FAQs

Please see the manual for each machine, as most will specify the oil type. If not specified, in general, Lathe headstocks and gearboxes Mobil DTE ISO 68 Heavy/Medium or similar Way surfaces or ball oilers Mobil Vactra #2 or equivalent. This is an ISO 68 oil with modifiers to make it sticky so it stays in place. External change gears light general purpose grease, NLGI No. 2, or equivalent. Spindle Bearings Kluber spindle grease, 30% fill. Do not completely fill the bearings or they will over-heat. Geared head mills can use the same oil as lathes do in the head, and also the Mobil Vactra #2 on the ways. Another good oil instead of the Mobil DTE would be Tractor Universal Trans/Hydraulic Oil, or 20 Weight Anti-wear Hydraulic Oil. It's important that the oil is non-detergent. This means that contaminants are not held in suspension (for a filter to remove). Instead they fall to the bottom and stay there. It is important to only fill to the middle of the sight glasses. This is important for two reasons: 1. Over-filling leads to foaming in the oil, which reduces the lubrication and accelerates wear. Oil seals may only exist where oil is expected to be. Higher levels can lead to leakage.

WD-40 or mineral spirits will remove it. For large flat areas, a flat plastic scraper can do the job quickly.

Lathe Safety Warning Lathe Leveling Waste of time? C's and 6's...The Perfect Lathe Chip Setting Lathe Tools on Center Joe Pie: Techniques for Drilling Straight Holes Lathe VFD Wiring conversion YouTubers in no particular order: Gavintoobe - Ultimate Reloader Ultra high precision competition gunsmith, making use of our PM-1660TL. See his other videos for our PM-1440GT lathe and PM-728VT mill. Joe Pieczynski A Texas based machinist who has many tips and tricks. BlondiHacks Many interesting projects and tutorials for the new machinist. Quin also happens to use a lathe and a mill from us. Mr. Pete A retired teacher with so much online content that some people have compiled indexes. Look at his playlists for his series. This Old Tony Many very instructive videos and projects with a unique sense of humor that makes them very entertaining as well, making him one of the most popular machinists on You Tube. ThatLazyMachinist A retired Canadian machine shop teacher with many useful videos. He just can’t stop teaching. His free machine shop lessons playlist alone is 102 videos. Suburban Tool Inc. A manufacturer of work holding and inspection equipment, The owner has many instructional videos broken into many separate playlists. Oxtoolco (Tom Lipton) Besides authoring books on machining, he also has this YouTube channel with many informative videos and projects. Home metalworking workshop This is YouTube channel of the famous Harold Hall, author of many volumes in the “workshop practice series”. Now retired from the public scene, he was a prolific designer of tools and fixtures for home machining use. This channel is an excellent companion to his website Metal Working and other interests, as well as his books which are still available on Amazon. Clickspring A clockmaker with an awe-inspiring level of skill and craftsmanship, he has many videos dealing with tools, and general machining as well as an ongoing reproduction of the famed Antikythera mechanism. Abom79 Adam Booth is a machinist with many fascinating projects, and instructional videos. Stefan Gotteswinter Stefan is another machinist with a large list of videos from projects to how-to's. Franco Many equipment reviews and focusing on CNC conversions. If you're considering buying one of our machines for CNC, check out this channel.

The wires on the machines tend to be labled L1 and L2 or L1 and N with a green/yellow striped ground wire that may be labeled "PE", In a 220VAC setup (in the US) we'll connect ground to the green/yellow striped wire and use two black wires from a 220v breaker for the other pair. Do not run hot wires from two separate 110V breakers. This will not work.

Quality Machine Tools, LLC / Precision Matthews limits all implies warranties to the stated warranty period for each product. Any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose are specifically excluded. Warranties specifically exclude any sort of repair service, it is for PARTS ONLY with no exceptions. International shipping costs are not included under warranty. To obtain warranty repair parts, please contact us, and we will instruct you to send the part that you think is defective to us for inspection. If we determine that the part is defective, the defective part will be repaired or replaced at no charge to you.

The warranty covers all parts of the machine for the stated period of each model (Other than typical wear items or misuse). Purchaser is to provide any labor required to diagnose and repair or replace the defective part or issue. (Normally, a customer will work on their own machine as needed) Service is specifically excluded, under no circumstances will the cost of service/labor be covered under any warranty. If the customer is unable to perform this work for any reason, it is their responsibility to find or hire someone at their expense to perform the required repair work.

