# New PM 1340GT Lathe & PM 833T Mill



## Bill Kirkley (Sep 22, 2019)

Greetings all!  I am new to the forum. I am a hobbyist. I've been dabbling in the world of machining on and off for about 35 years. I mainly design and make tools and gadgets for personal use. 

About 9 years I took my first of many blacksmithing classes. I enjoy smithing as a hobby as well. 

As the title of the thread indicates I purchased two machines from Precision Matthews. It has taken about a week to get everything set up and running. The staff at PM are quick to answer questions and concerns. 

My only issue with the lathe is the cross feed dial is graduated in 2 thousands increments. I assumed it would be in thousands.  The DRO compensates for this draw back. I may have overlooked it, but I did not find this mentioned in their description of the machine. 

My only problem with the mill was that my interstate collets would not fit. The staff at PM came up with several solutions that didn't work.  They said I could send the spindle and they would check it out. Needless to say I had no desire to dismantle the machine!

 I felt the problem was that the upper end of the R8 cavity was under sized by 1 - 2 thousands. So, I increased the ID of the upper end of the spindle's R8 cavity 1 - 2 thousands. That fixed the problem. Here is a link to a video showing the fix:  




Over all I think they will be great machines. I'm planning my first project.


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## T Bredehoft (Sep 22, 2019)

Welcome, I applaud your chioice of tooling, I have smaller versions, 10-30 lathe and PM 25 mill. I consider myself lucky to have found this board and PM tools.


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## wrmiller (Sep 22, 2019)

I also have a 1340GT, and didn't even notice the cross slide dial until someone here brought it up. Then I completely forgot about it until you mentioned it again here. 

I have had DROs on my machines for a number of years now and never look at dials anymore.


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## Bill Kirkley (Sep 22, 2019)

T Bredehoft,  how do you like your mill?  Will it handle milling 1/4" slots in 3/16" steel?

Wrmiller,  for those using a DRO the dial isn't necessary. For those who don't have a DRO, a scale of one thousands increments would be a nice feature. There is plenty of room on the dial for one thousands marks.


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## T Bredehoft (Sep 22, 2019)

Bill Kirkley said:


> T Bredehoft, how do you like your mill? Will it handle milling 1/4" slots in 3/16" steel?



I like my mill.  Yes It could be bigger, but I haven't encountered a NEED for a bigger mill. If I had to cut a 1/4" slot in a piece of 3/`6 steel, I'd make several passes with a 3/16 cutter to get through, then a pass up and back for size. The PM25 probably would cut 1/4 by 3/16, but it wouldn't be accurate, probably would wander. 

Let me suggest you put the base of your vise, the swivel part, inside the cabinet. I removed mine  before I assembled the mill. my vise is kee'd to the center T Slot, straight every time I put it on (straight enough for me.)


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## Bill Kirkley (Sep 23, 2019)

Thanks T Bredehoft!


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## wrmiller (Sep 24, 2019)

Bill Kirkley said:


> T Bredehoft,  how do you like your mill?  Will it handle milling 1/4" slots in 3/16" steel?
> 
> Wrmiller,  for those using a DRO the dial isn't necessary. For those who don't have a DRO, a scale of one thousands increments would be a nice feature. There is plenty of room on the dial for one thousands marks.



When I first saw the scale, I tried interpolating to a thou and used my DRO to see how accurate/not accurate I was. Worked pretty well. If I had to use the dial only, I'd just make a new one, slightly larger in diameter and mark it in one thou increments.


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## qualitymachinetools (Sep 24, 2019)

Very nice pictures in place, and great information.    Just please, if anyone reads this, do not try to bore your spindle without talking to us first. I am not quite sure of the problem, as I did not see it, but each one is checked with a test bar as part of the spec test.   Great, informative video, but I just do not want someone to see this and start boring their spindle if not needed, thats all. People read all sorts of things online and I just needed to put this out there. 

Looks good though, hope you are making chips soon!


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## mksj (Sep 24, 2019)

On my previous BF-30 mill I had purchased some Interstate R-8 collets and had fitment issues and they were returned, I subsequently purchased some Lyndex and Royal collets and they fit w/o any issues. Since the specs are very tight, any small tolerance difference will is result in them not fitting. The other common problem is the guide key is larger then the slot in the collet. I ended up removing the guide pin in both my previous and current mill.  Nice machines, have fun.


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## bretthl (Sep 27, 2019)

I love the way he bored that out!  I wonder if the other R8 tooling had the same fitment trouble?


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## Firstgear (Sep 27, 2019)

If you move you cross slide in 0.001, it would take a cut off a diameter of 0.002.  That is why it reads like it does.  The DRO takes everything out but remember when you move 0.001 on the DRO you are cutting on one side of a rotating diameter.


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## jbobb1 (Sep 27, 2019)

Firstgear said:


> The DRO takes everything out but remember when you move 0.001 on the DRO you are cutting on one side of a rotating diameter.



That really depends on how the DRO is set up. I would assume it is already set in "Diameter mode", but you should check with a indicator.


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## wrmiller (Sep 27, 2019)

jbobb1 said:


> That really depends on how the DRO is set up. I would assume it is already set in "Diameter mode", but you should check with a indicator.



On my EL400 DRO, when I crank in a cut of 0.0005" that's off the diameter. Keeps things simple for me.


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## BGHansen (Sep 27, 2019)

Bill Kirkley said:


> Greetings all!  I am new to the forum. I am a hobbyist. I've been dabbling in the world of machining on and off for about 35 years. I mainly design and make tools and gadgets for personal use.
> 
> About 9 years I took my first of many blacksmithing classes. I enjoy smithing as a hobby as well.
> 
> ...


I like your sheet metal "V" for not dropping the set screw.  Great idea I'm going to start using.

Bruce


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## Bill Kirkley (Sep 29, 2019)

Thanks for your input. First gear, you are correct. I didn't take into account I was increasing the radius. 

I couldn't find specs on the upper part of the R8 spindle bore. I don't think the part I bored out has any affect on stability or runoff. I think the R8 taper and drawbar are the critical parts of the R8 spindle socket.


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