PM-932V Yes? Or No?

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Tammy63

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PM-932V Milling Machine. Yes No?
I'm days from ordering one why should I not buy this one and why should I buy another PM?

Making tools for the shop and one off parts for Motorcycles and maybe some gun parts.

I have the PM1030 and I wish I went with a bigger lathe only because of it's size. It's a bit small and I need a turn a 12in plate for a crank jig I made for someone and it was just too small.

The 932v should be able to handle what I need it for but is it any good for the money? I had to do a lot of things to make the 1030 work and repeat..

Thanks for any information and honest opinions.
Tammy...
 
Tammy63 said:
PM-932V Milling Machine. Yes No?
I'm days from ordering one why should I not buy this one and why should I buy another PM?

Making tools for the shop and one off parts for Motorcycles and maybe some gun parts.

I have the PM1030 and I wish I went with a bigger lathe only because of it's size. It's a bit small and I need a turn a 12in plate for a crank jig I made for someone and it was just too small.

The 932v should be able to handle what I need it for but is it any good for the money? I had to do a lot of things to make the 1030 work and repeat..

Thanks for any information and honest opinions.
Tammy...
Click to expand...
They seem to have a good reputation but it's ultimately up to you if it meets your needs.
If you are only machining soft metals then it's probably a no brainer but if you're doing harder metals you just need to do your research.
I suggest looking on youtube for some video input. I've made a lot of decisions based on what reviews I've seen on youtube.
 
Bigger is better that is the smallest I would go you can do plenty with that.
 
I just took delivery of one after a 5 month wait. I'm still setting it up and haven't checked runout, tram, or cut any metal with it yet. That being said I will say I'm not impressed at all with the fit and finish. The application of bondo and paint looks like a toddler did the work. Very sloppy application. A couple of crossed threaded fasteners holding the cover plates on. Lots of left over casting sand was sprinkled on the table during the jostling in shipping/handling. Right now I'm trying to pin-point a ticking sound when running...I think it's one of the spindle bearings but not sure yet. This is my second PM machine so I know it's hit or miss on a Chinese machine. I'm really hoping my only issues are cosmetic, which I can certainly live with. When running it sure is smooth and vibration free compared to my old RF35. I picked the PM932V because of the 5" quill travel compared with 3" for most of the other bench top models.

Would I recommend one? Can't really say yet since I'm still setting it up and haven't used it.
 
I would try to stretch the funds and look at the PM-833TV, better overall build quality, an additional 3" in Y travel and greater spindle to table height. In that price range you might also eb able to get a decent knee mill in good condition, but depends on a number of different factors and if you have the space. I usually find the Y axis travel to most often being the limited factor, than Z, and I very rarely use all the X axis travel (42" table) on my current mill. I started out with a benchtop type with similar travels to the PM-932, and was quite limiting, I eventually replaced it with a full size knee mill.
 
Hi @Tammy63

PM is a great company and very responsive. No problems there.

I also wanted lots of throw on my XYZ and thought a heavy duty machine would best.... But I had limited space and and so went for the PM940M-VS-CNC (when they were selling them). I had not used a mill much before the purchase and so I did not know much about the potential issues, .... but wish I had. (In fact, I should have purchased a non CNC machine first and learned for a while before getting a CNC.)

My conclusion over all is that the China made machines are missing a lot in the area of Quality Control (QC). Others have gotten 904M machines and do not have problems, but mine is another story. I am slowly fixing them all and some are non-trivial. The designs may or may not be flawed. That is machine design specific, but the QC is another issue and so China machines performance is the luck of the draw. On the other hand the Taiwan machines have better QC, at least historically.

It also turns out that much of my work is on small things, not big heavy pieces of metal. Inaccuracies tend to scale with the size of the machine. So if you intend to make small things and want them to have accurate dimensions get a smaller machine. If you intend to make bigger heavy parts get a bigger machine. So for example, if you wanted to do small engravings do not get a big machine. Backlash turns out be be one of the hardest things to eliminate. Also, for a machine with a big sturdy head the backlash and so the dynamic knod (how the head tilts when moving up vs down) becomes an issue. (This is probably more of an issue for CNC machines than it is for manual machines, but maybe your plans were to sometime do the conversion?)
 
Thanks everyone for your feedback I think I'm going to be ordering the PM-833TV for the QC and 5 year warranty.
 
Happy day.
 

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