My new Precision Matthews PM1228-LB lathe

I kinda delayed posting this a bit, but here it is...



So basically the lathe came with very little in way of accessory. Seeing it only cost $100 more than the PM1127 I can see why... What it has over the 1127:

1 inch more swing
1 inch more distance between center
REAL quick change gearbox (meaning you can make most threads without changing gears, though change gears are available if you want to do some uncommon threads, to date I have not changed any gears at all)
A more powerful BLDC motor (I only managed to bog it down cutting .04" on mild steel using WNMG 432 insert at a fast feed rate, and that was because it's a heavier cut insert, I need light to finishing inserts for this lathe)
D1-4 spindle (I think the 1127 has something else...)

So overall it's worth it over the 1127 especially the gearbox. I can thread Remington 700 actions, as well as many other stuff without ever touching the gears.

The lathe is ready for AXA QCTP that Precision Matthews sells, but I ended up installing a Bostar BXA tool post because I like to use some bigger tools (I mean, I'm not going to be making Abom79 cuts, my lathe is too small for this, but I feel being stuck to 1/2" inserts is limiting when the machine is designed for 5/8").



The original tool post goes on a spindle that is threaded 9/16" x 18, you loosen a set screw to take it off. However the spindle that came with the Bostar BXA is larger and the wrong pitch, so I had to machine it down until it fits the threaded hole in the compound (I mean that's what lathes are for, right??). I still had to mill down some tool holders because they are a little thick in the bottom so I was having some trouble centering the tool, but it still fits. Precision Matthews does not recommend it however because he feels the lathe is too small to use larger inserts.

I've gotten a Shars 4 jaw chuck (it did not come with one), the lathe shakes a little at certain RPM with that chuck on. The stock 3 jaw chuck did not shake at all at any RPM. Maybe I need to rebalance the thing... Not sure how to do that.

Overall the lathe is pretty good, plenty of power for its size and it's capable of gunsmithing due to its 1.5" spindle. I can basically fit barreled action into it. Need to make a spider for it.

IBTL. Shouldn't be long now.

Yeah, nice fellow with a new lathe telling us with pardonable pride of its features and what he's done so far squelched out of malignant machine tool Jingoism.

This is a nice machine well able to compete in its niche in any small commercial shop and I've seen many of what some might call low-end import machines doing exactly that and professional machinists run them. It does 90% of what a new Monarch EE can do at 1/30 the price

That is as may be - though I'd justifiably debate the 90% figure - but the rules are the rules. And I'm pretty sure they keep the site from being flooded with quite a lot of drivel. This particular post wasn't bad but allowing one post on the topic would of course open the floodgates and makes for a lot of work for D. sorting out what belongs and what he doesn't want to deal with.

Aside from that, I've personally run several different makes of import for a considerable amount of hours, including one of the supposed "better" brands - Sharp. They don't compare in any meaningful way to the old iron like Monarch, Pratt, American etc. The rigidity is awful, they don't have the same kind of electrical power or reliability, the bearings are low quality, etc. D. maintains that these are the reasons he doesn't want these machines discussed here, and he has every right. If the guys with these machines have a question regarding some machining operation they are always more than welcome to post about that.

Forrest Addy said:

This is a nice machine... ... It does 95% of what a new Monarch EE can do at 1/30 the price

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I have done considerable time (the analogy is intentional) in front of a King 1236, the exact same machine w/o what they call a "digital read out", which is only an rpm read out. From your statement, you've clearly never run one of these lathes.

Your next claim is dubious at best. Granted, the machine will "rotate stock" like an EE would, it'll traverse the carraige while rotating stock like an EE would. The comparison falls apart when quality of operation is considered. Why buy an S-class when a Scion Tc will get you down the road?

For the size, it's a really good machine and Precision Matthews does take great pains to make the machine usable out of the box (Grizzly often require a lot of deep modifications to accept common mods, like motor, feed direction, cross feeds, etc.) though there are some things I wish they'd have, like not having to switch gears to change feed direction (I have to open the hatch, flip a gear in order to feed backwards and out).

