Received my PM949 and PM1340GT!!!

Allan the budget for tooling is always an ongoing thing lol! I remember when I first got my Taig CNC mill everyone told me you're going to spend way more money on the tooling than the machine itself...truer words have never been spoken! This time I set aside a good bit for some nice tooling to start with.

wrmillewr I'll post lots of pictures as I start to put everything together (power distribution, VFD, DROs, Powerfeed etc) . This forum has been a huge resource for me when I was looking for information on these machines, I' hoping to give back something.

bss1 what can I say, I love color. I just couldn't bring myself to have a grey floor lol! I chose colors that would be relaxing on my eyes since I'm going to be spending a lot of time in the shop.

Chevy
 
A little update for you guys.

This past weekend I was hoping to get both machines off their pallets and put into final position in the shop. This turned into quite the adventure!

Getting the mill put in place was my real priority. So my dad and a friend of mine started early Saturday morning. we cut the pallet to size for the legs of the engine crane to fit around. The engine crane we used did not have the legs angled out like most currently on the market. Instead the legs were parallel to each other and can be extended out. This allowed us to get up really close from behind the machine with what was left of the pallet fitting perfectly inside the legs of the crane. It was looking like this was going to be a walk in the park...yea right! By the time we got the arm of the crane to the height were we could hook the two straps placed under the ram, the crane maxed out on travel!

So then I thought to myself...hey maybe another crane might have just a little more reach. Called up a buddy, he said to check him in a couple hours. So while waiting we focused our energies on getting the lathe mounted and in place. Which we did with no trouble to talk about. The only thing worth mentioning is that all of the six holes on the lathe lined up with the ones in the cabinets.....except one. The front inboard hole on the head stock side. No amount of wiggling or shifting got us the few mm we needed on that one hole. This isn't a huge issue, later in the week I'll just take a rotary tool and grind of the little bit of clearance that's needed working from inside/under the cabinet.

Having gotten the lathe mounted and feeling the first sense of accomplishment for the day we hopped in the wife's car and she drove us about an hour to my buddy's place to borrow his crane. However when we got back to my shop we realized because the legs in his crane are angled we can't get it to slide up to the mill. So in our moment of despair my buddy was like...why don't we exchange the cylinders out between the cranes...hey it was worth a try right? lol. Needless to say that didn't make a difference.

By this time it was pretty late and we were pretty much beat so we decided to call it a day. We talked about possible solutions to this problem on Sunday morning and formulated out next plan of attack. We're going to try to find a suitable "A" frame gantry crane that can fit in my shop. If we can't find one to borrow or rent by mid week we're going to build one out of 4x4 lumber and use a 2ton chain hoist on it. Either solution would make moving the mill short work.

I will defiantly take pictures of the setup and if we decide to go the build route I'll take pics of the build.

I leave you guys with our one win over the weekend. The lathe mounted with a preliminary clean up.

Chevy

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If you build a gantry crane to pick it up why not keep it built to pick things up to your mill. Rotary tables , vises, dividing heads, come to mind even chucks for the lathe. Believe me you will need it again , I'm or was a very strong man used to two hundred pounds daily at times all day long lifting moving machining and repeat. But now I'm unable to lift five pounds without pain. My cranes and lift tables have kept me being able to do things. I'm still planning on a large gantry in front of my shop, maybe even a small one in the shop , that may not be needed if my rolling shelf lift works out I have a 36" actuator with over 300 lbs push and pull I'm planning on mounting on the off corner of the shelf unit I built should work , with the counter balance of vises ,rotary table and mag drill on bottom. A swivel jib on top with straps and hook will lift and move. Nice machines I only dream of things like those. Good luck and hi I'm SILVERBULLET
 
Hey Silverbullet, the usefulness of a crane in the shop has not illuded me. Even before I realised that I would need a gantry to lift this mill I had plans to make a small crane specifically to lift all the tools you listed, especially the rotary table and dividing head.

I'm coming from a miniature world (Taig and Sherline machines) where chucks, vises, rotary table, even an entire lathe can be lifted with little effort. I knew when getting into full sized machines that I would need some assist in lifting equipment, plus almost everyone told me something along on lines of "You won't be young forever and your back will thanks you later in life".

The gantry we're going to build will be all bolted together so most likely it would be taken apart and stored for future use. However I still have a good bit of equipment to be moved into my shop (CNC mill, CNC lathe, TIG welding equipment, welding table, tool boxes etc.). So space is a bit of a premium. So I'll store the gantry crane in a dismantled state but I am going to build a small crane with casters and a winch for lifting chucks, rotary table, dividing heads etc.

I'll have quite a few projects that I would like to complete before the end of the year for the shop. Top of that list is a belt grinder and that small crane.

Oh and sorry for the fuzzy pics guys, I only realised this morning my phone camera was set to a low quality. I'll have better pics next time.