It can vary from model to model, but at the moment, any machine with a T on the end of the name is made in Taiwan. Anything else is made in China. Other naming secrets are: VF or V: Variable speed M: Manual (non variable) speed G: Gunsmith LB: Large Bore S: Step pulley (speed control for knee mills)

We do not have an actual showroom, however, if it is a model that we have in stock, you would be welcome to come see it in person. Please contact us before making a trip, so that we can check stock to make sure we have what you are looking for, and set up a time so that we can have it opened and available for you to see.

There are a lot of products out there designed to protect bare metal from rust. Reportedly a product called Boeshield is best, but is expensive. Fluid Film is another popular product. There is a thread on hobby-machinist.com that discuses this subject and provides some home-made remedies. https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/misting-oil-to-protect-machine-surfaces-in-a-damp-environment.81051/ Brownells did a study of rust preventing products. You can look at it here. https://www.brownells.com/aspx/learn/learndetail.aspx?lid=12616

That's pretty common with the GFCI Circuits. There are certain brands that seem to trip a lot more than others, its common on anything with the VFD or variable speed. We don't have any information as to what brands work and what doesn't, but this involves the sensitivity of the GFCI. Reportedly, commercial GFCI are less sensitive and are thus more tolerant. Addendum: We've discovered that with VFD operated machines the VFD may, depending on the brand dump electrical noise into the circuit and this is what trips the VFD. For the Delta VFD there is a jumper that may be removed to prevent this from happening.

Here's a youtube video demonstrating a BS0 dividing head: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckG1dm-EuG4

The "wild" or generated leg of the 3 phase power should not be connected to "T" as that goes to the transformer.

Be sure that your Emergency Stop button is popped out. It takes a FIRM TWIST TO THE RIGHT to get it to pop out. We have this come up more than once per day, be sure that you are twisting it firmly enough to release it. Of course nothing ridiculous, it is plastic, but possibly harder than you are doing it now. • - Another common problem is safety switches, many of our lathe and mills have safety switches on gear/belt covers, chuck guards, spindle guards, etc. These items MUST BE IN PLACE AND CLOSED or the machines will not run. Be sure to check these out and make sure that the covers are making contact with the switches. For those machines with Variable Speed, the speed control must be set to zero before the machine is turned on.

The mounts shown in Figure 1-3, available from Precision Matthews, allow leveling adjustment from above. If installing on the PM1228 stand, 8 leveling mounts are required — 4 for the left hand cabinet, 4 for the right. Because there is insufficient headroom in the stand pockets, the threaded stems need to be shortened by about 1-1/2”. Before installing, oil the threads in each mount then bottom the stem (8 mm wrench) to be sure the pressure plate is able to expand the molded base. If necessary use a strap wrench to stop the cup from rotating. Place the cup under the stand, with washer and locknut above the stand footplate. Because an 8 mm wrench has only a small amount of leverage, it may be more convenient to replace the threaded stems with hex head screws (M12 x 1.75). Screw length should be 50 mm, but 45 mm (even 40 mm) will do if the floor is reasonably level. Adjust using a 19 mm or 3/4” ratcheting wrench.

Sounds like the gib was loose and is now jammed. The gib is a wedge that is used to adjust the fit of the table to the mill saddle. Check the manual for location. Basically, you'll want to back out the screws on both ends, locate the small end of the gib and push it back inside the table with a punch. shouldn't take too much force to do. Once it's loose again, adjust it until you just feel a difference when moving the table, and then snug the screws at either end of the gib. Do not tighten them hard!

This is because of the way 3-jaw chucks are made. Because they use a spiral plate to move the jaws simultaneously, they are never perfectly concentric to the spindle except for maybe one specific diameter, and the runout changes according to the size bar you have in the chuck. This is why there are adjustable chucks that have set screws around the body of the chuck. it allows it to be trued after the work is clamped. You also pay a premium for that sort of chuck. Now, this doesn't matter at all as long as you are working with one end of a bar, that is, you aren't going to un chuck it and turn it around to do the other end. The minute you start cutting, the bar becomes "centered and all is good. If you need to work on both ends, you need to either work between centers, use a collet chuck, or use a 4-jaw chuck.

