# Pm-25mv New Set Up



## kennyv (Jun 11, 2015)

I was going to post this under June machines but decided not to . Im starting a new thread for 3 fold reasons . For one don't want to step on someones thread and two With this forum s format I cant seem to be able to save a topic yet to find it again unless I post. In it there must be some web tools that I am unaware of. And 3rdly Help/ supprt / ideas something to refer back to...



So far I like what i see  .. well yesterday get home to a nice present  . My PM25MV arrived all in good order it  was waiting for me in the garage to start unpacking   I  had my pop coming over to  Cut the first band and he did.. Im not going to show any pics cuz u all know what they look like  . I dont have a good camera and all that fancy editing stuff.....


Well first off I  was excited  and was able to take my mind of things for a few hours .. anyway quick update I thought about how i was gona hoist it for  last few days and decided i was going to use a sling and Rope hoist i had in my camping gear. .  Well after unpacking crate  showing my dad all the goodies i decided  i wont have a prob lifting it with another strong arm..  Than I saw about 250 lbs No prob My dad said he can lift about 50 thats it...  and I knew that anyways ... ..

My Dad is 76  and my wife  was out of Q ... she  already had it when she had to lift another Pc of equip...  Anyways  Got it uncrated all in good order right than happen to hear next door they had visitor ( Boyfriend of the girl ) 20 years old strong... . Gave the kid instructions how we going to lift told him we pick up ( footing good grip) and feel it first than re pick up and set on stand....  showed him how it was back heavy and keep his weight forward and asked Pop to be there to keep column straight.  Little thought .. bada bing  15 seconds later was on the stand and the rest is history . My PM25-MV found a new home in my garage.

My First impression was wow they look allot bigger in the Pictures... well i though it stood maybe 8-10 " higher that's all .  Was a little surprised that the quill travel is less than 4" but what do you expect with a machine this size.. Well I think I will be keeping my 19 Delta Drill press now for any drill jobs that may need the column table to be droped in Z

Wow!!! GREAT job on the NEW MOTOR smooth and quit... However i suspect they will be changing the draw bar / nut ..design tooling ...  Never saw the R8,s on the little mills so I didn't know what to expect.... well all and satisfied for now its a little machine for its size.


Spend the rest of night goin over machine. Just looking really didn't indicate dial in anything ….Had one issue  ( i hope)  witch is  dud draw bar nut ( bad threads). When i first took it off i can feel it didn't feel right . so......I cleaned it and the shaft  OD and it didn't cut it  1/8 turn  it was wipped .. Anways called this AM  let em know PM said they will send a new one out right away ..I jutst hope i don't have to take out the entire  spindle  shaft  to fix it and it will be a hardship somehow. 


Their are a couple of things that may need changing but im gona wait till i get feedback from u guys  perhaps approval that we can do what we like to do without Voiding warranty  anyways seems pretty tight  so far. Well thats about it today . . I hope I can start over again and get doin stuff as hobby out in my garage to take the bight off of my current Job situation .

Thanks again for all your help and support


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## brino (Jun 11, 2015)

Congrats on the new machine!
It's nice to be past the unpacking and getting it into position.
May you have many productive hours together....
-brino


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## wrmiller (Jun 11, 2015)

I always like getting new stuff...


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## brav65 (Jun 11, 2015)

Congrats on the new mill. I had lots of fun taking mine apart and discovering how it all worked. I have added a DRO as well as LED lights to mine. I am currently using it to fabricate parts for a CNC Router build.  I have also made up a number of small parts for repairs to other equipment and some stuff around the house.   I have even made parts for my son's school projects. Great little mill!


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## T Bredehoft (Jun 11, 2015)

Re: the Drawbar NUT. the first thing I did was knurl a piece of 7/8 alum about 5/7 long, drill a 5/16 hole in it's face and mill it out square. It lives along side the top of the spindle. I use it to spin the drawbar in or out, rather than using a wrench or trying to  turn that tiny square thing.

Edit: I had the use of a chain hoist, slid the mill (it was lying on its back in my stationwagon on a piece of cardboard) out onto a short platform, picked it up with the hoist, put it on a four wheeled cart, rolled it into the shop, moved the hoist to a hook I'd fabricated from a 2" angle iron screwed to a ceiling joist,and lifted the mill onto my work bench. I couldn't (read didn't) wait for help.


