Precision Matthews / Quality Machine Tool: A Visit.

[Ray C]

Oh yes, PA is a wonderful place and I drive up through those mountains 1-2 times a year -and I always love it. I would just love to pull over some day and find a nice spot to just sit, rest and do a mind-meld with the Earth for an hour or two... At this point in my life, I don't feel tied to any place but, if I had to make a decision, PA would be among the runners-up.

The Taiwanese benchtop mill.... Yes, he's still working on it but, the price-point is not where anyone could afford it and, the current offering of mills (especially the 932 and 45-CNC) are hard to beat.

Ray

Glad to see Like my Birth state Ray. I was born in Lewisburg, and spent time living in Easton & Johnstown before moving to the land of corn in my late teens.

I love the photos, specially the new 836.

Did you happen to see or hear anything about the Taiwanese benchtop Matt was working on?

 

[wrmiller]

Oh yes, PA is a wonderful place and I drive up through those mountains 1-2 times a year -and I always love it. I would just love to pull over some day and find a nice spot to just sit, rest and do a mind-meld with the Earth for an hour or two... At this point in my life, I don't feel tied to any place but, if I had to make a decision, PA would be among the runners-up.

The Taiwanese benchtop mill.... Yes, he's still working on it but, the price-point is not where anyone could afford it and, the current offering of mills (especially the 932 and 45-CNC) are hard to beat.

Ray

Weight aside, my biggest complaint about those two mills is the geared head and being limited to a small number of spindle speeds. In this day and age I should be able to get variable speed on everything. )

And who says I couldn't afford it? :LOL:

Bill

 

[Dan_S]

Oh yes, PA is a wonderful place and I drive up through those mountains 1-2 times a year -and I always love it. I would just love to pull over some day and find a nice spot to just sit, rest and do a mind-meld with the Earth for an hour or two... At this point in my life, I don't feel tied to any place but, if I had to make a decision, PA would be among the runners-up.

depending on what way you go you might want to hit up this state park. It's a small state park only really known to the locals around the area i was born, It's right off 80.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=goog...pn=0.001731,0.002411&t=h&z=19&vpsrc=6&iwloc=A

https://ssl.panoramio.com/photo/10988029

The Taiwanese benchtop mill.... Yes, he's still working on it but, the price-point is not where anyone could afford it and, the current offering of mills (especially the 932 and 45-CNC) are hard to beat.

I'd gladly play like 4k if it had the quality and features of a 932 or 45, and was a little bit bigger. at one point I had considered an IH mill, because they have more Y, but everyone says the build quality is bad, and the customer service is horrible. I wan to eventually have 2 mills, a cnc'd benchtop mill, and a manual Bridgeport sized machine.

 

[Ray C]

Matt has a customer who purchased one CNC-45 (4 axis) and after a couple months, purchased 9 more in one shot. It is a firearms company (not at liberty to mention their name) who has them setup to crank-out the same parts day & night. They looked at higher end machines in the "lower-order" of the Haas an Mazak line and after their test trial, decided the PM CNC-45 was hands-down more reliable and cost efficient for their given needs. This may not be the case for all parts and all users but, it is very telling indeed. Matt has sold quite a few of those PM-45 CNC machines to colleges and technical training schools -and nobody, repeat, nobody is complaining...

... I would love to move and it's on my daydream list. But right now, I'm slugging it out with reality and am forced to stay put for a variety of reasons. I'm working change that but, I must pay my dues...


Ray

depending on what way you go you might want to hit up this state park. It's a small state park only really known to the locals around the area i was born, It's right off 80.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=goog...pn=0.001731,0.002411&t=h&z=19&vpsrc=6&iwloc=A

https://ssl.panoramio.com/photo/10988029



I'd gladly play like 4k if it had the quality and features of a 932 or 45, and was a little bit bigger. at one point I had considered an IH mill, because they have more Y, but everyone says the build quality is bad, and the customer service is horrible. I wan to eventually have 2 mills, a cnc'd benchtop mill, and a manual Bridgeport sized machine.

 

[Sparkymacker]

Interesting to see where my lathe and milling machine came from. I see Matt and Nicole are Penguins fans too! I am glad I bought my machines when I did from Matt, seemed like a lot of money at the time (just ask my wife) but it would be a lot more now as our dollar is tanking against the US dollar (I guess our deficit is not high enough and we don't owe the Chinese enough money?). Thanks for letting us put a face to the names.

 

[Plas62]

Ray - Thanks for the post of your visit. It was nice to see behind the scenes. Do you know if Matt is going to be offering a small surface grinder?

 

[DAN_IN_MN]

Nice thread!

Very similar to what a local company does. Milltronics. Imports, inspects, improves, ships out.

 

[Ray C]

He already offers a 6x12 that the same unit as the lower-priced one that Enco sells but, his is quite a bit less money. He's been eyeing a Taiwanese machine for a while but, the price-point isn't there... He knows from experience it won't sell especially when you can get them on eBay for dirt cheap. Of course, the issues with those on eBay are shipping cost and unknown wear & tear... Just like a lathe, when the major surfaces start to wear, it's basically game-over unless you give-up your first born to get it repaired.


Ray

Ray - Thanks for the post of your visit. It was nice to see behind the scenes. Do you know if Matt is going to be offering a small surface grinder?