# My PM935TS arrived today!!!



## GA Gyro (Oct 30, 2014)

This is like Christmas at the end of October... This wood crate measuring 48" x 48" x 70" tall arrived at the supply house (where I had arranged for it to go).  Was there and saw the crate was not damaged at all, so signed off for it; the UPS Freight driver was cool, said if I opened the crate and there was any issue, to give them a call.  :ups:

Opened the crate, and WOW... This is a bit larger than the RF45 clone I saw a month ago... I think the upgrade was the right choice though... the quality is definitely there on the Taiwanese machines... one can just look at the subtle details and see it.  :thumbsup2:

Contents of the crate included:
The mill
A box of accessories including;
*A plastic toolbox with a few box wrenches, a set of metric hex wrenches, some handles, and a plastic oiling bottle.
*A clamping kit
*A set of R-8 collets
*A couple of boxes of various bolts, washers, spacers, and other parts... need to read up to determine what some of them are.
*A manual and CD for the Hitachi VFD
A 5" medium grade precision vise (was supposed to get 2, will contact Matt and ask him to send the other one).
A manual for the mill... (not much)
A DRO head... Looking at the 12 series DRO head, it is quite a substantial part... not flimsy at all.  I had Matt install the slides, glad I did.  Drilling and tapping all the holes would have been a lot of work, the guys at QMT have jigs to mark the holes and know how to get it done quickly.  
(Since my HVAC business has stayed busy this fall... it seemed better to let Matt do the DRO install).
Also ordered power feed for the X and Z (knee) axis... they are both mounted.  They are substantial looking, they run off 120V AC, need separate power feeds.  
I am thinking to make up a master power feed, that will power up (and down) the entire machine at the same time.  Probably get a small elec box, a couple of contactors (120V and 240V), and some outlets to complete it.
One of the things I would like to do; is one of those angel LED light rings some of the guys have done on 45/932's.  I am sure there is a light ring with the proper diameter out there.  Will post pics on it when I do it.  :idea2:

I have some pictures, albeit they are all cell phone pics.  Will try to find time this weekend to post some of them.
One thing of interest:  Moving the mill into the basement, it had to go through a 36" residential door.  Took the door-set out of the frame, it went in easily... after I removed the X axis table.  When I had the table off, was looking at the ways.... The slots to allow the auto-oiler to flow oil all over the ways... well they may not be cut as nicely as I would like.  I have a picture of this, will post it later.  Probably will CAREFULLY work on the slots a bit to allow the oil to flow evenly throughout.  Pictures will explain.  :allgood:

IMO it will take weeks to get the mill ready to make chips... I still have to make a stand.  

Pics to follow as time allows.

GA


----------



## coolidge (Oct 30, 2014)

Pics or its a Harbor Freight benchtop mill painted pink with flowers and girly butterflies. Congrats!


----------



## GA Gyro (Oct 30, 2014)

coolidge said:


> Pics or its a Harbor Freight benchtop mill painted pink with flowers and girly butterflies. Congrats!



Touche...

I have ribbed folks about pics enough times... I deserved that.

Pics to follow... For some reason... the heat and AC business has not gone slack in the fall this year... as it usually does.  Been less time for hobby stuff.

Hope to get some done on Sunday, have to work all day Saturday.

GA


----------



## JayBob (Nov 1, 2014)

Just cuz...  :wavinghi:


----------



## GA Gyro (Nov 1, 2014)

OK, here is a picture.... LOL

(From Matt's Website)

Seriously... I have a plate-full of life currently... and the shop area is a LONG way from ready for the mill.  
Will get the pics as I can.  

PS-Hey JayBob, how is it going over in SC?  
Have not heard from Morgan in a while... I think school is keeping him busy.

GA


----------



## GarageGuy (Nov 1, 2014)

NICE looking machine!  I'm :greenwithenvy:

I've often wondered what it would be like to use new and unmolested ways and screws  :biggrin:

GG


----------



## chuckorlando (Nov 1, 2014)

Nice buy. I hope my wife dont hear you can buy a pink mill ahahahahaha

Although if she wants to pay for it, it could have polkadots and I'd run it


----------



## GA Gyro (Nov 1, 2014)

GarageGuy said:


> NICE looking machine!  I'm :greenwithenvy:
> 
> I've often wondered what it would be like to use new and unmolested ways and screws  :biggrin:
> 
> GG



So that is where all my green went... envy... (naaah, Matt got the green... LOL).

