Good Morning. I have a PM2014 lathe a little less than a year old, in need of service and have been unable to find a facility. The people at Powermatic have been less than helpful. The grub screw on the stop collar fell out and the thing vibrated severely. I replaced it but can't get the spindle assembly quite right. I live in Nassau county on Long Island and cannot locate a service center. The 4 closest centers, ( none of which are close), say they cant help. Any suggestions? Thanks so much. PK
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Powermatic 2014 lathe
- Thread starter Paul Kuflik
- Start date
Welcome to the forums Paul. I owned a PM2014 for two years and recently replaced. Powermatic is generally very good to work with and has an outstanding reputation. I'm surprised you are having difficulty. I would call the main number and open a case with the service department. Let us know how that goes.
Phone: 1-800-274-6848
Fax: 888-605-2101
Address:
JPW Industries
427 New Sanford Road
La Vergne, TN, 37086
United States
JPW INDUSTRIES
Customer Service (Hours of Operation): 7am to 5pm (CST)(Mon-Fri)Phone: 1-800-274-6848
Fax: 888-605-2101
Address:
JPW Industries
427 New Sanford Road
La Vergne, TN, 37086
United States
Thanks for the quick response. I appreciate it. Unfortunately, I have spoken to them several times and emailed back and forth several times. No luck yet.
BTW, what did you replace it with?
Record Power Coronet Envoy.
I commend your tidiness!! Powermatic service has been enormously disappointing.
It was really hard to work with Powermatic. I had the 2014 for about a year and then upgraded to a Robust. As far as your problem what do you mean by the grub screw? Is it effecting the spindle? Photo may help.
Its really a set screw that keeps the spindle lock collar in place. I cant get a picture of it because its hidden within the headstock housing and not accessible which is indeed the problem. Im really disappointed with Powermatic. Congratulations on the Robust. It looks like an absolutely awesome machine.
When I was researching lathes last year I talked to a large variety of lathe owners. The story I got was that Powermatic used to be one of the top companies for wood lathes. But the past few years quality has gone down slightly and customer service has gone away. I found a great deal on a 3520c but decided to pass based on the references I received.
Unfortunately that has been my experience!
I see. Well I don't know if I can help very much. I have called them and it does take awhile to get to the right person. Hopefully they can send you a whole new headstock assembly. Do you have a local club nearby to maybe see if a member could work on it? Just a wild suggestion
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A good friend has a 2014 and ran into the same problem with the lock collar set screw. After several disappointing tries at getting help from Powermatic, we got together and after an hour or so of contortions managed to get the set screw tightened. IIRC, we got to it by taking the spindle lock mechanism out, but that was more than a month ago, so I don't remember for sure, I'll let him know about this thread and see if he has anything to add.
Edit: Actually he already responded in the other 2014 spindle lock thread that you're participating in.
Edit: Actually he already responded in the other 2014 spindle lock thread that you're participating in.
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Thanks so much. The problem I encountered with removing the spindle lock mechanism, is once you put the spindle back in place the sensor wheel for determining the ram blocks the access to the inside spindle lock nut! Perhaps a specialized wrench of some type could be used to tighten the inside nut but couldn't find anything. Thanks so much for trying. When I mentioned to PM shouldn't that set screw not come lose, they agreed it shouldn't but didn't know how to fix it. One tech guy suggested I look it up on Google or YouTube. As I said kinda disappointing.
Mike reminded me about the stuff we did to fix his. We finally had the head stock off, loosened the mountings for the electronics box that's in the way, then I somehow contorted my hand enough to get it in there far enough to tighten the set screw. I don't recommend that method. I think Mike drilled a hole under the rubber mat on top after it loosened a second time. Made it a lot easier to tighten it better. If you can get enough access and there are enough threads in the collar, you can put a second set screw in the same hole to lock the first set screw in place. It was really aggravating the first time I encountered one of those in a different machine!
Im glad at least I didnt overlook what is an easy fix. I ordered a hex key with a ball tip, maybe that will help. If not, I think hole in the top of the headstock is the best option. Thanks again for the advice.
Use a drop of blue threadlocker when you re-install the grub screw.
good idea. Thanks
The problem with the techs at most of the big companies is that, unlike the old days, they have to read from a manual of FAQs (frequently asked questions), and they don't actually use the tools. If there is a club near you, ask them. some one in the club may have the same lathe, and may be able to help far better than the techs.
robo hippy
robo hippy
You will like this. I had a tech question about accessing the set screw and the tech person suggested I look up the issue on Google or YouTube.
Makes me wonder if JPW has outsourced their tech support to an outside company. Something sure has changed with their customer service.