# Imminent PM1340GT arrival



## player0ne (Aug 3, 2017)

Hi folks, I figured I'd introduce myself since I'm sure I'll be asking many, many questions in the coming months. My name's Jason and I just got a notification from QMT that my lathe ships today. I've done a little bit of gunsmithing, but for all intents and purposes I'm new at this. I ordered a 3PH modified preferred package (swapped the std 3-jaw for a Chandox), along with the typical extras. 4-jaw, DRO, etc.

I'm trying to cover as many bases as I can before it arrives, and do as much right as I can the first time. Mark has already been and continues to be _immensely_ helpful with my VFD & controller project and is a pleasure to work with, but I figured I should share the love with the rest of you.

For delivery day, I found a local yard who can rent me a front loader with forks for $45 an hour. That's pretty much the best I've been able to find. Riggers have quoted me $700 and up! There is about 120' of gravel and soil with a mild incline and a gate halfway in between the street and the garage, so pallet jacks, Egyptian methods, and heavily tipping the driver don't seem too feasible.

Once it's in the garage (probably a weekend or two later), I can uncrate and lift it with an engine hoist when its space is prepared and the stand is ready. This leads me to a question I've been trying to answer since last night, which is, what about leveling feet? Are the bolts it comes with really good enough? This post says that they're an unusual 1/2-12 tpi, has this been confirmed? I can't easily slap on a set of TE-CO's if so. I don't want to design a situation that will require me to take this stuff apart again. 

Hindsight being 20/20, if you were going to do this right the first time, what would you do about the feet?


----------



## MonkMan (Aug 4, 2017)

Welcome and congratulations on the purchase. I have the same lathe and ordered the feet from Matt (PM) with the purchase. They are large and have rubber vibration isolation feature built-in which is nice. I had to get use to the safety yellow color 
	

		
			
		

		
	









	

		
			
		

		
	
 . Here are a few pictures.


----------



## Tozguy (Aug 4, 2017)

When my new lathe was delivered to the front driveway, it was in a substantial crate. The crate had to go 100 feet around to the side of the house over asphalt then gravel and into the basement garage. I just towed the crate down the sloped driveway slowly using the car. Once the crate was opposite the garage door it was pulled inside using a come-along. I don't figure that the towing job was any worse than the handling the crate received during shipment. The lathe did not turn out any the worse for wear.

Re the feet, I am not a fan of soft pads under a lathe. Unless there is a known vibration problem to solve, I prefer to have the lathe sitting on the cement floor with solid metal feet.


----------



## [X]Outlaw (Aug 4, 2017)

When I got my PM1340GT a few months ago I was pleasantly surprised to see that it came with 6 solid cast iron feet. They were painted bright orange!...which btw I found really groovy. They worked very nicely with the included leveling bolts.


----------



## player0ne (Aug 4, 2017)

[X]Outlaw said:


> When I got my PM1340GT a few months ago I was pleasantly surprised to see that it came with 6 solid cast iron feet. They were painted bright orange!...which btw I found really groovy. They worked very nicely with the included leveling bolts.




Score!!


----------



## Alan H. (Aug 4, 2017)

Suggest you call Matt to get the confirmation you need.


player0ne said:


> Hi folks, I figured I'd introduce myself .  . . . . . . . . . . This leads me to a question I've been trying to answer since last night, which is, what about leveling feet? Are the bolts it comes with really good enough? This post says that they're an unusual 1/2-12 tpi, *has this been confirmed*? I can't easily slap on a set of TE-CO's if so. I don't want to design a situation that will require me to take this stuff apart again.
> 
> Hindsight being 20/20, if you were going to do this right the first time, what would you do about the feet?



Not sure why you don't believe the post you refer to but if you don't, I suggest you call Matt for the confirmation you are seeking.  

I would put solid feet on it now and would use the most outboard holes for leveling and stability.   It's much easier to do it now so you can chase the Whitworth threads.

Welcome to the forum btw.


----------



## player0ne (Aug 4, 2017)

No worries Alan, I was just trying to find multiple data sources on that detail. I did find a couple more forum posts last night that agreed on chasing the threads with a 1/2-13 tap, so that's the route I'll go.

Thanks for your reply!


