# Got My New Pm-1340gt Lathe Last Night



## sanddan (Dec 9, 2015)

Well my new lathe arrived last night. I had ordered a lift gate delivery and specified a "short" truck so he could fit up my driveway but they showed up with a pretty big truck. I am in Oregon near Portland and we are getting some pretty bad weather right now so I had really hoped the truck would show up before dark. He ended up getting there a half hour late, 4:30, and of course the rain was just pelting down and it was getting dark. After negotiating the turn from the main road onto our driveway he had no trouble getting up to my house but that's when the fun began. I actually have a lot of room between the shop and the house to maneuver in but it was now dark and the driver hadn't been there before so it required several tries to bet the truck turned around and jockeyed in front of the access door. At one point in this mess the truck got off the gravel and into the muddy field and wasn't moving, just digging down. I was seriously worried at this point we would have to get a tow truck to get him back on the gravel. I dug around his drive tires to form a ramp and we gave her hell and just got it out. Lucky he was pointed down hill at the time so gravity could do it's thing. Finely the truck was positioned in front of the door and we could just get the lift gate to reach the shop floor. Then the driver discovered that his pallet jack wouldn't fit the crate as it was too low and it was also wedged into the corner restricting access. I wasn't about to give up at that point so I found a piece of steel tubing and some blocking and we managed to raise the crate enough to get his pallet jack under it. I was on the ground by the lift gate when he was getting the lathe onto the gate when the lathe tilted and started to slide off toward the floor. I thought for sure I was a dead man at that point but he got the jack lowered and the crate on the lift gate just in time. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I was so glad when the lathe was safe on the floor. I was soaking wet from the rain but happy to be alive and in one piece. I got the crate opened up today and everything looks good except I couldn't find the VFD anywhere. I called PM and my name was down for a VFD but it was never shipped so that will be a few more days getting here. I didn't get any pictures of the delivery since most of it was in the dark and pouring rain. I'll try to get a pic of the hole in the mud where the truck was almost stuck. He was off the gravel into the field by at least 3 or 4 feet. Looking at it I can't believe we got it out without a tow truck. Dodged a bullet there. I'll update this thread as I get the lathe up and running.


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## JimDawson (Dec 9, 2015)

That's quite an adventure.   Happy to hear everything worked out.


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## sanddan (Dec 9, 2015)

A few pictures of the truck coming up the drive. It was actually darker out than the picture shows.


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## jeff_g1137 (Dec 9, 2015)

Hi
what is the blue lathe on the shop floor, pictures please.
jeff


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## David VanNorman (Dec 9, 2015)

Looks good . Best of luck with it.


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## maker of things (Dec 10, 2015)

Quite the harrowing tale.  Hopefully it's smooth sailing here on in.


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## change gear (Dec 10, 2015)

Congratulations on your new arrival, Always a good day when a new toy I mean tool shows up


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## brino (Dec 10, 2015)

Congratulations on the new equipment!  
That must have been a big relief to have it inside on the concrete.
I am glad "everyone" is safe.....man and machine.

-brino


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## sanddan (Dec 11, 2015)

Thanks all. Funny, before the delivery I was suffering from back spasms. My wife claimed it was from stress of the new lathe which I poo pooed but amazingly enough it was gone the next day after delivery!. Guess she knows me pretty well.

Haven't made much progress so far except collecting the wiring bits. It will be a few days before the VFD gets here so no big rush. I plan on cleaning up the area the lathe will occupy and painting the wall behind it. I'll get some before and after pics.


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## ChipsAlloy! (Dec 13, 2015)

Thats a pretty nice lathe you got there. Having read other owners here im pretty sure you will not regret your choice.  I have been considering this lathe for while and saving funds for it. Now I realize its out of reach . The increasing difference with canadian dollar would make me throw too much money  in the garbage . Money I should be spending on tooling and stuff. I cannot control this so I started looking localy for used equipment or new import stuff (but boy I dont feel too confident in the import stuff sold around here)
 Great buy and ah yeah, post some pics so those like me can drool


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## zmotorsports (Dec 14, 2015)

Glad you received your lathe Dan.  That should serve you well for a long time, don't think you will be outgrowing that one for a while.

