New PM-833TV owner

[BrokenSpoke]

..and total machine shop amateur

I was looking at PM based on other Youtube videos and research, including this forum. I received the mill last week and had time this weekend to unpack, setup and push a high speed turning thingy into a chunk of aluminum Man, I'm going to have a billion questions over the coming months and years. I've been watching hundreds of Youtube machining videos since around June to make sure I was still interested and I got hooked. And, to think, I ordered a PM-1440GT too.... my head is going to explode as much as my wallet already has.

I've been looking to setup a metal shop for many years...about 20 or so... But, as you can imagine, life got in the way. I finally have a real mancave, so went to town buying equipment. I have no idea what I'm going to start first as far as a project. But, for now, decided to do the wax-on-wax-off basic exercises (i.e. "machine a bar of aluminum.... now make one thickness .500" exactly"). I ended up machining a bar of 7" with one side of the bar exactly .500" thick and far end .499 - not bad considering the awkward way I trammed mill (I didn't have an indicator holder to mount to the spindle - I'll do it correctly this weekend).

Anyway, back to the 833... My plan is to run it as a 100% manual mill for awhile and then convert it to CNC. or, maybe buy another model for CNC. Not sure right now. I had no issues purchasing the mill. The shipping was OK - they actually wheeled the boxes into my garage (the horror of it being dropped off at the end of my driveway was avoided. There was, however, some damage to the top of the crate holding the mill which I notated with the shipper and notified PM. Looks like the shipper dropped something extremely heavy onto the top of a precision instrument - I don't have much luck with shippers of big pieces.. They always seem to bugger something up. In my case (you can see from the pics), it only smashed the motor cover - the fan inside still spins without grinding and I didn't notice any issues using the mill. On the plus side, all the accessories were nicely packed in a separate box (I was a bit scared after seeing Clough42 video where they were bouncing around in the stand- lol).

Ok, now for the questions:
1) The hand wheels for X leadscrew- there's bolt on each. I loosely tightened them and of course, one spun almost completely off. When I tighten both down hard, it becomes extremely difficult to move. I'm not sure of the mechanics on what's happening. But, is there a rule of thumb here? tighten snug just before wheel resistance increases? One of the hand wheels has this annoying behavior where you need to push it in to turn the leadscrew. Seems like a "feature", but feels like a bug- Am I missing what the purpose of this is?

2) Drawbar - I never noticed until I started to use this, but in videos I've watched for other mills, its easily accessible. This thing is short and ends up buried in the machine to the point where I need to use a socket wrench instead of more convenient crescent style. Am I missing some attachment? From the manual, it seems to stick out several inches. Also, how in the world do you tighten it? The mills I've seen have a tool to hold the spindle while you use another took to tighten the drawbar. However, the spindle looks smooth and I don't see anywhere to attach a tool. Hand-holding it didn't really seem to get it tight enough - I had the end mill totally stop while making a .1 cut in aluminum.

I can't wait to get back in the cave, so much to learn.. This machine is nice and, from what my non-machinist eyes tell me, built real well. Can't wait for the lathe- I just don't know how I'm going to move the beast

 

[Aukai]

Exactly how I started, ambition, and capability, I'm still working on the ability part.

 

[7milesup]

Congrats on the mill purchase and welcome BrokenSpoke to the best forum on the net!

Interesting about tightening the drawbar up. I have the 833T and it needs to be shifted into its lowest gear in order to tighten and loosen the drawbar nut. Does the 833TV have a low range gear selector. If it does, that would be the way to change tools. The 833T has the drawbar sticking about 5 inches out of the top of the head, but the 833TV is a different arrangement, so yes, you probably do need to use a socket. I did cut my drawbar off some because it was at least an inch too long IMHO.
The handles on the X axis should be able to be tightened up and the axis work smoothly. Review the parts diagram in the manual to verify that it was all assembled correctly. Now that I think about it, I don't have my handle on the left side. Hmmm.. maybe I should check mine out...

I plan on converting mine to CNC eventually. --->This guy here<--- did a conversion with really good documentation.

 

[matthewsx]

Hello and welcome to the world of high speed turning thingies, don't stick your finger in there

I can't answer the questions on your specific machine but I can definitely tell you that having a manual mill to make parts for a CNC project would definitely be great. I suppose if you were building from a kit, or had a really good plan when you started you could get around it but I sure do wish I had another machine to make stuff for the machine I'm building.

oh well, you'll figure it out

just keep asking questions, there's lots of experienced folks here who will answer (and me)....


John

 

[Aukai]

If I'm reading it right, raise the spindle head up so the splines are accessible, and this wrench lets you tighten the nut. In you pictures I do not see the spindle shaft showing above the top deck, so I'm not sure if this would work.

 

[Toolmaker335xi]

Nice choice. I considered the 833 but was afraid of how I’d move it into the basement. Choose the 728 instead. I don’t regret it, but still want the 833. I picked mine up at PM and got to see them pretty much side by side and 833 is so much more machine for not much more money.

Good luck learning

 

[BrokenSpoke]

If I'm reading it right, raise the spindle head up so the splines are accessible, and this wrench lets you tighten the nut. In you pictures I do not see the spindle shaft showing above the top deck, so I'm not sure if this would work.
View attachment 352516

So, with the spindle all the way up, its still recessed a good way - at least an inch.. so there's no way to get in there with a wrench. That tool would need to be bent to work... hmm.. maybe I'll make one eventually of I cannot find another solution. In addition, the drawbar supplied vibrates pretty excessively - not sure if that is just normal with all of them or what... once I get a lathe, I'll probably make one that's straight

 

[Aukai]

Not sure what's up the 833T has the cup covering the splines like mine(Grizzly) the TV is different.

 

[BrokenSpoke]

It must be my imagination. The drawbar does stick out about an inch I just have to figure out how to hold the spindle side since there is no low gear or flat spot on it for a wrench or other tool to keep it from spinning easily. I did run across a thread on this forum late last night where someone asked the same question and PM said to hold the belt until they develop a tool to do otherwise. Since I would need to take the cover off to hold the belt, this sounds impractical.

Anyway, I finally got a proper indicator holder to check the tram again on X. Since the vice was already mounted, I was going to try and indicate off the vice. Looks to be about .001 over 6 inches. Not sure if that's 'good enough' for my work since I'm new I have no reference.

However, the Y direction is way more off and I don't know how to adjust it unless I use shims (of which it sounds like a bad idea due to rigidity loss). On the surface of the vise over 4", there was a .0055" change. Indicating off the surface of the table I was getting about .0035" over 3 3/4" (same slope direction). I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly or what I should be expecting, but it seems off and not sure exactly the best way to correct for this.

See if you can see the "scratch and dent" in the vise that saved me $200

 

[brino]

See if you can see the "scratch and dent" in the vise that saved me $200

There it is:

How come every time I ding up my mill vise I don't get $200?

It must be an exclusive feature of the Kurt's!

-brino