Pm-25mv New Set Up

[kennyv]

I was going to post this under June machines but decided not to . Im starting a new thread for 3 fold reasons . For one don't want to step on someones thread and two With this forum s format I cant seem to be able to save a topic yet to find it again unless I post. In it there must be some web tools that I am unaware of. And 3rdly Help/ supprt / ideas something to refer back to...



So far I like what i see .. well yesterday get home to a nice present . My PM25MV arrived all in good order it was waiting for me in the garage to start unpacking I had my pop coming over to Cut the first band and he did.. Im not going to show any pics cuz u all know what they look like . I dont have a good camera and all that fancy editing stuff.....


Well first off I was excited and was able to take my mind of things for a few hours .. anyway quick update I thought about how i was gona hoist it for last few days and decided i was going to use a sling and Rope hoist i had in my camping gear. . Well after unpacking crate showing my dad all the goodies i decided i wont have a prob lifting it with another strong arm.. Than I saw about 250 lbs No prob My dad said he can lift about 50 thats it... and I knew that anyways ... ..

My Dad is 76 and my wife was out of Q ... she already had it when she had to lift another Pc of equip... Anyways Got it uncrated all in good order right than happen to hear next door they had visitor ( Boyfriend of the girl ) 20 years old strong... . Gave the kid instructions how we going to lift told him we pick up ( footing good grip) and feel it first than re pick up and set on stand.... showed him how it was back heavy and keep his weight forward and asked Pop to be there to keep column straight. Little thought .. bada bing 15 seconds later was on the stand and the rest is history . My PM25-MV found a new home in my garage.

My First impression was wow they look allot bigger in the Pictures... well i though it stood maybe 8-10 " higher that's all . Was a little surprised that the quill travel is less than 4" but what do you expect with a machine this size.. Well I think I will be keeping my 19 Delta Drill press now for any drill jobs that may need the column table to be droped in Z

Wow!!! GREAT job on the NEW MOTOR smooth and quit... However i suspect they will be changing the draw bar / nut ..design tooling ... Never saw the R8,s on the little mills so I didn't know what to expect.... well all and satisfied for now its a little machine for its size.


Spend the rest of night goin over machine. Just looking really didn't indicate dial in anything ….Had one issue ( i hope) witch is dud draw bar nut ( bad threads). When i first took it off i can feel it didn't feel right . so......I cleaned it and the shaft OD and it didn't cut it 1/8 turn it was wipped .. Anways called this AM let em know PM said they will send a new one out right away ..I jutst hope i don't have to take out the entire spindle shaft to fix it and it will be a hardship somehow.


Their are a couple of things that may need changing but im gona wait till i get feedback from u guys perhaps approval that we can do what we like to do without Voiding warranty anyways seems pretty tight so far. Well thats about it today . . I hope I can start over again and get doin stuff as hobby out in my garage to take the bight off of my current Job situation .

Thanks again for all your help and support

 

[brino]

Congrats on the new machine!
It's nice to be past the unpacking and getting it into position.
May you have many productive hours together....
-brino

 

[wrmiller]

I always like getting new stuff...

 

[brav65]

Congrats on the new mill. I had lots of fun taking mine apart and discovering how it all worked. I have added a DRO as well as LED lights to mine. I am currently using it to fabricate parts for a CNC Router build. I have also made up a number of small parts for repairs to other equipment and some stuff around the house. I have even made parts for my son's school projects. Great little mill!

 

[T Bredehoft]

Re: the Drawbar NUT. the first thing I did was knurl a piece of 7/8 alum about 5/7 long, drill a 5/16 hole in it's face and mill it out square. It lives along side the top of the spindle. I use it to spin the drawbar in or out, rather than using a wrench or trying to turn that tiny square thing.

Edit: I had the use of a chain hoist, slid the mill (it was lying on its back in my stationwagon on a piece of cardboard) out onto a short platform, picked it up with the hoist, put it on a four wheeled cart, rolled it into the shop, moved the hoist to a hook I'd fabricated from a 2" angle iron screwed to a ceiling joist,and lifted the mill onto my work bench. I couldn't (read didn't) wait for help.