Mike.


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## coolidge (Dec 14, 2015)

Now that's a shop building by God! OP post some more pics if you don't mind.


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## sanddan (Dec 14, 2015)

What oil are you guys using on the PM1340GT? The manual doesn't specify what oil and the PM website doesn't either.

Coolidge, thanks. The shop has been a 20 year labor of love. The uses have also changed through the years with hotrod work the main focus the first few years. That was when the paint booth was built as I was frequently painting parts for my Camaro. It then morphed into more of a fab shop with sand toys the main focus and as age caught up with me the 2 post lift was added. The machine tools are starting to take over now, I think it could use a little reorganization to better utilize the available space. I think I'll focus some time to improve the raw material storage, steel rack on wheels?


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## zmotorsports (Dec 14, 2015)

Dan, that sounds familiar.  My little 1150 square foot shop started out as mainly building street rods and racing.  I then quickly morphed into building hill-climbing snowmobiles and sand quads then sandrails.  I got pretty much out of racing on asphalt and showing cars by 2006 and focused on sand drag racing and duning for pleasure.  I really enjoyed machining/fabricating parts for my sand toys and that is how I outgrew my small 3-in 1 machine a couple of years ago.  After upgrading/upsizing machines I have been doing more machining and fabricating over the past several years with some motorcycle work thrown in when I have time, as well as a lot of automotive repair for family/friends.  I would eventually like to turn more into a small job shop and just do automotive repair on my own stuff.

As for the oil, I use AW68 lubrication in the headstock and apron of the PM1340GT because my shop is heated.  For the ways I just use #2 way oil.

Mike.


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## mksj (Dec 14, 2015)

I replaced mine with and ISO32, or you can use an ISO46 and split the difference as my garage gets pretty cold in the winter. If it gets cold in your shop, ISO68 may get a bit vicious.  With the VFD you can also spin them a bit higher, a slightly thinner oil will give you less heat buildup from shearing. Grizzly uses ISO32 in the head stock of all of their lathes, also the ERL and RML machines run an ISO32. Jet lathes use ISO68 for everything. So probably anything in that range should work fine based on your ambient temperatures. I have read of bearing failures and heat build up when using something like ISO95 (SAE 30) oils in splash lubrication lathes, so prefer to be slightly less viscous.   Carriage and gearbox the PM1340GT specifies  ISO68, and on the sliding surfaces Way Oil #2 as Mike does. Not sure why there is no mention of headstock oil in the manual, manual info is pretty minimal, let us know what Matt recommends.
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PARTPG=INLMKD&PMPXNO=945275&PMAKA=505-1206
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PARTPG=INLMKD&PMPXNO=945276&PMAKA=505-1208


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## zmotorsports (Dec 14, 2015)

Mark, just as a response to your last comment.  Matt is the one who told me to run the AW68 if my shop was going to be heated.  I turn it to 50 upon quiting time but while working it is usually around 60-ish.

Mike.


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## sanddan (Dec 16, 2015)

Made some progress yesterday. I got the lathe stand assembled and the lathe in place. Always fun to do the rigging and lift by yourself but it went without drama. I got the single phase motor removed and swapped out for the three phase motor that came in a separate box. My lathe was a factory single phase unit so the wiring looks a bit different than most of the pictures that have been posted. I can see that the wiring will be the biggest challenge for me as I am not that experienced at it but I know there is plenty of help here so I'll get through it. The VFD just came so I think I have all of the parts now so time to get to it.







Got the wall behind the lathe painted, first time in quite a while. I was 2 shades of white and full of holes from mounting stuff over the years. That's Gemma my shop dog. She gets her own piece of carpet to lay on while she supervises my work.






