived yesterday morning and all is well thus far. The truck driver was able to back right up to my shop door and delivered the lathe without incident.
I do have one question though, why is it that EVERY lift gate truck I have seen has the lift gates sloping so severely away from the truck? You would think that in this day and age a lift gate could be fabricated with some preload in it or at bare minimum some adjustment to compensate over time. This thing had to be 4+ inches lower at the rear than at the front of the lift gate. Four inches is a huge amount in only a 5' deep lift gate. The driver about gave me a heart attack, he knew what he was doing but it still got my heart beating. He wheeled the crate to the edge of the lift gate and just when my son and I jumped thinking it was going off the gate the driver spun the pallet jack steer wheels 90 degrees and it skidded to a stop right where it needed to. I bet it was less than a minute and a half from the time the driver stepped into the back of the box van the the pallet was on the ground.
The driver was AWESOME!! I asked if he minded giving me a moment to open the crate and ensure that everything was in the crate that was supposed to be and in proper order as well as make note of which end was the headstock and if he would mine dropping it right near its final resting place. He said no problem.
After tipping the driver and BSing for a few minutes with him, he left and I commenced opening the crate. My son and his buddies head up in the hills and have bonfires once in a while on weekends and he was drooling over all the nice wood for this weekends activities.
Top of crate and plastic removed.
I will tell you that I was very impressed with how the lathe was crated and packaged. The wood used for the crate was very solid and didn't have boards missing nor built cheap by any means. Heavy clear plastic covered the entire machine as well as all unpainted surfaces liberally coated with cosmoline.
The stand is very heavy duty and well fabricated. My previous machine had a fair stand but it was a little lighter duty than I wanted and I figured if this wasn't up to my expectations I would just fabricate a heavy duty one rather than put up with it like I did with my last one. Not so, the stand is made of heavy gauge steel and very solid. I bolted the lathe down and installed the TECO adjustable mounts and set it fairly close to its final resting spot so I could begin the wiring.
Here is a shot of the electrical just for reference. They did an excellent job of not only using high quality contactors but the wiring is very well labeled and routed.
I ordered the 220-volt 3PH version and will be using a Hitachi WJ200 VFD for my single phase to three-phase as well as speed control. I had already hooked up the 220VAC line voltage from my breaker panel to the VFD prior to the lathes' arrival so I then hooked up the 3 phase going from the VFD directly to the motor, bypassing all of the electronics that came with the lathe. I used 3/4" sealtite to run from my NEMA 1 enclosure to the motor.
Once I had the load side of the VFD wired up I ran the lathe just long enough to confirm it ran and then I would proceed to wire up the control side. Oh, and it runs very smooth and quiet although I only tried a few different gear/speed configurations so far.
I removed the front control panel to change some wiring as well as add my potentiometer for speed control and a toggle switch for my JOG feature. Upon removal I saw the felt material which captures and slowly releases lubrication for the Norton style QCGB. It is a drip system that saturates the felt and then drips down onto the gears below. The only drawback to this system is that they always drip. At least they will drip whatever you add as far as lubrication. On our one at work I cut a piece of absorbent pad and keep it under the QCGB. When it gets nasty looking I replace it. It sucks seeing that pad there but it is better than having oil drip and run around the base of the headstock in the chip tray.
Here is the felt material.
This piece is mounted to the bottom of the switch/control panel and the black rubber plug is where the oil is squirted in to saturate the felt and lubricate the QCGB. I am holding it up in the picture but it is positioned flat under the control panel when fastened to the lathe.
Old/new contactors removed from the electrical box on the rear of the lathe just above the motor.
This is what the front of my panel now looks like. I added the two position toggle switch and potentiometer and labeled them.
Backside of my panel showing my additional wiring meshed with the OEM wiring. I tried to use as much of the original wiring as possible and the 10-wire 22-gauge wire loom that I added looks nearly identical to the original wire loom.
Here is my wire loom for the potentiometer and toggle switch run parallel to the OEM wire loom.
Here is my wiring completed with the exception of the labeling. I will add that once I update my wiring schematic and finalize everything. It was getting late last night and I had worked on it for well over 8-hours already and I am only 92.4% sure it is 100% correct.:think1: I will double check everything this evening before programming the VFD and firing up. The only part of the original electrical that I used was the step down transformer (220VAC to 24VAC) so I could power the nice halogen light that came with the "preferred package".
Here is the control wiring run to the VFD inside the NEMA 1 enclosure along with the stress reliefs for the wiring creating a nice, clean looking installation once the enclosure is closed.
Only two wires will be behind the lathe when it is slid into position and I left enough slack in the wiring just in case I ever need to pull the lathe away from the wall to work on anything. Hopefully that will never happen. You can also see the light mounted on the back side of the backsplash and how I used a small frame clamp to hold the wiring and kept everything tied up and tidy going into the electrical box.
