Hello all!
I've looked at these forums many times but never had much to post so I never signed up. I finally signed up yesterday when I got sick of not being able to look at attachment images full size. haha
Anyhow, my new PM940 mill arrived just the other day and after quite the ordeal getting it up the driveway and into the garage, myself, I have been working to get all of the gunk off of it. The X and Y are now clean and ready to go. However, I want to get at the Z axis clean while the mill is still sitting on the pallet. I figured it might be easier that way... Maybe not. I can't seem to get the dang head pulled off it's mount. I have the head all the way down, supported by the spindle and the back of the head using some aluminum blocks on the table. I loosened the two bolts up... top... (and with that thought...)
I just went out in the garage to check and yep, there's another nut and bolt on the bottom. Jeez. I was just about to ask you guys why the head was so hard to take off and if you had any tips. Taking all the nuts off would be a start!
Anyhow, I'll post some photos of the mill soon along with some more thoughts later on, once I get the thing up on it's stand, etc.
I also ordered the mill with the 3 phase motor and VFD. I'm not interested in changing gears, but the main reason is I plan to CNC the mill in short order. Should be a fun time.
Some quick thoughts:
Those of you that don't have one of these, this thing is huge. None of the photos I have seen of it really show the scale all that well. I have a photo of a beer can setting on the table, it's tiny on there. (Edit: attached the pic) I've seen people say you could mill an X2 on it easily. They aren't kidding. I have an X2 sitting near it. I have seen quite a few photos of your standard RF45 clone and this has definitely been scaled up. It doesn't just have larger travels, it IS larger.
A little about me, if you're interested:
I have an MicroMark X2 mill and a Grizzly 7x12 lathe. I also have a Chinese 6080 router which has probably routed about 10 miles of slots in plastic parts. (I'll probably post about that one another time) I've never liked the X2 and tried my best to get by with it but it has become more of a pain than it's worth. I even put some of those iGaging Absolute DRO's on it. (way too slow update speed, drove me nuts) I recently started doing some machining side jobs and the lathe and mill were making the process take FAR too long. I'd quote what was about 4 hours work and it'd take me well over 8. I ALMOST pulled the trigger on a kitted out PCNC 1100, but that would have put me close to or over $17,000. Too much, and I'd still just have a tiny lathe. After some research I settled on the PM940 and a PM1340GT. After CNC'ing the mill, I'll have an awesome lathe, AND a decent CNC machine... and still be well below that $17K mark.
I'm not sure if it's allowed for me to post a link to my site, since I sell stuff... However, I make lots of things for simulation racing as well. I'm hoping these two will help prototype some cool new sim racing gadgets for people. If you're interested in that, try googling my username, something is bound to turn up.
Stay tuned!
Edit: Pardon the mess in the photo. I'd just finished dragging the thing up my driveway and only cleaned off part of the table on it. Had to take a beer break.
I've looked at these forums many times but never had much to post so I never signed up. I finally signed up yesterday when I got sick of not being able to look at attachment images full size. haha
Anyhow, my new PM940 mill arrived just the other day and after quite the ordeal getting it up the driveway and into the garage, myself, I have been working to get all of the gunk off of it. The X and Y are now clean and ready to go. However, I want to get at the Z axis clean while the mill is still sitting on the pallet. I figured it might be easier that way... Maybe not. I can't seem to get the dang head pulled off it's mount. I have the head all the way down, supported by the spindle and the back of the head using some aluminum blocks on the table. I loosened the two bolts up... top... (and with that thought...)
I just went out in the garage to check and yep, there's another nut and bolt on the bottom. Jeez. I was just about to ask you guys why the head was so hard to take off and if you had any tips. Taking all the nuts off would be a start!
Anyhow, I'll post some photos of the mill soon along with some more thoughts later on, once I get the thing up on it's stand, etc.
I also ordered the mill with the 3 phase motor and VFD. I'm not interested in changing gears, but the main reason is I plan to CNC the mill in short order. Should be a fun time.
Some quick thoughts:
Those of you that don't have one of these, this thing is huge. None of the photos I have seen of it really show the scale all that well. I have a photo of a beer can setting on the table, it's tiny on there. (Edit: attached the pic) I've seen people say you could mill an X2 on it easily. They aren't kidding. I have an X2 sitting near it. I have seen quite a few photos of your standard RF45 clone and this has definitely been scaled up. It doesn't just have larger travels, it IS larger.
A little about me, if you're interested:
I have an MicroMark X2 mill and a Grizzly 7x12 lathe. I also have a Chinese 6080 router which has probably routed about 10 miles of slots in plastic parts. (I'll probably post about that one another time) I've never liked the X2 and tried my best to get by with it but it has become more of a pain than it's worth. I even put some of those iGaging Absolute DRO's on it. (way too slow update speed, drove me nuts) I recently started doing some machining side jobs and the lathe and mill were making the process take FAR too long. I'd quote what was about 4 hours work and it'd take me well over 8. I ALMOST pulled the trigger on a kitted out PCNC 1100, but that would have put me close to or over $17,000. Too much, and I'd still just have a tiny lathe. After some research I settled on the PM940 and a PM1340GT. After CNC'ing the mill, I'll have an awesome lathe, AND a decent CNC machine... and still be well below that $17K mark.
I'm not sure if it's allowed for me to post a link to my site, since I sell stuff... However, I make lots of things for simulation racing as well. I'm hoping these two will help prototype some cool new sim racing gadgets for people. If you're interested in that, try googling my username, something is bound to turn up.
Stay tuned!
Edit: Pardon the mess in the photo. I'd just finished dragging the thing up my driveway and only cleaned off part of the table on it. Had to take a beer break.
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