----------



## Bob Korves (Aug 4, 2017)

player0ne said:


> Hi folks, I figured I'd introduce myself since I'm sure I'll be asking many, many questions in the coming months. My name's Jason and I just got a notification from QMT that my lathe ships today. I've done a little bit of gunsmithing, but for all intents and purposes I'm new at this. I ordered a 3PH modified preferred package (swapped the std 3-jaw for a Chandox), along with the typical extras. 4-jaw, DRO, etc.
> 
> I'm trying to cover as many bases as I can before it arrives, and do as much right as I can the first time. Mark has already been and continues to be _immensely_ helpful with my VFD & controller project and is a pleasure to work with, but I figured I should share the love with the rest of you.
> 
> ...


First, confirm for sure they are 1/2-12 threads.  That is very odd on a Taiwanese lathe, but anything is possible.  Beyond that, tapping the 12 pitch to 13 pitch and also from 55 degrees rounded apex threads to 60 degree square apex threads, you will not have much metal left for useful threads.  I would drill them out to 1/2" (actually 17/32') and install 1/2" threaded feet with appropriate nuts both above and below the cabinet flange, locking them together after leveling.  Threads through a sheet metal cabinet should not be trusted, IMO, and they will also interfere with leveling.


----------



## qualitymachinetools (Aug 4, 2017)

Yes, they are 1/2-12.    Only place in the world where I still see a 1/2-12 thread still being used.  (Ive tried to change it, but its one of those things where it was not worth the effort in explaining what they didn't understand) The machines are excellent and I have what really needed changed exactly how we want it, so I left that one alone.


----------



## Alan H. (Aug 4, 2017)

Bob, fortunately the stand for the PM lathe is not sheetmetal.  The plate for the walls is 4 mm thick and the bars for the levellers are 9 mm plate.  There's plenty of metal to chase the threads and fit a TECO style foot on it.   Good feet have nuts on them as well.  So it all works out quite well.

EDIT: you can see the thickness of the bottom bar in MonkMan's photo above.  BTW, Monkman has chosen to put his feet in the holes that are not tapped.  The Whitworth holes are the ones with the shiny bolts in them in his photo.


----------



## player0ne (Aug 4, 2017)

qualitymachinetools said:


> Yes, they are 1/2-12.    Only place in the world where I still see a 1/2-12 thread still being used.  (Ive tried to change it, but its one of those things where it was not worth the effort in explaining what they didn't understand) The machines are excellent and I have what really needed changed exactly how we want it, so I left that one alone.



I just want to say first off that you folks at QMT have been fantastic to deal with. From my bumbling first phone call with Matt to follow-up communications and order tweaks with Nicole and Greg, it's been nothing but a reassuring experience.

I completely understand having to pick one's battles with overseas vendors, I deal with them in my job from time to time too. It might be worth making a footnote on the stand's product page or a minor revision to the PDF manual about this quirky detail, just to get out in front of threads like these?

Again, thanks for the excellent customer service and support. Can't wait to get this baby going!


----------



## Bob Korves (Aug 4, 2017)

Alan H said:


> Bob, fortunately the stand for the PM lathe is not sheetmetal.  The plate for the walls is 4 mm thick and the bars for the levellers are 9 mm plate.  There's plenty of metal to chase the threads and fit a TECO style foot on it.   Good feet have nuts on them as well.  So it all works out quite well.
> 
> EDIT: you can see the thickness of the bottom bar in MonkMan's photo above.


Yes, I understand they are thicker.  But still, 4 mm of mild steel is an exceedingly small thread depth to hold up 1500 pounds or so of lathe and work, sometimes shaking and jumping a bit.  I left out that I would also have heavy washers on both sides of the cabinet sheet metal, er plate, and high strength, thick nuts above and below the washers, no cheap big box hardware.  4 mm of damaged threads from tapping them to a different pitch is a non starter.


----------



## Alan H. (Aug 4, 2017)

not 4 Bob, 9 mm and there are 6 feet - 4 up front and 2 on the tail.


----------



## Bob Korves (Aug 4, 2017)

Alan H said:


> not 4 Bob, 9 mm and there are 6 feet - 4 up front and 2 on the tail.


Sorry Alan, did not catch the 9 mm bars in your post.  






