Precision Matthews 1340-GT Lathe

T

TFC

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Hello, All,
I'm interested in hearing from anyone who is an actual owner/operator of the Precision Matthews 1340-GT (Gunsmithing) Lathe which is of Taiwanese manufacture. I am about to write a check to purchase one (new) for my gunsmithing business. However, before I commit with $ I'd like to know current owners'/operators' thoughts and experiences with this machine, whether they be good or bad.
Thanks.
 
TFC said:
Hello, All,
I'm interested in hearing from anyone who is an actual owner/operator of the Precision Matthews 1340-GT (Gunsmithing) Lathe which is of Taiwanese manufacture. I am about to write a check to purchase one (new) for my gunsmithing business. However, before I commit with $ I'd like to know current owners'/operators' thoughts and experiences with this machine, whether they be good or bad.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

No personal experience yet but I hope to have mine in a few weeks. I have heard nothing but good about this lathe and I like the fact that it is made in Taiwan vs. China which is the main reason I jumped at when I ordered mine about six weeks ago.

I will do a full review with a lot of pictures once I get mine.

I also ordered the Taiwanese 935TV milling machine from Matt as well.

Mike.
 
I placed a 10% deposit on one of these machines with options. I was recently informed that tracking numbers have not yet been issued on these machines. If I recall, that means these machines have not left Taiwan. This information, received last week from the PM/QMT representative, is in conflict with an e-mail I received from PM/QMT headquarters on April 10, 2014 stating that the machines have left Taiwan. Conflicting information abounds!
 
There is no conflicting information, we have more than one shipment of them coming in.
 
And also, we get the shipping information on every shipment. But just depending on which company they ship with, sometimes it can be tracked online, sometimes its useless. I can always check with our broker on them, and I have approximate dates on every shipment. We have 7 large shipments on the way in, not just one. The time frame he gave you will be accurate, no question about it.
 
All I can say as that I am more than ready to receive my 1340GT and 935TV which I am hoping to see any time now.

It had better be everything I am hoping for and then some with as long as I have waited. Not that it is Matt/Quality Machine Tools fault, I understand the build time, lead time, shipping time and number of orders placed. Plus I am sure I have been a pain in the ass with all of the questions that Matt has answered when I was thinking about changing my order from the 932PDF to the 935TV knee mill.:thinking: I am just stating that I have never had to wait so long for anything that I have ordered and after doing a lot of research I feel comfortable dealing with Matt/QMT.

Can't wait for those two spots in the shop to be filled and making chips.:))

Mike.
 
zmotorsports said:
All I can say as that I am more than ready to receive my 1340GT and 935TV which I am hoping to see any time now.

It had better be everything I am hoping for and then some with as long as I have waited. Not that it is Matt/Quality Machine Tools fault, I understand the build time, lead time, shipping time and number of orders placed. Plus I am sure I have been a pain in the ass with all of the questions that Matt has answered when I was thinking about changing my order from the 932PDF to the 935TV knee mill.:thinking: I am just stating that I have never had to wait so long for anything that I have ordered and after doing a lot of research I feel comfortable dealing with Matt/QMT.

Can't wait for those two spots in the shop to be filled and making chips.:))

Mike.
Click to expand...

Let's put it this way... The 1340GT is the lathe I should have purchased several years ago, due to the amount of threading and precision work I found myself in the midst of. It's an outstanding all-around general purpose unit and particularly well suited for gunsmith work.

When I purchased my 1236, a crazy series of events took place right at the time I was starting to do commercial work. I ordered a 1236 and it was several months due to arrive. The factory had an issue and delayed it one month. OK, that happens. It arrived on the ship just in time for a hurricane and the ship bobbed in the water for a week and finally got diverted from NY to CA taking an extra week. It got off the boat but, was unloaded by a different handler who lost all the customs paperwork -that took two weeks to resolve. While on the dock, there was a Union dock worker strike for two more weeks then it made it's way by train to PA -only to be met by another Union rail worker strike -causing another eight day delay.

I lost my first decent contract job but, such is life. I wasn't crazy about the customer anyhow. Matt offered to upgrade me to a 1340 at his cost but, in all honesty, I couldn't accept that as I honestly don't feel someone's livelihood should be given away because of a series of events that are not in his control.

I've been perfectly served by my 1236 but, the automatic gear change box sure would be nice. Still though, it cuts perfectly straight and I take cuts within a half-thou at will and with ease. It has never let me down or had a malfunction of any sort. I purchase steel for jobs 500 and 600 lbs at a time and furthermore, that lathe has cut more stainless steel boat shafts of various types than I can even guess at... I've probably threaded a hundred miles, one inch at a time... Inside bore, outside bore, left hand, right hand, double threads -most of it on stainless steel. The overall unit shows no signs of wear. The 1340 will do everything a 1236 can and then some...


Ray
 
Ray C said:
When I purchased my 1236, a crazy series of events took place right at the time I was starting to do commercial work.
Click to expand...

Now that could be a great subject for a comedy film… "A lathe called Wandering"! :rofl:
 
Ray, so on the 1236 is the gearbox different than the 1340GT. The 1340GT is the same style as our JET 1336 at work and I find it very user friendly which is one of the draws to the 1340GT, but the main reason was that it was Taiwanese and Matt told me that if I were to compare the that one with one of the Chinese lathes side by side is where I would really see the difference.

To be honest I have done very little threading on the JET lathe at work simply because I haven't ran across the need to in the workplace much and almost none on my Smithy that I had before because the Smithy was such a pain to change out gears for each thread pitch. I thought with this 1340GT maybe I would start doing more threading as I have had more of a need to do so at home on various projects than at work.

Mike.



Ray C said:
Let's put it this way... The 1340GT is the lathe I should have purchased several years ago, due to the amount of threading and precision work I found myself in the midst of. It's an outstanding all-around general purpose unit and particularly well suited for gunsmith work.

When I purchased my 1236, a crazy series of events took place right at the time I was starting to do commercial work. I ordered a 1236 and it was several months due to arrive. The factory had an issue and delayed it one month. OK, that happens. It arrived on the ship just in time for a hurricane and the ship bobbed in the water for a week and finally got diverted from NY to CA taking an extra week. It got off the boat but, was unloaded by a different handler who lost all the customs paperwork -that took two weeks to resolve. While on the dock, there was a Union dock worker strike for two more weeks then it made it's way by train to PA -only to be met by another Union rail worker strike -causing another eight day delay.

I lost my first decent contract job but, such is life. I wasn't crazy about the customer anyhow. Matt offered to upgrade me to a 1340 at his cost but, in all honesty, I couldn't accept that as I honestly don't feel someone's livelihood should be given away because of a series of events that are not in his control.

I've been perfectly served by my 1236 but, the automatic gear change box sure would be nice. Still though, it cuts perfectly straight and I take cuts within a half-thou at will and with ease. It has never let me down or had a malfunction of any sort. I purchase steel for jobs 500 and 600 lbs at a time and furthermore, that lathe has cut more stainless steel boat shafts of various types than I can even guess at... I've probably threaded a hundred miles, one inch at a time... Inside bore, outside bore, left hand, right hand, double threads -most of it on stainless steel. The overall unit shows no signs of wear. The 1340 will do everything a 1236 can and then some...


Ray
Click to expand...
 
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