# New PM-835s on the way



## chrismac2264 (May 17, 2018)

I'm new to this forum, so I'll ask for forgiveness in advance if I make a mistake.  I wanted to start a thread documenting my experience with my first milling machine. I found this forum while looking at new machines, after searching for an old Bridgeport in what some call a tool desert (metro Atlanta GA.). The folks at PM as many say could not have been more helpful, and the reviews here helped my select the PM-835s. I started emailing Matt and asking about the 727V, 30MV, and the 932M. After a thread of about 20 emails  I wound up going up the financial commitment ladder to the 835. I want to also say thanks to chiroone and dfsmoto. Their response to me on their experience with the 835 sealed the deal.

So the 835 is shipping today and I expect an adventure with the delivery. In talking with Matt, he says the carriers don't usually go down private driveways. My shop is in my basement, which is easily accessible via a gravel drive on my property, with a nice 20 x 20 cement pad outside, and a 7 x 9 garage door. The challenge I think I'll face is convincing the driver to take a (tip) to drive his truck to my basement garage door for unloading. If he won't, then I face an imaginative option list I have created on how to get a 1500lbs machine from my driveway to my shop 

I'm interested if others have faced a similar challenge, and what they did? Nichole says they are using UPS Freight. Does anyone have any experience with them? Any information would be helpful, and I appreciate the support I have received from members of this forum so far.


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## TomS (May 17, 2018)

I have no experience with UPS Freight.  When my PM-932 arrived the truck driver had no issue with unloading the mill in my shop which was a few hundred yards from the street.  Of course I offered him after the unloading was done and without any mishaps.  I don't remember the freight carrier as delivery to my house was handed off by Roadrunner to the local carrier.


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## chrismac2264 (May 17, 2018)

Thanks TomS, that's encouraging!


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## ttabbal (May 17, 2018)

Congratulations on your purchase. I think you will be happier with the larger machine. That one was on my list before I lucked into a Bridgeport locally. I have a PM1127 lathe and have been very happy with it and their service when I have asked questions.


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## chrismac2264 (May 17, 2018)

Thanks ttabbal. I want to get a lathe also, but thought I would start with the mill. Takes a little time to get the wife on board


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## chiroone (May 17, 2018)

I also had UPS my deliver my 835. They use the box truck and not a larger tractor trailer. At first the driver said that they only are required to do a curbside delivery. However,  I was able to convince him to Bring in to my garage. I have a fully paved driveway although it was at the slight incline. It did require the help of two other people to push on the back of the crate while he moved in with the pallet jack. My advice is to have a few people there to help you.


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## chiroone (May 17, 2018)

I spoke to Matt last week   about the DRO  I ordered for my 835. He Mentioned only had one 835 left  a $ no more till September, so anyone sitting on the fence, better aact now


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## jbolt (May 17, 2018)

I think it all really depends on the trucking company and driver.  

I'm not sure who delivered my mill (not UPS) but the driver would not back into my driveway due to company policy but he did help me push it up the driveway on a pallet jack. 

My lathe (heavier than the mill) came UPS and they off loaded it to a secondary carrier for the curbside delivery. That driver had no issue backing into my driveway and even helped me un-crate to check for shipping damage. I think he wanted to see what was inside.


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## chrismac2264 (May 17, 2018)

I found an LTL tariff publication on the UPS Freight web site (http://ltl.upsfreight.com/downloads/UPGF102L20180201.pdf). They have a section on Limited Access Locations. There is an additional charge, but I'm now thinking it may be best to call UPS and make arrangements via this provision.


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## chrismac2264 (May 17, 2018)

Well that was a dead end. Although the tariff lists Limited Access and Residential in the same section, when I called they said Limited Access is not available for residential delivery. Should I tell them it's a farm?  I could buy some chickens and put them in the back for a couple of days.


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## BFHammer (May 17, 2018)

One option on delivery is to have UPS hold the mill at the freight terminal - call your local wrecker service and get a rollback to pick it up and deposit it exactly where you want it.  You have the additional cost of the rollback but it's an easy solution. 

I ordered a PM932 and PM1236 at the same time and went this route.  My basement shop has a 9' roll up door but you have to drive through the yard to access - no problem with a rollback.


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## chrismac2264 (May 17, 2018)

BFHammer (good handle) About how much did the rollback service cost?


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## BFHammer (May 17, 2018)

Much less than I expected.  He met me at the freight terminal, hauled them 20 miles to my house, unloaded and actually helped me get them settled into their temporary spots for uncrating.  All that and he charged me $75.  I never broke a sweat and happily gave him a $100 bill.  

My experience with wreckers/rollbacks over the years both for moving equipment and pulling stuff out of ditches, etc is that the price can vary greatly.  Since you can plan ahead - call a few and get some quotes.  Offer to go at a time that's convenient for them.  Small operators tend to be more willing to work with you than big outfits.


