Oh, oh! Won auction for PM3520

[David Utterback]

Good morning,
I am the slightly nervous new owner of a PM3520 that I have to move to my home on Saturday. I have been on the lookout for one since I retired almost 2 years ago and found an opportunity last night on a local auction site. I was very surprised when my initial bid was a winner. Very surprised!!!

This forum contains a lot of information on the lathe and good info on strategies for disassembly and handling. The lathe is in a garage so I should be able to get my pickup tailgate right to the machine. I plan to use a floor jack and a 2x6 frame to lift the bed after removing the all the attachments. One post suggested placing a rebar piece through the headstock so 2 people can lift it. I have a 36" long piece of 1/2" d cold rolled steel that should handle the weight. That leaves me to wonder if the spindle can be easily removed and if any special tools are required, e.g. spanner wrench.

Also, the S/N begins with 98 and it has a Baldor motor and digital readout. Does this mean that it is a 3250A? It has a "made in USA" sticker on it. I may also be in need of an owner's manual. Please let me know if one may be located readily. I would appreciate your comments, insights, and other ideas.

Thanks,
David

[Dale Miner]

Congrats.

The 3520 is a great machine.

FYI; The legs unbolt from the bed if that makes moving any easier.

[joe marra]

Personally, I would not put a rebar through the headstock, it could damage the Morse taper when lifting.

[Doug W Swanson]

Take the lathe apart into the smallest pieces possible. The headstock, tailstock, legs and bed all separate nicely. The heaviest pieces are the headstock and bed but the rest can be handled by one person. Should be easy enough to get everything into a pickup bed.

I hauled my PM to my basement with the help of a neighbor. Wasn't bad at all...

[allen thunem]

did you get it for a good price??

[Bob Holcombe]

Take the lathe apart into the smallest pieces possible. The headstock, tailstock, legs and bed all separate nicely. The heaviest pieces are the headstock and bed but the rest can be handled by one person. Should be easy enough to get everything into a pickup bed.

I hauled my PM to my basement with the help of a neighbor. Wasn't bad at all...


+1

Plus, make sure to protect the headstock VFD while in the truck.

[Dwight Rutherford]

Here is the manual for the 3520B
http://content.powermatic.com/assets/manuals/1352001_man_EN.pdf

[Mike Goetzke]

When I assembled mine I put saw horses under the bed (w/o head or tail stock) when I attached the legs. I also found it very helpful for attaching the legs to cut a hex wrench so you can drive the socket head bolts with a ratchet wrench.


Good Luck!

[Reed Gray]

The B has a digital read out on the front side of the headstock, and it is an rpm indicator. The A has a read out on the back, and you can figure out rpm from it through a formula. If this one is made in the USA, it is not a B model. The A was first made here, then manufacturing went over seas, about the same time PM sold to that tool group.

You can hand truck the legs no problem. The bed is so heavy that I could barely get it up onto the legs by myself, and I am on the Brute Squad. I heard of one turner who reassembled the PM by laying the bed on the floor upside down, bolting the legs on, then tipping it right side up. That would most likely require at least one friend. The motor assembly is more bulky and awkward to handle.

robo hippy

[Rich Sabulsky]

Congrats on the new lathe!

I'll second the idea of phoning a friend for help in setting it up. I'm with Robo Hippy on the Brute Squad and had a similar experience to the one he described. I also put the bed and legs together inverted with the thought of then rolling it onto the levelers from there. I am not timid or fragile, but I couldn't pivot it upright by myself. I wound up enlisting my son with an 8' 2x4 as a lever, and added a whole lot of my own grunt and determination. As a bonus, I had a backache and a strained bicep for about 2 weeks over it!

[David Utterback]

To all of you, thanks for all the information and especially Joe for the comment on the rebar. I will wrap the 1/2 steel rod with multiple layers of cloth from an old tee shirt prior to placing in the headstock spindle channel. The link for the manual is also great to have.

My plan right now is to disassemble on site and put into the bed of my pickup. I was thinking about building a 2x6 rectangular frame with diagonal bracing that would fit under the lathe bed and attach to it. A cross brace several inches off the ground would permit carefully lifting the lathe off the ground with my hydraulic car jack, after all components except the legs have been removed. Hopefully, this will permit detaching the legs and lifting the lathe bed high enough to slide into the pickup. Could someone please let me know the leg height dimension so I can make the frame before leaving home?

Bob, what precautions should I take with the VFD other than protect it from collision with other components?

Again, thanks a bunch,
David

[Mike Goetzke]

Also, if you plan to make the lathe mobile now is the time to add casters or whatever.

Mike

[Bob Holcombe]

David, just protect it from being hit with other parts or sliding into the sides.

[Justin Stephen]

I assembled my 3520 alone using only a lift cart that I bought for $100 or so from Harbor Freight. While not the heaviest piece, the motor unit itself is the clumsiest part to deal with. Set the legs up (easily moved alone if in decent shape), drag the bed onto the cart and lift it into place, then lift the motor up to the edge of the bed and move it into place. Once done, you can use the left cart to move the entire lathe around the room, even though it exceeds the listed capacity of the cart it works fine.

