# PM-1054TV Delivery & Setup



## MtnBiker (Jul 8, 2020)

New to the group. Decided on a mill as a complement to our home-shop (for now) metal fab business. Checked out domestics (Wells/Bridgeport) and decided on PM for all the reasons everyone else does. Matt and staff were very easy to work with. Precision boring/tapping and possibly some face milling to start. Got the larger mill anticipating some prototyping as we expand beyond welding job shop work into fabrication and product development. Pretty stoked to expand our capabilities...lots to learn and happy to be here. Will be renting a fork lift to get this beast off the truck when it arrives later this month/early next. Pics to come (the PM website shows a PM-949 so this might be interesting).


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## 7milesup (Jul 8, 2020)

Welcome to the forum MtnBiker!
As you have already found out, Matt and associates are great to work with and their service after the sale is top notch.
I had to look up a PM-1054TV because I had never heard of that model then I see you had posted the pictures on the website were of the 949.  LOL

Looking forward to seeing pics.


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## wrmiller (Jul 8, 2020)

I'm down here in SE AZ and have (much) smaller machines, but I've been very happy with the PM machines (three total) that I have ordered/owned over the years. That 1054TV is going to be a brute! Lots of pics required!

Oh, and welcome to the forums MtnBiker.


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## erikmannie (Jul 12, 2020)

That is the make & model that I will buy as soon as I can afford one. It is 3 HP, right?

Did you get 3 phase, variable speed?

I have never seen a picture of one of these before. I am looking forward to seeing your pictures.


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## MtnBiker (Jul 12, 2020)

erikmannie said:


> That is the make & model that I will buy as soon as I can afford one. It is 3 HP, right?
> 
> Did you get 3 phase, variable speed?
> 
> I have never seen a picture of one of these before. I am looking forward to seeing your pictures.


Yes - I got a 3 hp single phase with variable speed (the 3 phase units were out of stock and word on the street is there isn't any noticeable difference between them).


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## erikmannie (Jul 12, 2020)

Obviously the OP has seen this, but this is really the only intelligible information on the entire internet regarding this machine:

https://www.precisionmatthews.com/shop/1054t-precision-knee-milling-machines/

I don’t see that a single image of this machine has ever been published on the Internet.


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## MtnBiker (Jul 12, 2020)

erikmannie said:


> I don’t see that a single image of this machine has ever been published on the Internet.


Kinda weird right? I'll change this if nobody beats me to it.
Would be nice to get photos of a 949 and 1054 next to each other for comparison.


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## MtnBiker (Jul 18, 2020)

The delivery saga started yesterday (delivering the forklift a day early).






Make sure if you get a big mill...you get 6ft forks.

Got to the shipping terminal with the U-Haul. The forklift driver looks at my U-Haul, looks at the PM crate, looks at my U-Haul again and asks...are you sure? I got at least one measurement a few inches off.






I had to prop the roll-up door open with a painting pole so the crate wouldn't rip it off the rails. Since the forklift was about 1mm from the trailer hitch on the U-Haul, we had to strap the crate, pull it out a few inches with the forklift, snug up the forks, rinse repeat about 3 times. We needed all 6 feet to get this monster out. This is my oldest - engineer, welder, CWI and a pretty decent fork lift operator.

Finally,






Looks like an Autobot hiding in the crate.






Here is our fork lift setup (we had more tie downs, c-clamps and straps but this was near the end and just some fine positioning (new 100 amp service to the shop in the background). 2 things...8 foot garage doors for the win. And we had to remove the safety cage from the forks to fit in the garage. Easy enough and made this possible.






Promised some pics of the PM-1054 TV (in out-of-the box condition of course):











This will be a nice addition to our welding business (the yellow thing is a commercial fume extractor, green thing is one of our welders). There is room in there for a lathe...but that will have to wait. We gotta make some money first.


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## Aukai (Jul 18, 2020)

That's sexy


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## mattthemuppet2 (Jul 18, 2020)

that'll add alot of capability, that's for sure. Well kitted out too - X and knee power feeds, DRO, variable speed. Very nice.


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## MtnBiker (Jul 18, 2020)

mattthemuppet2 said:


> that'll add alot of capability, that's for sure. Well kitted out too - X and knee power feeds, DRO, variable speed. Very nice.


Got the power draw bar as well. On my own for the install. This thing is really tall.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Jul 18, 2020)

woohoo, you really treated yourself  Is your business anything to do with your handle or is that one of your hobbies?


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## MtnBiker (Jul 18, 2020)

mattthemuppet2 said:


> woohoo, you really treated yourself  Is your business anything to do with your handle or is that one of your hobbies?