Chevy
 
So guys I'm ecstatic to say that we got the mill safely off the pallet and put in place this weekend :grin::grin:

It took five of us (My Dad, three friends and myself) about 4 hours working very slowly to get this thing down safely. We ended up using a 3 Ton engine hoist that had more travel and reach than the more common 2 Ton engine hoist. Many thanks to my friend Trevor for getting this borrowed from the factory he works at.

I could see why a lot of guys go with the smaller PM935. That said, I am very glad I went with the bigger machine despite the hurdle of moving it.

Sunday morning I managed to reinstall the X axis lead screw and handles as they were removed to get her through the door way. Then I took my time and gave her a good clean up. All the precision surfaces we perfect with zero scratches or cosmetic defects of any kind. All axis moved smooth as silk which put a huge smile on my face.

The only thing I really didn't like was the crank handle for the knee. The one that came with the machine was kinda rough and really didn't go with how nice the rest of the machine is so I got a nice polished chrome one from ebay for $30.

Next order of business is getting these two machines wired up for power, then unto DRO installation. Meanwhile I've started aquiering tooling and work holding items. I went with a Kurt DX6 for the mill and a Dorian BXA QCTP for the lathe.

I am leaning towards ER32 tool holding for the mill over R8 but I haven't decided yet.

Here's a few pics of the mill all cleaned up.

Chevy

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Nice setup mannnn (said in Bob Marley's voice :))

I have the same lathe & mill - great choices.
For the mill I use both the ER32 collets and R8. The ER collets are very useful since a set will cover everything from 0.02 - 0.787 inches so you can cover the full range of tooling commonly used in a mill of this size. The R8 collets are useful as they present a shorter (and hence stiffer) tool holding option and they can be had cheaply.
If you are looking for some indexable lathe tool holders I purchased this set https://www.amazon.com/Accusize-Indexable-Carbide-Turning-2387-2005/dp/B01MSBL5Y8/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497370804&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=7+Pc+5/8''+Indexable+Carbide+Turning+Lathe+Tool+Set and I'm very happy with them.

This site is a wealth of knowledge for us hobbyists with some amazingly generous people willing to help and answer our questions. Good luck in your quest for a quality home shop.
Rich
 
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Machines look great!

Similar comments as Rich mentioned. You most likely want both, but there are a few other options to also consider. Part of this will depend if you are using a power drawbar or not. On my old mill without a power drawbar, I used an ER32 system most of the time as it has very low TIR and was quicker for me. Rigidity wise, I think you would not notice the difference. On my new mill with a power drawbar, I almost exclusively use R8 collets and R8 integrated shank tooling. I do have an ER40 setup with a set of 1/32 collets (gives a tighter overlap as opposed to 1 mm increments), this allows the ability to hold 1" end mills and I also have a MT3 for the lathe tailstock. I often used an end mill in the tailstock to square up the base of a hole. The ER40 is definitely bigger, so not so good for smaller stuff if used on the mill. In most cases with end mills used with an R8 collet, the end mills have fixed sized shanks so something like a 1/8" set will cover about everything or consider getting a few better collets for the most common sizes used. I have not had good success with the quality of some of the generic Chinese R8 collets, and recently replaced a few from Shar's that had too much runout. Vertex is Taiwanese, and they may be a bit better, otherwise you might consider Lyndex or Crawford if you can get them at a reasonable price. A few of us have purchased the Crawford R8 collets from Rotagrip and they are great, but they are no longer in production.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VERTEX-R8-R...1-8-to-3-4-for-Bridgeport-Mills-/231863951469
http://www.rotagriponline.com/index...tegory_id=324&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=29
http://www.rotagriponline.com/index...tegory_id=324&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=29
http://www.ebay.com/itm/R8-CRAWFORD...869263?hash=item1c59fd7d8f:g:1L8AAOSwiLdWAvY~
http://www.ebay.com/itm/R8-CRAWFORD...291589?hash=item1c59f4ad05:g:1L8AAOSwiLdWAvY~

A few people use a quick change R8 setup, only reasonable if you purchase it from the UK as it is 2-3X more expensive from US distributors.
http://www.rotagriponline.com/index...rt&page=shop.browse&category_id=173&Itemid=29
 
[X]Outlaw: Enjoy the new machines!

While in Co I had the chance to buy a very large Lagun at a real good price. But at over 3500 lbs. It would have cost 3-4 times the cost of the mill to get it moved to AZ. Ouch! I'll just have to suffer with my little 935. It as done everything I've asked of it so far. :D

FYI, I have Vertex collets and they are pretty decent quality at a reasonable price. And a ER32 holder for spinning real small cutters and burrs when working on tiny stuff.
 
Mark, those two reasons are exactly why I've been cosidering the ER32 system, very low TIR and I most likely wont be using a powerdraw bar. At least not in the immediate future.

Bill, thanks for chiming in about the Vertex collets. I will also get a set of R8 collets (Vertex) for any occasion where clearance with a ER32 chuck would be an issue.

Rich, I'll add those tool holder you've recommended to a few other sets I'm evaluating. Oh...and IIMON! lol!
 
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