Very nice Pat!! I have the PM1127VF and i love it. You will love this lathe! That quick change gear box should make changes a breeze, and the DRO is great. I got the DRO on mine as well. I am i little baffled how you got that in there?! That shop looks a little small! Mine weighing in at 660lbs had to be but on the desk with an engine hoist and barely got up high enough to do it.
Enjoy!!
PS: Whats the lever down at the bottom on the carriage on the power feed rod do. Mine doesnt have this. A little curious?
The lathe weighs over 1200 pounds with the base, the lathe proper weighs close to a 1000 pounds. To get the unit to the shop I hired out the owner of a Troy Dingo with tracks and tree forks to get it up off the driveway and across 175' of yard ($160 for a hour). Getting it into the shop and on the stands required two friends, a one ton and a two ton shop crane, along with a three ton low profile floor jack. As you noted, tight quarters meant different strategies: three hours to accomplish.
The PM1340GT has three rods: lead screw, feed shaft, spindle rotation control shaft; the spindle rotation control lever is what you are seeing. Down for counterclockwise rotation, middle for neutral, and up for clockwise rotation.
I originally looked at the PM1127VF-LB, and still think it is a sweet lathe, but my wife said at the time that it was too big, so being new to the game of lathes (and old to the game of marriage) I said OK and bought a smaller lathe (a LMS Hi Torque 8.5 X 16 lathe: 300 pounds). She should have listened to me in the first place, LOL. The second time around I almost bought your model again, but I thought a little bigger would be better and before you know it I ordered this one because it is reputed to be very high quality. These are not easily come by and I waited 7 months for it because they are shipped sporadically; I heard that some lucky souls only waited a few days for theirs because they hit when the shipment arrived. I may or may not do other things on it, but pens for sure. Like you, I'm not planning on another lathe. I have thought about a mill, but having invested in all the equipment needed to support a lathe, and the lead time to become proficient I have put that on hold. Besides, I am starting up my own little pen business and that is fun, too.
Pat McConnel
