New PM-30MV-HS Mill

[fursphere]

Hello everyone. New forum member here. I've been wanting to get another mill for awhile now since selling my old Rutland milling/drilling machine about a decade ago. After lots of research I ordered a PM-30MV. There was some miss-communication on my part, and the backorder status ended up being a lot longer than I had anticipated. Totally my fault. Ended up talking with Matt a little over email, and he offered up a PM-30MV-HS (High Speed) model he had (I think he said it was a sample machine). Not being picky, I accepted his offer. Amazing customer service right there.

It arrived about a week ago, and I got it setup with some help from my brother and an engine hoist. I installed the X-Axis power feed, and I'm going to have to machine the dovetail keys for the hard stops, as they don't fit in the front channel. I found a thread where another user had the same experience with his PM-30MV. No biggie. Just another project.

So far from what I can tell, here are the differences from the regular PM-30MV:
- 120v vs 220v DC motor. No complaints here, gives me more options on where to set it up, as I only have 220v in one corner of my garage for the welder.
- 4000 RPM max (I think the standard is 3000?). Belt drive, two position (High/Low)
- Foot pedal for power tapping (reverses spindle rotation).

So far I'm just getting it cleaned up and dialed in. But it runs smooth and quiet. I'm going to add a DRO to it, or convert it to CNC. Haven't decided yet. I've been messing around with 3D printers for a couple of years now, so CNC sounds pretty fun.

I built a platform to raise it up about 5 inches, as it was a bit low for me (6' 1"), and to give it a little more stability. Bolted the stand to the platform, made sure it was all level. Then bolted the mill to the stand. This is where I ran into a slight problem. If I tighten the bolts holding the mill to the stand, the Y-Axis binds. It only takes a tiny bit of torque on those bolts to throw it off to where the Y-Axis will take a lot of force to move (the slide locks are loose). Loosen those bolts and its completely smooth again.

I'm guessing I need to shim the mill to the stand, but I'm not sure how to figure out which corner(s) need shimming. Its not obvious where the deflection is occurring.

Any ideas? Here are some pictures of the new machine.

 

[oldmanhands]

Hi Fursphere, I just ordered a Weiss WM32L DRO mill which is similiar in build (if not quality) to the PM unit you have here. Here is the catch though, it supports the tapping pedal that you have in your picture and I cannot, for the life of me, find any info from anyone about how that works. Does the pedal reverse the spindle? Stop the spindle so you can reverse manually? etc... No information anywhere online that I can find.

Have you used the tapping function, and if so how does it work and how do you like it?

URL to milling machine

I ordered it Monday and it arrived from across the country Thursday morning. So a year later, it seems new machines are flowing again in the US.

 

[fursphere]

Hey there.

I haven't tapped anything with it, but I did test it. With the siwtch (middle right side) in tapping mode, the foot pedal reverses the spindle when pressed 'on the fly'. I don't have any rigid tapping taps (only hand taps), or a tapping head, so I haven't used it.

 

[Titan machinery]

Hi Fursphere, I just ordered a Weiss WM32L DRO mill which is similiar in build (if not quality) to the PM unit you have here. Here is the catch though, it supports the tapping pedal that you have in your picture and I cannot, for the life of me, find any info from anyone about how that works. Does the pedal reverse the spindle? Stop the spindle so you can reverse manually? etc... No information anywhere online that I can find.

Have you used the tapping function, and if so how does it work and how do you like it?

URL to milling machine

I ordered it Monday and it arrived from across the country Thursday morning. So a year later, it seems new machines are flowing again in the US.

i know WM32L, the pedal reverse the spindle, easy to tapping, maybe http://youtube.com/@weissmachine has this video