# 1340gt finally made it after what looks like a rough ride



## Fallon (Jan 26, 2018)

Got a call from Saia on Tuesday. I was busy Thursday, so scheduled the delivery for today (Friday). Was getting kind of torqued that they ditched me for an early weekend until the driver finally called at nearly 6pm. He finally made it at 7 or so after getting stuck in a traffic jam in the middle of nowhere (car wreck a couple miles away). Grabbed the crate & boxes out of the back of the semi with the Kubota. They put a pallet under the crate so the driver could move it around. Unfortunately that pallet was pretty smashed & only half under the crate. Ended up disassembling the pallet under the crate while they were both sitting on my pallet forks so I could set the crate down level & stand a chance at getting forks under it again.

Open up the boxes containing the stand first as they were the worse for wear. No metal damage, but the paint on them & the stickers is all sorts of scuffed. A bit of metal showing on the corners of the headstock stand & both doors. No bends or dents I can tell yet, maybe a few dings on the corners.










The crate was fully intact & seems to have survived crushing the pallet. Pulled out all the boxes containing all the accessories & stuff. One of the small aluminum boxes was on the loosing end of some fight, but i'm not quite sure what the fight was with. At any rate it opens fine & nothing important was messed up, inside at least. None of the other aluminum or tool boxes were any worse for wear. Some of the cardboard boxes were a a bit worn or chewed up, but no contents seemed to be harmed.






Unloaded the pallet a bit more & found some more paint damage on the drip tray, edges got chipped & rubbed a fair bit as well as a spot or 2 on the bottom. Again no metal damage though & I think it's mostly on the back & bottom. The back splash of the lathe itself got scuffed a bit from some of the boxes vibrating, but luckily not though the paint. May even just be some dust ground on a bit rather than paint damage. The back panel between the stands got scuffed a bit, but not through the paint & not nearly as bad as the doors for the stands.






The good news is the lathe itself looks to be fine, except for that trivial dirt or scuffing on the back of the back splash. Well, other than the expected cosmaline, dirt & splinters from unpacking & shipping. Knew that was coming & I'd need to clean that off though. Actually, looking at that photo now, looks like the pallet might have taken one of the "feet" of the pallet with it.






Now comes the hard part. Have to figure out if I'm gonna bother trying to re-paint the stands at all. I figure it's cold enough here in Colorado for a while I probably won't bother. Hopefully the worst of the dings will just be hidden under the drip tray. As my tractor won't fit under the door to my shop that hangs off the side of the barn I'm in for some work assembling this thing. Have a pallet jack to get it in position & gonna borrow an engine hoist from a friend down the road (he wants me to do some tractor work for him anyway). Wrapped it up as it was getting late & in the 20's, all the melting snow froze back up.


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## Z2V (Jan 27, 2018)

The same trucking company delivered mine and I had the same damage to the stands. The lathe crate was also busted up pretty good but fortunately no damage to the equipment. Good to hear yours survived as well.


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## Aaron_W (Jan 27, 2018)

Maybe the ship got in a scuffle with pirates on the way over. That Aluminum case looks like it might have stopped a cannon ball.

At least it looks like it is mostly cosmetic, but must be kind of a let down to get your new lathe and it already needs a touch up.


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## Blucllrplt (Jan 27, 2018)

i feel very fortunate after seeing your damage!   i received my 1440 yesterday, all crating in good shape and driver showed up early.  Shipper was FedEx so that might have played a role. 

Like your Kubota...mine is the M59.   couldn’t like without it!


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## Firestopper (Jan 27, 2018)

I've delt with fright damage in the past, very frustrating to say the least. As the shipper, I only use XPO Logistics formally known as Con-Way. They cost a little more but have NEVER had a claim with them. a process that is a real PITA.  Been using them for 13 years and my crates are stout as hell. 
I would paint the stand while its apart tho. 
Congratulations on your new machine!
Paco


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## wrmiller (Jan 27, 2018)

My 1340GT was delivered by UPS freight and while the lathe itself suffered no physical damage, the stands, backsplash, and the piece that fits between the stands (old style stand) was scuffed up pretty good. One of the pieces (I don't remember which one) had a bit of a tweak done to it during shipping, so I had to tweak it back to the way it was supposed to be. 

Aside from that one tweaked thing, I had some of the mandatory paint chips and scuffs that shippers manage to inflict on our new toys, but thankfully all the important stuff was in good order. Even though some of the boxes containing some of the accessories looked like they'd been in a war zone. 

