One of the greatr things about working with Oneway is that they will work with you to deliver the lathe you want the way you want it. If you want the lathe in pieces then I am sure they would be glad to ship you pieces.
The bed of the lathe can easly be handled by 4 people and a couple of 2x4s (2x4s slide between the bed and the tube for lifting and carrying. You could slide the bed tube with motor down the stairs. There are lots of places where you could attach ropes to the tube between the ways and tube.
This isn't a lightweight lathe. You only need to move the lathe in once. You can go down to the 7-11 and pick up 4 day labors, pay each $50 and that lathe would end up put together in perfect condition in your basment. You could contract with a movie company (let them go to 7-11 and get the day laborers but the cost will be a LOT more).
You could go to the local High School, talk to the industrial arts teacher and pay some high school kids $50 each. Go to the boosters for the high school football team and let them arrange for the high school kids. Pay the boosters the $200 (might be tax deductable). The point is that while the lathe can't make it down the stairs like a few dozen buckets of legos there are loads of safe and efective ways to get the lathe safely into your basment shop.
BTW the Stuby 750 is designed to be taken apart into pieces that can be handled by one person (though the headstock requires that the one person is in better shape than I am).
>I moved a General 26020 VSD into my basement alone. Took three to get it out again when I sold it!
As suggested by OneWay, I removed everything I could. The cast iron ways were the heaviest, but I used a shoulder strap and just managed. The base cabinet was more awkward but not nearly so heavy. To get it all back together again, I used an inexpensive block and tackle to lift the heavy bits into position on the cabinet.
I think you should be alright if you have a strong friend.
>You'll probably want to ask Oneway directly as to whether a 2436 can be shipped in pieces - my 1640 arrived fully assembled and bolted to a pallet. The entire package was covered with a cardboard box that was nailed to the pallet. Fortunately, I have a walk-in basement with 6' door opening, so I was able to wheel the lathe right into my shop where I unpacked it at my leisure.
Take a look at http://www.johnsturn.com (I just found that site last night) - there's a review of the Oneway 2036 with some notes about how he got his lathe into his shop - sounds like a similar situation to yours. You may also be able to send the guy a message directly for details/suggestions as he had a great site and seemed very helpful.
My only other suggestion is that you may want to consider where the package can be placed while you work out the details of getting it into your shop. My delivery was easy, but I had the bad luck that it rained like cats and dogs on the day of delivery and by the time I got it into my shop, the bed was wet. Fortunately, the time from truck to my shop floor was only about 15 minutes.
Good luck and enjoy the purchase - I'm sure that you'll love that new lathe!!!
>I did my General 260 with the help of a friend. Garrett had posted how he did his General 260 so I was encouraged it could be done.
The General weighs about 600 lbs. It was placed in my friend's trailer by forklift. When I got home to my garage we took off the tailstock and headstock which probably cut the weight by 80 lbs.
The lathe was on a 2x lumber skid. Took off part of the base and the short underneath cross pieces which left the lathe on long boards basically (secret weapon #1). Considered removing the bed but decided to try without doing so.
Secret weapon #2 was a couple of small dollies. Roughly 2'x2' platforms with 4 casters. Slid the lathe down a ramp from the trailer bed and onto 1 dolly and then slid it the rest of the way onto the second dolly. Easily wheeled it over garage floor to stairway into basement.
Got rid of the front dolly and got the lathe going down the stairs on its remaining skid boards. This was a bit scary because I thought it might run away. We attached a rope to control it but it really wasn't needed. Eased it down the stairs and made a rt. angle turn at the bottom where there was a small landing with another stair to the floor. Before it came off the bottom stair positioned the dolly and let it slide onto the dolly. Followed up by rear dolly. Wheeled it into basement and into shop.
It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Before you disassemble any parts see if there are any precautions you must take to maintain alignment when you reassemble DAMHIKT.
Good luck and be careful! If I were to hire help I would get a moving company or somebody in the business. I wouldn't hire some HS kids because if they get hurt you could be in trouble.
>Phil, the Oneway usually comes assembled; but can (and probably should) be disassembled to get it down stairs. Also, seriously consider temporarily reinforcing the stairs beforehand just to be sure. Having been through this, I'd recommend getting two or three very strong people to help you get it moved. You will also find having a strong mover's dolly and/or several johnson bars (i.e., wheeled, lever dollies) to be very useful.
Hope you didn't mind my posting your site - I came across it the other night by way of the Oneway site and thought it was great. I really enjoyed your turnings and your shop tour was very nice too!
>I don't mind, Brian, though my own situation might be somewhat different having an outside bulkhead with concrete steps. I didn't have the problem of needing to strengthen stairs, which is a lesson one unfortunate local learned the hard way when his came crashing down. Kinda throws a damper on what is otherwise one of a tool guy's most fun days.
>After spending the bucks for the lathe I would hate to see it go bouncing down the stairs not to mention the splatter created by the guy on the bottom. My suggestion is to spend the money and hire a bonded, insured professional company to move it. They have the experiance and equipment to do it safely.
>Definily hire movers. Your back is worth a lot more than the price. It took 6 people with mule straps [three on each side] to take my ~800lb Vicmarc VL300 off the pallet and into my shop door. When I later made room in the house for my lathes, my son and I rolled it in using a 2 ton car jack with wheels, worked like a charm. Do ask Oneway about disassmbly as many lathes come pre-assembled because they were adusted at the factory and disassembly my undo the accuracy.
You other options are send the family to the basement and you work upstairs or relocate. =o)
>I unbolted the legs. The headstock is separate to start with. And I took out the motor. Three of us carried the bed down. Two on the motor end and one on the other. Reassembly was stratightforward.
>When the Oneway is delivered, the center tube, legs, motor, and electronics are together; the head stock, tail stock, and accessories are attached separately on the pallet. It's easy to remove the rear legs, but it will take a little time to remove the motor and disconnect the electronics package. Each piece of the lathe is fairly heavy and you will need some help. You should be able to move the center tube section fairly easily down the stairs although you may want to use a comealong as a safety. If this task is daunting then hire a rigging company to move it.
