PM 728VT question

I know it's not their fault. just letting off steam. I'm an American and I'm used to instant gratification lol. I went with PM because of the service and the warranty. they have a great reputation. curious does PM actually open the crates and make sure the product is as advertised or do they just forward the sealed crates to the purchaser if there are no add ons like DRO? hoping the plague and labor and material shortages in Taiwan haven't affected the quality of manufacturing.
 
When I got my Lathe from PM they had opened the crate to install the DRO & taper attachment. Don't know how much "inspecting" they did. About mill sizes: The limit I most often reach is Z clearance. Add up a boring head, tool, work piece, vice. Or rotary table, work piece, drill chuck, drill bit, reamer etc. Z space disappears quickly.
 
that is def a factor in decision making. I am somewhat limited as I don't want a huge Bridgeport or Bridgeport clone in my shop but an RF45 clone would have 5 to 6 inches more from spindle to table. also more x and y. I guess it all depend on how far I end up going with this. thanks for responding.
 
yota said:
new member here. retired and got a sudden urge to tinker with metal. picked up a 1953 South Bend 9A lathe about a year and a half ago and now I'm looking for a mill to play with. no milling experience. my question: at 1hp with belt drive and variable speed does the 728VT have enough power and weight? I will likely be playing with small projects at first but may end up doing more, esp to do with restoring old machinery which sometimes need parts made and also may end up trying to make accessories out of mostly aluminum but possibly some stainless for marine use (I live on the gulf coast of florida). I just used a lot of words like "may" and "might" so we'll see how it goes.

at age 68 I won't be doing any CNC conversions so that is not a consideration and at this age I don't want to regret my purchase and need to upgrade in a couple of years. I like the VT728 as it is made in Taiwan and not china. it also has some nice features. but, I wonder if I would be better off with a gearhead mill in the 2 hp range. more weight for stability, more power and I don't think the lower speeds would be an issue?

although I love old machinery I do not want a Bridgeport or anything that big. I have the room but just don't want to deal with it.

I've done a LOT of reading on this but I welcome your input. thanks.
Click to expand...

Sorry for the long and unrelated post...

I see that you are here in Florida! I got a house in Ocala (last year) that we bought in preparation for retirement. We are about 12 years away from retirement, but plan to move in about 5 years there... Much smaller home than we have now (with the kids gone by then, looking to simplify our lives) but with 1/2 acre so that I can build a small workshop.

Part of the plan is to have an area where I can have my milling and future lathe... Like you I just want to thinker with metal... and your post struct at what has been in the back of my mind since I started to covert my milling machine to CNC... I am too far into it to turn back... so I will finish it... But I know that I will want to have another milling machine that is fully manual, so I was looking at the PM-728VT as well... unsure if I order it at the same time as the lathe and have it all delivered to Ocala...

Seeing the photo from SRay53TxTn makes me think that I can just have it in the garage in Ocala and leave the workshop for other stuff... I would use it more if it is in the garage... but I digress...

Looking forward to seeing what you get and reading about your experience.

Cheers!
 
your post is quite welcome. I worked in orlando for 30 years or so and retired to the gulf coast about 3 years ago. I was driving over here to flats fish 3 times a month anyway so I figured why not just live there. I'm about an hour from ocala. I managed to find a home with a 30x40 shop with 12 foot ceilings and air conditioning (a big deal here as you know). when I retired my main goal was to set up the dream shop I always wanted but never had the time or space to have. I set up a woodworking area first with cabinet saw, bandsaw, jointer and dust control. then I did a metal working area with horizontal bandsaw and welding table. then a grinding and polishing area and then my 1955 south bend lathe ended up here LOL. also have several work benches and cabinet storages areas for paint and oils. the arrangement I did still leaves room in the center to pull in vehicles and boats to work on them. hoping the mill is the last big addition LOL. I want to make it clear that I am a beginner with all the metal stuff including welding but striving to improve. I love old American iron machinery and taking it apart and bringing it back to life. I do have a couple of Taiwanese and chinese machines but usually avoid them when I can. The first project I did when I set up my shop was selling my old Taiwanese drill press and finding this on craigslist and cleaning it up.

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no, its a Delta 17" DP600. got it from the grandson of the original purchaser. very unusual that an individual would buy one of these industrial drill presses as they were very expensive. as it was never used in a shop it has very little wear. the grandson kept it in a semi open dirt floor rural florida shop so I had to work on surface rust and paint finishes.
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Wow. I saw it and saw an Atlas, I stand corrected.

Besides being functional, it is a mechanical work of art with a great history and story to go with it. Well done. Thank you for sharing.
 
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