I'm glad to see that basically everything arrived intact. That's the important part. I'm with Paco on the paint touch-up, if for nothing else than to protect the metal. The top of the stands are under the chip tray, so I'd probably just brush on some rustoleum on there just to protect the exposed stuff.


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## 19E60 (Jan 27, 2018)

Congrats on your new machine, you guys are giving me upgrade fever.


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## projectnut (Jan 27, 2018)

I would contact the shipping company and make a claim for damage it transit.  At this point you know is that there is some paint damage.  However given the state of the pallet you have no idea whether the machine itself has hidden damage.  You might be lucky and all is well.  On the other hand if you don't start a claim within a short period of time (usually 24 to 48 hours) there may be no recourse if/when you find the damage. 

It takes a lot of force to crush a pallet.  That force may have come from dropping the crate on it.  The last thing you want to find weeks down the road is the bed is bent, gears are damaged, or some it has other damage that isn't visible at this moment.


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## Dredb (Jan 27, 2018)

19E60 said:


> Congrats on your new machine, you guys are giving me upgrade fever.



Just what I was thinking. I've had the belt head version for 25 years, I don't NEED to upgrade but seeing pictures of your new machine makes me WANT to. I might use a different carrier though!


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## Fallon (Jan 28, 2018)

Question: Clean off all the cosmaline & what not before or after putting it together? I'm thinking after so the commaline might help protect it while I'm shuffling it around.


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## Doubleeboy (Jan 28, 2018)

I am not beating up on Matt or QM they are well regarded.  That said the problem with damaged equipment is the use of common carriers.  UPS and Fed Ex Freight along with YRC, Estes, Oak Harbor and all the rest use so many terminals, so many trucks and reload centers that a skid loaded on the east coast might see half a dozen trucks on its trip across country.  Its the reloads that damage the freight.  I know a guy one man shop representing a variety of companies like Kent, Chevalier, Accra, etc.  He will not ship common carrier, he goes through a freight router, finds a trucker, trucker picks it up and takes it to end destination on open trailer, package partially crated, shrunk wrapped and then tarped.  He says his blood pressured dropped dramatically when he went this route, his customers are happier and he sees next to no damage,usually a little touch up paint and that is that. That and its usually cheaper than common carrier. In last 15 years I have bought half dozen tools and had em shipped, all in 2000-3500 lb range.  The common carriers damaged every machine, the open trailer independent truckers damaged nothing.  Food for thought for guys buying machines.  The other thing about open trailer is its easy to get one with air ride suspension, good luck getting air ride trailer for your common carrier shipment.

michael


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## Fallon (Jan 31, 2018)

> Hi Devin,
> 
> I ordered the new stickers for you and they will be drop shipping directly from the factory to you.  As far as the paint, we are checking to see what we can get you that will match up with that.  There isn't a color code that tells us exactly what to get but we will get it matched up for you.  If there's anything else you need let us know.
> 
> ...



Well, they seem to be working on it & trying to make things right. Meanwhile I'm finishing up cleaning up the corner of my shop, doing the last bit of wiring & stalling with some other cleanup & lighting projects waiting to put the lathe together.


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## middle.road (Jan 31, 2018)

Seems to me that the worker bees are forced to make do with pallet jacks when the situation calls for a fork truck. 
They grab them and slide them hither, thither and yon, when the pallet or crate needs to be lifted.


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## Fallon (Jan 31, 2018)

middle.road said:


> Seems to me that the worker bees are forced to make do with pallet jacks when the situation calls for a fork truck.
> They grab them and slide them hither, thither and yon, when the pallet or crate needs to be lifted.



It's hard to dedicate a forklift to sit in the back of every truck all day long. A pallet jack is much smaller & lighter to maneuver stuff in the back of the truck while on the road. And really, you can do much less damage with a pallet jack than you can with a forklift. Personally I've destroyed a lot more stuff with the pallet forks on my tractor than I have with my pallet jack. Anyway pallet forks would have speared things or broken/bent things, not caused chafing damage or crush damage (unless things were double stacked & you went down to far with the forks messing with the top load).

The 2 legs of the stand were actually in their own boxes & not on a pallet. At least until he picked them up by hand & set them on top of the crate as I was unloading it with the tractor. I'll blame those on a rough trailer ride & insufficient packing. The crushed case & scuffed panels/trays in the crate as well was a combination of rough trailer ride & insufficient packing.

As others noted, there probably wasn't air ride in that trailer. The fact the crate crushed a pallet indicates there was a lot of bouncing & vibration going on in there.


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## Silverbullet (Jan 31, 2018)

Didn't know they provided scratch and dent service during the high priced delivery ride. Lucky it was at least created. 
Congratulations on a very nice lathe.