Mountain biking is a hobby (and therapy after a hard week working for the man). Our business is a side-gig for my son and I which will hopefully let us both fire our bosses in a few years.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Jul 18, 2020)

super cool, on all fronts! I'm a keen mountainbiker, though I don't ride as much as I used to as I ride alot for commuting. It's how I got into machining, by wanting to make better LED lights for night riding.

If you ever pass through central Texas and want a ride, give me a shout!


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## MtnBiker (Jul 18, 2020)

mattthemuppet2 said:


> super cool, on all fronts! I'm a keen mountainbiker, though I don't ride as much as I used to as I ride alot for commuting. It's how I got into machining, by wanting to make better LED lights for night riding.
> 
> If you ever pass through central Texas and want a ride, give me a shout!


You might have passed me at Flat Rock Ranch. Lived in SA for about 14 years (Helotes actually).


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## MtnBiker (Jul 27, 2020)

Got the 1054 all hooked up to power. Brought both 120v and 240v through the conduit (separate breakers) and hooked everything into an extended depth box. Commercial 20A receptacles on the gang box and wiring for the mill motor. Room for the power feeds, DRO and a light. Should keep the shop looking a little cleaner. Looking for a cheap wire management solution.






Had my electrician pull 100 amps into the garage with a sub-panel. We hooked up the flex conduit for the 1054. The white thing there is the antenna for the Sense power monitor. We can see real time power usage (so we don't overload the main supply) and will allow us to isolate power to calculate shop expenses (taxes). If we can get Sense to ID the various shop tools that will be a bonus just to get closer to actual costs.


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## MtnBiker (Aug 5, 2020)

Time for leveling the mill. After placing the mill we noticed it was balanced on two corners. No bueno.  Also noticed the holes for screwing the mill to the pallet were threaded. There was some back and forth with PM about thread size. It is a "loosely fit" M18-2.5. So here is the approach - the base of the mill is more of a skirt. There are no pads really, but the material where the threads were cut is about 3" thick. Good for jacking. So we cut some threaded M18 rod and, welded on some hex nuts.




To do as little damage to the floor (and not crack any concrete) used some 5/16 steel plate slid under the jacking rod. Worked okay - the unevenly cut rod end bit into the steel plate and made a little eccentric. The mill shimmy'd a bit during jacking.




Auto parts stores sell these nice shims for body work (edit: for shimming a GM starter...thanks Aukai). Come in several different thicknesses (an 8 pack). So for about $10 for two packages I had a pretty good shim kit.




Made some thinner shims out of a soda can (smooth out the ragged edges if you cut with tin snips).




Found the high spot and worked the other three sides with shims until we found what worked. Measured thickness and just did some math to keep things easy (after trial and error and frustration).




Close enough for government work.




So these shims fit the "skirt" of the base really well. They are just a little wider than the contact point of the mill so...optimal. Pretty easy job overall. No forklift or fancy jacks needed (and yes, I need to do some wire management).


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## Aukai (Aug 5, 2020)

Those auto parts shims are the same ones to shim a starter for proper engagement...


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## MtnBiker (Aug 6, 2020)

A little about the machinist vise. Of course I thought about Kurt. The standard. Saw the Homge Ultra Precision (the 6" Super-Open 8" officially). For the $399 and free shipping with the Mill I figured I'd give it a try. Also figured I'd likely end mill it by mistake and better the Kurt knock-off than a real one. Some observations (after some YouTube reviews of other, cheaper knock-offs).




The casting is okay but certainly not as well finished as a Kurt. If you look closely we have some paint chipping off but a solid layer of primer underneath (a look inside a Taiwan mill shows the same). Aesthetics are okay. The surface grinding is really excellent though. Ground throughout (some of the cheapees leave the bottom of the jaw un-ground). This has the machined jaw hold-down button like a Kurt. Nice chamfered corners all around. Needle bearings in the leadscrew. Speaking of damage, dropped a wrench onto it Monday while loosening the draw bar (I need to get the power draw bar installed - I have zero muscle memory for this). Ended up bulging the jaw face. Crap! At least it wasn't a Kurt right? Found a local 54-years experienced master machinist down the road. Did a proper surface grind on it. I paid him with a hand shake and a shop tour (his shop). Awesome dude...probably not a Practical Machinist subscriber. Back in business.




Has a steel cover to keep chips out of the threads. Nice touch.




Very very nice ACME threads with backlash adjustment. This is a very nicely made piece. Smooth as glass. This is where some of the cheap knock-offs go cheap (v-threads and the like).




I really wanted to use the base (I'm likely in the minority). The nuts included in my PM supplied clamping kit were too narrow to clamp the base. At all really. Lame flat washers from Home Depot were a non-starter. What to do? We did some design and my kid 3-D printed some prototype shoulder washers to keep those 1/2" studs centered and stable.