Above are two of the four feet mounting the headstock end of my Kent 13x40 lathe.  The 12 mm all thread is going through 13 mm thick bars on the bottom of the cabinet.  All the hardware is 10.9 grade, including the all thread.  All connections are locked tight after adjustment, no loose threads, no shaky lathe.  The feet are 2 piece cast iron, and the upper part screws into the bottom part with a thread slightly different than the all thread, one screws in while the other screws out, differentially, making fine adjustment of leveling the lathe quite easy and predictable.  The cabinet bottom bars are not threaded, that would just make the feet more difficult to adjust.  Excuse the swarf and other detritus under the lathe...




This is my Millrite mill.  The all thread is 5/8" to fit the holes in the base.  Again, all fasteners are locked down after leveling, no loose and shaky threads.  All hardware is grade 8, including the all thread and washers.  All nuts are extra thick.  The base is not threaded, and that is an asset.  This solid setup would be shaky without the extra nuts, washers, and strong fasteners all tightened down.


----------



## Alan H. (Aug 6, 2017)

Here are the TECO style feet on my PM1340GT.  I chased the Whitworth threads so I could install the feet in the most outboard position.  Chasing the threads was a minor issue and would be less than a 5 minute job to remediate up front.  I am quite pleased with the stand's fabrication detail and quality.  It is stout and stable in this configuration.   
I remember that I found many options out there for this style foot.  I bought mine from McMaster.  The feet have a capacity of 3450 pounds each, are easy to adjust when leveling the machine, and well made.  You lock them at elevation with the jamb nut on the bottom.  I personally did not see the need to put another nut on the top side.   Of course this could easily be done if one feels the need.   Here are a few photos.

McMaster drawing with model number:





Feet as received:






Feet installed:


----------



## wrmiller (Aug 6, 2017)

I like that stand. Looks heavier gauge than the one that came with mine.


----------



## player0ne (Aug 6, 2017)

Alan, I ended up buying these: link

They don't have any sort of vibration padding like yours, though. Would it be worth gluing some rubber shims to them?


----------



## Alan H. (Aug 6, 2017)

While McMaster calls what I have cushioned on the description, I think the pads on mine are frictional pads to resist sliding and not for vibration isolation.   The rubber discs are thin and really quite hard.  (EDIT": McMaster calls them nonskid). I do not believe they would provide any significant dampening.   BTW, I have not seen any significant vibration issues with my lathe.  There are some natural frequency spots that show minimally from time to time in the lamp stalk vibrating a small amount but a small change in speed takes that out.   I suspect that softer feet may even make that more pronounced by allowing more amplitude of movement.

I personally prefer something that is hard footed to gain what I believe is a benefit in leveling the lathe and getting it to stay there. 

I set mine up initially with the factory supplied bolts, head down to get it going.  They were far too slick and I was able to move the machine around by hand.   That was good for installing control systems, DRO and the like.  The ability to slide it a bit here and there for access was nice.  But once that all was settled the feet went on.  I considered making some pucks to go under the bolt heads but went with McMaster's as the quicker solution.

So if I had what you ordered, I'd put them on and not worry about it.   I suspect they will be fine.  If not, you can add some grip later.

Perhaps others that have installed what you bought or something similar can chime in and share their experience.


----------



## Tozguy (Aug 6, 2017)

player0ne said:


> Alan, I ended up buying these: link
> 
> They don't have any sort of vibration padding like yours, though. Would it be worth gluing some rubber shims to them?


 
Those feet look great. Using something similar, I used a thin soft aluminum shim cut a bit larger than the foot to provide grip on the cement floor and prevent any sliding around like Alan mentioned in the above post.
The shims also allow you to feel if a foot gets lazy. To my mind, the four feet under the head end should always be evenly loaded for the best results. 

I believe that relatively solid contact with the cement floor helps dampen vibration in the lathe. I avoid rubber because it compresses and deteriorates over time, from oil, etc.


----------



## player0ne (Aug 8, 2017)

Thanks for all of your feedback, folks. I made an appointment with UPS Freight for delivery on Thursday afternoon. It's going to be a good day! Once I wrap up the lathe setup project, finish building a workbench for a friend, and rebuild the wall cabinetry in my garage, I'll finally be able to park the vette inside again... 


I'm in the process of sourcing my initial tooling and I had another question: Are boring bars considered multitaskers, or are there specific boring bars for cutting internal threads?


----------



## Tozguy (Aug 9, 2017)

These boring, threading and grooving tools are excellent. Have a look.
http://www.mesatool.com/products/threading-tools/


----------