Will let you know, probably by the THXgiving holidays.
Usually, my HVAC/R business slows down in the fall... not so much this year.  I am seriously behind getting the shop area ready... so the pics will be slow coming.

Have calls to run today.

GA


----------



## GA Gyro (Nov 1, 2014)

chuckorlando said:


> Nice buy. I hope my wife dont hear you can buy a pink mill ahahahahaha
> 
> Although if she wants to pay for it, it could have polkadots and I'd run it




Funny you say that...

Was driving from one call to another yesterday... saw an auto carrier (that framework/hydraulic looking thing that carries auto's double deck)... it was painted hot pink, and the tractor (truck) was also had a hot ink checkered racing stripe along the side...

And yes...

The driver was of the fairer gender... 

Decided even though my service van is larger than most of the auto's on the road, her truck was bigger than mine... Sometimes size does matter... LOL

GA


----------



## Morgan RedHawk (Nov 1, 2014)

GA said:


> Have not heard from Morgan in a while... I think school is keeping him busy.
> 
> GA



Man, you got that right.  When I close my eyes, all I see is this:




and I'm starting to think stuff like this is funny:




I need a break!  Post up some pics as a distraction for me!

Congrats on the new machine!


----------



## GA Gyro (Nov 1, 2014)

I like that big pic of all those mathematical formulas.... one could have a serious mental issue if they were dreaming that stuff all night.  
Might use that pic for a gag on someone at one of the gyro forums... (heh, heh).

Do not have a pic of this (yet)... however found the first detail to 'fix'... knew there would be some... I suspect a brand spankin' new BIG 5 axis CNC mill has 'issues'... 

When I had the X axis table off, so it would go through the door... I was looking at the ways.  All the surfaces are nicely ground... yet: The 'oil tracks' (small grooves for the auto oiler to spread oil all over the bearing surface), seem to be cut by a large fly-cutter, at an angle... large arc's, that overlap.  Problem is... where they overlap has a ridge, so the oil cannot move from one arc to the next.  This will result in oil at the left end of the X axis ways, yet not even get to the middle, much less all the way to the right.  
Not difficult to fix; just some careful removal of a small amount of metal between the arcs... 
Leaves me wondering if I need to take the whole machine apart and look at each set of ways.  
Hmmm... rainy day project... probably over the holidays.

More pressing now to get the stand built, the machine off the pallet and on the stand, in place, leveled, cleaned, inspected, admired, bragged over, tinkered with, modified (like the angel light ring)... and MAKE SOME CHIPS... 

Pics to follow... however I am having a time getting pics from my cell to load onto the site.  I tried to log into the site from my phone, would not work.  
Will figure it out later.

GA


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 13, 2014)

Update on the PM935TS...

The mill is sitting in the custom welded stand,
The stand and mil are level at the mill table, 
The mill is mostly cleaned up,
The accessories are connected (power feed on both the X and Z axis).
The DRO is set up and all 3 axis work (have not tried out any of the cool functions of the Eason '12' yet).
And as soon as I figure out how to get cell phone pics onto this forum (directly from the phone to the forum)... will post some pics.

Machine looks nice in the basement... hope to make 'first chips' in a day or so.


----------



## wrmiller (Dec 14, 2014)

As Charles would say "no pics, it didn't happen".


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 14, 2014)

GA said:


> Update on the PM935TS...
> 
> The mill is sitting in the custom welded stand,
> The stand and mil are level at the mill table,
> ...





wrmiller19 said:


> As Charles would say "no pics, it didn't happen".



Here is proof that breathing the fumes of soluable oil will pollute one's ability to comprehend... :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Yeah... I know... I have ragged folks about pics... it is something we do at the Gyro forums regularly... kinda like the story of a hole in one at the golf course... no witness... did not happen... :lmao::lmao::lmao:

The reason for no pics: I am having computer issues... and have been too busy/not motivated to resolve them.  Long story short; an upgrade from XP to 7 is the resolution... and it is finally coming to the top of the 'to do' list.  Wanted to get the mill set up first.  