Fabbed up the washers and the vise is super solid. Just enough wiggle room to get this thing to index really nicely. Very accurate vise. Comes with an inspection sheet and I believe it.




Also wanted to mention these parallel holders. MagKeepers.com. The spring things just didn't make sense to my rookie brain. These looked cool and really hold things in place.

Bottom line...not a Kurt in fit or finish. Functionally, seems like a really nice, accurate vice and certainly an economical way to equip a new shop. Maybe less tears for a newbie when you accidentally end mill it. Recommended.


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## DavidR8 (Aug 6, 2020)

Nice looking machine! Appreciate the detailed view into the delivery and vise. 
Welcome to the forum 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## BGHansen (Aug 6, 2020)

DavidR8 said:


> Nice looking machine! Appreciate the detailed view into the delivery and vise.
> Welcome to the forum
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Oh, I thought you just really, really, really liked the machine!    

Bruce


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## MtnBiker (Aug 6, 2020)

Another shout out. Tramming seemed like it would be a PITA. Found this and was impressed by quality, ease of use and price. Can also be used to tram off a 6" vise. They make a smaller version for smaller vises. Love supporting the little guys out there.





Tramming consists of touching off/calibrating each gauge against a supplied magnet at a set point on the table. Then you align by touching off against the table and adjusting tram until the numbers on the dial indicators match. Couldn't be easier. They make a bunch of stuff for lathes too.




Nice little vise stop. Cheap and good. Edge Technology has gotten ahold of some CNC machines and they seem to know how to use them.


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## Cheeseking (Aug 7, 2020)

Cool. Looks like you’re set up with some nice accessories for the mill.


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## MtnBiker (Aug 7, 2020)

After the shop tour I realize I'll never have enough tooling. It was ridiculous...mountains of tooling.


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## MtnBiker (Aug 9, 2020)

Last of the big setup items...power draw bar (so I stop dropping things from the top of the mill).




Went with the Maxi-Torque Rite through PM. Unlike a lot of accessories available from PM, you are on your own for installation. Pretty easy install if you know how to tap threads. And I do admire all the folks that fab'd their own. Above my pay grade right now. 




The only time suck was fabricating this mounting plate. Required the mill...so I got to make chips!!! 




The business end. This may not be the final mounting solution but it was quick and easy. It does get in the way of the manual downfeed wheel (which I don't see using but who knows). It was a serious stretch to reach up to the draw bar (no NBA for my family). This makes the mill so much more productive.

Hope folks find a few of these solutions helpful. Thanks for the comments and encouragement.


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## Steve R (Aug 21, 2020)

Checking in to see if you had much opportunity to use the mill? I would like to hear some feedback on it?? How does the controls feel?? How does the fit and feel of the machine?? Noise level?? Vibration??


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## MtnBiker (Aug 21, 2020)

Steve R said:


> Checking in to see if you had much opportunity to use the mill? I would like to hear some feedback on it?? How does the controls feel?? How does the fit and feel of the machine?? Noise level?? Vibration??


I'm working with PM right now. There is a short punch list...have a belt/noise issue that the factory is working on. I'll recap at the other end. The X,Y,Z controls feel like buttah. Power is really good - the back gear makes this a torque monster for steel. Ran a face mill on some aluminum plate and surface finish was excellent. Having a power feed on the Z (this is a heavy Z) is..well...can't imagine cranking by hand. Lots to like.


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## MtnBiker (Oct 31, 2020)

Quick update on shop and tooling progress. Spent quality time with the mill and getting the hang of this. Working on speeds/feeds and production setups. So much to learn. As new equipment comes in we wanted to stop renting fork lifts and get a crane. More than we need now but hopefully future proofing. The Spanco 3 ton, height adjustable gantry is a beast. So beastly, at over 900 lbs, we had to have help from our body-builder friend (did a great job holding up a 300 lb I-beam). The assembly was pretty easy overall and we're ready for more shop equipment (Siegmund weld table and Ellis band saw get here next week). A little height constrained (9'6" ceiling) but I can lift the mill almost 7" and that's about the tallest thing I can imagine in this shop. When we finally build a larger, dedicated shop the crane can go to 12' and that will open up some possibilities.


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## MtnBiker (Dec 17, 2020)

Thought I'd share a quick update on the shop build. Lots has changed since the 1054 arrived. Adding more metal fab equipment before we add more machine tools. The 1054 is providing good service although trying to work though a few issues has resulted in PM ordering me a new J-head. Should be here in January. I'll document the trade-out.




Cabinets are gone (moved to rented storage shed  but we needed the space). Also added 4 more LED shop lights (6 total) so we can actually see in here. Such a difference.