 

[kennyv]

Yea thanks any Mods you boys have done love to see esp to get ideas of what can be improved.. Only thing I can think of is simple DRO for the full Z travel . I have to feel machine before ic an say what may need to better it.
. Right now im gona Take it slow and try not to be so impulsive ( so I say)

as far as Draw bar nut Called today received an e mail from Matt later in day . Then than spoke with him tonight. Basically I shared how'd improve the draw bar set up. Also motioned the limited travel , he concurred been askin about that for year they have to change the body head make much beefyier . Anyways He only has so much impact on what hed like but takes all in consideration .
as faras current set up It seems you don't need the nut and he made a bushing for his .
So the way I see it will need a larger diam draw bar and or a bushing to keep it concentric and ez change over . Right now ill put the new nut >Make a bushing than prob put a better nut on .
Than sometime in near future make a draw bar that will do both

 

[kennyv]

Quick update regarding draw bar . I see one or two new felllas recently purchase the mill so I fig id share what I have observed with current draw bar design . My Mill came with a Draw bar nut that was hammered from the go. Because I haven’t tooled up anything as of yet .I wasn’t sure with out using the nut if it needed to hold draw bar concentric And it does , However the bushing idea works well. Btw I spoken with Matty last night he said he made a bushing and ya didn’t need the nut sooooo


FWIW the this is what I did am doing > I am goin to make a new draw bar similar to Bridgeport with a brass bushin. But For now I will modify this one and a later put hex head nut to grab rotate and tighten, I thought if it works on Bridgeport R8 style than it should work same here . Anyways I didnt have any brass bronze at work. Had to come home with sumthin right ? So I actuality took old brass air fitting and made my bushing on break time. With my Morning coffee I measured and drew a napkin sketch if anyone is interested. Well it worked I made bushing size on . Next is to get either put ½ or 5/8 extended Nut on end of draw bar> Machine down to fit and weld on end.

…..When I get my lathe I will make a new draw bar altogether that fits machine and handles well . Esp since you need to make tool changes quite often.

 

[Former Member - WoodNDust]

That's a quick and not so dirty mod. I like it.

 

[kennyv]

The bushing worked out well draw-bar mod works like a charm too.


Haven’t had much time to run machine working on getting garage in order and now got caught up building a bench - rack with upper shelves that will accommodate bunch of bench machines . The key is have it all functional accessible . Work in progress stay tuned.
Other than that spent some time on Sunday checking machine spindle run out with a different tooling . The spindle has an error of .002 so everything thereafter was same or more. I ran trials changing tools in to see if any variation and repeatability. Using arbor only, collet, drill chuck cheepo drill chuck, keyless chuck After playing around cleaning fixing adjusting I was able to repeat to no less than .002 run out at tool spindle further down tool run out was slightly more. Up to .004 TIR ( 6 inches down from spindle ) I guess that's expected with this mill anyone have better luck?


Today only welded an 11/16 nut on the end of the draw bar . EZ access now and a breeze to do a tool changeover. After omitting the spindle nut that coverred the draw bar . Works great tightens loosens a heck allot better than that silly 9 mm square nut. Now I have 2 options wrench or small breaker style bar . Next is make an easier tool to use holing spindle . Nice to get back into the swing of things I did think of a few Ideas of tooling I will be adding/ making . The list gets bigger..... guess that’s ok keeping mind occupied .

 

[kennyv]

Shop time on fathers day with my son. Best gift I I can ask for . The memory will last forever. First I taught my son some principles of hand tools, the care of instruments . Learning to install collets in machine , using a draw bar wrench and spindle wrench. Sizing tooling by factional numbers. Converting over to decimal equivalents. Care of instruments basic machine, tool safely, set up and calculating RPM. He took his first cut and broke in new machine by feeding .400 thousands 4 turns on the dial to form the letter T. This was to engrave a mark on the tighten side of spindle tool.

Here is my son Joel Tramming the head, Organizing collects by fractional size, (Using chart ) learning fractions to decimal. Using chart to identify the size on his own. He got it .

Next he is indicating in vice for first mill set up on the machine. He learned to get the vice parallel withing one thousandths of an inch .002 than he learned to tap in high side half total distance and get it zeroed. In . After that he torqued the bolts “ He said spot on” In a British accent . I got a vintage indicator of e bay that is made in England and its named Spot on . What a day . The one an only gift that I received but it was ” Priceless” . Next we set up for next project drilling and tapping but he losts interest so I fig id call it a wrap save for next time .