PM-727V on the way!

[Rogbo]

Hello.

After looking for a suitable used mill for a few months, and and looking at new ones for almost as long I put my order in for the PM-727V with 3 axis DROs earlier this week. Yeah me! Well, actually yeah me and my son who I share a shop and rural property with. I love forums for both finding and sharing information, so I'll post my questions and setup as it develops here.

My decision to purchase the PM-727V probably followed a very familiar path - look for used bench top mill, look at used Bridgeport clones, look at the cheapest small mills out there, came to my senses and purchased the largest most expensive mill I could afford and house. My shop is a nice 10x20 addition 3 steps up from ground level the real estate lady called the "bonus room." It's a good place for hobby sized machine tools, but not tall or sturdy enough for a BP or clone. Used bench top mills in my area are usually round columns and priced in the $2000 range. I like motorcycles and my son likes 4x4s so our primary material will be steel, yeah I know, BP or bust (I had one in my garage a lot of years before the divorce and it is missed), but pm-727v is what we got coming. In the end the PM-727V hit a lot of important features for me - both heavy and light enough, steel gearing and variable speed, large table and spindle clearance, and with a bit of whining in my price range. I went with full DRO because it was in stock and with a financial stretch it was possible, and heck 3 axis DROs will improve our work.

My first question is mounting, I didn't buy the stand because I wanted more options. I'm disabled with rheumatoid arthritis that affects my mobility and ability to stand long periods. I don't plan on making chips while sitting, but with my lack of serious machine skills, setup is often takes longer than the cut. So I need a bench mount that supports sitting at the mill as well as standing. I've seen people here use tool box bottoms, store bought as well as custom made bench. If possible, I'd like to purchase something before the mill gets here, that may or may not be the permanent home.

The pm-727v runs about 500 pounds plus tooling and work, maybe say 750 pounds to be safe? I'm thinking about these bottom boxes/cabinets from Harbor Frieght and this table from Amazon. The bottom boxes have published weight limits of 1000 - 2500 pounds and the table is rates at 1500 pounds and is height adjustable. The boxes give needed storage, but the table will give better rolling shop chair access and ability to set height.


Any advice, thoughts, or your solutions with pictures you can share?

 

[jwmelvin]

I have a PM-30MV. I got one of the HF 26” wide boxes and nearly built a stand to house it but then got concerned the mill would be a little too high. I found a stand from a local recycler; it’s essentially the same height as the HF box (without casters). I figured without putting the time into making a frame, I could see how it worked. It’s perhaps a touch too high, in that cranking the z-axis takes a reach, but it’s pretty good.

Since you want to be able to sit, I like your plan of trying an open bench. I share my HF box between mill and lathe tooling so it’s sometimes nice to have it not fixed under the mill.

 

[Rogbo]

Hello!

I went to my local Harbor Freight in Bend OR, for the first time a week ago. I expected to buy the General 44x22 toolbox and a two ton cherry picker, after dragging my bouncy ass utility trailer down there I found out the local store basically stocks drill bits and light bulbs. A week after ordering the box online it's still pending so I put in a cancel request. Heck, as long as I was in town I did buy a bunch of cheap led shop lights and a drill set...

I went down to Home Depot in Redmond OR, and picked up this nice 46x24.5 1200 pound rated Husky box for $348 on sale Sunday. Not the weight rating or PM blue of the Harbor Freight box, but almost $200 less including shipping. I think it's going to be a fine mount for the mill.

I still don't have a lifting device. I do have a husky son.
Has anyone taken the mill apart to set on a base? How did you break it down?

 

[Rogbo]

The Eagle has landed!
My beautiful new PM-727V mill from Precision Mathews that completes the tooling in the little shop my son and I are putting together in the bonus room.

Well packaged, and transported by UPS freight. The only problem was the two days I wasted when UPS didn't show up for two midday delivery windows. Ugh! But I did have a good novel to read in my driveway.

Well packaged, well transported, and delivered right on my little utility trailer.

Doing the Captain Morgan.

Well lubed with all the goodies I ordered on the side.

