Road Trip To Pm And Grizzly

Ditto, 4th of July weekend. A new control card resulted, no cost. Solved two or three problems, including forward/reverse.
 
Not that matt needs any more testimony, but I find it very impressive that matt replies to all emails himself and very quickly as well. I've had several emails back and forth within the same evening with him. Sure beats emailing and waiting/checking emails hoping to get a reply from someone within a week. Beyond that, I've been very impressed with the quality of his machines and service after the sale.
 
Ok, I'm back from my road trip 2015, and it was a success. Made it to Quality Machine Tools and Grizzly. Had a chance to meet and speak with Matt for a little bit and we went over a PM-932M-PDF that is set up in his shop. He also told me that the PM-940M is coming in very soon. The 932 was under power so it was very cool hear it and see it run through the PDF, table feed and gear changes. Deftly not as loud as I thought, a very nice machine and good size to it also. So happy I went there to see it, Matt is a perfect gentleman answered all my lamo questions with patience.

The Grizzly store is off the hook! There inventory is very impressive, machines and tooling. They did have the G0755 in the show room, but nothing under power. I ask sales rep if I could run the table screws and he said I could do what ever I wanted to any of the machines, very friendly and very clean there. There was a G0755 in the scratch/dent section with full warranty and $100 off, it had no crate and was pickup only.

Hey Bray D, the Pm-932M and the G0755 are almost identical machines, I noticed the table and head travel look to be the same in relation to the mounting at the dove tail. I forgot my tape measure to compare but visually the same. One difference is the buttons on the panel, the PM head up and down are the push buttons, the 755 is the three position rotary type switch, seems the two companies just switched the functions of those switches on the panels. Im almost certain they are same machine, also noticed the pedestal for the Grizzly is cast and not sheet metal.

Well here is where I'm at with my decision now;
1) I have a 5% coupon off total purchase at Grizzly
2) The two machines are the same, the 0755 being about $50 more w/shipping
3) The 940 is coming in at around $650 more w/shipping compared to the 932, which maxis out the budget, meaning no tooling purchases for a while
4) 3 year verses 1 year warranties

So thats where I'm at, still thinking about where to put my hard earned money down at, and yes my wife is cool with whatever I do, not an issue there. For all of you who live in PA, I LOVE YOUR STATE!! Its beautiful, I wish I had been on my Harley going through those hills.

Buck
"GarageWrench"
 
What size machine you get depends on what you plan on doing with it. Still, I would recommend going with the 940 which has 4" more of Y travel, I am always running out of Y travel on my bench top mill which has ~8" of Y travel (and may be less if you end up putting a DRO scale on the back of the table). Then there is the question if you go with the PDF version, probably leave off at this budget level.

A 3 year warranty and ability to get parts is a real plus, if anything for peace of mind.
 
+1 to what mksj said. I too wrestled with these decisions and decided to go with a machine that has the largest Y travel I could get within my personal limitations, because the first machine I bought was too small for some things (wasn't when I bought it, but the 'scale' of some projects grew a bit). This was done so I could afford to buy some tooling right away. Knee jerk decision on my part. I was running into the 7" limitations on my little machine more often than I cared for, and have yet to have the same problem with the big guy. Borrowed a neighbor's 10" rotary table once to make some holes on a 9" piece of round stock. Still had no problems. That 10" rotary was too dang heavy though. :)
 
Awesome! Glad to hear you had a great trip. Thanks for the feedback!

I'll jump on the bandwagon and say you'll appreciate the additional travel if you splurge on the 940. I haven't found the limits of mine yet, but I've come awfully close a couple times.

I don't think PDF is absolutely necessary, but I'm not boring critical surfaces either. Most of my boring applications are to achieve a particular fit with a bearing race, or to simply open up a hole to a size that I don't have a particular cutter for. I'm not sure I'd try to tackle a boring job that required a nice surface finish for sliding contact. That could very much be a function of my limited experience as well, though.

Regarding tooling - will the tooling from your round column mill work to get you started? I was worried about funds for tooling when I bought my machine as well, however I always found a way to rationalize a tool purchase when necessary. I wish I wouldn't have fretted as much about tooling during my initial machine purchase. The tooling will come with time.

3yr vs 1yr warranty is pretty substantial. That being said, a large distribution facility with machines/replacement parts on hand has its benefits as well. These are tough decisions.

I've never operated a machine with a sheet metal base, but I feel like my cast base adds substantial rigidity to the entire setup. I would opt for the heavier base regardless of the manufacturer if you have the choice.
 
If it were me, i'd spend more on the bigger machine. you can get quite a bit done with a couple of collets and a few end mills for now. you can always buy more tooling later, but it is a lot harder to buy more X/Y travel later.
 
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