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New Guy looking to buy pm1340gt
- Thread starter JBowlin
- Start date
David's machine and set up is over the top!
I don't have enough time on my machine to pass judgment. My previous lathe was a South Bend 10K and the PM1340GT is a different animal all together. I can't say whether this machine is the best in its class or whatnot, but what I can say is the information and support available here on this forum regarding this particular machine is priceless.
QMT does a great job of crating the unit but make sure they utilize some packing material between the lathe and accessories they ship inside along with the lathe. Mine came with a lot (and I mean a lot) of unnecessary chips in the paint from the accessories and chip tray bouncing around and rubbing each other. If you do get some chips, there is no touch up paint available from QMT. However, based upon information on this forum, I was able to take the micrometer stop to Lowes and have them color match the paint which turned out really well. The only downside is I had to purchase an entire gallon where a quart would have been a lifetime supply. I have been able to utilize the extra paint for some of the brackets and mounts that you will end up fabricating for the machine so I have been happy to have the extra paint on hand.
Also, the crate the lathe is in comes with a secondary pallet underneath for some reason. In my research, I noticed a lot of posts detailing the difficulty of removing this extra pallet. I was able to get my driver to remove this extra pallet with his equipment and I had him set the primary pallet on top of some 6" sections of 4x4 so that I could get the legs of my engine hoist underneath. I think that saved me a lot of time and effort not having to figure out how to get rid of the extra pallet.
Good luck and make sure to post up on your progress.
I don't have enough time on my machine to pass judgment. My previous lathe was a South Bend 10K and the PM1340GT is a different animal all together. I can't say whether this machine is the best in its class or whatnot, but what I can say is the information and support available here on this forum regarding this particular machine is priceless.
QMT does a great job of crating the unit but make sure they utilize some packing material between the lathe and accessories they ship inside along with the lathe. Mine came with a lot (and I mean a lot) of unnecessary chips in the paint from the accessories and chip tray bouncing around and rubbing each other. If you do get some chips, there is no touch up paint available from QMT. However, based upon information on this forum, I was able to take the micrometer stop to Lowes and have them color match the paint which turned out really well. The only downside is I had to purchase an entire gallon where a quart would have been a lifetime supply. I have been able to utilize the extra paint for some of the brackets and mounts that you will end up fabricating for the machine so I have been happy to have the extra paint on hand.
Also, the crate the lathe is in comes with a secondary pallet underneath for some reason. In my research, I noticed a lot of posts detailing the difficulty of removing this extra pallet. I was able to get my driver to remove this extra pallet with his equipment and I had him set the primary pallet on top of some 6" sections of 4x4 so that I could get the legs of my engine hoist underneath. I think that saved me a lot of time and effort not having to figure out how to get rid of the extra pallet.
Good luck and make sure to post up on your progress.
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Alan H.
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Interesting that mine showed up without the extra pallet. Could be a freight company requirement?? Mine was shipped via Fedex Freight. Photos here:
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/1340gt-by-fedex-to-its-new-home.52438/
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/1340gt-by-fedex-to-its-new-home.52438/
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2015
- Messages
- 2,079
The chuck saddles are made from King Starboard which is a brand of HDPE marine building material available from Tap Plastics. It's similar to delrin, but less brittle, machines very easily. I use it for lots of things as it's impervious to sun, chemicals, etc. and doesn't split or warp. The photos I posted were taken before I finished putting the handles on the saddles - I'll take a couple more photos tomorrow and post them. It took some prototyping with MDF to get their height exactly right so the chuck just slides on/off directly to the the D1-4 spindle mounting without having to lift the chuck or fuss around. I'm always paranoid that I'll loose control mounting the chuck and damage the lathe beds, so these saddles have lowered my chuck swapping anxiety a lot.
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2012
- Messages
- 655
The extra pallet is because the main pallet they ship on is too narrow to fit the pallet jack's most trucks have on them. Mine didn't come with the extra pallet and the driver had a bi$ch of a time moving the lathe inside the truck without the use of the pallet jack.
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2016
- Messages
- 65
Hope you love your 1340GT as much as I love mine. I've had mine for about 6 mos. It's one of the few major purchases I've made in quite awhile that I really feel great about.
Cheers
Squire
Sent Using Tapatalk - Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
Cheers
Squire
Sent Using Tapatalk - Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
Thanks for all the replies guys, latje came in on Tuesday and I got up on the stand and have been cleaning and piddling since. 1 question that I do have as I can't find any mention of it in the manual that came with it or the one online. Where does the light hook up on the circuit board? It's the 24v led.
So far I'm impressed, with my .0005 dial test the spindle showed 0 movement inside or on the face, with the 3jaw chuck there was .0015 runout on the body and I manages to get that down to just over .0005. Tomorrow starts the leveling and squaring.
So far I'm impressed, with my .0005 dial test the spindle showed 0 movement inside or on the face, with the 3jaw chuck there was .0015 runout on the body and I manages to get that down to just over .0005. Tomorrow starts the leveling and squaring.
Thank you very much!
I'm sure at some point I'll decide to put a 3phase motor on this thing and go VFD and I'll really be a thorn in your side lol.
I had a 9x20 that I did that with and really liked it, then when I got my 12x36 and had a gear box I was satisfied with it, but since I'm gonna start chambering barrels and doing gun work I could see a benefit in the lower speeds.
I'm sure at some point I'll decide to put a 3phase motor on this thing and go VFD and I'll really be a thorn in your side lol.
I had a 9x20 that I did that with and really liked it, then when I got my 12x36 and had a gear box I was satisfied with it, but since I'm gonna start chambering barrels and doing gun work I could see a benefit in the lower speeds.