PM-932M-PDF experience

Matt at QMT came through. The feedbox cover and quill DRO arrived. I am glad I did not have to wait for the items with the machine down as it took three months. By no means was it Matt’s fault as the parts are coming from China to US and then on to Canada.

For the Canadian owners of machinery, since the replacement is coming from China and does not include invoice stating it is a warranty replacement part, the parts were subject to duty and taxes. Small change really, but I would hate to have a more expensive part replaced.

When I have some time I will take the PM942 cover off and transfer all the bits and pieces to the new one. I am curious about finding any difference in machining as the old piece of aluminum ruler glued to the front mating surface of the cover is still a mystery.

After some thinking about all the dirt and sand in the gears of my PM932, I now suspect the reason as to why my mill was worse than any other.

Not sure now where I got the information that after the mill is assembled, factory grinds and fills all the voids. Then the machine gets it’s final coat of paint. Since my mill as far as I know was the only one with the mysterious spacer, this created a gap on the top and bottom of the cover plate. Hence through this gap all the debris went into the power down feed gears.

So, for those owners, which appears to be most of them there is likely nothing to worry about. However, since I love machinery and tools I would check into it.

It appears that this machinery is like wine. The older it gets the better it is. :thumbsup:

Cheers to all,
Radek
 
Just jumping in, this thread was very informative. I immediately went out and opened up my 932. It was not near as bad but this is a good lesson on new import machines, check them out as through as possible. I had to clean out some grit embedded grease and it was weird, solvent did not seem to work all that good, finally used hot water and all the gunk melted away clean as new (water soluble grease ?). I really like how informative this forum is so I hope this continues to be as valuable as it has been. thanks to Ray for the pdf of the manual. Matt at precision Mathews is great and helped me through the mess with shipping and a less than customer oriented freight company plus a credit card mess and took it all in stride. I really like the mill and use it more than I thought possible with the usual learning curve issues that always lead me here to look up ways to get thing done. It seems to me though that someone could offer a service to detail the machines for those that just might want a tried and tested, dialed in machine and are willing to pay for it. Just a thought.
 
Jeephead said:
Just jumping in, this thread was very informative. I immediately went out and opened up my 932. It was not near as bad but this is a good lesson on new import machines, check them out as through as possible. I had to clean out some grit embedded grease and it was weird, solvent did not seem to work all that good, finally used hot water and all the gunk melted away clean as new (water soluble grease ?). I really like how informative this forum is so I hope this continues to be as valuable as it has been. thanks to Ray for the pdf of the manual. Matt at precision Mathews is great and helped me through the mess with shipping and a less than customer oriented freight company plus a credit card mess and took it all in stride. I really like the mill and use it more than I thought possible with the usual learning curve issues that always lead me here to look up ways to get thing done. It seems to me though that someone could offer a service to detail the machines for those that just might want a tried and tested, dialed in machine and are willing to pay for it. Just a thought.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... dialed-in machine...

I actually thought about offering that service but, the closest I can come is to true-up chucks and backplates. -And even that has it's pitfalls when done off-site.

On a lathe, you can adjust the chucks (kinda) but you can't align it off-site because once you crate and move it, alignment goes out the window. Same goes for a mill.

As for everything else, there are just customizations that most folks will want to do themselves. The units themselves do not require much. The Chinese units need a couple weeks of break-in and then check for alignment/tram. After you do it the second time, you just need to check it every now and then -and it won't be off by much. The Taiwanese machines... -Set e'm up, align/tram them -and forget about it.

What would be nice is to have a nation-wide network of service techs that would setup (align/tram) a machine upon delivery. Once upon a time, it was done that way but now, the owner/operator needs to do that work. The exception is high-dollar equipment that comes with a service contract... that is still setup by factory reps who get on a plane and travel to the customer site. -Those machines cost a little more money though :).


Ray
 
Thanks for the deal-breaking review!

No way I'd spend my money on something with that many problems/defects!