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## kennyv (Jun 11, 2015)

*  Yea thanks  any  Mods  you boys have done love to see esp   to get ideas of what can be improved.. Only *thing I can think of is simple DRO for the full  Z travel . I have to feel machine before ic an say what may need to better it.
. Right now  im gona Take it slow and try not to be so  impulsive ( so I say)

as far as  Draw bar nut Called today  received an e mail  from Matt later in day . Then than spoke  with  him tonight. Basically I shared how'd improve  the  draw bar set up. Also motioned the  limited travel  , he concurred been askin about that for year they have to change the body  head make much beefyier . Anyways He only has so much impact on what hed like  but takes all in consideration . 
as faras current set up  It seems you don't need  the nut  and  he made a bushing  for his .
So the way I see it  will need a larger diam draw bar and or a bushing  to keep it  concentric and ez change over .  Right now ill put the new nut  >Make a bushing than prob put a better nut on .
Than  sometime in near future  make a draw bar  that will do both


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## kennyv (Jun 12, 2015)

Quick update regarding draw bar . I see one or two new felllas recently purchase the mill so I fig id share what I have observed with current draw bar design . My Mill came with a Draw bar nut that was hammered from the go. Because I haven’t tooled up anything as of yet .I wasn’t sure with out using the nut if it needed to hold draw bar concentric And it does , However the bushing idea works well.  Btw I spoken with Matty last night he said he made a bushing and ya didn’t need the nut sooooo


FWIW the this is what I did am doing > I am goin to make a new draw bar similar to Bridgeport with a brass bushin.  But  For now I will modify this one and a later put hex head nut to grab rotate and tighten, I thought if it works on Bridgeport R8 style than it should work same here . Anyways I didnt have any brass bronze at work.   Had to come home with sumthin right ? So I actuality took old brass air fitting and made my bushing on break time. With my Morning coffee I measured and drew a napkin sketch if anyone is interested. Well it worked I made bushing size on . Next is to get either put ½ or 5/8 extended Nut on end of draw bar> Machine down to fit and weld on end.

…..When I get my lathe I will make a new draw bar altogether that fits machine and handles well . Esp since you need to make tool changes quite often.


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## Former Member - WoodNDust (Jun 12, 2015)

That's a quick and not so dirty mod.  I like it.


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## kennyv (Jun 15, 2015)

The bushing worked out well  draw-bar mod works like a charm too.


Haven’t had much time to run machine working on getting garage in order and now got caught up building a bench - rack with upper shelves that will accommodate bunch of bench machines . The key is  have it all functional  accessible . Work in progress stay tuned.
Other than that spent some time on Sunday checking machine spindle run out with a different tooling . The spindle has an error of .002 so everything thereafter was same or more. I ran trials changing tools  in to see if any variation and repeatability. Using  arbor only, collet, drill chuck cheepo drill chuck, keyless chuck  After playing around cleaning fixing adjusting I was able to repeat to no less than  .002 run out at tool spindle  further down tool run out was slightly more. Up to .004  TIR ( 6 inches down from spindle ) I guess that's expected with this mill anyone have better luck? 


Today only welded an 11/16 nut on the end of the draw bar . EZ access now and a breeze to do  a tool changeover. After omitting the spindle nut that coverred the draw bar . Works great tightens loosens a heck allot better than that silly 9 mm square nut. Now I have 2 options wrench or small breaker style bar . Next is make an easier tool to use holing spindle . Nice to get back into the swing of things I did think of a few Ideas of tooling I will be adding/ making . The list gets bigger..... guess that’s ok keeping mind occupied .


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## kennyv (Jun 22, 2015)

Shop time on fathers day with my son. Best gift I I can ask for . The memory will last forever. First I taught my son some principles of hand tools, the care of instruments . Learning to install collets in machine , using a draw bar wrench and spindle wrench. Sizing tooling by factional numbers. Converting over to decimal equivalents. Care of instruments basic machine, tool safely, set up and calculating RPM. He took his first cut and broke in new machine by feeding .400 thousands 4  turns on the dial to form the letter T. This was to engrave a mark  on the tighten side of spindle tool.

Here is my son Joel Tramming the head, Organizing collects by fractional size, (Using chart ) learning fractions to decimal. Using chart to identify the size on his own. He got it .

Next he is indicating in vice for first mill set up on the machine. He learned to get the vice parallel withing one thousandths of an inch .002 than he learned to tap in high side half total distance and get it zeroed. In . After that he torqued the bolts “ He said spot on” In a British accent . I got a vintage indicator of e bay that is made in England and its named Spot on . What a day . The one an only gift that I received but it was ” Priceless” . Next we set up for next project drilling and tapping but he losts interest so I fig id call it a wrap save for next time .


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## Former Member - WoodNDust (Jun 23, 2015)

Very nice your son giving of his time and sharing some good moments which will be remembered.