I have lots of pics in the cell... tried to post them once... did not get far.  Have been posting them at the Gyro forum.

Will either get them posted from the phone... or when the 'confuser box' is updated... download them and post from the desktop.  

SOOOOOOON... as the old saying goes... :roflmao:


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 14, 2014)

Now off to Harbor Freight... have a 25% off coupon... which expires today... cannot let that go to waste....
Us tool junkies buy our own Christmas presents... :lmao:


----------



## Morgan RedHawk (Dec 14, 2014)

Yeah, lets see some pics...
The semester is over hew: and I need a refresher on what this "shop" thing is that yall are always talking about around here.


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 14, 2014)

Morgan RedHawk said:


> Yeah, lets see some pics...
> The semester is over hew: and I need a refresher on what this "shop" thing is that yall are always talking about around here.



Check your texts on your phone... :thumbsup:


----------



## Reeltor (Dec 14, 2014)

John,

I stopped by SteelMart on Lawrenceville Hwy in Tucker.  If you need more square tube for your stands they have great prices.  I think it'd be a lot better than ordering on-line and having it shipped.

Mike


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 14, 2014)

Reeltor said:


> John,
> 
> I stopped by SteelMart on Lawrenceville Hwy in Tucker.  If you need more square tube for your stands they have great prices.  I think it'd be a lot better than ordering on-line and having it shipped.
> 
> Mike



THX Mike... however I already have all I need... for now.

I went by the metals place in Doraville you recommended.... bought some stuff. 
They have a lot of metal in that shop... for the size. 
And a LOT of scrap.

THX, and have a wonderful holiday season!

John


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 14, 2014)

Well... Tried again to upload a pic from the cell phone (Samsung Note 2)...
When I try the button in the edit wondow 'manage attachments'... the phone says I cannot open a new window without closing the current one. 
Now on a different forum (different software)... this works... But not here.

So sorry guys... I have a mill in my basement, set up and ready to make chips... yet I cannot share a pic of it.

Guess I will have to wait until the computer upgrade is done.

@*$&^&#$&^$%*@#^$ computers... grrrrrrr...


----------



## Morgan RedHawk (Dec 15, 2014)

GA said:


> Check your texts on your phone... :thumbsup:



Rats, my flip phone won't receive em.


----------



## compsurge (Dec 15, 2014)

Try using the Tapatalk app.


----------



## Morgan RedHawk (Dec 15, 2014)

GA said:


> Check your texts on your phone... :thumbsup:



Got it!  That thing looks real nice!  Cant wait to see pics of the rest of the shop!


----------



## compsurge (Dec 15, 2014)

Morgan RedHawk said:


> Got it!  That thing looks real nice!  Cant wait to see pics of the rest of the shop!



Oh come on. What makes them so special to see the pics first?! 

You're killing us!:lmao:


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 15, 2014)

compsurge said:


> Oh come on. What makes them so special to see the pics first?!
> 
> You're killing us!:lmao:



To answer your question...

Back in early October... when I was still concerned about totally blowing my budget sky high... silly me... hobby machine shops do not have budgets... :rofl::rofl::rofl:

I drove over to SC to visit Morgan Redhawk and JayBob... both of them have PM1236 lathe's.  

Since I have met them both... when Morgan started fussing... sent him a text with a pic.

Sorry guys... I know this is difficult... waiting to see juicy pics of a dream mill...
A 3/4 BP mill clone...
Brand new...
Made in Taiwan...
All cleaned up and set up...
In a custom made stand painted to match PM colors (well kinda, the blue is a little different)...
With power feed on the X and Z axis...
With an endmill in an R-8 collet in the spindle...
With a vise on the table...
With a piece of Aluminum in the vise...
With an Easson '12' DRO hanging on the side, with all 3 axis zero'ed... 
All oiled up and shiny...
Just waiting for someone to take the controls and make some serious chips... 
:thumbsup:  :man:    :wavinghi:  :allgood:

If I could... the pics would be here... :sorry2:

But you guys are just gonna have to wait until the computer is working.... 
Then the pics will flow... :victory:

Until then....
Anticipation... anic:

Besides... you guys need something to see on Christmas day... 
:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:


----------



## Morgan RedHawk (Dec 16, 2014)

I got one only because he has my cell number.  Unfortunately, since it is an old flip phone, I have no way of getting the pic off of it, otherwise I would post it up.