Best wishes,

JP
 
Jeephead said:
Just jumping in, this thread was very informative. I immediately went out and opened up my 932. It was not near as bad but this is a good lesson on new import machines, check them out as through as possible. I had to clean out some grit embedded grease and it was weird, solvent did not seem to work all that good, finally used hot water and all the gunk melted away clean as new (water soluble grease ?). I really like how informative this forum is so I hope this continues to be as valuable as it has been. thanks to Ray for the pdf of the manual. Matt at precision Mathews is great and helped me through the mess with shipping and a less than customer oriented freight company plus a credit card mess and took it all in stride. I really like the mill and use it more than I thought possible with the usual learning curve issues that always lead me here to look up ways to get thing done. It seems to me though that someone could offer a service to detail the machines for those that just might want a tried and tested, dialed in machine and are willing to pay for it. Just a thought.
Click to expand...


Seems like an equally valid proposition/course of action would be for the machine builders to turn out quality products from the get-go - but that's just me. ;)

How much would it add to the cost to have a few of their 12-cent-per-hour guys inspect and clean these things up internally and adjust them to be usable right out of the box?

Maybe 2 bucks per unit - if that?
 
jpooch00 said:
Seems like an equally valid proposition/course of action would be for the machine builders to turn out quality products from the get-go - but that's just me. ;)
Click to expand...
The case he has was a little extreme with the grit, I have really been on them about that in the last few years. I haven't seen it like that since. They still like to paint things that don't need paint though. But a lot of the rest of it is also a case of getting what you pay for. If you want something perfect, dont expect it for a dirt cheap price. The machines from Taiwan are better, thats for sure, but you also pay more. Its worth every penny, but many people are just doing it for a hobby, and the Chinese machines fit their budget. A lot of that is quite extreme, like the spring setup and everything, but thats a case of taking a machine at a low price and putting time in to making it what you want. My advice, if you want a machine that is perfect out of the box, spend the money and get one from Taiwan. We have both.
 
qualitymachinetools said:
The case he has was a little extreme with the grit, I have really been on them about that in the last few years. I haven't seen it like that since. They still like to paint things that don't need paint though. But a lot of the rest of it is also a case of getting what you pay for. If you want something perfect, dont expect it for a dirt cheap price. The machines from Taiwan are better, thats for sure, but you also pay more. Its worth every penny, but many people are just doing it for a hobby, and the Chinese machines fit their budget. A lot of that is quite extreme, like the spring setup and everything, but thats a case of taking a machine at a low price and putting time in to making it what you want. My advice, if you want a machine that is perfect out of the box, spend the money and get one from Taiwan. We have both.
Click to expand...

qualitymachinetools said:
Didn't you end up with a South Bend and a Bridgeport? How are they working out?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was all set to get a SB & a Bridgeport (for free, no less!) but when we got to the "warehouse" where they were stored, they were nothing but rusted-out blobs of scrap. Water had been running onto everything for years through a roof that seemed to actually channel the water right to them. The guy hadn't even been into the building for over 5 years and had no idea what was going on.

At this point, I'm saving up a little more money to buy the Taiwanese machines from you. That and waiting to see if I'll even be employed through the summer! Business ain't been that great lately and the owner is on the fence about just closing up shop.

Best wishes,

JP
 
So this was a super helpful thread as I considered a new mill. I ended up with the PM 932 as well and am quite happy so far. No major grit in mine, just a light wash with kerosene and complete re-lube and I was good to go.

As I started to use it I struggled with the quill backlash as well so stole the OP's great spring idea but modified it slightly. I got a puller gas strut from Amazon and replaced the silly drill press depth gauge with the strut. I spec'd 40lb pull but probably would pick 30 if ordering again.

I had to drill out the hole in the bottom of the gearbox to allow the body to partially pass through. That is also the support, there was no need to make an upper attachment, I just used a die grinder to make a ledge for the body of the strut to sit on. Out of gas on the tig today so used the mig glue gun to ugly effect on the adapter.

Works great, no more sudden 0.050" drops and jumps.

Alex



 
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