This is a picture of the single phase wiring box. I plan on using the transformer to power the accessory light that came in the preferred package. any hints on how to wire this up? From the schematics in the manual the input is 220v and the red wire after the fuse should be 24v, just not sure how the 220v is wired as there are only 2 black wires feeding the transformer.


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## sanddan (Dec 16, 2015)

The shop is a total mess right now. I moved a bunch of stuff into the bay under the loft to clear enough space for the engine hoist to maneuver, you can't walk through there right now.


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## zmotorsports (Dec 16, 2015)

I know what you mean Dan, mine was a mess during the setup process as well.  Drove me nucking futs.  I don't do well with messes or disorganization.

Looking good though Dan.

Mike.


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## JimDawson (Dec 16, 2015)

sanddan said:


> I can see that the wiring will be the biggest challenge for me as I am not that experienced at it but I know there is plenty of help here so I'll get through it. The VFD just came so I think I have all of the parts now so time to get to it.




I'm only a few minutes away if you need some hands on help or an extra set of eyeballs.


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## sanddan (Dec 16, 2015)

Mike, I thought of you when I posted those pictures. I'm not as neat and tidy as you are but even for me my shop is a huge mess.

Jim, thanks for the offer. Glad you are close, I need to come by for a visit some time. I'm sure this electrical stuff is old hat for you but I'm more familiar with packaging electrical components than actually doing the electrical wiring part. I always had an electrical engineer managing that part of the project, I just had to make sure I gave him enough room to do his thing.


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## JimDawson (Dec 16, 2015)

Come on by anytime.  I'll PM my phone number and address.

The problem with wiring up something like the lathe is that you get one chance to get everything right.  I'm sure you know all about the magic smoke things run on.


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## zmotorsports (Dec 17, 2015)

Don't give me too much credit there Dan, when I get knee deep into a project my shop can get feeling a little tight and cluttered.  Drives me crazy, must be the OCD that kicks in.

Mike.


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## joshua43214 (Dec 18, 2015)

For the transformer wiring, you have two options:
Run both hot legs and no neutral to the 0 and 220 inputs for 220ish V power.
Run a hot leg to the 110V and the neutral to the 110V for 110ish V power.
No matter what you do, *ground the machine!*

Here is the wiring diagram I used to wire my factory 3phase controls to the VFD





I added a single pole three position switch for jogging and a rheostat for speed. I think it all cost about $20.00 or so.

I left all the factory stuff in place and just disconnected the harness from the run switch. I then added some jumper wires to fool the power relay into thinking that the run switch is always off and I let the forward contactor turn the VFD on and off. So the big red button turns the VFD on and off, and the factory control board does nothing more than switch power to the VFD and provide 24V for the lamp. I put all the diodes behind the controls in the front.
I have not gotten around to finishing the diagram for the control panel yet. If I get it done in a timely fashion I will post it here for you.
I started a thread over in the electrical forum titled something like "VFD's and Contactors," it has some discussion that led me to my design and more details.


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## mksj (Dec 18, 2015)

You would probably be better off to use the E-Stop to interrupt P24 to get the benefit of quick braking in an emergency, of course when you reset the E-Stop the machine will restart. The VFD can be programmed to use some of the regenerative energy for braking when spinning with power loss, but it is not as effective as braking with the VFD powered. I still believe the single relay design is safer and is inexpensive if you want a minimal system. In your design above, I would connect the JOG to the center spindle stop position so it only operates when the machine is in the stop position. The stock power transformer is 24VAC which is what is used on the contactors, although the smaller power relay is 24VDC which is run off a small bridge rectifier.

This is a simple alternative that offers additional safety features and does not power down the VFD. The cost a 4 pole relay is about $15, and has a mechanical service life of 10,000,000 cycles. One can use a 2 or 3 pole power switch to disconnect power and use the stock 24VAC transformer to power the light.


