PM-1236-T 12″x36″ Ultra Precision Lathe-Good Machine?

[Titanium Knurler]

Terrific Gman! We will have to stay in touch.

 

[Kiwi Canuck]

Wow, you show up here a week or so ago and now you have ordered a PM 1236T. !!

Most folks, myself included tortured ourselves for a few months going back and forth before ordering, I like your style.

That is a very nice machine, and I'm sure you will be happy with it, I look forward to hearing your feedback once you get it up and running.

BTW welcome to the forum.

David.

 

[Titanium Knurler]

Thanks for the “welcome” David.

I had some guidance from another HM Forum member “Mikey” through private messaging, I believe it is called, that was very helpful to me in making my decision.
To be honest, just about any machine exceeds my capabilities at the moment but I hope to change that. The PM 1236T just seemed to have all the right characteristics for me, I had already gone up a size from the PM 1228 and just wasn’t willing to go up one more to the larger 1340G even though hardened gears, etc. we’re hard to pass-up.

It’s an obvious statement but I think the machine operator is much more important than the machine. When I was about twelve years old my father bought a Crafstman drill press. It was our only “large” power tool for years. I could not leave it alone. Not only did I use it to bore holes, I used it as a drum sander, a “vertical lathe” shaping metal with a file, I even bought a machine vise and used it as a milling machine. I beat the crap out of that machine but I got a tremendous amount of enjoyment out of it and made some pretty nice little projects. It was also a springboard to my interest in metal and woodworking. I guess my point is that the drill press was not a great machine but I knew it inside and out and used it to its limit. I am not exaggerating when I say this new lathe is WAY more capable than I am right now but I hope to know it as I knew that old Craftsman drill press some day. If I outgrow the 1236T, great, I’ll get a bigger and better one but that will not happen for a very long time so I didn’t perseverate over which was absolutely the best machine for me.

 

[Kiwi Canuck]

Thanks for the “welcome” David.

I had some guidance from another HM Forum member “Mikey” through private messaging, I believe it is called, that was very helpful to me in making my decision.
To be honest, just about any machine exceeds my capabilities at the moment but I hope to change that. The PM 1236T just seemed to have all the right characteristics for me, I had already gone up a size from the PM 1228 and just wasn’t willing to go up one more to the larger 1340G even though hardened gears, etc. we’re hard to pass-up.

It’s an obvious statement but I think the machine operator is much more important than the machine. When I was about twelve years old my father bought a Crafstman drill press. It was our only “large” power tool for years. I could not leave it alone. Not only did I use it to bore holes, I used it as a drum sander, a “vertical lathe” shaping metal with a file, I even bought a machine vise and used it as a milling machine. I beat the crap out of that machine but I got a tremendous amount of enjoyment out of it and made some pretty nice little projects. It was also a springboard to my interest in metal and woodworking. I guess my point is that the drill press was not a great machine but I knew it inside and out and used it to its limit. I am not exaggerating when I say this new lathe is WAY more capable than I am right now but I hope to know it as I knew that old Craftsman drill press some day. If I outgrow the 1236T, great, I’ll get a bigger and better one but that will not happen for a very long time so I didn’t perseverate over which was absolutely the best machine for me.

Thanks for the detailed response, it's always interesting to find out what journey other's took to get them here and then the rationale to buy the machine they chose.

I usually buy tools as you did, look, choose, buy, done, but with the lathe and mill I felt I needed to learn about them first.

To help with all the choices, I ended up putting together a spreadsheet so I could keep all the info straight in my head, it became overwhelming.

But to backup a bit the reason I "needed" a mill was that I too had outgrown 2 drill presses and was frustrated that I couldn't drill a series of holes were I wanted.

If I was looking to buy today the PM1236T would be very high on my list.

I think the biggest thing I've learned (or confirmed) was something Mark Jacobs (mksj) said in an email to me.

“VFDs are not inexpensive to install correctly”. I think this applies to machining in general, and it's been said many times on here.

I have been ordering all the bits and pieces for a VFD install on 2 machines and it feels like it's never ending, same for tooling, I've read it here many times but until you are the one pulling out the credit card it doesn't sink in.

As you said in one of your posts spending $1,000 to solve a $10 problem or something like that.

Good luck and have fun.

David.

 

[gman10259]

Will Do Titanium Knurler, right now I'm scheduled to receive my PM 1236-T this Thursday.....if all goes well

 

[JohnnyTK]

I can not wait for the updates on this model, as I have been looking at this one also.

 

[gman10259]

The Eagle has Landed

 

[Titanium Knurler]

Congratulations! Looks like a beauty. I bet you were playing around with it all weekend.

Keep us posted,
Mike

 

[gman10259]

Just doing my first oil change so I decided to take a look in the gear box after hearing and seeing some stories of how filthy (Chips, busted drill bits, etc) the inside of some the Chinese gearboxes have been. I was pleasantly surprised how good this Taiwanese gearbox looked inside. Been impressed with it so far.

 

[navav2002]

So how is the 1236t?? Can you give us any feedback at this point?? I am dreaming of upgrading my current 9x20 lathe. I've basically decided on either the 1236 w/preffered package or 1236t. There is a Whole Lotta bang for your buck with the standard 1236 coupled with the preffered package. It's probably the most logical choice for my needs but deep down I really want a Tiawanese machine. Of course my dream lathe would be the 1340gt, but I don't need the added capacity nor the hardened gears (ie: can't afford it). That's what makes the 1236t so attractive, it's basically my dream lathe but more within reach.

Oh well, it's all a dream right now anyway but hope I can upgrade someday..