Anyone have a PM-835S?

Pcmaker said:
Yeah I hear the 949 is pretty tall. Pain in the butt every time you gotta access the drawbar. Might push me towards the 935 or 835
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I am 5' 9". Even with my 835S I had to climb on a ladder to use the drawbar.

I decided not to put up with it so built a pneumatic power drawbar using an impact gun, deep socket, linear bearings and pneumatic cylinders so that wherever the quill was in its 5" travel I could still slacken and tighten the drawbar. The issue with over-the-counter drawbars is that unlike some other knee mills the drawbar goes up and down with the quill. I assume this is also true on the 935 as it is the same head. I didn't want to always retract the quill in order to use the power drawbar. I also use the Tormach tooling system which reduces the amount of slackening and tightening. There is another post on this site where I posted pictures of the power drawbar.

I have considered that there may be some splined two piece drawbars available that would eliminate the need for such a long travel but I have yet to find one.
 
Just rent a small fork lift for the day it is delivered. That is what I did.
 
How's are the finish details of the Chinese body on the 835S? I'm considering one and the images on the website are not detailed enough to provide any indication. Thank you.
 
TX COWDOC said:
How's are the finish details of the Chinese body on the 835S? I'm considering one and the images on the website are not detailed enough to provide any indication. Thank you.
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Looks and feels pretty good to me but you must be giving up something buying Chinese. Is that something you care about? I don't know.
All I know is that I have never seen any bench mill that comes close to a knee mill in mass and rigidity. The excellent adjustability for tram in all directions is also better than any bench mill I have seen, but I have only seen a few.
 
Appreciate the reply. Based on the differences in quality of finish seen on the lathes e.g. a PM1236 vs the 1236T, I'm interested in some observations on how the Chinese made base for the 835S compares.
 
TX COWDOC said:
Appreciate the reply. Based on the differences in quality of finish seen on the lathes e.g. a PM1236 vs the 1236T, I'm interested in some observations on how the Chinese made base for the 835S compares.
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Mine is really nice so far. The machining isn't perfect. My table had a blemish they filled in on the front. If I had it to do over I'd happily buy my mill again. The table moves like butter. Everything moves beautifully. The only issues are mildly cosmetic.

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Batmanacw said:
Mine is really nice so far. The machining isn't perfect. My table had a blemish they filled in on the front. If I had it to do over I'd happily buy my mill again. The table moves like butter. Everything moves beautifully. The only issues are mildly cosmetic.

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Have you milled stainless or other hardened steel with it? I'm leaning towards the 835 because of the price. Does it have any problems using large endmills 1/2" or larger? Heavy cuts and vibration?
 
Pcmaker said:
Have you milled stainless or other hardened steel with it? I'm leaning towards the 835 because of the price. Does it have any problems using large endmills 1/2" or larger? Heavy cuts and vibration?
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I cut 0.1" deep on 1.25" wide steel with a 1.5" face mill and it cut super smooth.
 
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