Sitting in position and roughly leveled with my 2' carpenters level. Once I verify everything it is working with the controls and I am done programming the VFD I will move on to fine tuning the leveling and commence cleaning the cosmoline from the machine as well as final setup and break-in.
Now for overall thoughts on the PM1340GT. This may be a bit premature because I have not actually "used" the machine yet. However, once I got it on the stand and completely uncrated I wanted to put my hands all over it. I love the feel of the screws on this thing. They are amazingly smooth and just flow when turning the handles/dials. Even with the machine coated in that greasy cosmoline I have a good feel for the overall quality of this lathe. I can honestly say that so far I am impressed and I had my expectations set pretty high. I put a dial indicator on all the axis to compare accuracy between the dials and the indicator. They are spot on, thousandth for thousandth. I went quarter turn, half turn and full turn on the crossslide and compound slide and they are spot on. The compound slide is in .001" increments and the cross slide is indicated on the dial to represent total diameter of material removal. This will take a bit of getting used to but it is accurate with the dial indicator. I am used to our lathe at work which is actual movement of the cross slide, not how much total material is being removed by diameter. Again, no big deal as I am sure it will just take some getting used to and making the switch in my head. The important thing is that it IS very accurate according to a test indicator, we will see on material removal how accurate it is when I start making chips.
The gearbox shift detents are very crisp and positive. The levers move very easily and freely. A simple movement of the chuck and the gear levers switch/change very easily and crisply snap into the detents. The leadscrew to feedrod lever and the forward/reverse lever are the same way, nothing out of the norm there. The belt on the step pulley is very tight but like all belts I am sure it will loosen up a bit once it is run in. It actually appears to be a good quality belt though, unlike some of the junk belts that I have seen on other import equipment.
Matt does a great job of providing a packing list with your name, order number, voltage/phase and options ordered. The checklist is noted with whether the options are merely packaged or installed on the equipment. I will admit the owners manual could be better but that is more than likely a language issue vs. anything else. In the back of the manual there are parts breakdowns, wiring schematic (not that mine will resemble that now) and the final pages include tolerances and how to measure them.
Again, it may be a bit premature and I will post up final opinions once I get some actual chip making time on the machine, however, my first impressions are that this is an extremely nice and well built lathe for the money. The fit and finish of the machine right down to the controls, handles, dials, levers and knobs is high quality and actually better than I had expected. The gradations marked into the cross slide, tailstock and compound slide are all very well marked and numbered. The PM1340GT is hands down nicer than the 20+ year old Taiwanese lathe we have at work and so far I am very impressed.
Mike.
I do have one question though, why is it that EVERY lift gate truck I have seen has the lift gates sloping so severely away from the truck? You would think that in this day and age a lift gate could be fabricated with some preload in it or at bare minimum some adjustment to compensate over time. This thing had to be 4+ inches lower at the rear than at the front of the lift gate. Four inches is a huge amount in only a 5' deep lift gate. The driver about gave me a heart attack, he knew what he was doing but it still got my heart beating. He wheeled the crate to the edge of the lift gate and just when my son and I jumped thinking it was going off the gate the driver spun the pallet jack steer wheels 90 degrees and it skidded to a stop right where it needed to. I bet it was less than a minute and a half from the time the driver stepped into the back of the box van the the pallet was on the ground.
The driver was AWESOME!! I asked if he minded giving me a moment to open the crate and ensure that everything was in the crate that was supposed to be and in proper order as well as make note of which end was the headstock and if he would mine dropping it right near its final resting place. He said no problem.
After tipping the driver and BSing for a few minutes with him, he left and I commenced opening the crate. My son and his buddies head up in the hills and have bonfires once in a while on weekends and he was drooling over all the nice wood for this weekends activities.
Top of crate and plastic removed.
I will tell you that I was very impressed with how the lathe was crated and packaged. The wood used for the crate was very solid and didn't have boards missing nor built cheap by any means. Heavy clear plastic covered the entire machine as well as all unpainted surfaces liberally coated with cosmoline.
The stand is very heavy duty and well fabricated. My previous machine had a fair stand but it was a little lighter duty than I wanted and I figured if this wasn't up to my expectations I would just fabricate a heavy duty one rather than put up with it like I did with my last one. Not so, the stand is made of heavy gauge steel and very solid. I bolted the lathe down and installed the TECO adjustable mounts and set it fairly close to its final resting spot so I could begin the wiring.
Here is a shot of the electrical just for reference. They did an excellent job of not only using high quality contactors but the wiring is very well labeled and routed.
I ordered the 220-volt 3PH version and will be using a Hitachi WJ200 VFD for my single phase to three-phase as well as speed control. I had already hooked up the 220VAC line voltage from my breaker panel to the VFD prior to the lathes' arrival so I then hooked up the 3 phase going from the VFD directly to the motor, bypassing all of the electronics that came with the lathe. I used 3/4" sealtite to run from my NEMA 1 enclosure to the motor.