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## Alan H. (Jan 31, 2018)

*Congratulations on the new machine! * It is a crying shame that the freight company did all that damage.  It is good to see that Precision Matthews is helping out, as always.

In the past 14 months I bought a PM1340GT, a PM935TV, an Ellis 9400 drill press, and an Ellis 1600 bandsaw.  All were relatively heavy and all were delivered by Fedex freight and none had any damage.   So I became a fan of Fedex Freight but sounds like my experience may be a bit
 different.

BTW, my 1340 stands were shipped separately and came about 2 weeks after the lathe arrived.  Again Fedex was the carrier and no damage.


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## FOMOGO (Jan 31, 2018)

Sorry about the shipping damage, but glad you got it, and it's mostly ok. Maybe this is why I stick to beat up old machinery. Shipping always seems to be kind of a crap shoot, but for the most part I've had pretty good luck over the years. Welcome to the site, from a fellow Coloradan. Cheers, Mike


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## Fallon (Jan 31, 2018)

FOMOGO said:


> Sorry about the shipping damage, but glad you got it, and it's mostly ok. Maybe this is why I stick to beat up old machinery. Shipping always seems to be kind of a crap shoot, but for the most part I've had pretty good luck over the years. Welcome to the site, from a fellow Coloradan. Cheers, Mike



I was leaning that direction, but decided I didn't want to gamble & deal with rebuilding an old machine. I could do it, but realized I have better things on my priority list for now. That list is long enough as it is. That and I'm not familiar enough with the machines yet so wanted to play it safe with a warranty. So decided to try new for once.


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## Kamloopsendo (Feb 6, 2018)

I had some minor damage to my GT1340 as well although the crates looked fine when I received them both doors on the base were scuffed and one significantly bent.  There was also damage to the chip tray paint although no distortion.  I'm not quite sure how it happened without the shipper having visibly damaged the crates.  I so far have not repainted anything although my damage was not as extensive as yours was but did have to tweak the door on my press to get is straight.   Also had to bend and reshape the levers for the door latches on the base because as supplied (they were straight) they simply did NOT function.    I'm sure you will be pleased with the end result tho'.


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## Fallon (Feb 15, 2018)

Just waiting for some decent weather to try & paint the stands. Peeled off the aluminum badge on the stand which bent it all up despite being careful. Goo-Gone got the adhesive off. Did some light sanding to smooth things out.

Have a gallon of Sherwin Williams DTM color matched sitting ready to go. PM kicked off the refund for a couple of bucks more than the cost of the phone within a couple hours over the weekend. A gallon was the smallest they had, so it looks like my 2" x 72" grinder in a box build is gonna be color matched to my lathe, probably some other tools as well.

Bought a HVLP gun years ago but have managed to avoid ever using it so far. Finally gonna give it a shot. Might be pushing 60 this weekend. Hopefully warm enough to spray.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk


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## mksj (Feb 15, 2018)

While you are painting, you may consider reshooting the chip pan with a more durable paint or possibly something like a thicker epoxy floor coating. The hot chips and oil will take off the paint  in short order. I have a thin sheet pan that I slide between my lathe and the chip pan, make cleaning out the chips a bit easier and collects some of the cutting fluid. Also might consider adding a gearbox pump oiler and a small pan under the gearbox.
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/pm1340gt-gearbox-pump-oiler-system.37284/#post-507751


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## Fallon (Feb 15, 2018)

Saw the oiler thread, but just focusing on getting it running for now. May consider putting some of the grey DTM over the white pan if it doesn't mess up the color scheme to much.


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## Dan_S (Feb 15, 2018)

I think the big issue today is that a lot of delivery truck drivers don't know what they are doing when it comes to securing and handling large heavy items.

I mean look at what some dingus did to this mill!


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## Fallon (Mar 1, 2018)

The new stickers (thin aluminum actually) showed up the other day. The 60 degree weather I ordered still has yet to show up so the stands are just sitting there waiting.
	

		
			
		

		
	





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## Z2V (Mar 1, 2018)

They delivered your 60* weather to me by mistake, 79* here today.


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## Kamloopsendo (Mar 1, 2018)

Z2V said:


> They delivered your 60* weather to me by mistake, 79* here today.





Z2V said:


> They delivered your 60* weather to me by mistake, 79* here today.


Maybe you could share that weather, it's 36 here today


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## Z2V (Mar 1, 2018)

Kamloopsendo said:


> Maybe you could share that weather, it's 36 here today


I sure wish that was possible


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