M5x.8 - 12

(from MKSJ on hobby-machinist.com) Two camps on ER vs 5C collets for lathe material holding. Having both, I primarily use 5C for a couple of different reasons. I not a fan of having to have a wrench and a nut to tighten the work, 5C can handle much shorter stock which is what I am most frequently clamping. I use a speed handle on the 5C chuck so very quick to change collets. Downside of 5C, limited holding power vs. ER collets for longer stock, limited clamping range, really requires a 1/64th" increment 5C collet set. ER collets tend to clamp uniformly from both ends so less axial run-out the further you go from the chuck. ER collets tend to have a smaller TIR, but it all depends on the quality and the clamping range. If you look at something like an ER-40 collet set, many vendors will sell you a 1 mm increment set and say it covers the full range. Personal experience is although they may be advertised as 1 mm clamping range, the TIR sucks at the extreme range. I use a 1/32" increment ER-40 collet set and my high accuracy ER collets are not made for a range of clamping, but a specific increment. In addition with ER systems, a higher quality clamping nut and better collets (like techniks) make a significant improvement in TIR and axial skew of the work.

We do not have touch-up paint because the colors are not consistent between individual lots of machines. No paint code either for the same reason. You can have the color matched at the local paint store. Enamel paint would be what you want to use.

We say no extension cords because the resistance of the extra wire can reduce the power to the machine. This can also lead to heating of the wire which is a fire hazard. OTH, what gauge would offset that for a given distance is not something we know. An electrician would be the best person to consult. The best solution is to have an outlet wired to your panel for the machine to use.

This is a link to a Hitachi document that explains why and how much an inverter needs to be rated above the motor that you are driving: https://www.hitachi.us/supportingdocs/forbus/inverters/Support/AN032404-1_Rev_A_Sizing_for_Single-Phase.pdf

Install the drawbar UNDER the drawbar cap, as in the photo (unscrew cap, insert drawbar into spindle, replace cap) https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60000795562/original/SFL1ou16PVZGcUqAanEyW2GOtZoX3Eveog.jpeg?1580147572

We recommend Kluber spindle grease. Be sure to load no more than 30% of the bearing with grease, or they will over heat.

The following picture is an example. Please refer to the downloadable manual on our website for specific information on how to locate this screw on your mill. https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60000839760/original/0eMHw5T0Nf4tYFSh2tg6BGwWciaMZq8qUw.JPG?1580250101

VISE KEYS Most precision vises come with key slots on the underside machined exactly parallel to the fixed jaw. Key slots, Figure 3-15, can be a great time saver. Properly installed they allow the vise to be removed and replaced routinely, accurately enough for general machining without the need for indicating every time. https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60001556113/original/IThjtC8VUYZjMuxaxgdbsj5Qk2oCqbH6cA.JPG?1581691698 Most 4” vises have either 14 mm or 16 mm slots, callingfor shop-made T-shape adapter keys as Figure 3-16. It is well worth the effort to make these precisely. Aim for a snug fit in both vise and table, but not so tight that it takes more than reasonable effort to lift the vise clear. The objective is allow the vise to be removed and replaced routinely, accurately enough for general machining without the need for indicating every time. Case hardening of the keys is recommended, with final fitting using a fine stone or diamond stone. https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60001556121/original/OC3TpI7y9XBXkKX3RtvsC4GCmdQC4RWjCQ.JPG?1581691718

The power light on these can be too dim to see easily. so you may think it's not getting power when it is. The speed knob needs to be turned up from zero for it to operate, so if you just move the direction lever, nothing will happen.

Table height fully lowered is 34.5 inches. https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60007620890/original/70L5H1B1802oIqCmjosqiPb2ykLFgTx5cw.JPG?1591907079

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v8j1bzvkypgv5m1/Installing%20Quill%20Return%20Spring.mp4?dl=0

https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60019655523/original/do7TIy-escdhiz_CHmj5DQYMeoZuNN4drw.jpg?1608132943 https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60019655543/original/muhTjRKNOXBfgS9ZMeSDB4tVVuR2xTXkvQ.jpg?1608132954 https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60019655615/original/d9wrcE13MDJYOOLEbjefjJH2xNvfoO6o3Q.jpg?1608133005