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## kennyv (Jun 26, 2015)

Havent had much time to do anything on the mill (busy at work) and still wokin on getting garage in order making ready for my new band saw. However the other night I cut my first chips to make these leg support mounting feet. I had purchased a few for bench project im workin on but returned them for $18 bucks . So I ended up buying steaks for the BBQ on fathers day . Anyways simple mill drill tap counter sink . So far machine is not what im used to tho...
However I tried to see if machine can handle a ½ pipe tap at low RMP range and it was a NO CAN DO..lol... I over sized the root diam and was only gona go to %70 prob thread still no can do . Motor wont geter done even with lots of Magic juice . ( the ole formula of tap magic) . Well Ended up finishing feeding thread by hand using draw bar wrench .
Ohh
Btw the threads came out good dont look at last pic (bad lighting) ..look at pic before I added countersinks that one shows Quality of threads. Just sayin.lol..


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## wrmiller (Jun 26, 2015)

As you have discovered, these machines work very well when you stay within their intended work envelope. But if you try to horse it a bit you may or may not be successful. I won't use anything larger than a 3/8" roughing end mill on my PM-25. I used a 1/2" end mill once, but the mill definitely wasn't happy about it. One of the reasons why I added the Big Guy for the larger stuff.


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## kennyv (Jun 26, 2015)

> As you have discovered, these machines work very well when you stay within their intended work envelope. But if you try to horse it a bit you may or may not be successful. I won't use anything larger than a 3/8" roughing end mill on my PM-25. I used a 1/2" end mill once, but the mill definitely wasn't happy about it. One of the reasons why I added the Big Guy for the larger stuff.



yea thanks  well for first time in my life I wish I had 2 more inches .. (Quill travel that is)  .. ohh  and ther is no quill stop so ill have to make one .. I like machine but im a bit  disappointed what am I gona do with these 3/4-1" index able mills I just gots in mail... I asked Matty in last email if he does  trade ins already want to step up to PM932 if he entertains the offer ..  what ya think ? if I pay the dif and shipping think it can happen ?


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## wrmiller (Jun 26, 2015)

I honestly don't know if Matt will upgrade you. I've heard stories, but none that I can verify.

What are you doing that you need a 1" endmill? Sure you don't want to step up to a 3600 lb 10x50 knee mill or something equally stout? You can probably run a 1" in the 932, but only being a 1000lb bench mill it may or may not work very well (depending on the application). I have a similar mill and I likely will never use a 1" end mill in it, but then I do mostly gunsmithing and small hobby stuff.


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## kennyv (Jun 26, 2015)

Quick n  EZ practical Mod . I was going to purchase new handles w/ 8mm x 1.25 x 81 mm bolts  and extend my Y axis table locks like another fella did using this idea .

http://www.mcmaster.com/#6324k38/=xssjrs

   But I didn't want to wait to order handles . plus been spedin enough moneys lately.  So this morn I though of two Ideas to take my  original lock levers and modiphy them than maybe add better handles later .  So I drew up this sketch with morning coffee and headed off to work.  By my first break  already dug up  some handles in box of parts ( parts is parts right)?  Than  turned  my blanks  and cut  the 5/16-18  stud  extensions out of an old rusted bent  u bolt  . Than at lunch made 2 brass washers. Tapped the extensions for Knobs and  turned the OD for the Original 8mm x1.25 thread. And after work threaded them debured  and polished em.  Heres the old locks. Notice  what happens to hand when u use them .  Besides they are PIA to work and  you cant get to them either .
The pics show the new parts and then installed. I checked the function of them a Ok "right on... Than for now locktigted the  knob studs. As soon as I officially  try em out. Ill put a roll pin  through the nob and stud . Most likely if they feel and work well ill end up leaving them.  No reason to make fancy dancy ones  now and if it aint broke  than why  fix it right ?


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## kennyv (Jul 10, 2015)

Short update

PM932 PDF  (2 left in stock) one with my name on it..
pulled a few strings ( and some of my grey hair)  decided not to upgrade my breaker box cost me another Gino I don't have
getting 220V line dropped to garage for about a buck a volt ... "yup"  $250 Ole Piazonno...... no worry 40 years as electrician. hes tied up right now with bad hand .. but if he cant make it next few weeks ill drop  the line myself  .. been in box once to run 20 amp line and breaker once  whats another leg?

when I was young id do anything..lol... Btw  when I first moved in my house I went out bought a 16" chainsaw  and downed 80' tree by myself . Tree was 15' from my house ....... Dropped that sucker  down in road b/t the opening in my fence.... yup well I sorta  lied I did  ask my ole neighbor to move his truck outa the way and  hold the rope  just in case it didn't fall exactly  as planned  ..
btw  I wont do that again ......getting too ole for this crap...but for some reason EVERY THING COST MONEY...this new hobbie is costing me to steal my equity. Hope I  can get a return on my investment with a few $ ideas.. Already have one in the works .. but that's top secret till I perfect it ... Gota work before I shoot my mouth off right?


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