I'm not going to be able to have anything nicer than this, and if I needed extreme accuracy, rather than spend money on some small but name brand lathe (like modern Southbends) I just use that money and get a larger import machine.

eKretz said:

That is as may be - though I'd justifiably debate the 90% figure - but the rules are the rules. And I'm pretty sure they keep the site from being flooded with quite a lot of drivel. This particular post wasn't bad but allowing one post on the topic would of course open the floodgates and makes for a lot of work for D. sorting out what belongs and what he doesn't want to deal with.

Aside from that, I've personally run several different makes of import for a considerable amount of hours, including one of the supposed "better" brands - Sharp. They don't compare in any meaningful way to the old iron like Monarch, Pratt, American etc. The rigidity is awful, they don't have the same kind of electrical power or reliability, the bearings are low quality, etc. D. maintains that these are the reasons he doesn't want these machines discussed here, and he has every right. If the guys with these machines have a question regarding some machining operation they are always more than welcome to post about that.

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Bit of a problem is that there is little other machines. Lathes come in all sizes ( so do mills ) and people get what's on offer in that size. A better question is if the OP uses the machine for his profession which it seems he does. I could come up with quite a few milling machines looking exactly like a Taiwanese mill-drill but old(er) and with respectable names behind them. Like Schaublin. In the end, Monarchs are fine machines but I've seen better. AND the name on them contained a"Z". This must be the ultimate snobbery - to own a machine branded by the owner of that one and the other one. AND German. And as we all know, German is golden.

Forrest Addy said:

It does 90% of what a new Monarch EE can do at 1/30 the price

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BFD. So does a cheap bench grinder or a set of files and abrasive papers in the right hands, and one COULD still fell a tree with a stone axe.. but for how long, at what rate of output, and, Oh, BTW - whointheHELL would WANT to EVER "go (back) there"?

A (lie) Matthews dasn't b'long PM's "general" section. Gets granted a "free pass" only in the Gunsmithing forum, where anything as can help metals - or wannabee gunsmiths - make noise is welcome.

Monarchist said:

BFD. So does a cheap bench grinder or a set of files and abrasive papers in the right hands, and one COULD still fell a tree with a stone axe.. but for how long, at what rate of output, and, Oh, BTW - whointheHELL would WANT to EVER "go (back) there"?

A (lie) Matthews dasn't b'long PM's "general" section. Gets granted a "free pass" only in the Gunsmithing forum, where anything as can help metals - or wannabee gunsmiths - make noise is welcome.

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Not fair ! Crappy lathe doesn't get a pass, glorified drill press, does.

How did this suddenly become a debate about old irons vs new imports?

Old irons aren't that cheap and they require a significant amount of work before it's operational. Ones ready to go exists but costs a lot. Just because they're old doesn't mean they're good particularly if you basically have to recondition the bearings because the original one is shot.

AFAIK, there is no rule against the larger Asian machines used in shops. But there is against the 9x20 kind of stuff. I'm not exactly sure where the line is drawn.
It is completely correct that there is little else available in a manual lathe not made 50 years ago.

As for the 10EE, it is kind of a fluke that people can buy them today, as they were designed and sold almost entirely to the people who need that last 5%. It was never a lathe for ordinary shops. It seems pretty silly to limit discussion of manual machining only to very high end old lathes, or the tiny handful of new ones. You don't have to have a great lathe to make good parts. I have used this style of Taiwan machine, and had no problem making parts to +-.001. For heavy usage, their durability is deeply suspect, but is anyone using them for that, I doubt it.

It seems more like people expect the OP to be ashamed of his lathe, particularly by people who are overproud of theirs.

regards,

Jon P.

Truthfully, if I gotta pay close to 2000 dollars messing around with Southbend 9x20 type lathes, I'm better off buying an import and making the necessary modifications. PM just happens to sell imports that have all the necessary mods or is mod friendly, so they get my vote.

Taiwan machines seem to be really well made these days though, but I never used a lathe in Taiwan and when you go big enough, even Chinese machines are good enough.