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## sanddan (Dec 18, 2015)

Mark,

That schematic is the one I am following. I have been doing the external bits, running the power to a NEMA box for the VFD and getting ready to run the motor wires. I mounted the extra switches and Pot to the switch panel. I have to pickup some 12ga wire this morning and then I can get the supply power and motor wires routed. Last will be the control wires and programming. I did my box for the VFD similar to Mike's rather than using a cord and plug to the wall outlet. If I don't like it later on I might mount the box to the end of the lathe stand. I don't think I'll be moving the lathe to another spot in the shop so the wall mounted box should work ok.

Dan


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## sanddan (Dec 20, 2015)

It lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Huge thanks to Mark (mksj) for the schematics, programming info and general help and also Mike (zmotorsports) for inspiration as you can see that I took many ideas on the electrical layout from his installation. The lathe started up first time and all functions work as I had hoped. The frequency pot was working backwards which was fixed by a swap of 2 wires. The wiring was a long and tedious process, about 10 hrs total, and I still have to figure out how I'm going to do the DRO and accessory light. I am running out of access to the wiring box on the lathe, only one cable port left and 3 cables required. I could just plug the DRO into the wall outlet but I like the idea of having everything turned on/off with one power switch. I have the splash shield off as it made the access to the motor mounting bolts easier and I needed it off for the DRO install anyway so I can't mount the light yet so I will figure out the wiring later. The finish on this lathe is very nice, much better than my Chinese made Enco. I feel pretty good about my purchase and I haven't even made any chips yet. Still some work to do but making progress.


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## tmarks11 (Dec 20, 2015)

nice.  you might want to put an exhaust fan on the cabinet that has the vfd in it.


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## David VanNorman (Dec 20, 2015)

Looks good .I think it would be good to put a muffin fan on the box  with the VFD


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## mksj (Dec 20, 2015)

Hi Dan,
Glad you got everything working and programmed, the wiring always takes longer than you think. As you did, always a good idea to use wiring labels. One other thing that helps, is strip some of the control cabling and use the colored wire for wiring the control board. Easier to follow when you start getting more wires.

On the cooling, you may do fine with passive cooling in the cabinet with some vents and adjusting the VFD fan settings B092. I have used Maurice Franklin Screened Aluminum louvers/soffits, they come in different sizes, usually two 4" seem to work well. One under the VFD, the other above the VFD either on the top or on the hinge side near the top. You can set the VFD fan for continuous run '00", run only when on "01", or via temp sensor on the heat sink "02".  Would probably use 01 and see how that works, otherwise 00. I do not find that the VFD heat sink ever get too hot to touch, I am using the "02" setting with the VFD in the left cabinet. On smaller cabinets or if you have a heat issue, a muffin fan at the bottom vent that puts positive pressure in the cabinet is usually recommended.

The new chucks look really nice, look forward to your review/comments.

Otherwise, great that you have it up and running.
Mark

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BPK7AC/ref=s9_hps_bw_g60_i3
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQM5EC/ref=s9_hps_bw_g60_i2


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## zmotorsports (Dec 21, 2015)

Lookin' good there Dan and congrats on getting it up and running.  Nice looking setup you have there now.

Just out of curiosity, what is that cylindrical aluminum piece just above and to the right of the hi/low speed range lever?  Looks like it is attached to the gearbox cover/lid.

I wouldn't worry about a fan as it already has one built in like Mark points out above.  I have been wanting to put a passive vent in my enclosure, again like Mark posted above, but according to Hitachi's literature it only requires a certain amount of clearance around the actual VFD.  As long as it has the adequate clearance they should be fine.  I have been keeping an eye on the heat sink in my enclosure and so far it seems fine, I didn't want to put a vent because then it is open to swarf but that is just me and the chances of quite slim of something getting past.  If I ever feel like it gets too warm I will then go ahead and cut in a vent or two.  On our VFD's at work we have no vents and they have been fine, but it is your choice.

Mike.


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## sanddan (Dec 21, 2015)

My mill has a vent, it looks like it was made by the PO, mounted on the side of the box. I think I'll make a similar one if I have the right piece of scrap aluminum. It does a good job of keeping the swarf out and I haven't had an issue with cooling on that one.

