I am at the point of ordering the PM-1236, $2k less and it comes with the stand, 4 jaw chuck and Plate. But I have not pulled the trigger yet. PM is on Labor Dat Break until Tuesday, and so I have another 36 hours to worry the decision to death. For a pure hobby guy that has done no machining until just a few months ago, for all of 60 years, .... well .... I doubt I will be buying another in the next decade or two. Can anyone talk me out of the cheaper machine? Or should I just get on with it and pull the trigger?
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New PM-1236T Lathe has arrived
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Having been in the same position years ago, I ended up with the 1340GT because I previously had a Chinese mainland mill and regretted all the fit and finish issues. If you have the fund's buy the best you can. Also, do not count what comes with the lathe, chances are the more you get the cheaper it is. Buy better, buy less. The 4J Chinese chuck that came with my previous lathe was junk.
I went through the same consideration two years ago and quickly came to the conclusion I did not want to deal with Chinese quality issues. I have not been happy with most of the Chinese products I have purchased and decided I would rather cry once, then every time I used it. My 1236T was not issue free, but minor compared to other Chinese products I have.
The included chucks in the Chinese 1236 are likely to be lower quality then you can buy afterwards, so that was one of the reasons I did not consider that lathe very long. The three jaw chuck that comes with the 1236T does not have a country of origin on it, so I assume it is Chinese, and it is not something I would buy separately, but it works. The 4 jaw PM sells is from Taiwan and very good, and I am glad I bought that with my lathe.
The 1236T has NSK P5 tolerance bearings, I don’t know what the Chinese 1236 has, but unless the bearings were from a major brand, I would not trust them. There were a couple threads here recently about Grizzly lathes where the spindle bearings of the Chinese made lathes were standard tolerance but being passed off as higher quality, so that alone is worth the difference in price to me.
The included chucks in the Chinese 1236 are likely to be lower quality then you can buy afterwards, so that was one of the reasons I did not consider that lathe very long. The three jaw chuck that comes with the 1236T does not have a country of origin on it, so I assume it is Chinese, and it is not something I would buy separately, but it works. The 4 jaw PM sells is from Taiwan and very good, and I am glad I bought that with my lathe.
The 1236T has NSK P5 tolerance bearings, I don’t know what the Chinese 1236 has, but unless the bearings were from a major brand, I would not trust them. There were a couple threads here recently about Grizzly lathes where the spindle bearings of the Chinese made lathes were standard tolerance but being passed off as higher quality, so that alone is worth the difference in price to me.
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2019
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- 169
When I started looking at lathes I visited Busy-Bee tools in Calgary to see what was available. I was very disappointed with the quality of (the Chinese made) Lathes they had on display. I’m sure there are exceptional quality Chinese lathes available, but Busy-Bee didn’t appear to stock them. It was quite disheartening.
It seemed like the longer I looked, the more comfortable I became with spending an amount of money that months before would have seemed crazy. So I started looking at machines which potentially were of higher quality. After contacting Precision Matthews, I indicated I’d prefer quality over price and they suggested I consider the PM-1236T. I’ve not been disappointed, it definitely has the fit and finish I was looking for, and I’m very happy I didn’t settle for “what appears to be good enough” rather than “what I’d like”.
I cannot comment on the quality of the PM-1236 as I’ve never seen one.
Good luck with your decision! That’s a fair cost difference, so it’s understandably a hard decision to make.
To satisfy me, it only has to be markedly better than my current 7X14. It will hands-down manage that. It is unlikely I will do any heavy metal work but the PM-1236 will be much faster, taking deeper cuts than the 7X14 saving me a considerable amount of time. I am looking forward to having fun making chips. Thank you for the chat. Terry - W6LMJ
I got my DRO installed. Now I need to get the lathe set up so it can turn good parts. I have two problems that need to be sorted out. It turns tapers and it makes a rough finish. So today I made a headstock test bar. It is 12 inches long 12L14 steel. I have 9 inches sticking out from the collet. I have the collet chuck dialed in to less than 0.001 inch runout. I took light cuts and measured the diameters at both ends. I am getting 0.002 inch taper over 9 inches. The lathe bed is level (no twist). With the lathe level, I think I need to try to rotate the headstock in accordance with the user manual. I did try lifting the back leveling foot on the tailstock end, but no joy. I put a 0.015 inch shim under the foot. It still turned a taper, so I removed the shim. Now with the lathe level I will try to carefully rotate the headstock.
And I am getting a rough finish. I have my gibs adjusted to what seems good to me, so I don't suspect the gibs are the cause of the rough finish. But I do have radial play in the spindle of about 0.003 inches when I tug on the test bar. There is no axial play. And when I indicate inside the spindle taper, it is about 0.0001 inch (one tenth of a thou). But with a part in the chuck, I can wiggle it and measure about 0.003 inch radial play. With no axial play, I am hesitant to try to tighten up the bearings. I need to think about it. And I have been talking to P.M. tech support as I run into problems.
The Test Bar
Test Bar Taper
Spindle Play (This is not an accurate way to measure spindle play. See next page for accurate method.)
Rough Finish
And I am getting a rough finish. I have my gibs adjusted to what seems good to me, so I don't suspect the gibs are the cause of the rough finish. But I do have radial play in the spindle of about 0.003 inches when I tug on the test bar. There is no axial play. And when I indicate inside the spindle taper, it is about 0.0001 inch (one tenth of a thou). But with a part in the chuck, I can wiggle it and measure about 0.003 inch radial play. With no axial play, I am hesitant to try to tighten up the bearings. I need to think about it. And I have been talking to P.M. tech support as I run into problems.
The Test Bar
Test Bar Taper
Spindle Play (This is not an accurate way to measure spindle play. See next page for accurate method.)
Rough Finish
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Thank you for sharing your initial experiences with the lathe. I will follow along and try to learn. Nice videos. It certainly makes it easier to provide informed comments. I would look at the gibs and make sure your headstock is ridgid. I suspect that is affecting the smoothness and accuracy of your cut. I assume your cross slide and compound are locked? Did you do a run-in with the lathe after cleaning and re-oiling?
Make sure your collet chuck is sitting flat against the spindle and not rocking. I had slight burrs around the screw holes on the back plate that prevented it from sitting flat and once those were removed, I got better performance out of my chuck.
I cut the test bar in the collet chuck without the tailstock. That appears to be way to make a headstock test bar. Very light cuts are taken to prevent deflection.