- Joined
- Nov 16, 2012
- Messages
- 5,596
Hi Folks,
I'm up in Pittsburgh at the moment just to visit Matt, Nicole and company at Precision Matthews / Quality Machine Tool.
The ride up here was wonderful once I got past the 695 Baltimore Beltway which seems to be chronically congested. I absolutely love driving through the Allegheny Mountains; the footings of which sneak-up on you so quickly. Suddenly, you're high up looking down at our wonderful countryside. I know these pictures don't do the actual scenery justice but, I'll post them hoping someone else has been here and this triggers in your mind that wonderful sensation of freedom this part of ride always engenders. This is a section of road that must have been very difficult to create back in it's day -and it makes you think how instrumental roads through mountain passes helped this Country become great... It's beautiful at approximately 4000 ft elevation...
4 hours of driving later, we're back on earth looking at cool stuff... But first, some snaps of the gang...
Myself in the gray sweatshirt and Matt and Nicole
And the most important guys in the place: -The two big guys who heave these things around, check all the basics, install VFDs and install DROs before sending them out.
I'd like for you to meet my new CNC mill...
And a few new addition to the Precision Matthews / Quality Machine Tool family. This is a lower cost version of the Taiwanese made 935 knee mills. These are made in China, cost a little less and seem to be very good machines on-par with the standard version of the 1440 PM lathe. This is a new model that hasn't been announced until now.
Here's one that I've been dying to lay eyes on for the longest time and in all likelihood will become part of my shop once I expand the outer wall (hopefully in the spring). This is the 1440 HD lathe and I like everything about it. -Take that back, I'm head over heel in-love with it. I may very well put a deposit on this one before I leave tomorrow. 3 Phase, 3 HP. Just plug it into a VFD and go... It's a little heavy though as the bed has twice the girth of a normal 1440. I gave this thing the close eye -and I like it.
... And yes, every darn machine is checked in several ways before going out the door. Runout is checked in several ways, bed concentricity is checked to make sure nothing drastic happened while in-transit. BTW: It is always assumed the owner will properly align the machine using normal techniques but, when something like this is shipped, things can happen and it takes the appropriate steps to get the basic alignment back in order. At lest with the checks done in the warehouse, you will at least know the machine did not have serious "birth defects". This by the way is a PM1640 being checked and there's a stack more left to do... this one needs a VFD and motor.
Anyhow, there are some additional photos here of some huge machines... There are several of them here getting ready to go out the door. That spindle next to my hand is a D-11. I take a double or triple XL glove size -and that spindle and leadscrew makes my hand look tiny. I'm not even sure what size lathe that is but, it's 12,000 lbs.
Tomorrow I'll see how the DROs are installed... We'll have more pictures then. It's been a great visit and I know a lot more about the machines now and can answer more questions if you have them...
Ray
I'm up in Pittsburgh at the moment just to visit Matt, Nicole and company at Precision Matthews / Quality Machine Tool.
The ride up here was wonderful once I got past the 695 Baltimore Beltway which seems to be chronically congested. I absolutely love driving through the Allegheny Mountains; the footings of which sneak-up on you so quickly. Suddenly, you're high up looking down at our wonderful countryside. I know these pictures don't do the actual scenery justice but, I'll post them hoping someone else has been here and this triggers in your mind that wonderful sensation of freedom this part of ride always engenders. This is a section of road that must have been very difficult to create back in it's day -and it makes you think how instrumental roads through mountain passes helped this Country become great... It's beautiful at approximately 4000 ft elevation...
4 hours of driving later, we're back on earth looking at cool stuff... But first, some snaps of the gang...
Myself in the gray sweatshirt and Matt and Nicole
And the most important guys in the place: -The two big guys who heave these things around, check all the basics, install VFDs and install DROs before sending them out.
I'd like for you to meet my new CNC mill...
And a few new addition to the Precision Matthews / Quality Machine Tool family. This is a lower cost version of the Taiwanese made 935 knee mills. These are made in China, cost a little less and seem to be very good machines on-par with the standard version of the 1440 PM lathe. This is a new model that hasn't been announced until now.
Here's one that I've been dying to lay eyes on for the longest time and in all likelihood will become part of my shop once I expand the outer wall (hopefully in the spring). This is the 1440 HD lathe and I like everything about it. -Take that back, I'm head over heel in-love with it. I may very well put a deposit on this one before I leave tomorrow. 3 Phase, 3 HP. Just plug it into a VFD and go... It's a little heavy though as the bed has twice the girth of a normal 1440. I gave this thing the close eye -and I like it.
... And yes, every darn machine is checked in several ways before going out the door. Runout is checked in several ways, bed concentricity is checked to make sure nothing drastic happened while in-transit. BTW: It is always assumed the owner will properly align the machine using normal techniques but, when something like this is shipped, things can happen and it takes the appropriate steps to get the basic alignment back in order. At lest with the checks done in the warehouse, you will at least know the machine did not have serious "birth defects". This by the way is a PM1640 being checked and there's a stack more left to do... this one needs a VFD and motor.
Anyhow, there are some additional photos here of some huge machines... There are several of them here getting ready to go out the door. That spindle next to my hand is a D-11. I take a double or triple XL glove size -and that spindle and leadscrew makes my hand look tiny. I'm not even sure what size lathe that is but, it's 12,000 lbs.
Tomorrow I'll see how the DROs are installed... We'll have more pictures then. It's been a great visit and I know a lot more about the machines now and can answer more questions if you have them...
Ray
