# Pm1228 In Born



## Heckle and Jeckle (Nov 8, 2016)

Wanting to stay with using  line voltage, two lathes were in the running 1127VF and the 1228 .... 1228 won. I selected it cause it is a robust little beast.
Figured I would capture and post a photo history of the prep, launch, landing and new home.

First up, where the hell am I going to put it?







Looking around, ponder, the shuffle begins. Build a cabinet on the other side of the garage... took two weeks. Spent the weekend filling it, had room left over and amazed I got so much stored. The space is basically ready, I can see the floor.






To be continued


----------



## HBilly1022 (Nov 8, 2016)

Great start ....... and now you anxiously await the arrival of your lathe. Is it here yet, is it here yet, is it here yet.


----------



## wrmiller (Nov 8, 2016)

I'll get the popcorn...


----------



## digadv (Nov 12, 2016)

I'm looking at the PM1228 also but am concerned it's 1/2 the weight of other 12" lathes.  Will you be bolting it to your floor?


----------



## Heckle and Jeckle (Nov 17, 2016)

Mother trucker delivered this week.  Says I remember you, delivered a machine here last year . You're the guy with the HotRods, funny what folks remember.
Uncrated, and sitting on two furniture dollies. This thing is a brute, the photos PM has posted on the site, do not do it justice. 

Saturday will lift, load and place. No not bolting it to the floor, going on the work bench left of the mill.


----------



## tweinke (Nov 17, 2016)

I like shiny new machines and pictures! Keep us posted on your progress.


----------



## Heckle and Jeckle (Nov 18, 2016)

Put some steel down. reinforcing and spreading the load across the table top. All set for Saturday's lift off ...


----------



## Heckle and Jeckle (Nov 19, 2016)

Nice day for a lathe install ..........., that would be any day for anyone with a lathe.   

First step get it up and off the furniture dollies. Used a car tie down for the harness, plenty of holding power for this job.






Next move one of the dollies over and slip it under the bench/stand.






Roll out the stand, slip in two all thread rods for temp guide pins. Doing that because the catch pan just sits on the top.






Some maybe thinking what's with the green tape? That's a boundary keeping the caulk under control.... Why the caulk, prevents oil from getting under the  lathe base and dripping into the storage below..








Fast forward got busy solving a problem I did not foresee. Once the lathe was lowered, all thread removed and 4 mounting bolts installed. Unhooked the harness, push everything to the wall.

There the lathe sat .. scratch head... How am I going to get the lathe off the dolly and on the floor?.

No way can I use a floor jack to pick up one side at a time. No room to get a 2x4 and a jack under the side.  Light bulb! remembered one of those tools we have that hardly get use. But sure is handy when a need arises ........ for me it was my porta power.  So I raised the first side up enough to get a 2x4, flat side down under the legs and lowered the bench. Went to the other end raised that side, slid the dolly out, and lowered that side to the floor .... as you guessed back to the other side and remove the 2x4 ..... 

So there it is lathe installed cleaned and happy .. got it completed around noon


----------



## Heckle and Jeckle (Nov 19, 2016)

So what's next, QCTP of course, up first the post, the crown for the lathe.







Next the army of tool blocks and cutting tools, gathered the blocks and cutting tools, assembled and set the heights.







Must test the adjustments, chuck some alum and face it ...... what do ya think?






Then made a reducer for a project .........  used my drill chuck, drilled and reamed the hole. Reduced the OD on one half of the length, then parted it off. Sorry for the fuzzy picture new lens on the camera, should have used the manual focus.








Happy that I bought this lathe, it is more robust then a typical bench model. Absolutely nothing wrong with a bench model lathe, do not get me wrong. This thing for the 300 or so more than the top model bench machine was worth every penny

My 2 cents
 "A good time was had by all" ....... the way the Navy ends every POD

Cheers,
greg


----------



## Heckle and Jeckle (Nov 25, 2016)

Spent the day tuning up the lathe...... a most excellent machine but had a couple of problems that needed to be addressed.

The most pressing problem,  the compound slide would jam.  There was no way to loosen and rotate it, 0* too 45* without it getting hung. It is in the engineering of the way the slide is assembled and just life.

To be very clear no words will or are to be thought of  as a complaint offering solutions. For any owner of the lathe and wishes to resolve problems.

What caused the jamming, when the slide locks are back off to rotate pass 45* or set the cross slide at that location?  There just so happens to be an assembly hole  that allows access to the T nuts. Unfortunately as the T nut passes from one side to the other of the assembly hole, or is set at 45* . The T nut drops or twist out of alignment with the T slot, and jams.