----------



## compsurge (Dec 16, 2014)

Oh, I'm just messing with you 

It sounds like it's a real nice machine!


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 16, 2014)

compsurge said:


> Oh, I'm just messing with you
> 
> It sounds like it's a real nice machine!



Figured... thus the teaser post above... 

I am NOT a geek... computers frustrate me.  I guess if I disciplined myself enough... I could figure out the subtle details of Windoz... however in the past doing a wipe and rebuild has been the easier route.  
Problem has been time... just not enough of it this year. 

The good news is... between this and a few other issues... I will 'make' the time to get it done.

THX for the kind words, best of the holidays to you!

John


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 21, 2014)

GA said:


> Figured... thus the teaser post above...
> 
> I am NOT a geek... computers frustrate me.  I guess if I disciplined myself enough... I could figure out the subtle details of Windoz... however in the past doing a wipe and rebuild has been the easier route.
> Problem has been time... just not enough of it this year.
> ...



Follow-up...

YEAH... :thumbzup3:

The computer rebuild is DONE!!! :victory:

It is amazing how BAD :whiteflag: the old software build was... yet I was used to it. Now the new build works SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better! 

I did some heating and AC work for a fellow gyro friend... he did the software rebuild for me... Barter is always a good thing... :allgood:
It took a LONG day... We replaced the HDD with a SSHD (250G), and added a pair of 1TB storage drives (not a RAID array, rather the second one is set up as a copy of the first--this way the RAID array is not a problem if one drive crashes).  We also mounted a new optical drive (R&W all formats, even writes BR's).  The old software load was buggy as well as seriously infected... so we isolated it and did all the new stuff.  Then AFTER the new build was running, with multiple each AV and MW (anti-virus and malware) protection... we allowed access to the old drive and retrieved data from it.  
Long story short: Same MB, processor, and RAM... moved from XP to 7... machine works a LOT better. 
Albeit I am still learning my way around Win7Pro/64.  :think1:

One more issue to go before I can post pics of the new PM mill: Getting the pics out of the cell phone and into the desktop computer (gonna try a USB cable this evening)... then I may have some pics to post of the new PM935TS.  :thumbsup:

Wondering if I should keep the suspense going until Christmas morning... or just give in early... :lmao:


----------



## wrmiller (Dec 21, 2014)

I deal with this stuff everyday (RAIDs, Enterprise OSes, SSDs, etc.) so it is sometimes a shock to realize that not everyone knows how (or even wants) to deal with stuff like this. 

I learned a long time ago to do my critical stuff on a Mac/UNIX machine and leave the winblows (Win 7Pro) machine for games. Of course it probably won't surprise you to know that I have a Alienware water-cooled, 6-core i7 based machine (with storage in a RAID 0/1) just for playing games...  :lmao:


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 21, 2014)

THX WR...

I used to be pretty sharp with Windoz... kinda let it slide years ago.  

The next build will be a Linux... I have a lot of gyro friends that run Linux... all the coaching I need will be free... 

I do like your gaming machine though... 

The machine I rebuilt (oldie but goodie): Intel DB48 series (socket 775) MB, with Core2/Quadcore processor running at 3G... with 8G of ram (all the board will do), front bus at 1333.  Machine is MORE than fast enough for what I need... probably will run it until it quits.  

My Linux friends use VERY old hardware with good results.  Once one gets away from Windoz... they realize they do not heed all the HP (horsepower)...


----------



## wrmiller (Dec 21, 2014)

My iMac is less prone to virus/malware issues than the common windows machine, and I still do development work in X11 (UNIX) and even still use Gimp (UNIX based photo editor) and other utilities more often than I do anything on the windows machine. When you buy a Mac, X11 and all the development tools come with it for free. I like the free OS upgrades too. 

I have friends that use CentOS and other Linux variants (we test under the Enterprise versions at work) and agree that they don't require half the processing power a windows system does with all it's backwards compatibility garbage it drags around with it.