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## chrismac2264 (May 17, 2018)

Wow, that's a lot less than I would have expected, thanks for the tip on how to go about it. How did you unload them?


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## BFHammer (May 17, 2018)

The back of the rollback bed tips down to the ground (picture a ramp) and he attached his winch cable to a couple of straps around the crates and just slowly lowered until the pallet was on the ground.  Used a pallet jack to position them in the basement.


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## chrismac2264 (May 17, 2018)

Okay, that what I was thinking, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. I found a couple I'll call tomorrow.  Thanks for the idea!


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## Rich V (May 18, 2018)

Chris,
When my PM935 mill & PM1340 lathe were delivered they came on a full size semi-truck. I'm on a long hilly dirt road and there was no way the driver was going to drop it at my house. Fortunately I knew in advance about this and rented a large "ATV" type forklift.  Got the machines to my house on the driveway, un-crated and used a pallet jack to get them into my garage shop.
Where there is the will the way will be found. Best of luck.

My home is in the background of this pic


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## chrismac2264 (May 18, 2018)

Rich,
Thanks for the response and pics! Yes, one of the options I researched was to rent a bob-cat or skid steer with a fork lift attachment. I have a rental company in my area that will deliver and pick up. If the delivery driver won't drop at my shop, looks like this is shaping up as my best option. 

Also, looks like you un-crated the 935 and used some straps to stabilize it while moving? I thought I would need to do that too.


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## hotrats (May 22, 2018)

I purchased a PM940 mill a few years ago. Live on a dead end paved road, with a turn around spur about 60 feet from the road end - then my driveway starts. After not wanting a large truck/trailer getting stuck at the end of road, I called the UPS service. I was assured that they would use a small box truck. A Semi, with a 40 foot trailer showed up. Took the driver some back and forth tries, with rear axle hanging off turn around, in air, front axle in ditch, but got turned around. as my drive is gravel, and I have a small tractor, that is what I used to move to the shop. slid the carryall under the pallet, strapped it, had to have a friend ride in the bucket to balance the load. But, it worked!


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## chrismac2264 (May 22, 2018)

Thanks to all for the responses and ideas. I have settled on using a local wrecker service with a flatbed. I called around and got prices all over the map. So like BFHammer suggested, charges do vary quite a bit. I went with a company I've known of and locally owned since 1972. They are charging me $165 to meet me at the freight company to pick it up, and deliver it to my house 20 miles away. Based on what I have found, that's a more than fair rate, and half as much as some I got quotes for. 

So today's the day, picking up at Noon! More to come.


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## chrismac2264 (May 24, 2018)

I wanted to post a few pics of the machine, and review the delivery experience. Everything went great. The guy I had from the local wrecker service was great, and knew what he was going. I met him at the carrier, they loaded the crate on his flatbed, strapped it down and we were off. He had no problems getting to my garage, and slide the crate off the flatbed like he had done it a hundred times. Thanks again to BFHammer for the suggestion, it worked great for me.

Once I got the crate in with a pallet jack, I had a two step process to get it into place. I knew the engine hoist would not go around the pallet, so I used the steel I-Beam in my basement to get it off the pallet, and set it on a dolly I built. Then it was a matter of rolling it into place, and lifting it again with the engine hoist. 

A couple of notes I want to make here for others. I could not find dimensions on the PM site that gave the height of the machine. The only thing I could find listed the dimensions of the crate, 45 wide, 45 deep, and 65 high. This lead me to believe the height of the machine from the base to the top of the ram was about 60 inches, or 5 feet (allowing for the height of the pallet and the top of the crate). This was way off. The height of my 835s from the base to the top of the ram is about 70 inches. So with a 6 inch pallet, I did not have enough space to lift with my hoist, beam clamp and I beam due to the height. This may seem like a small thing, but when planning on how to safely move 1500lbs, every inch matters. I got around the problem by hooking my hoist directly to the beam, and not using the clamp (gained about 5 inches). This was more than a little scary, as the hook wanted to wonder to the side, but I got it stable, lifted it off the pallet and got it on the dolly. 

Now to phase 2, getting into place. As it turns out, the height of my dolly also presented a problem. Again based on how tall I thought the machine was, I built the dolly with more than enough capacity to hold the machine, and choose to use 5" wheels, as 3" would have been harder to roll with the weight. But now I can't get the hoist to go high enough to lift the machine off my dolly  So you'll see in the pictures below what I did. This part made me the most nervous, but it worked just fine. Getting the machine to a balance point while lifting it was the key to a safe lift and landing, but the blocks did not move, which was the key. I don't recommend this method (stacking wood, setting hoist on top of it, and then lifting) if you are not very careful of what you are doing, trusting your support stack, and knowing which way the machine will move when raising and lowering. Mine went fine, but it could have been janckey! Pics below.


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