My new PM932M-PDF, the good, bad and ugly

[yota]

the 935 is a PM knee mill.

 

[RebelJD]

While I was very disappointed with the 932 I received, Precision Matthews did step up and resolve the issues, mostly. I've always heard good things about Precision Matthews, but in hindsight its always relative to resolving issues. My sense is that the quality of any machine coming from China these days is much worse than it used to be, no matter who you buy it from in the US.

I have used my machine quite a bit in the past month and I'm happy with the way it works. I'm working mainly in the middle third of the table and I have it trammed to less than .0005 in both directions. It does get worse however as I move out closer to the ends. But its actually just a tick worse than the specs call for. I did buy a Boring Research adjustable spindle square which makes tramming the mill easier and faster. I also built a tramming fixture (my first project on the mill) because I got tired of beating on the headstock with a mallet. Given all the filler on the machine it did cause some cosmetic damage.

I've done deep hole boring, facing with fly cutter and a lot of milling and drilling on parts for a small CNC Mill I'm building. Everything has turned out great. As an aside, I'm using an X-Y table made in Switzerland by Fehlman for the CNC Mill. Talk about high quality compared to the China imports, WOW.

I though hard about going with a Taiwan import like the 935, but I'm retired and on a budget. Based on what I know now however, I would probably spend the extra money and go with the 935. Don't tell my wife.....

A few lessons learned --- The DRO is great, I can't imagine having a mill without one. I've also come to realize that I spend a lot time changing tools and cranking on the drawbar a lot gets old fast. You definitely need to get a spindle spline wrench, I painted my red to help remind me not leave it on the splines. I'm definitely going to install an air powered drawbar mod when I get the time. I also installed the levelers on some 3" square tubing to raise the table, its just too low for me to work comfortably.

 

[ericc]

5 thou on the table???!? And people are afraid of a little jaw lift on substandard vises. Things have to be put in perspective. A Kurt is nice, but might not always be necessary.

 

[yota]

glad to here you have things working well. I wonder if there is a spindle wrench that is open end? leaving one on the spindle sounds like something I could end up doing.

 

[RebelJD]

Yota, by the way I got the idea for the Boring Research gauge from your post. Thanks for helping me spend $100....

I don't think an open ended spline would work. I treat the spline wrench like a lathe chuck key, either its in your hand or its in it storage place.

 

[yota]

I remembered that I had this wrench for my South Bend lathe. works great on the 932 spindle and I can't forget and leave it on there.

 

[yota]

Yota, by the way I got the idea for the Boring Research gauge from your post. Thanks for helping me spend $100....

I don't think an open ended spline would work. I treat the spline wrench like a lathe chuck key, either its in your hand or its in it storage place.

mine only cost 47.00 but I already had a couple of old Peacock dial indicators.

 

[Larry$]

I wonder if there is a spindle wrench that is open end?

About 8 years ago I bought a cheap Chinese spindle socket wrench/brass tipped hammer combo. Made a bracket for the side of the mill. My mill requires that I tap the top of the drawbar, after loosening a bit, to free the collet. Works great. No reason to leave it in place.

 

[Cletus]

Am i to understand this "935" you got in near Asia is the same as a 932 available in the US?

I needed a Knee Mill and chose the PM-935TS 3PH. I was advised that there was a quality benefit in selecting a Taiwanese made product (meehanite castings, Turcite coated ways, fit and finish, etc). I was not disappointed.

 

[BladesIIB]

5 thou on the table???!? And people are afraid of a little jaw lift on substandard vises. Things have to be put in perspective. A Kurt is nice, but might not always be necessary.

I think his post says he trammed the table to .0005” which is 5 tenths or half thou.