Fist attempt was the file all the edges, just rounding them so the were smooth to the touch... Failed

Second measures widths, and file them parallel  with consistent heights on both ends. No heavy cuts taken with the file, strictly clean up or dressing ........... failed

Third attempt, with some 1" bar milled a U on the end, reassembling the lathe, machined the OD to fit. When installed, the plug provides a guide for the T nut, as it floats across  the hole to pick up the T slot.

If you attempt to make the plug, be sure or you may want to drill and tap a 1/4 x 20 hole. Use some all thread with a jam nut, it will give you a nice way to set and alien the U plug once set and tested .

Also the all thread can act as a removal tool if it should at some time become necessary to remove the plug. Simply install to 2 1/4 nuts at the far end of the all thread and bottom it out the plug will come right out.

Couple of other quickies, pulled the handles off. With sand paper and a flat plate, dressed face of the mount point, smoothed the operations of all.

Last but slick, above I took a shot of some bar I faced, can be plainly seen that to tool hight is dead nuts... nub less. How does one make that a repeatable, quick, and a easy no brainier processes?

Very simple grasshoppers, bring in the tail stop. Extend the quill, move the carriage over.  Touch off from the quill, extend the quill and scribe a tool hight reference line.

cheers,
greg


----------



## jbolt (Nov 25, 2016)

Neat trick scribing a line on the tail stock for setting tool heights. My near vision when kaput a while ago and its tough to see fine detail without looking like a watch maker. 

I made up this many years ago to set the height by touch.


----------



## Buggy Chief (Nov 25, 2016)

I am having the exact same problem.  Can you post pics of what the plug looks like?  Also, did you make or buy a spider?  Thanks for sharing!!



Heckle and Jeckle said:


> Spent the day tuning up the lathe...... a most excellent machine but had a couple of problems that needed to be addressed.
> 
> The most pressing problem,  the compound slide would jam.  There was no way to loosen and rotate it, 0* too 45* without it getting hung. It is in the engineering of the way the slide is assembled and just life.
> 
> ...


----------



## Tony Wells (Nov 25, 2016)

Most lathes I have seen the problem with the compound studs/nuts really comes down to how much you back off the nuts to move the compound. I'm not saying this is your problem, not seeing it in person, but might be worth a look for others fighting this. I think this especially might be true on new machines where things are tight and probably still have a little cosmoline on them, but the nuts generally don't need to be loosened more than a half turn or so. That should prevent them from dropping into the access hole. As far as turning sideways and not wanting to follow the circular groove they reside in, that's probably a different issue. They may be borderline too narrow, but that is what it is unless you want to make new ones. Rounding or chamfering should help some, and not over-loosening might have some effect on it as well.


----------



## Heckle and Jeckle (Nov 25, 2016)

Louis,

What's said about backing off to much when unlocking, is true and can be somewhat controlled. Unfortunately that is only one half of the problem. 

This lathe the access hole just happens to be lined up with the T nut if the compound is set @ 45*. With this setting the T nut is centered in the hole, floating . Try to lock down the compound slide, the nut turns freely, nothing there to capture it.  Sure you can futzs around working on both lock down screws and get it to work ....... who needs that ?

Made a guide plug that solves the problem. I did forget to mention an item in the write up. I ended up putting a stud in the 1/4 x 20 hole to keep the T nut from dropping below the circular groove, if too loose.


@Buggy Chief 
No pictures the lathe is back together, here is a drawing for a reference, . As seen it is a simple project, get stuck or have a question PM me 

greg


----------



## Buggy Chief (Nov 26, 2016)

Thanks Heckle!!


----------



## Heckle and Jeckle (Nov 26, 2016)

Buggy Chief,

What's is the spider you asked about, is it the harness I picked the lathe with? If yes then, I used an axle strap looped under the bed, up the sides, and behind the lead screw up by the chuck.  And a ratchet car tie down laced in and around the tail stock area.

greg


----------



## Heckle and Jeckle (Nov 26, 2016)

jbolt said:


> Neat trick scribing a line on the tail stock for setting tool heights. My near vision when kaput a while ago and its tough to see fine detail without looking like a watch maker.
> 
> I made up this many years ago to set the height by touch.
> 
> View attachment 140104




Not bad I like it !

greg


----------



## Buggy Chief (Nov 26, 2016)

Spider is the solution that most folks come up with to attach to the spindle outside of the headstock to steady stock that is long.  I only see about 2 wrongs of threads on the 1228 so not sure it is obtainable.  Talked to Matt yesterday and he said it is just going to happen on smaller stock.  I was turning a 3' piece of .625 aluminum that was sticking out of the chuck about 3 inches and the rest through the spindle of the headstock.  Really whips around.