And there she is, waiting to be moved to the shop and make chips!

 

[kb58]

I literally did an "LOL" at your posed picture. Man, that's one heck of a front yard view. East of the mountain range for sure! Is that by chance smoke in the air, appears somewhat bluish.

 

[Rogbo]

Central Oregon, a little ranch and farm community called Terrebonne. While we're not near the fires we do have heavy lift tank choppers passing over, and late afternoons that mountain across the way fades in and out. We're about to break ground on a house that has that view from the great room and master bedroom. But to me, the really great view is how the shop is shaping up!

From the back of the property, over the rimrock, where the gazebo and star gazing platform will be.

 

[Rogbo]

Well Sunday, after a futile search for a suitable cherry picker locally - Harbor Freight rant 2 to follow - my son and I broke down and broke the PM-727V down in 4 pieces, and dollied and carried it to its new home - Harbor Freight rant 1 & 3 to follow.


Logically first off was the milling head, an easy shmeazy 3 bolts and not overly heavy for a husky kid with a broken dad. But wait, there's wiring tied to the control box and no sure hand grips. So we pulled the motor which is substantial, then moved motor and panel into the shop. To pull the mill head, I put a nice piece of plywood on the table, put a couple of 2x4s on the plywood, then gently lowered the mill head on to the wood so there was no surprises when the bolts were removed. Worked like a charm, I removed the 3 bolts while my son balanced, then removed the head and moved it to the shop.

The column was an easy 4 bolts. Oops, never mind I ordered it with a DRO tied into everything. After some head scratching and an oh yeah moment, I removed the Z plug from the back of the DRO panel, cut half a dozen zip ties, and there goes the column into the shop.

That just left the WEIGHT! Of listed 475 pounds, the base and table were just heavy, sure the motor was stout, the head substantial, and the column a two man job, but the base and table was a mutha. Luckily it was a short move. I had the UPS Freight guy drop the pallet on my utility trailer, which I then backed up to the deck and dropped the ramp right below the top step. With a little bit of shimmering the dolly went right up and ramp on to the deck, straight into the shop. With a little bit of degunking it was ready to be hefted up on to its temporary home.

I've been degunking and cleaning the last couple days and my son will help with the column tonight. I'll probably finish the cleaning, and finish putting it all back together with his help Saturday or Sunday. I guess it's as my big brother told me, "if it was easy, everyone would do it."

Harbor Freight:
After my last couple experiences there, I could spell that with a different F and an ING. I live an hour from my 'local' HF.
Rant 1.) I want on of the nice 44x24 2600 pound rating toolboxes for my mill base, so I call them up, and they say sure we got those. So hitch up the trailer, jump in the jeep and off I go for an hour drive. When I get there, the sales girl points me to the boxes and I say I'll take one in blue AND she says oh no we don't stock them, you can only order them. I say, but I called and you said you had them, and she said oh we do have them only to show.
2.) I went home and ordered it and it's still pending weeks later. I tried to cancel, but they say it shipped. So I called them and asked for a tracking number, but of course there isn't one.
3.) I call and ask if they have a cherry picker in stock. Oh yes, a bunch. I say, OK I'm on my way! But in the hour it took to get there, someone else called and put them on hold. Done with them!

 

[Fordkid88]

Here is mine on a 2 x 2 x .120 box tubing frame, the top is .25 sheet with, and the doors and side panels are 16g. They sit on those heavy duty bench casters that have leveling feet. I think it cost me sub 250 and a weekend to make.

 

[Rogbo]

I powered my new Precision Matthews PM-727V, for the first time tonight.
While I've had it for a couple of months, it's the first major tool in my new shop that used to be storage 20 feet deep. And I couldn't find a cherry picker so in pieces it went. And I'm having my retirement home built and there's permits and contractors and loan agents. Don't any of them know, I have shop priorities?

Anyway, it's lit up like a merry Christmas tree, and could be a present for as happy as it makes me. I'll be pecking away at finishing leveling, tramming, and break in over the next few weeks, while I figure out how to get the beastly PM-1236 setup next to it. Then let the mad chip making begin!