# My New Mill  PM-45-PDF



## mskobier (Jun 28, 2013)

All,
    I figured I might as well join in on the fun of posting about my new mill. It hasn't seen much use yet due to my work schedule, but that is about to change. Anyway, a few months ago, I purchased a PM-45-PDF. It arrived in good time, and I managed to get it unboxed and inspected. Everything looks great. I ran the motor for a few hours through each of the speeds to break in the gearbox. Since I needed to be able to move it around, I started designing a rolling stand for it. I did a lot of internet research looking at what others had done. I finally decided to design my own using some of the best features of what I had seen on the net. I am also going to add a powered head lift, and I  am actively working on that mod at this time. 

I purchased a powered cross feed for the x axis, and went to install it. Unfortunately the mounting bracket was approx. .030 too small and would not fit over the edge of the table. No problem, I indexed the vice, and clamped the bracket in it and took a hair over .015 off of the inside of both side of the bracket. It now fits as if it was made for it!

The rolling stand is made out of 2x2x3/16 square steel tubing. It is designed for the stand that came with the mill to sit inside the base and only raise the overall height by approx. 5". The leveling feet are positioned at 36" OAL for stability. I was deathly afraid of how top heavy this mill could be with the head all the way up.  A friend does auto body work, and filled in the weld seams on the top, the ends, and painted it for me. He did a very nice job! I was just going to squirt some paint on it and call it good! The blue color was matched by the local auto paint supply and is called Fleet Blue. It matched almost perfectly!

I have also been building a fog buster type of coolant system. It is also almost finished. Just need to machine out the combining block and mount it up. The mill still has the flood coolant system, but I do not plan on using it at this time. 

Anyway, here are a few pictures of what I have done so far. 

Mitch


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## davidh (Jun 28, 2013)

nice job.   is that the wifes parking place you have taken ?


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## Ray C (Jun 28, 2013)

Congrats on the mill and nice, clean job on the base.  Sugar talk over... Now get cut'n...  (LOL)...


Ray


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## mskobier (Jun 28, 2013)

Davidh,
    Actually it is my wifes side of the garage. I moved the mill there for the pictures. It is a two bay garage, and I occupy the other side. I didn't want to post a picture of all of my junk.... Uhh treasures! I am still in the process of cleaning out my side so there is room to store and use the mill. 

Mitch


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## GaryK (Jun 28, 2013)

Excellent job on the stand! Looks great.

Now have some fun.

Gary


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## darkzero (Jun 28, 2013)

Excellent work on the stand! Congrats!


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## dmakseyn (Jul 2, 2013)

Hi,
I am also considering this mill for  my first bench top machine.  
Did you give any thought to getting the cast iron base for the machine?
My machinist friend and mentor has insisted that I use the cast iron to help
dampen vibrations. That's fine  for him to say as he doesn't have to move it around!
But it makes perfect sense.
Anyone have a thought on that idea?

Dave


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## Ray C (Jul 2, 2013)

Dave,

The cast iron base is not all that heavy compared to the mill.  It's not a feather but, it's not a solid block of metal either.  I have no idea for certain but, I'll guess it weighs around 150-200lbs.  Cast iron has absolutely remarkable ability to absorb vibration.  Truly amazing stuff in that regard.

Ray




dmakseyn said:


> Hi,
> I am also considering this mill for  my first bench top machine.
> Did you give any thought to getting the cast iron base for the machine?
> My machinist friend and mentor has insisted that I use the cast iron to help
> ...


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## Daver (Jul 2, 2013)

Mitch,

Great looking set up!
I'm sure I'm not the only one.. do you have any plans or drawings you can share on that base?


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## mskobier (Jul 2, 2013)

dmakseyn, 
     Due to budget constraints, and the fact that the mill came with the stand, I did not seriously consider purchasing the cast iron base. In looking at the pictures and what little bit of the specifications I could find, I did not consider it worth the extra expense. I figured that if I needed a heavier stand, I could always build one that I thought was more suitable. The steel stand weighs about 100lbs anyway. The added rolling base adds another 100+ to that. I have some future plans on adding some narrow cabinets to either side of the existing stand, or build a new altogether.

daver,
      No, I do not have any plans drawn up. I have a few sketches around somewhere that gives the general design. I'll try and find them and see if I can scan them so I can post them. The design is really pretty simple. I designed it around the cabinet that came with my mill.  I'll see what I can do about finding the sketches. If I can not find them, I'll draw something up giving the major dimensions and the basic design. 

Mitch


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## dvogel88 (Jul 26, 2013)

*Way to go*

I’m jealous….congrats…dv</SPAN>


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## mskobier (Aug 9, 2013)

Daver,
   As you requested, here are some plans for the rolling base I drew up this morning. I just gave the major dimensions on the drawings. You should verify the dimensions of your base before any cutting or welding. I used 2" 3/16 wall square steel tubing for the frame and some pieces of 4" 1/4 thick angel for the end pieces. The square tubing is stitch welded together along their lengths to form the compound box structure that forms the front and rear of the base. 2" 3/16 wall square tubing ties the front and rear together and provides a surface to support the cabinet edge. This is also where the cabinet is bolted to the base. The diagonal braces on the end pieces are made of 1" 3/16" thick steel bar stock. Anyway, I think that between the photos of the stand and the cad drawings, you should get the idea. The drawings are not to scale. The dimensions given are accurate to within 1/8"

This mill is causing me to learn some new skills. I have a small amount of experience with doing cad drawings. I played with Autocad a little a number of years ago. It took me a few hours to draw up the plans for the base, but it was time well spent. When I was in college, we were still doing drawings by hand! The program I used is called Solid Edge 2D. I downloaded It for free from their web page. Anyway, here are JPG's of the drawings. You will want to save them to your computer then print them out for best resolution. I can email anyone who wants the native .DFT files. 

Mitch


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## mskobier (Aug 9, 2013)

Here are the CAD files in ZIP format. The forum software will not allow me to post the native .DFT files. You will need to save and unzip them. You will also need a CAD program to view them.


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## ChipsAlloy! (Aug 10, 2013)

Thank you!


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## Haric (Aug 16, 2013)

Nice mill. I was actually looking to purchase one of these but it's out of stock


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## mskobier (Aug 16, 2013)

Haric,
    Thanks for the complement. You may want to look at the 932 mill that Precision Mathews currently has in stock. From the pictures on their web site, it appears to be basically the same machine, but with a power head lift motor. I'm almost finished converting mine to power head lift. 

Good luck in your machine hunt!
Mitch


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## Haric (Aug 20, 2013)

Mskobier,

I just purchased the pm32m without pdf. Can't wait to get it


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## mskobier (Aug 20, 2013)

Haric,
  Fantastic! I look forward to seeing some pictures of it.

Mitch


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## qualitymachinetools (Aug 23, 2013)

That base looks great!


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