Added an Ellis 1600 band saw. We still have an Evolution miter saw but found both blade life and the continuous spray of molten metal was kind of a downer. The Ellis is a monster. And quiet, which fits our residential setting much better. The cut quality is also excellent as you can see here.



New Siegmund weld table. Also a monster.




Having fun bending conduit. The sub-panel is nice because we can turn off the power and wire things without turning off the house (I don't play around live 240v stuff).




Prototype weld cart. We'll finish and paint it once we're done experimenting on handle locations, cord mgmt and such.

More to come as we expand capabilities and build a small customer base.


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## 7milesup (Dec 17, 2020)

May I ask what are you making for the customer base?
Nice looking equipment you have there.


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## MtnBiker (Dec 18, 2020)

7milesup said:


> May I ask what are you making for the customer base?


We're doing some job shop work with local tradespeople (trailer mods, custom equipment racks, etc). Will do some random make to order stuff too. Exploring a bit. Building skills. Here is an example:





Replaced an ugly wood base with this one. Turned out really nice we think.


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## 7milesup (Dec 18, 2020)

Love that base.  We have a rather rustic house (a new house) in the woods, and I have plans for some similar items.
I enjoy perusing online stores such as Steel Vintage https://steelvintage.com/products/tables/  Get a lot of ideas for cool stuff I would like to make.  Of course, I seem to have no time.


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## MtnBiker (Jan 29, 2021)

7milesup said:


> Love that base.  We have a rather rustic house (a new house) in the woods, and I have plans for some similar items.
> I enjoy perusing online stores such as Steel Vintage https://steelvintage.com/products/tables/  Get a lot of ideas for cool stuff I would like to make.  Of course, I seem to have no time.


Thanks for the lead on that 7milesup. That is exactly the style we are after.


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## MtnBiker (Feb 13, 2021)

Setup - Round Deux

Due to some rattling/noise issues Matt graciously arranged to ship a new mill head. Finally got time to play Tetris in the shop (move equipment to move more equipment to maneuver crane without crashing into the garage door opener).

I liked the idea of a mill head removal post. Seemed like the best compromise to get the head off and on while ensuring proper alignment using the table.






You use a 3/4 collet to secure the head.






The head is back heavy with this solution but the post is robust (slotted/welded and heavy gauge steel). Seemed fine to me. I'll definitely use this solution when rebuilding or doing invasive repairs - will build a fixture to hold at normal human height. H&M Machine Repair supplied the post (and a wealth of instructional videos on YouTube).

Part of the weekend project was replacing the leveling shims with leveling feet. Shims work but we found that we were tripoding even though we were level (didn't notice at the time). Leveling 4 points can be tricky with heavy stuff. Leveling a lathe requires voodoo I imagine. Our garage floor is really sloped - shims were a pain.











Strongly recommend planning heavy lifts beforehand...the potential for serious injury is very real. We got some wheel chocks for the casters which worked out very well.

The design of the foundation helped a lot. We did a prior lift to store the new mill head on a table in order to put the old one back into the shipping crate. The hole in the wall is the result (less than 400 lbs and the crane got away from us). These knee mills are front heavy (as I suspect all mills are) so a lift will usually involve some lateral loads. Plan for that and make sure whatever you are using to lift has enough headroom for some lateral loading. No joke with 3k lbs.






Found this to be an excellent way to lift a J-head. 6 foot strap double wrapped. We're a little vertically challenged in our shop (I can move the crane up 6" but then we're dodging light fixtures and as of yet don't have the bottle jack mod to actually lift the I-beam). So we needed all the headroom we could get. This worked really well...very secure and balanced.






Mounting the new one. The installation post makes this really easy with a mill table's precise movements.

Did one more lift to install the leveling feet. Cribbed H&W's design with some 1x3" steel bar.






Measure, cut, bore, thread.






Finished product with leveling feet attached.






Leveling feet with cantilevers installed. Super stable and easy to level. Looking forward to many years of service in our metal fab business.

Note: new head is running much more smoothly, spindle action up/down is smoother, pdf engagement is better. The TV heads are convenient and the design is robust and simple. The variable pully design does introduce some noise and vibration into the mix just to set expectations. I think a TS and VFD is a better solution if you have the technical ability and patience to handle the install.


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## davidpbest (Feb 13, 2021)

You might consider putting acorn nuts on top of your leveling feet adjusters as a safety precaution.






I will be interested to hear how the new head performs in service.

David


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## MtnBiker (Feb 13, 2021)

davidpbest said:


> You might consider putting acorn nuts on top of your leveling feet adjusters as a safety precaution...
> 
> David


That is a good suggestion! Core sample injuries are no bueno.


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