Mike, the cylindrical piece is a magnetic holder I use to hold prints on the machine to keep them close by. They're very helpful and the aluminum makes them easy to clean up the swarf.

Mark, I think I have the fan programmed to 01 but would have to check to be sure. I will vent somehow, thanks for the heads up on the louvered covers. At first glance the chuck does look very nice. I haven't had a chance to check runout yet but when I do I'll post results. Interesting item, the chuck is not a direct mount but uses a cast iron mounting plate that the chuck bolts to.


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## JimDawson (Dec 21, 2015)

sanddan said:


> It lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Huge thanks to Mark (mksj) for the schematics, programming info and general help and also Mike (zmotorsports) for inspiration as you can see that I took many ideas on the electrical layout from his installation. The lathe started up first time and all functions work as I had hoped. The frequency pot was working backwards which was fixed by a swap of 2 wires. The wiring was a long and tedious process, about 10 hrs total, and I still have to figure out how I'm going to do the DRO and accessory light. I am running out of access to the wiring box on the lathe, only one cable port left and 3 cables required. I could just plug the DRO into the wall outlet but I like the idea of having everything turned on/off with one power switch. I have the splash shield off as it made the access to the motor mounting bolts easier and I needed it off for the DRO install anyway so I can't mount the light yet so I will figure out the wiring later. The finish on this lathe is very nice, much better than my Chinese made Enco. I feel pretty good about my purchase and I haven't even made any chips yet. Still some work to do but making progress.
> View attachment 117022
> ...



Looking good!


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## sanddan (Dec 26, 2015)

A quick update, sorry but no pics. I got the break in procedure completed yesterday and the oil changed in the headstock. I refilled useing ISO 32 oil and added a couple of magnets for good measure. I spent some time on the cad laying out the carriage DRO scale mounting. I am going to change the cross slide lock to a bolt and space the scale out to accommodate it. I also just checked the runout on the 3 jaw chuck. The first order of business was to free up the jaws as it took a fair bit of force to move them. I ran the scroll out releasing the 3 jaws and cleaned them before reassembly. I also ran the scroll without jaws, using a cordless drill and lots of oil, which helped loosen thing up. Now with things working better I checked the runout and got about .0035". I then checked the body of the chuck and got the same number. I marked the position and then removed the chuck and cleaned the mating surfaces. The cast iron adapter plate was very dirty but other than that everything looked good. I remounted the chuck in the same position and still got .003" runout so then checked the other two possible positions getting .002" and then .0015" in the last spot. I marked that spot for future reference and buttoned things up.


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## firemaker76 (Aug 2, 2019)

Dan, 
I just ran across this, and just wanted to ask how your lathe is running now after having it for several years?  Anything that you would do differently now in the VFD wiring or setup?  I'm just curious as I have just bought a PM-1340GT configured for 3Ph power and am planning on wiring it up to a VFD just like you did.  Love your write-up and pics.  Looks great!!!!! Any info is greatly appreciated.

Mitch


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## INTJ (Aug 9, 2019)

I have had my 1340GT for over a year now and I high recommend Mark Jacobs control board and VFD setup.


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## kb58 (Aug 9, 2019)

Since this resurfaced, reading the OP's first post about delivery brought back memories regarding delivery of my PM-935. From my own website:



> So the mill arrived, with some heart-stopping drama.
> 
> Things started out well enough, with the truck arriving on time. The first thing to note is that for some reason, someone decided to sit the enormous 1,676-pound crate (with its integral pallet) on top of a weak and partly collapsed second pallet. That made it tough for the driver to get the pallet jack under it. The there was that he parked the truck pointing uphill, so once on the pallet jack, the crate wanted very badly to roll toward the rear of the truck. I asked if he’d like to turn the truck around, but he said no problem. Okay…
> 
> ...


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## Janderso (Aug 9, 2019)

Every machine move is an event.


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