Setting-up the PM 1236-T Lathe

Hah! Guess I got you all beat. My lathe has a VFD to drive the 3 phase motor, which drives the spindle through a series of two belts ... unless I put it in back gear, which then adds two pairs of (bevel) gears to the party :)
 
Hello all this is my 1st post. Titanium Knurler I enjoy your post on PM 1236T. However after seeing the photo of the pallet I'm thinking my plan to get a lathe into my home shop without the wife knowing will need more planning. I am almost ready to pull the trigger on the PM 1236. I was originally looking at the PM 1127VF-LB but really wanted a gear head machine. At some point one has to draw a line. That said, for a few dollars more.........

Tell me why I should get the PM 1236T. What makes it more accurate? It's only about $500 more if I add all the extras to it so they have about the same stuff. Does it have a better gear head?

Looks like you have a collet chuck. I want one!!! What is the big wheel on the left end of the spindle shaft?
 
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First of all welcome to H-M! I joined about a year and a half ago and have been very happy to be a part of the H-M community. There are just a whole bunch of friendly, helpful and humorous people here and the administrative-types, I believe, work hard behind the scenes to keep it that way. As you may have gathered from my thread on the PM 1236-T I am pretty new to machining but have learned a tremendous amount from the folks here. Again, welcome to H-M.

I am at work now and up to my ass in alligators, as they say, but here are just a few thoughts on your questions:

Hello all this is my 1st post. Titanium Knurler I enjoy your post on PM 1236T. However after seeing the photo of the pallet I'm thinking my plan to get a lathe into my home shop without the wife knowing will need more planning. Maybe you can do what Johnnie Cash did and bring it in "One Piece at a Time"?I am almost ready to pull the trigger on the PM 1236. I was originally looking at the PM 1127VF-LB but really wanted a gear head machine. At some point one has to draw a line. That said, for a few dollars more.........I was also considering a smaller lathe but am very happy I went up to the larger 1236-T.

Tell me why I should get the PM 1236T. What makes it more accurate? I am not sure it is more accurate but it probably is. It is described as "100% Tiawan" except for the spindle bearing which is Japanese and is described as having a run out of .0001". I do not see a similar claim for the 1127VF-LB. It's only about $500 more if I add all the extras to it so they have about the same stuff. Does it have a better gear head? Sorry, but I am not sure about the gear head or headstock differences but the 1236-T has the traditional Norton gearbox that has been around for many years so I assume it is a reliable design. The 1127VF-LB and 1236-T seem to have a lot of similarities: D1-4 camlock spindle mount, induction hardened ways and a large spindle bore. The differences appear to be power(1 HP vs 1-1/2"), voltage(110 vs 220), slightly broader speed range and the VFD on the 1127VF-LB. The 1236-T also has a removable gap in the bed and of course a longer bed so you can turn larger and longer stock and use a BXA rather than an AXA QCTP. It looks like they are both very good machines, the 1236-T is just a beefier(850# vs 575#) possibly more accurate machine. I am very happy with mine.

Looks like you have a collet chuck. I want one!!! I have a 5C and now ER40 collet chuck. They are not too expensive and I use them frequently. I purchased the 5C first but have almost exclusively switched to the ER40. What is the big wheel on the left end of the spindle shaft? That is a headstock handwheel that I installed. I use it all the time. I wish it was a stock feature. There is a description on how I installed it on the thread you were reading on the 1236-T.

Hope that helps a bit. If you have any other questions let me know,
TK
 
hman said:
Hah! Guess I got you all beat. My lathe has a VFD to drive the 3 phase motor, which drives the spindle through a series of two belts ... unless I put it in back gear, which then adds two pairs of (bevel) gears to the party :)
Click to expand...
Screw the math. It was 1AM. The T cost $1200 more equally equiped.
 
Titanium Knurler said:
First of all welcome to H-M! I joined about a year and a half ago and have been very happy to be a part of the H-M community. There are just a whole bunch of friendly, helpful and humorous people here and the administrative-types, I believe, work hard behind the scenes to keep it that way. As you may have gathered from my thread on the PM 1236-T I am pretty new to machining but have learned a tremendous amount from the folks here. Again, welcome to H-M.

I am at work now and up to my ass in alligators, as they say, but here are just a few thoughts on your questions:

Hello all this is my 1st post. Titanium Knurler I enjoy your post on PM 1236T. However after seeing the photo of the pallet I'm thinking my plan to get a lathe into my home shop without the wife knowing will need more planning. Maybe you can do what Johnnie Cash did and bring it in "One Piece at a Time"?I am almost ready to pull the trigger on the PM 1236. I was originally looking at the PM 1127VF-LB but really wanted a gear head machine. At some point one has to draw a line. That said, for a few dollars more.........I was also considering a smaller lathe but am very happy I went up to the larger 1236-T.

