# New PM 949



## scott55 (Sep 25, 2017)

So I decided to jump into the deep end with both feet, and my new PM-949 TS is here.
It was actually delivered last week to my friend’s warehouse but he was out of town, so it had to wait.
Spend all day yesterday figuring out how to get it from there to my basement.
Ended up disassembling a lot of it and making 2 trips in order to be able to handle the weight.
Still have to figure out how to get the base and knee into the basement. I ended up parking the trailer in the garage for now until I can get some more assistance with moving it into the basement.

Initial impressions of the machine are excellent. It seems to be very well made and carefully finished. Everything moves smooth as glass. Can’t wait to get it up and running, but to be truthful that will take a while, as I still have to do more cleaning in order to make a spot for it and then reassemble it, run power, figure out how to setup the VFD, install the power feed, and DRO. I will have plenty to keep me busy for a while.

If anyone has hints or suggestions please feel free to provide them.
I am noob here and interested in learning.


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## Bob Korves (Sep 25, 2017)

Do you need to take the mill down the stairs, or do you have outside access to the basement.    If the former, describe the stairs and access to them...


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## scott55 (Sep 26, 2017)

Actually I have a rollup garage door only issue will be backing uphill to it. 
I "think" we have a useable plan to get it into the house and reasembled. 
Getting enough height with the engine hoist to get it off of the trailer may be an issue. 
I guess we shall see.


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## [X]Outlaw (Sep 26, 2017)

Sweet machine!


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## Metal (Sep 26, 2017)

Be careful you don't blow through those stairs


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## scott55 (Sep 26, 2017)

[X]Outlaw said:


> Sweet machine!


It's the same one you have isn't it?


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## scott55 (Sep 26, 2017)

Metal said:


> Be careful you don't blow through those stairs


No stairs to worry about. Have a full-size rollup garage door on the basement.
Hard part is the yard behind the basement slopes away pretty quickly and the trees are fairly close.
Maneuvering the truck and trailer is going to be the big challenge I think, also figuring how to lift the base and knee without the head on it.


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## [X]Outlaw (Sep 26, 2017)

scott55 said:


> It's the same one you have isn't it?


Same machine and I should be able to start actually using it next week once I finish up some small open items on my installation


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## scott55 (Sep 26, 2017)

[X]Outlaw said:


> Same machine and I should be able to start actually using it next week once I finish up some small open items on my installation


Do you plan to post pics of the DRO install?
I hope to be doing mine soon. Ideas are welcome. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## Metal (Sep 26, 2017)

scott55 said:


> No stairs to worry about. Have a full-size rollup garage door on the basement.
> Hard part is the yard behind the basement slopes away pretty quickly and the trees are fairly close.
> Maneuvering the truck and trailer is going to be the big challenge I think, also figuring how to lift the base and knee without the head on it.



just a minute I'll get you some pictures


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## Metal (Sep 26, 2017)

Here's the two tricky ones for my BP which is the same-ish mill, I thought I had more pictures

The column I moved by cutting a hardwood 4x8, getting it inside the column with the side door and just wrapping a strap around it
The knee I moved with a furniture dolly, its only like 300 pounds
The Ram had a eyelet hole on top to be lifted from, but it took a lot of screwing around to come apart

If you are trying to move the mill with the knee still on it the center of gravity will be pretty far forward, I would move it all the way down, engage the lock on the Z and try to lift it the same way with the knee away from the crane, very carefully


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## [X]Outlaw (Sep 26, 2017)

scott55 said:


> Do you plan to post pics of the DRO install?
> I hope to be doing mine soon. Ideas are welcome.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Hey Scott,

I haven't installed my DRO yet but I will post lots of pics when I do.


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## scott55 (Sep 28, 2017)

Metal said:


> Here's the two tricky ones for my BP which is the same-ish mill, I thought I had more pictures
> 
> The column I moved by cutting a hardwood 4x8, getting it inside the column with the side door and just wrapping a strap around it
> The knee I moved with a furniture dolly, its only like 300 pounds
> ...



Thanks for the suggestion. As it happened I had some pieces on 4x6 left from building the deck.
I used your idea plus added some 2x4 blocks to keep the chain away from the casting. Also added some cargo straps to help support the knee.
Worked like a charm. (Pics in main post)


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## scott55 (Sep 28, 2017)

Well she is all in the basement and reassembled. Probably not the final placement, but close to it. Turned out to be quite a bit easier than expected. Now for power and VFD.


