PM-1660TL

Save you some time, I would suggest you do not change the oils until you have put 50-100 hours on the lathe, the factory oils are very good and you want to let everything break-in first. I changed my factory oils after 1 year, and they all came out crystal clear with no evidence of particles/cloudy. I change my oils every 12-18 months more because of moisture/condensation build-up over time. I do add a neodymium magnet to my drain plugs that I embed with metal epoxy. Yet to see any residue on my ERL lathe, but my Chinese mainland mill I previously had, it was scary what came out.

When changing the oil make sure you cover the belt and brake below with plastic, some always seems to get by. I use some tape and stiff plastic sheet taped below the drain to direct the oil to a pan (something like 2 gallons form the headstock).

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That's very pretty, it's good that you took pictures, once you start it will never look that clean again. :)
 
mksj said:
Save you some time, I would suggest you do not change the oils until you have put 50-100 hours on the lathe, the factory oils are very good and you want to let everything break-in first. I changed my factory oils after 1 year, and they all came out crystal clear with no evidence of particles/cloudy. I change my oils every 12-18 months more because of moisture/condensation build-up over time. I do add a neodymium magnet to my drain plugs that I embed with metal epoxy. Yet to see any residue on my ERL lathe, but my Chinese mainland mill I previously had, it was scary what came out.

When changing the oil make sure you cover the belt and brake below with plastic, some always seems to get by. I use some tape and stiff plastic sheet taped below the drain to direct the oil to a pan (something like 2 gallons form the headstock).

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I like that tip about waiting awhile to change the oil. I still haven’t changed the oil in my PM-1030V (no valid excuse for this) after owning it for 10 months.

Also, I had not heard the tip about protecting the belts. And the magnet, all very good tips.
 
Nice! I got a PM1440HD 4 years ago. They installed the taper attachment for me. I need to make a different bracket to mount the connection rod to the lathe bed. The one provided is too narrow and moves easily. Setting the taper is pretty easy using the DRO. My machine didn't come with any taper manual either. That 10" chuck is heavy enough to make it worth while to make a wooden cradle that keeps it aligned with the spindle. I have an 8" with a cast iron back plate that is heavy enough, for an old man. But you young guys can probably hold it in one hand.

I doubt that that big lathe will make any more noise than the smaller one. Mine is quiet, course I'm nearly deaf.

Having heard all the horror stories about chips and sand in the gear boxes on imports, I opened all on my new lathe before I fired it up. It was quite clean. When I changed oil in all the gear boxes, I used the Mobile that was recommended. $80+- for a five. The drain plug arrangement could be a lot better. Figure on modifying it.

When is the new knee mill coming?
 
Larry$ said:
Nice! I got a PM1440HD 4 years ago. They installed the taper attachment for me. I need to make a different bracket to mount the connection rod to the lathe bed. The one provided is too narrow and moves easily. Setting the taper is pretty easy using the DRO. My machine didn't come with any taper manual either. That 10" chuck is heavy enough to make it worth while to make a wooden cradle that keeps it aligned with the spindle. I have an 8" with a cast iron back plate that is heavy enough, for an old man. But you young guys can probably hold it in one hand.

I doubt that that big lathe will make any more noise than the smaller one. Mine is quiet, course I'm nearly deaf.

Having heard all the horror stories about chips and sand in the gear boxes on imports, I opened all on my new lathe before I fired it up. It was quite clean. When I changed oil in all the gear boxes, I used the Mobile that was recommended. $80+- for a five. The drain plug arrangement could be a lot better. Figure on modifying it.

When is the new knee mill coming?
Click to expand...

I am going to buy the largest knee mill that PM sells just as soon as I pay off my lathe + tooling debt, so 4 years.

This lathe is not any kind of noise problem.
 
So the 20A circuit breaker on my rotary phase converter does trip when I (try to) use 1800 RPM on the spindle.

My friend Alan said that PM clearly calls for a 30A breaker. I had missed that.

So I need to get a 30A circuit breaker and a male 30A receptacle, and possibly a larger SO cable. The wires in my SO cable looked to be 10 AWG.
 
My Dad & I mounted the DRO brackets this morning.

My friend Alan came over right when I finished applying the protective coat of Vactra #2 where it was needed on the machine.

We turned, faced & knurled. I needed to remove the follow rest in order to get my facing tool in there.

At one point, I noticed the the compound was set parallel to the ways. I like to set it closer to 30°. I don’t think a lot of people are working with their compound set parallel to the ways.

Here is the picture with the first chips, and before I set the compound to where I like it.

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And here is the DRO display. I still need to add another washer so it is level.

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Here is the first thing I did. Face, center drill and turn this mild steel round stock. I was unable to measure any taper, so I was happy about that.

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