Tell me why I should get the PM 1236T. What makes it more accurate? I am not sure it is more accurate but it probably is. It is described as "100% Tiawan" except for the spindle bearing which is Japanese and is described as having a run out of .0001". I do not see a similar claim for the 1127VF-LB. It's only about $500 more if I add all the extras to it so they have about the same stuff. Does it have a better gear head? Sorry, but I am not sure about the gear head or headstock differences but the 1236-T has the traditional Norton gearbox that has been around for many years so I assume it is a reliable design. The 1127VF-LB and 1236-T seem to have a lot of similarities: D1-4 camlock spindle mount, induction hardened ways and a large spindle bore. The differences appear to be power(1 HP vs 1-1/2"), voltage(110 vs 220), slightly broader speed range and the VFD on the 1127VF-LB. The 1236-T also has a removable gap in the bed and of course a longer bed so you can turn larger and longer stock and use a BXA rather than an AXA QCTP. It looks like they are both very good machines, the 1236-T is just a beefier(850# vs 575#) possibly more accurate machine. I am very happy with mine.

Looks like you have a collet chuck. I want one!!! I have a 5C and now ER40 collet chuck. They are not too expensive and I use them frequently. I purchased the 5C first but have almost exclusively switched to the ER40. What is the big wheel on the left end of the spindle shaft? That is a headstock handwheel that I installed. I use it all the time. I wish it was a stock feature. There is a description on how I installed it on the thread you were reading on the 1236-T.

Hope that helps a bit. If you have any other questions let me know,
TK
Click to expand...
Thank for the reply. I corrected the math, the T is $1200 more then the PM-1236 equally equipped. I have ruled out the 1127VF-LB. Decision time.
 
Have you looked at the Grizzly G4003G? It sounds similar to the 1236T with the upgraded spindle bearings etc but not sure if that's made in Taiwan or China. Lots of folks have bought them over the years and I have never seen a bad review. I'm leaning towards that due to the bang for the buck...but I'm not quite ready to upgrade from my 9x20 just yet.
 
stioc said:
Have you looked at the Grizzly G4003G? It sounds similar to the 1236T with the upgraded spindle bearings etc but not sure if that's made in Taiwan or China. Lots of folks have bought them over the years and I have never seen a bad review. I'm leaning towards that due to the bang for the buck...but I'm not quite ready to upgrade from my 9x20 just yet.
Click to expand...
I had not but did take a look after getting your post. At first look it looks like the same machine. Much less expensive. I will have to do some research.
 
The G4003G is made in China, there are both positive and negative reviews on it. Saying they look the same has no bases, other than the overall lathe designs are shared by multiple models, but says nothing of how they are built, how they work and how they will hold up over time. There is also service and parts to consider. If quality matters than the Taiwanese machines are much better built and have tighter specs/QC, better bearings, better castings, etc. As an example try to drill and tap Chinese machine castings, typically the cast iron is soft and almost gritty, on a Taiwanese machine the machine castings are much harder to drill and tap. You can't always go by the numbers and how many dodads are tacked onto the package, often they are not very high quality. My first mill was a higher end Chinese made under German supervision, and it had numerous serious problems and deficiencies and I eventually sold it. A lot of these problems I have seen in other cheaper machines. It is not that necessarily the origin of the machine, but the price point it is built too and the requested specifications. There is also a big difference between the brands and who you buy it form.
 
I was just mentioning another option since I too am in the same quest for the best bang-for-the-buck machine and it's unclear what the exact difference is between these two options. I even sent Matt an email about it and I got a very brief 'don't know...' sort of a response. Surely they must (and should) know more about their direct competitor's product?

Here's what I know:
The G4003G is the 'upgraded version' of the standard G4003 so it's not the run of the mill typical 12x36 lathe
It has upgraded spindle bearings like the PM1236T says in their information
The weight is pretty close to the 1236T (re: casting quality etc)
Has been a popular lathe with the gun crowds since before PM was even around

Also, keep in mind the Chinese tools of today are not the same as they were even 4yrs ago. Have you walked into Harbor Freight lately? They used to carry Taiwanese and Chinese tools and you could clearly see the difference between the two. Not so anymore, the Chinese tools have come a long way.

All that aside my question is what's the 'precision' difference between the two lathes, if we know that we can determine if we need the extra precision or not. Personally I won't be making aerospace parts nor doing needle work on swiss watches so I just need something with good power and decent enough precision to turn every day parts. My chinese 9x20 almost meets those needs but falls short on the oomph and precision by a little (for me).

Apologies to the OP for the sidebar!
 
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Excuse me if I missed your reasoning for using outrigger. Do you think they are needed for stability while moving the lathe?

Also, please help out a new guy and tell me how to get out of a reply if I change my mind. Inappropriate question but I thank anyone who can help.
 
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