Heckle and Jeckle said:


> Buggy Chief,
> 
> What's is the spider you asked about, is it the harness I picked the lathe with? If yes then, I used an axle strap looped under the bed, up the sides, and behind the lead screw up by the chuck.  And a ratchet car tie down laced in and around the tail stock area.
> 
> greg


----------



## Heckle and Jeckle (Nov 26, 2016)

Buggy Chief said:


> Spider is the solution that most folks come up with to attach to the spindle outside of the headstock to steady stock that is long.  I only see about 2 wrongs of threads on the 1228 so not sure it is obtainable.  Talked to Matt yesterday and he said it is just going to happen on smaller stock.  I was turning a 3' piece of .625 aluminum that was sticking out of the chuck about 3 inches and the rest through the spindle of the headstock.  Really whips around.



Well I sure was in the weeds with that thought .... I'm a boot can you tell ......   LOL  

Thanks for saying ..
greg


----------



## jbolt (Nov 26, 2016)

For long stock you might consider a free standing support like this. The one in the picture uses bearings but a bent piece of metal or rod set in the "V"position or even a short section of tube will work.


----------



## Buggy Chief (Dec 1, 2016)

I like it!!!  Could actually do a "mobile" spider so it doesn't rise either...  Thanks for sharing Bolt!


----------



## jbolt (Dec 1, 2016)

As long as there is a little upward pressure on the stock that is being supported it won't jump. Really long thin stock may need more support. Years ago at a shop I worked at we made some 16 foot long tie rods out a 1/2 steel rod. We supported the entire length in a pipe to keep it under control.


----------



## jdell42 (Dec 5, 2016)

Heckle and Jeckle said:


> Louis,
> 
> What's said about backing off to much when unlocking, is true and can be somewhat controlled. Unfortunately that is only one half of the problem.
> 
> ...



Greg,

I have the same problem and its becoming very frustrating.... however I am not fully following what you did to fix it.

I believe you made a slotted plug that fits into the access hole of the compound.  But if the slot in the plug is straight how does the compound rotate as there would be interference between the t-nut and the slot as the compound rotates.  I also don't understand the purpose of the screw.

Apologize if I am not understanding what you did.

I was also thinking about a solution and the only thing I could think of was replicating the t-slot radius with a plug similar to what I think you have done.. but rather than straight slot  it would have the same slot radius as the compound.


----------



## Heckle and Jeckle (Dec 5, 2016)

The slot holds the alignment enough  for the T nut to fug its way across the open space. Remove the cross slide flip it upside and see for yourself what's going on.  With the compound slide @ the 45* setting you are fighting two problems. Locking the compound slide the T can spin 360 , can get side ways and jams the compound slide so it only moves about a half inch in each direction. 
That happens when the T nut is at a 90 to the T slots on either side of the hole or gap.

Two things are going on
1 the T nut not hitting the T slot, milling a 9/16 slot took care of that, and captures the T nut.  Allowing the T nut to lock the compound slide @ 45*.
2 the T nut can be to lose, and become  low and jam the compound slide. An allen up thru the bottom makes an adjustable stop to control that.

Your thoughts replicating the t-slot radius with a plug, is proper. I think if you put that on paper you could find the distance of the radius, is small enough to not be needed. I  took the easy way out, no rotary table here for the cheater I made..
hope this helps
Greg


----------



## fradish (Feb 6, 2017)

The original T-nuts have flat sides on the bottom but they have a cylindrical feature that rides in the 
top of the slot.  This cylindrical top is what allows the T-nut to rotate once it gets to the access hole.

If you make T-nuts with flats on the bottom and top of the T-nut, then when you get 
to the access hole the top part of the T-nut will keep it aligned in the top slot.   This has been
enough for me to avoid the problem of getting the compound stuck at 45 degrees. 

Now this doesn't handle the case if you loosen the locking screws so much that the T-nut drops 
below the slot once it reaches the access hole.  If you wanted to avoid that you could turn a 
flat bottomed plug for the access hole.  It wouldn't have to be a close fit on the diameter, but
it would be better if the height matched the bottom of the T-slot.  So far I haven't needed that
since I just loosen the locking screws about 1/2 of a turn.


----------