Once I had the load side of the VFD wired up I ran the lathe just long enough to confirm it ran and then I would proceed to wire up the control side. Oh, and it runs very smooth and quiet although I only tried a few different gear/speed configurations so far.
I removed the front control panel to change some wiring as well as add my potentiometer for speed control and a toggle switch for my JOG feature. Upon removal I saw the felt material which captures and slowly releases lubrication for the Norton style QCGB. It is a drip system that saturates the felt and then drips down onto the gears below. The only drawback to this system is that they always drip. At least they will drip whatever you add as far as lubrication. On our one at work I cut a piece of absorbent pad and keep it under the QCGB. When it gets nasty looking I replace it. It sucks seeing that pad there but it is better than having oil drip and run around the base of the headstock in the chip tray.
Here is the felt material.
This piece is mounted to the bottom of the switch/control panel and the black rubber plug is where the oil is squirted in to saturate the felt and lubricate the QCGB. I am holding it up in the picture but it is positioned flat under the control panel when fastened to the lathe.
Old/new contactors removed from the electrical box on the rear of the lathe just above the motor.
This is what the front of my panel now looks like. I added the two position toggle switch and potentiometer and labeled them.
Backside of my panel showing my additional wiring meshed with the OEM wiring. I tried to use as much of the original wiring as possible and the 10-wire 22-gauge wire loom that I added looks nearly identical to the original wire loom.
Here is my wire loom for the potentiometer and toggle switch run parallel to the OEM wire loom.
Here is my wiring completed with the exception of the labeling. I will add that once I update my wiring schematic and finalize everything. It was getting late last night and I had worked on it for well over 8-hours already and I am only 92.4% sure it is 100% correct.:think1: I will double check everything this evening before programming the VFD and firing up. The only part of the original electrical that I used was the step down transformer (220VAC to 24VAC) so I could power the nice halogen light that came with the "preferred package".
Here is the control wiring run to the VFD inside the NEMA 1 enclosure along with the stress reliefs for the wiring creating a nice, clean looking installation once the enclosure is closed.
Only two wires will be behind the lathe when it is slid into position and I left enough slack in the wiring just in case I ever need to pull the lathe away from the wall to work on anything. Hopefully that will never happen. You can also see the light mounted on the back side of the backsplash and how I used a small frame clamp to hold the wiring and kept everything tied up and tidy going into the electrical box.
Sitting in position and roughly leveled with my 2' carpenters level. Once I verify everything it is working with the controls and I am done programming the VFD I will move on to fine tuning the leveling and commence cleaning the cosmoline from the machine as well as final setup and break-in.
Now for overall thoughts on the PM1340GT. This may be a bit premature because I have not actually "used" the machine yet. However, once I got it on the stand and completely uncrated I wanted to put my hands all over it. I love the feel of the screws on this thing. They are amazingly smooth and just flow when turning the handles/dials. Even with the machine coated in that greasy cosmoline I have a good feel for the overall quality of this lathe. I can honestly say that so far I am impressed and I had my expectations set pretty high. I put a dial indicator on all the axis to compare accuracy between the dials and the indicator. They are spot on, thousandth for thousandth. I went quarter turn, half turn and full turn on the crossslide and compound slide and they are spot on. The compound slide is in .001" increments and the cross slide is indicated on the dial to represent total diameter of material removal. This will take a bit of getting used to but it is accurate with the dial indicator. I am used to our lathe at work which is actual movement of the cross slide, not how much total material is being removed by diameter. Again, no big deal as I am sure it will just take some getting used to and making the switch in my head. The important thing is that it IS very accurate according to a test indicator, we will see on material removal how accurate it is when I start making chips.
The gearbox shift detents are very crisp and positive. The levers move very easily and freely. A simple movement of the chuck and the gear levers switch/change very easily and crisply snap into the detents. The leadscrew to feedrod lever and the forward/reverse lever are the same way, nothing out of the norm there. The belt on the step pulley is very tight but like all belts I am sure it will loosen up a bit once it is run in. It actually appears to be a good quality belt though, unlike some of the junk belts that I have seen on other import equipment.
Matt does a great job of providing a packing list with your name, order number, voltage/phase and options ordered. The checklist is noted with whether the options are merely packaged or installed on the equipment. I will admit the owners manual could be better but that is more than likely a language issue vs. anything else. In the back of the manual there are parts breakdowns, wiring schematic (not that mine will resemble that now) and the final pages include tolerances and how to measure them.
Again, it may be a bit premature and I will post up final opinions once I get some actual chip making time on the machine, however, my first impressions are that this is an extremely nice and well built lathe for the money. The fit and finish of the machine right down to the controls, handles, dials, levers and knobs is high quality and actually better than I had expected. The gradations marked into the cross slide, tailstock and compound slide are all very well marked and numbered. The PM1340GT is hands down nicer than the 20+ year old Taiwanese lathe we have at work and so far I am very impressed.
Mike.