All that said, this was in a garage with the pallet containing the lathe sitting on the floor. If there were any stairs involved, I would have needed help.

[Brice Rogers]

In September I picked up the crate containing my new Grizzly G0766. The crate was about 5-1/2 feet and easily fit in the 8 foot bed of my pickup. The first time that I applied the brakes, the 600 pound box slid a foot and a half forward and hit the box so hard that I'm lucky that it didn't bend it (I don't have the courage to look really closely) or set off the air bags. It was like getting rear-ended !! Yikes. :eek: Luckily I had some lumber pieces with me to help take up the gap and keep it from sliding around for the remainder of the journey.

My purpose of posting this in this thread is to remind you make sure that it is impossible for your load to slide around in your pickup bed.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I assembled my PM-3520B by myself using a Little Giant ladder, a 4"x4"x 24" block, a chain and a come-along.

Remove the leg assemblies one a time. Lock the headstock so it can't move at one end. Raise one end. Remove the leg assembly. Lower that end to the ground. Raise the other end and remove the leg assemble. Lower it to the ground. Then slide the head stock to the middle and lock it in place. Two people should be able to handle that.

[Reed Gray]

When a friend bought my 3520A, we took it apart and loaded it into his VW Jetta. The car was floating around a bit as it drove down the road....

robo hippy

[Joe Kaufman]

Used a motorcycle jack and a 6”X12” beam cut-off under the center of the bed. Left the headstock on the lathe bed and positioned in the center. Jacked up the lathe placed another 6X12 under the legs at one end, removed other set of legs. Backed pickup with sheet of plywood on the bed under the lathe. Slid headstock to end of lathe bed that was supported by the pickup. Repositioned motorcycle jack and slid into the pickup, removed other set of legs and pushed all the way into pickup. Two people can do it. Use the 6X12 to prevent forward movement in the pickup box. Reverse the process for re-assembly. The transmission jack was used to position the assembled lathe in the shop. Engine hoist could be used also. Be sure to provide lateral support and tie down to prevent lathe from falling over in transit.

[Clint Bach]

Be very careful! If you lower one end of the bed with the headstock on the high end it can slide down the bed with an extreme weight shift. The headstock can slide completely off the bed. Please be careful to lock the headstock to the bed. How do I know about this danger? Personal experience... Not a 3520 but about the same weight. I still hurt...

lock that headstock to the bed! It's heavy and once it gets moving it is unstoppable.

c

[Marty Tippin]

It's really not that bad to move - just remove the tailstock, slide the headstock off (it's heavy but one person can manage it if necessary), remove the bolts from the legs and lift the bed off and then move the legs. Assembly is the reverse.

All very manageable pieces for 2 people, though I moved mine out of a basement pretty much unassisted.

[Pat Scott]

Do not put rebar through the headstock! I don't care if you wrap it in cloth or not, I say you're just asking for trouble. You really do not want to take a chance of damaging the morse taper.

I had a friend help me lift the bed out of the truck and set on the edge of my bench. Then I attached the legs, moved it into position in my garage, and then slid on the headstock. One note of caution on lifting the headstock is do not grab the hand wheel to lift. The wheel can rotate when you're least expecting it and now you've lost your grasp.

[Bill Boehme]

Sticking rebar through the. spindle may not be the worst idea imaginable for moving the headstock, but it is probably a contender for the honor. You might consider documenting this in a YouTube video (the kind that make you grimace in empathy). If two people can pick up the headstock with a piece of rebar sticking through the spindle (with total loss of control, I migh add) then the same two people can much more easily pick up the headstock by just getting ahold of the two ends and be in much better control.

Before beginning here are a few things to mull over:


the motor is by far the heaviest part of the headstock plus it is hanging out to the back and off center
when it is lifted, gravity will cause the headstock to swing so that the heaviest part is down, but like a pendulum it will continue to swing
meanwhile, the poor guy at the motor end will be carrying almost all of the weight
because of the unequal load sharing, the rebar won't be level so the headstock will slide down the rebar to the poor guy who already is carrying the lions share of the load until the hand wheel slams into his thumb causing a blood blister . . .
. . . whereupon the other guy will overreact and lower his end . . . causing the headstock (which is swinging more wildly than ever) to slide down the rebar to his end of the spindle and . . .
resulting in his thumb getting jammed up the spindle nose ... peeling the hide off the first knuckle
innocent bystanders will hear unrecognizable oaths and utterances as the two men simultaneously drop their out of control load, but fortunately . . .
. . . there is good news, of sorts . . . the headstock and motor are both spared from damage as the VFD served as a crumple zone shock absorber

[Mike Peace]

Check out the Mustard Monster website for all sorts of 3520 tips and info including moving and assembly http://mustardmonster.weebly.com/