Of course dealing with all the details of the various distributions can be a bit of a snit, but as you said you have friends that should know how to deal with this stuff.


----------



## tmarks11 (Dec 21, 2014)

wrmiller19 said:


> My iMac is less prone to virus/malware issues than the common windows machine...


I haven't had a single virus on any of my 3 desktops since 2007 ... which is when I dumped Norton... which is practically a virus on its own... after it had allowed a virus to install a "tool bar helper" in IE, and didn't recognize it as a virus, and couldn't remove it (McAfee had it in their virus database, but Norton didn't).

After Norton, I installed ESET32, which has been awesome. No viruses, and no huge memory and CPU hogging program running in the background, reasonably priced.  ESET32 frequently wins awards from reputable magazines which don't sell companies their "Golden Award advertising package" (which Norton seems to win).


----------



## wrmiller (Dec 21, 2014)

I don't run any virus/malware programs on the Mac, but all of my machines sit behind two hardware and one software firewall. And I ONLY go online on the windows machine to download game updates. No web surfing on that thing...


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 21, 2014)

wrmiller19 said:


> My iMac is less prone to virus/malware issues than the common windows machine, and I still do development work in X11 (UNIX) and even still use Gimp (UNIX based photo editor) and other utilities more often than I do anything on the windows machine. When you buy a Mac, X11 and all the development tools come with it for free. I like the free OS upgrades too.
> 
> I have friends that use CentOS and other Linux variants (we test under the Enterprise versions at work) and agree that they don't require half the processing power a windows system does with all it's backwards compatibility garbage it drags around with it.
> 
> Of course dealing with all the details of the various distributions can be a bit of a snit, but as you said you have friends that should know how to deal with this stuff.



THX Bill...

The 'flavors' of Linus my friends like are Zorin, Mint, and Ubuntu... in that order.  
Seems like most of what folks do with home and SOHO computers can be done on Linux without much difficulty.


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 21, 2014)

tmarks11 said:


> I haven't had a single virus on any of my 3 desktops since 2007 ... which is when I dumped Norton... which is practically a virus on its own... after it had allowed a virus to install a "tool bar helper" in IE, and didn't recognize it as a virus, and couldn't remove it (McAfee had it in their virus database, but Norton didn't).
> 
> After Norton, I installed ESET32, which has been awesome. No viruses, and no huge memory and CPU hogging program running in the background, reasonably priced.  ESET32 frequently wins awards from reputable magazines which don't sell companies their "Golden Award advertising package" (which Norton seems to win).



This is one of the AV/malware packages I (my friend) chose... seems to work fine!  
I can say this: Malwarebytes is a resource hog... and it does not seem to work that well.

And yeah... Norton, IMO, may well be paid to allow stuff to get through.... EEEKKKKK


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 21, 2014)

wrmiller19 said:


> I don't run any virus/malware programs on the Mac, but all of my machines sit behind two hardware and one software firewall. And I ONLY go online on the windows machine to download game updates. No web surfing on that thing...



If it is not a forum (frequent 5), a link in a post, some specific regular sites, youtube, or Amazon... I rarely get onto the internet.  

Yeah... surfing for fun will get you infected...


----------



## johnwell (Dec 21, 2014)

wrmiller19 said:


> I don't run any virus/malware programs on the Mac, but all of my machines sit behind two hardware and one software firewall. And I ONLY go online on the windows machine to download game updates. No web surfing on that thing...



Bill,....tsk tsk tsk....aren't you a little too old to play games on puters? For one, they keep you from machining and make you believe it's ok to shoot people....:lmao:

Which reminds me...I have to get a PS4 soon, since Uncharted 4 comes out in 2015......


----------



## wrmiller (Dec 21, 2014)

I've been playing games on a computer since '81.


----------



## GA Gyro (Dec 21, 2014)

johnwell said:


> Bill,....tsk tsk tsk....aren't you a little too old to play games on puters? For one, they keep you from machining *and make you believe it's ok to shoot people*....:lmao:
> 
> Which reminds me...I have to get a PS4 soon, since Uncharted 4 comes out in 2015......



And there is a problem with this... :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Only under the appropriate circumstances though... :rofl::rofl::lmao::lmao::roflmao::roflmao::rubbinghands::rubbinghands:


----------

