Happy owner of a New PM-30MV :D

[acruxksa]

My mill arrived via ship Sunday, but they didn't have it unloaded from the van until this morning. I didn't waste any time hooking up the utility trailer and heading down to pick it up. The crate arrived in excellent condition and no visible damage anywhere. Yay! 13 days from the Precision Matthews warehouse in to my garage in Anchorage, Alaska!

Everything went very smoothly. My engine hoist worked quite well and my son had the day off, so he was able to help me get it from the trailer to the garage. I even had a spare 240v 3 prong connector (same as what I use for my welder). We got it put in place and I spent an hour or so cleaning the shipping cosmoline off everything I could get to with liberal applications of wd40 and elbow grease via a gray scotch pad.

After a couple minor adjustments (removal of plastic guard and adjustment of the R8 Collet set screw) I was able to get my Vise mounted and squared. I'm leaving for 5 weeks Saturday, so I'm not going to start a full breakdown and cleaning followed by tramming until I get back. For now, it's enough to get to know the mill and do some small projects that won't require more than ok precision. Promptly milled a T nut for one of my vise stops. I have a couple other things to keep me busy for the next 3 days.

I have not mounted the Mill to the rolling tool box yet, mostly because I'm not sure it's going to be the final resting place for it. Also, even if it is, I want to get a piece of 3/8 plate to put on top of the cart to mount it to. It's going to be ok where it is for now though and seems to be the perfect height for me.

 

[DavidR8]

Looks great! Let the chips begin!

 

[acruxksa]

Looks great! Let the chips begin!

Yes! I should also mention that one other quick adjustment I did was to break the sharp edges of the spindle wrench with my bench grinder. Not sure if they've all got the same sharp edges, but it certainly was worth the 5 minutes it took to do.

 

[raven7usa]

Had to do the same to my spindle wrench and then wrapped several times with duct tape.

 

[7milesup]

Cool Jeep!

 

[acruxksa]

Cool Jeep!

Thanks. My daughter used to drive it in High School, hence the license plate. The front half is a CJ10A (84') (Airforce surplus flightline tractor), back half of the frame is from an 80' Cherokee Chief and the bed is an early 60's chevy bed. Engine is Original Equipment for a Jeep CJ10a.....ie Nissan SD33 Diesel (90hp).

I managed to make some chips while giving the mill a bit of a trial run. This is a piece of Hardox 1.5" thick plate. Not sure if it's 400 or 450 but in any case, it's a bit harder than average. Used a cheap chinese 2" carbide insert face mill on 4 sides and a 1/2" Niagra roughing end mill on the ends. (they're about as smooth as you would expect with a roughing end mill.) Still have the bottom large flat to face mill, but will get to that tomorrow.

 

[Tio Loco]

After you have used it a bit, I'd like your thoughts about mounting it on a tool box. I did that with my lathe (replaced casters with retractable ones), but all of the online advice talks about steel frames, bolting it to the floor, etc.

How say you?

 

[acruxksa]

After you have used it a bit, I'd like your thoughts about mounting it on a tool box. I did that with my lathe (replaced casters with retractable ones), but all of the online advice talks about steel frames, bolting it to the floor, etc.

How say you?

I have a heated concrete slab, so bolting it to the floor would be far more time consuming than I'm willing to deal with. When I do finally find a permanent resting place for it, I will mount it on casters with feet that can raise it off the wheels and level it. Not sure about the tool box yet, but anything I build will have to wait until I have more time (probably this winter) I do know that regardless, I'm going to have to come up with some sort of housing for behind the mill at a minimum. That face mill was throwing some hot blue chips everywhere. The wooden top of the toolbox is now checkered with burn marks. More argument for a steel plate at a minimum.

I also plan to remove all the wood scrap currently stored behind it as well as relocating the racks above it, but those are also projects for long winter nights when I have several months off.

I will certainly post any changes I make. Going to get the DRO installed today and maybe try to get my wiper motor power feed running for mock up. Probably won't get to the mechanics of it until I get back from work in August though.

 

[acruxksa]

Installing the X axis DRO wasn't too bad, I just had to use my smallest cordless drill and cut about 3/4" off the drill bit to get the holes for the center gauge pickup drilled and tapped................So far the Y axis has kicked my arse. I've had several ideas and gotten part way or most of the way done with them before deciding I didn't like it and started over. Still haven't drilled or tapped anything for the Y axis.........Leaving for work tomorrow so I'll chew on it for a bit and deal with it when I get back in 4 or 5 weeks.

In the process of making things to make things to mount my Y axis DRO, I've found that using a 1/2" Niagra Roughing End Mill on Mild Steel is almost soothing................................It just chews away the metal smoothly and efficiently.................. and even though it's a roughing end mill, the finish isn't that bad.

 

[BGHansen]

You may consider some cookie sheets or something similar under the table sides for quick chip control. Easy dump into the trash and keeps the wooden bench top from getting inundated with embedded chips. Congrats on the mill! Any projects in mind?

Bruce