Here's an example of an installation a customer did with an I-Gauging DRO. The customer made the bracket. https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60021848476/original/OQKv25S01e79n-moEU9qE_C0ebsuOTfx_A.png?1611078002 https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60021848486/original/cNwHMB6ZNnY0imqdZLUz7jwEow5-jOkXZw.png?1611078013

This is a complicated subject all right. First of all chatter will leave marks that can be seen and felt and are from a variety of causes, but often are not the fault of the machine. Chatter is beyond the scope of what I can do for you, but machining forums like hobby-machinist.com have people who can help if you post pictures of what you're getting. If you're getting marks that are more subtle in nature (seen but hardly felt), there could be mechanical reasons for it. You often will hear single phase motors being blamed, and that can be part of it. Things to check or try: It is very important to make sure the lathe is on a solid footing and is not able to rock or vibrate as it's running. Using a heavier base, or anchoring the base to the floor can also help by adding mass to the system and changing the frequency it resonates at. Change gears can also cause this if they are too tight or have other issues. First loosen the bar that the gears are on and swivel it away from the spindle drive gear and see if that makes any difference. If it does, the gears may be meshed too tightly together. Use one or two thickness of paper in between the gears to set the approximate distance, then roll it out from in between the gears. Rubber mounts for the motor will do a lot to remove motor vibration. Since they change the distance of the motor from the motor mount, the tension setting will need to be adjusted, and possibly even a longer belt. The belt or belts can be an issue as well. V belts have a seam where the belt is a little thicker, and this can cause a vibration. If the lathe is in a cold area, the belt can even take a set like a car tire that's been sitting and will need to warm up to become flexible again. If there are two belts, clocking them in different positions relative to each other could help to reduce the resonance. Link belts are also known to be excellent at reducing vibration. These are sold by many companies, but searching for the term "link belt" will turn them up. These are belts made up of many small links that can be disconnected and reconnected to make custom lengths.

The first picture shows how the tool holder starts out. Remove the handle from tool post (2ND picture). Remove the tool holder (3rd picture). Loosen the set screws (4th picture). Slide the stud and mounting plate out. Watch for the spring (5th picture). Install the new quick change tool post and tighten the nut (6th Picture). https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60024404562/original/SGVU9s1nvM8V96rvz9Mn2OyPVbv25D3g3w.jpg?1613762212 https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60024404568/original/1B-jpPbX_LCSc-P8LOju_GvXQLNW5k6BaA.jpg?1613762219 https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60024404576/original/d5J6JMQsGBoqwRDdRDJ8XPkdspOFcN8ThA.jpg?1613762224 https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60024404589/original/C9Bt9wUyOGUroofR_seodLwmkljQlaG5Ow.jpg?1613762232 https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60024404605/original/CTQbw181V3wweE8e40nVDKeGURCpXZA-lg.jpg?1613762238 https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/60024404620/original/qU7r8FHY1zWcEqYvfv4qPwlIfi_UhwxWSw.jpg?1613762244

The manual calls for a 60T gear in the Z3 position for 15,30,60 pitches and an extra 60T gear in the lower gear position for the 9,18,36 pitches. This should read 75T in both cases.

Video demonstration from factory. https://precisionmatthews.freshdesk.com/helpdesk/attachments/60023399918 https://precisionmatthews.freshdesk.com/helpdesk/attachments/60023399920

Great method for leveling a lathe. This can be found all over the web, but I made a copy here. https://precisionmatthews.freshdesk.com/helpdesk/attachments/60058003638

From the PM-1228VF-LB Manual: This is done by “translating” the leadscrew drive, running it slower than for US threads by the factor 86T/91T = 0.945. To see how this works, compare the US setup for 8 TPI (0.125” pitch) with the metric setup for 3 mm pitch. Both use the same 60T upper gear and the same C2 gearbox setting, but the leadscrew turns more slowly — so 0.125“ becomes 0.125 x 0.945 = 0.1181” = 3 mm.

If the item shows as "in stock" on our web page, then it is at our warehouse in Pittsburgh, and is available to order.

For machines, shipping typically is no longer than 10 days to anywhere in the continental US. If you are having items installed, there will be a delay before it is shipped out. Depending on the work load, this could be anywhere from a day to a week.

While anything can happen, we do not typically run sales, or release coupons.