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## Metal (Sep 28, 2017)

Perfect
Just remember that the thing is much more topheavy that it seems like it should be so be careful , lower the table and spin the head if you can every time you move it


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## mikey553 (Oct 9, 2017)

It looks like your machine is still under warranty. My advice - check it out as much as you can while you still able to obtain the warranty service.

I have a similar 9x49 PM mill just with variable speed head. I have nothing but trouble with my machine. Despite Matt's assurances I do not believe it was made in Taiwan. Some of the parts (screws, maybe head) are Taiwanese, but the rest of the parts and main assembly are done in China. Inside the ram casting I have found a piece of newspaper, which my Chinese co-worker identified as Chinese paper with 100% certainty. Most of the parts are of horrible quality. The castings interior surfaces are not cleaned of sand and painted over it. The sand keeps falling down on the screws and bearings. It needs to be cleaned out if you want your machine to live a long, happy life.

The head supposed to rotate on the ram adapter, but mine was very difficult to move. I took it apart only to find out the worm gear on the ram adapter is too short to act as a pilot for the head.
The knee pedestal is bolted to the column base. Do you think they machined the base for it? Wrong, they ground the base casting with an angle grinder to make it fit.
The gibs are scraped on one side and ground on the other one. But they are not flat at all. One of the gib screw holes was not tapped deep enough, so instead of fixing the hole they just cut the screw in half. Now I will have to make a new screw.

The worst thing is the vertical spacing between the spindle and the table is only 13.5". Bridgeport has about 18". I would not buy such a machine if I knew about it ahead of time. Matt sent me a 4" column riser, but it is not the same as a properly designed and made machine. I am not complaining, just sharing my experience so the other guys would not have to go through this.


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## [X]Outlaw (Oct 12, 2017)

Scott you're going to love that machine.

For the record I had none of the problems *mikey553* described.

I am a very critical person when it comes to quality. I took delivery of my PM949 a few months ago and I have gone through this machine "bow to stern" so to speak. I have found absolutely nothing to complain about. 

All travels of the machine was as described in the quoted specifications.
All precision surfaces are nicely ground and all axis moves as smooth as silk throughout their entire travel.
The ram slides back and forth perfectly as does the tilt and nod on the head.
I did stick my head into the main body casting to have a look around. Inside was was clean and painted with a coating of red oxide.
The table finish is beautiful with no scratches. 
Even the pain job is nice.
I measured the runout of the spindle from both inside the taper and outside the spindle with an Interapid  .0001" DTI. I got no measurable runout.
The motor runs smooth and quiet right up to 100Hz.

There were no miss drilled holes, no cut bolts, no assemblies that were shoehorned  into place.

My PM1340GT lathe that I received together with the mill is just as nice. 

I could only speak about my own machines....I am very, very pleased with their quality. 

Chevy


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## 4cyclic (Oct 12, 2017)

Good to know Chevy,  as I'm eyeing the same model  949 for next spring.


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## Silverbullet (Oct 14, 2017)

Maybe the exporter slipped a China model in on Matt's supply . With all the things he's having trouble with I'd keep real good pictures or videos to show him and ask for an exchange or refund some for the difference. Let him fight it out with his suppliers. He don't want unhappy customers.


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## qualitymachinetools (Oct 16, 2017)

Someone just alerted me to this, but its not quite the tone they said. Who are you? I can not find anyone or anything by searching with the info I can see here. These mills, the PM-949TS, and PM-949TV, as well as the 935Ts/V and others we have are absolutely made in Taiwan.   The PM-950V has the head made in Taiwan, and the body made in China, just like they say.         And a newspaper? I have had piles of Chinese newspaper around at times, its how a lot of the stuff comes packed in.   But I would really like to know who you are, because I sure have never heard of these issues. These 935/949/1054T models mills are excellent machines, and are absolutely made in Taiwan.


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## darkzero (Oct 16, 2017)

qualitymachinetools said:


> Someone just alerted me to this, but its not quite the tone they said. Who are you? I can not find anyone or anything by searching with the info I can see here. These mills, the PM-949TS, and PM-949TV, as well as the 935Ts/V and others we have are absolutely made in Taiwan.   The PM-950V has the head made in Taiwan, and the body made in China, just like they say.         And a newspaper? I have had piles of Chinese newspaper around at times, its how a lot of the stuff comes packed in.   But I would really like to know who you are, because I sure have never heard of these issues. These 935/949/1054T models mills are excellent machines, and are absolutely made in Taiwan.



Matt, wrong thread, similar thread title. This is the one, thanks!

http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/pm-949-or-950.62540/post-519343


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