The New 1340GT from PM

Ray C said:
LOL: A friend of mine owns a very successful liquor store -and one day, he bought a display case of cheap cigars all priced between $1 and $3. They didn't sell worth a darn and were getting stale. I told him to increase the price to $7 to $8 -and they sold like hotcakes.

I don't think Matt wants to raise prices... Truth be told, he likes supporting the small shops and hobbyists -despite the frustrations. I can't talk about the details of what goes on behind the scenes with Matt but, he has some clients that call and speak with him 2-3 times a week -and some, 2-3 times a day... That eats up a lot of his time and at some point, he cannot take any more calls during the day. Long story short, some of Matt's big customers started-out as little guys -and they continue to do good business with him. He's been in business for 15 years and my guess, is he'll still be in business 15 years from now. There's a lot to be said for that -and my hat is off to him. I can't think of too many "flash in the pan" boutiques with those kinds of longevity prospects...


As for me, I'm not doing this to get rich (LOL)... I'm semi-retired and a teacher at-heart and don't mind the hobbyist crowd. That said, he wants me to be the front-end for the business. Matt is perfectly happy working with his crew every day. He loves it -and that's no joke. When the busy times like this are over, he scours the Continents looking for exceptional value stuff. He loves tools and machines! He's like Tim the Tool Man -Times TEN! One of his dreams is to find the perfect machinery that address all the complaints that folks have about various machines... He's had prototype machines made and goes to foundries to have test-parts made... He's in hog-heaven doing that kind of stuff... Naaaahhh, I don't see Matt ever sitting in a "Boutique"... Man, does that conjure-up some comical images...



Ray

PS: Here's a few snaps of me at the marina earlier today. I was hanging upside like that for several hours all total doing some general maintenance but also taking measurements for some structural work that I will custom-build in my shop. At 55, some say I'm stupid for doing this -but man, I love all the stuff I do. Working w/Matt/Nicole/Travis, doing cool stuff on yachts (and learning a lot too) and running my custom shop. The Yacht work is extremely challenging at times... -love it. And getting custom motor mounts under a 2 ton motor... Haven't figured-out how I'll do that yet -but I will.

No more boardrooms or development labs for me. -Done with that. ... It's all about doing what you like/love doing...

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PS, PS: Sometimes it's really tricky getting out of those tight quarters. It's real easy to get "owies".

EDIT: Here's the hole I was stuffed into... Tight fit and sometimes I need to call my partner on the phone and ask him to yank on my legs to pull me out.

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Wow Ray,
How big is that yacht? I have a Catalina 34MKII with a Universal M35B, about the hardest thing I ever have to do to my boat is changing the Zinc.

Danny
 
Havoc said:
Wow Ray,
How big is that yacht? I have a Catalina 34MKII with a Universal M35B, about the hardest thing I ever have to do to my boat is changing the Zinc.

Danny
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It's a SeaRay, 35' (or roughly thereabouts). Two 5.9L Cummins. It's actually small compared to a lot of what I work on. Biggest thing I'm juggling right now is a Pershing 54' (custom Italian) with 2400HP driving 40" diameter props. That's a hard one to work on because the motors take-up every square inch of the engine room. Our lifts max-out at 100 tons so the biggest dry-ground work is about 70'. Those usually have enough room to work in -but not always...


Ray
 
I just Googled Precision Matthews Machines,and took a look at the 1340GT in question. I noted with pleasure that this lathe will cut 19 threads per inch. This is VERY hard to find on lathes. It is a valuable thread to be able to cut,because old Remington rolling block rifles(the large size ones),use 19 TPI thread screws.

My work partner Jon is always rebuilding those actions and making nice custom guns out of them. It certainly would be a nice thread for him to be able to cut. I have no lathes that will cut it,and his Grizzly will not.
 
george wilson said:
I just Googled Precision Matthews Machines,and took a look at the 1340GT in question. I noted with pleasure that this lathe will cut 19 threads per inch. This is VERY hard to find on lathes. It is a valuable thread to be able to cut,because old Remington rolling block rifles(the large size ones),use 19 TPI thread screws.
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Seems to be a feature of the Norton gear box used on that machine. I found the same thread charts on several makes with that Norton gear box as well as other lathes that specically claim to be a gunsmith lathe.

Dave
 
I didn't look specifically for a lathe to have the 19 TPI size thread, however, there were two things that drew me to the PM1340GT right from the start. One being the Norton style QCGB and the other being that it was made in Taiwan. The Norton style gearbox is a very nice feature on a manual lathe and so user friendly. I briefly looked at another Taiwanese lathe that Matt sells but it did not have the Norton style QCGB and had some additional gear changes to cover even Imperial thread and a few more for metrics. It probably would not have been a huge issue but I really like that Norton QCGB, with the only exception that it does drip lubrication. That is my one complaint about it. On our lathe at work I merely keep a small absorbent pad under the feed gearbox to catch the drips and change it out when it gets soaked or looking grungy.

Mike.
 
If you like to build guns around old military Remington rolling block rifles,the 19 thread feature is very desirable. My friend Jon does that a lot.
 
The comments about dripping lube reminded of a couple things - Harley's and anything British in the automotive or motorcycle world. Used to be a standing joke that British cars and bikes (and Harleys) came with oil leaks from the factory. And of course, a joke I heard once - Do you know why the British don't build computers? They couldn't figure out how to make them leak oil! No offense intended to any of our members on that side of the ocean - I have a Harrison L6 lathe, and yes my QC gearbox drips! :))
 
SEK_22Hornet said:
The comments about dripping lube reminded of a couple things - Harley's and anything British in the automotive or motorcycle world. Used to be a standing joke that British cars and bikes (and Harleys) came with oil leaks from the factory. And of course, a joke I heard once - Do you know why the British don't build computers? They couldn't figure out how to make them leak oil! No offense intended to any of our members on that side of the ocean - I have a Harrison L6 lathe, and yes my QC gearbox drips! :))
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That is funny. When I first started working on motorcycles back in jr. high school I struggled with oil leaks on some of the earlier model year bikes. I had a mentor tell me that "they all leak, it's when they stop leaking you need to be concerned because it means they are out of oil". At the time I thought it was a cruel joke but over the years I learned he was right to a certain degree.

Mike.
 
I just received word that my PM-1340GT shipped out today.
 
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