The new PM3520b lathe was unveiled at the AAW symposium in Kansas City last week by WMH Tools, the parent company of the PM brand. I spent quite a bit of time in the booth looking the lathe over and discussing the features with the product director. Please note that I am not affiliated with the company in any way. From my observations, here is a list of the new or modified features below. There are 6 total pictures....one is attached in the next posting.
New or modified features:
Features which were unchanged:
- spindle lock is the same
- 2HP motor is the same
- knobs and levers all exactly the same
- same colors, and the rest of the lathe was the same
Comments about the features:
I think most of these are good innovations. The biggest obvious change is the RPM readout. Good for beginners...but once you have 200 hours of turning experience it is kinda useless.
The 2HP motor is decent. Amongst the suggestions I made was that they have an option for a 3HP motor (accompanied by a proper controller to handle the increased load).
As Mike Schwing has noted on another forum...they didn't change the spindle lock!! It is still spring loaded and can't be locked. The product director indicated that WMH tools kept that design so that a turner would not accidently turn on the lathe while the spindle lock was engaged. We spent a lot of time discussing that one item. I agree with Mike that this is a major misdesigned feature on the 3520 product line. To be clear - a person should be able to engage and lock the spindle lock without manually holding the button in.
The headstock lock, tailstock lock, and banjo locks are unchanged. We discussed that too. I am an agressive turner and I frequently have to crank down to ensure those locks hold the components locked to the lathe. The product director indicated that most people do not have those problems. I counter argued that most people probably don't turn 100+ pounds on a regular basis.
They passed out a few DVDs on the 3520b, and I obtained one. One of the procedures they show on the DVD is how to adjust the retaining nut on bearings in the headstock. After your lathe gets 1,000 hours of usage you may want to check and potentially adjust yours. I have already done this procedure about 6 months ago.
The potentiometer on the headstock - which is used to change the lathe speed (i.e. 0-1200 RPMs) will fail at some point. The product director was impressed that mine lasted this long (2,200 hours -2,600 hours usage). He indicated that accumulated dust usually causes them to fail at some point.
In summary, the symposium is a great place to get exposure to vendors. The WMH tools folks were very courteous and knowledgeable about their product. It was fun talking directly to the folks who are representing their product. There were other new/modified products at the symposium. But I wanted to focus this thread on the 3520b features. If you have any questions I'll try to answer them.
After typing all this I realize that I am now officially a turning geek. The words "quill" and "sheave" are now just part of my vocabulary and it is doubtful that I can ever escape the woodturning vortex at this point. :cool2:
New or modified features:
- RPM: a new RPM display readout on the headstock facing the turner
- Headstock: top of the flat headstock now has a slight recess across the entire top, which holds a rubber corrugated mat so you can put stuff up there (nice idea)
- Controller: a different controller on the back, not substantially different from the old one
- Indexer: built-in indexer on the inboard side of the spindle on the headstock
- Tailstock: crank was chromed and slightly redesigned
- Legs: supporting legs have an additional set of brackets providing the ability to more easily build a shelf underneath the bed
- Legs: threaded holes on the outside areas of both sets of legs
- Legs: threaded holes on inboard side allow for 18" bed extension to be mounted low so that large bowls can be turned
- Legs: threaded holes on outboard side of headstock had an optional toolshelf mounted on those legs
- Banjo: has lateral slots running across the whole banjo on both sides
- Banjo: those slots provide a mounting point for an optional sliding dusthood for use during sanding (kinda neat)
- Brackets: the tailstock and headstock have mounting brackets which extend away from the turner, where they allow a spindle to be mounted for reference during reproduction spindle work
- Locks: redesigned "locks" at end of each bed to prevent headstock and tailstock from sliding out (can be retrofitted on current model)
- Banjo: was keyed/slotted in the toolpost holder - so that a keyed toolpost could be inserted, thus locking the toolpost so there is absolutely zero rotational slippage
- Headstock: has been chamfered in one area - the entire edge right near the spindle...allowing for easier access to the turning very close to the spindle
- Headstock: the belt/sheave door is now spring loaded instead of being held by a threaded knob
- Quill: on the tailstock is laser etched allowing for an easier visual gauge of how far the ram is being moved
- Tailstock: now has a storage door in the existing big cavity facing the turner
- Stock toolrest: has a steeper bevel along the top of the toolrest, allowing for the turner to drop their toolhandle lower and still have contact with the top of the toolrest
- Slide Hammer: chrome knockout slide-hammer provided for knocking out a drive center
Features which were unchanged:
- spindle lock is the same
- 2HP motor is the same
- knobs and levers all exactly the same
- same colors, and the rest of the lathe was the same
Comments about the features:
I think most of these are good innovations. The biggest obvious change is the RPM readout. Good for beginners...but once you have 200 hours of turning experience it is kinda useless.
The 2HP motor is decent. Amongst the suggestions I made was that they have an option for a 3HP motor (accompanied by a proper controller to handle the increased load).
As Mike Schwing has noted on another forum...they didn't change the spindle lock!! It is still spring loaded and can't be locked. The product director indicated that WMH tools kept that design so that a turner would not accidently turn on the lathe while the spindle lock was engaged. We spent a lot of time discussing that one item. I agree with Mike that this is a major misdesigned feature on the 3520 product line. To be clear - a person should be able to engage and lock the spindle lock without manually holding the button in.
The headstock lock, tailstock lock, and banjo locks are unchanged. We discussed that too. I am an agressive turner and I frequently have to crank down to ensure those locks hold the components locked to the lathe. The product director indicated that most people do not have those problems. I counter argued that most people probably don't turn 100+ pounds on a regular basis.
They passed out a few DVDs on the 3520b, and I obtained one. One of the procedures they show on the DVD is how to adjust the retaining nut on bearings in the headstock. After your lathe gets 1,000 hours of usage you may want to check and potentially adjust yours. I have already done this procedure about 6 months ago.
The potentiometer on the headstock - which is used to change the lathe speed (i.e. 0-1200 RPMs) will fail at some point. The product director was impressed that mine lasted this long (2,200 hours -2,600 hours usage). He indicated that accumulated dust usually causes them to fail at some point.
In summary, the symposium is a great place to get exposure to vendors. The WMH tools folks were very courteous and knowledgeable about their product. It was fun talking directly to the folks who are representing their product. There were other new/modified products at the symposium. But I wanted to focus this thread on the 3520b features. If you have any questions I'll try to answer them.
After typing all this I realize that I am now officially a turning geek. The words "quill" and "sheave" are now just part of my vocabulary and it is doubtful that I can ever escape the woodturning vortex at this point. :cool2: