Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Precision Matthews, any experience with the company or machines?

Yeah, when I read this book about the next mill
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1482367912
I realized after I gave away the old mill to a hunting buddy that I could have fixed it.
I paid $2500 for the first mill and $12,500 for the second.

40 years ago I saw parking spots in Manhattan Beach in LA and in Tokyo cost more than a new porsche to park there.
Now in Seattle, the price of a mill is nothing compared to the cost of the space to store it.

I think BlondiHacks has a precision Matthews mill and lathe. She is in a shop 3 feet wide, and has to pull the car out to work. That is in the Bay area, I think.
https://www.youtube.com/c/Blondihacks/videos
She was independently writing games for the I-phone 5 years ago for a living when my son was.
That is one smart woman.

The last place I worked had an old Bridgeport Mill about 50 years old that nobody used because the table was so loose. It had a good, variable speed head that ran smooth, a good brake, power feed on the X axis and a digital readout. I cleaned it up, adjusted the gibs and the split screw and used it daily for 8 years.

It's fairly hard to wear out the body of a good quality knee mill. The head will sometimes need work,..usually the spindle bearings. But the ways on a milling machine will last longer than the person operating it if they're kept clean and oiled.

This guy seems to like them.

I have a grizzly G0761 mill and the G0602 lathe, they are comparable to P M equipment. What ever you get, on the mill get a DRO , and a small lathe with variable speed motor control. The mill is a work horse for its size. The lathe could use a dc drive motor, but works good as is!

For the cost and if you have the room why not buy a used knee type mill? More rigid, more table travel and way more versatile. I see used bridgeport type mills on craigslist for around $3000.00. Get a set of R8 collets, a Jacobs brand ball bearing drill chuck, some good quality drill bits and taps and you're off to a great start. I buy allot from these 2 places https://www.maritool.com/ and https://www.mscdirect.com/ A good quality milling vise is a great asset too. https://www.mscdirect.com/

I have a PM 1440BV with dro and southbend heavy 10. I also have a jet mill with dro.

The PM is far behind compared to a Southbend. It is accurate to 2/10ths.

It's a good buy, but I'd take a used rig of slightly higher quality before full price on a new one.....but a new rig makes money as soon as you have it.

Tarquin,

Yep, that’s Gavin, he took some of Gordy Gritters Gunsmithing courses as well, and Gordy is the guy who has helped a bunch of us guys who learned gunsmithing from him build our shops.

In fact Gordy just bought another PM lathe after he moved to Florida for teaching classes.

Fuuckoff

I will take a look.

Thanks for the discussion folks, especially those understanding the specific topic as posted.in the subject line. Time for coffee.

Sometimes the hype of buying old heavy American iron is a little overdone, don't get me wrong, that's all I've got. I have a good friend who bought a pretty heavy old Bridgeport, it was clean and maintained, and the only thing he had the broker check was arbor runout. Turns out, it was used in the aircraft industry production for many years. If you are a half fast machinist...you know what stacking errors are, a little here, a tad there, times 4X...bottom line you have a machine that won't hold tolerance. Then it's sell it, or go into the money pit of a rebuild...contrary to what some people say...you don't just tighten the gibs in 10 minutes and do low tolerance work. All the big pieces wear on tapers, tight in the center of travel is too tight at the ends of travel and vice-versa.
Just sayin'.

Some people can't do close tolerance work,....period.

Only manual milling machines I have used were full sized Bridgeports. Major overkill for my need. Good overkill, yet, overkill nonetheless. Used, unseen? I suppose I could tell my employer to FO, so I can travel the country in search of a used machine... The math doesn't pencil out... Hmmm.

Just make sure you go with a dovetail column on a small mill. Stay from the round columns, they move to much, under heavy work. My last mill was a Lagun brand knee mill, to big of foot print in the shop!

The nice thing about buying anything to use is that if it turns out to not be what you had hoped you can sell it and buy something else. It sounds like you have used the knee mills so you know what to expect from them. Also if your milling never requires you to use an end mill over 1/2" you won't need a ton of machine to do a good job with. Then for drilling holes, like scope bases and such what you really need more than anything is getting the correct location. Keep us posted on what you decide. I've been in the tool and die since 1979 and am highly interested anytime someone needs help. I love metal work!

Jim 1611, Are there any names that jump into your mind considering the OP's requirements of a smaller machine that can still do quality work?

Thanks Jim. And others too.





Absolutely. I have been looking at stuff for a long time prior to actually deciding what I really need for my interests. Round column bench mill - no, and that reality has taken me up up up in cost... Looking at a cherry big Jet knee mill Saturday, it's a lot, in more "ways" than one.

Looking at this set of particulars. 20" or more X-axis (maxing out the bench mills), comes with or can add at least X/Y DRO, R8, and a strong preference for electric variable speed with high top end for rapid aluminum milling and Z DRO.

A note, Taiwan ROC is not PRC. LOL

Can't find it. Link? Thanks.

Clausing made on a few years ago that's a good machine. I've seen some Enco machines that were okay but for light work. I guess what kind of work you want to do is going to matter the most. Do you want to drill holes or machine an octagon barrel. If it's the later then you'll want some weight in the machine. Here's a good site that I like to visit http://www.metalworkingfun.com/ There are quite a few hobby oriented guys on there and they really do some nice work. Again the type work you do matters. Millings cuts need to be smooth to be accurate and to get smooth cuts you need a machine that has a table that moves on ways that are smooth. Drilling holes not so much as the location is most important. Either require a minimum of spindle runout.



Here's a nice version of the clausing http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=84829&start=24

Here's a good thread to look through too http://www.metalworkingfun.com/showthread.php?tid=16