lathe moving question

Re: lathe moving question

John Stegall

You probably need to take it apart or find out how much a wrecker would charge. I had a building moved and it was quite reasonable

Re: lathe moving question

Keith tompkins

Hi David's, a flat bed tow truck. They have a winch too.

More info would be nice

Dick Coers

Is it in a basement? What kind of access do you have to it? Where do you wanted it moved to and what kind of access to the new home?

Re: More info would be nice

David Smith

I'm going to go look at it tomorrow so until then I don't know what the access is like. It would have to go into my shop, which is really a small shed converted to a shop. I asked the company that made the shed (Mennonites just north of here) and they said no problem with the shed holding that much weight. My shop has double doors, 4' wide I think. I downloaded the owner's manual and it looks like if I had some help I could disassemble it. Its bigger than I want but less than a tenth of what I was saving to spend.

Re: More info would be nice

David Smith

Its ground level shop access, other than that I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out.

My thought is to remove the headstock, tail stock and banjo. Then unbolt the bed then separate the cabinet into three pieces. I hope it will reassemble okay without tossing anything out of alignment.

Re: More info would be nice

Dick Hines

I moved my PM 3520 by myself. I got a GOOD set of wheels and installed them on a pallet. When I got to Woodcraft they loaded the lath and the shipping pallet onto my pallet.

With the help of the store guys I loaded the whole thing on my flat bed trailer and strapped it down. Secured with heave web straps.

When I got home there was no one around to help. After some thought I came up with an idea. I dropped the gate on the trailer hooked a block and tackle to the front of the trailer and the other end to lathe. Then I let out the rope and pushed at the same time. The lathe came off the trailer with no problem.

Then I just jacked up one end at a time and took the wheels off. Presto, I was in business.

Re: More info would be nice

Dick Coers

Ground level surprises me. Sheds I've seen are at least the height of the floor joist above the ground. If it's a plywood floor, holding 900 pounds is a lot different than 900 pounds on 4 little pads. Make sure to locate the feet on top of floor joists if your shed has them.

Re: lathe moving question

Don Stephan

Being that it is such a bargain, investigate using part of the savings for an equipment moving company, saving time, trouble, and possible flesh and bones.

Re: More info would be nice

David Smith

the shop where its located and needs to be picked up from is the ground level location, concrete floor. The destination is a 12' shed on five evenly spaced runners with a ramp. Good idea about placing the fee on the runners.

Re: lathe moving question

David Smith

Good idea

passing it up

David Smith

Well, I went to look at it and it wasn't anything close to what he described. He said it was a one year old Grizzly G0694. It was a very old Powermatic #90 and not in good condition at all. Oh well, I'll just keep saving for a new one. Thanks though for all your suggestions!

Confusion

Dick Coers

Never heard of anyone selling a Powermatic as a Grizzly, that's crazy!

Re: Confusion

John Jordan

I often have 20 inch walnut trees turn into 8 inch elm trees while I'm driving over to look at it. Same thing I guess.

JJ

I'm guessing green is green? John Deere lathe?

Re: engine hoist and low wall trailer

Dave Paine

Metalwork folks have to move machines which weigh a lot more than 900 lbs.

I read you are passing on this lathe. Replying for future reference if you decide to do the move yourself.

I recently purchased a milling machine which was rated at 915 lbs. This had smaller footprint than a wood or metal lathe but many of the concepts are the same.

Engine hoists are available at various lift ratings. For a given hoist the amount they can lift is based on the extension of the arm. Shorter extension, more lift, longer extension less lift.

It is very important to be able to sling the machine so that it stays close to level as it lifts. This may require trying different sling locations to find the centre of gravity.

Ideally lift the machine to an inch or two higher than the bed of the trailer, then back the trailer under the engine hoist. The engine hoist will have rollers, but it is not easy to move the hoist and load. If you do need to move, you need ropes to prevent the load from swinging.

After the load is over the trailer, you just lower onto the trailer then repeat at the other end.

You need to place the load close to the trailer axle, but with some weight forward of the axle to create a small load on the hitch. My friend and I got the milling machine over the trailer axle with insufficient weight on the hitch so we had some bouncing on the hitch. We only had to move about 8 miles so just went slow.

When we got to my drive we lifted the milling machine to be just above the trailer, drove off the trailer, then lowered the machine onto my blacktop drive.

We then tilted the machine back to put 3 @ 1in dia black iron pipe under the base. We then rolled to the lip of the garage, about 1 1/2in higher than the driveway. We tilted back to get the base on the garage concrete, slid onto the concrete, then tilted back to get the pipes underneath. We then rolled the machine into the desired location.

Re: Confusion

Hugh Buttrum

The trees I go look at when people want to get rid of them are always worth a huge amount of money.

Then after they can not get anyone to "buy" the wood.....they let it sit for too long and still think it is worth a bunch.

Hugh

Re: engine hoist and low wall trailer

Jim K from Trappe, PA

Thanks Dave. Good description of the process.

Engine hoist X 2

Keith Newton

I was going to suggest this too. I've got a 2 ton one bought from Harbor Freight for under $200 when I was building my big lathe, and have used it to move 3-4 lathes since.

I would just like to point out that I agree that one should never try to roll it around while the heavy load is lifted up. However, I've moved several lathes by pulling up with the legs straddle the lathe, then lifting the lathe up, rotating it 90º, then letting it down across the legs, so the weight is resting down there, while the arm is keeping it from tipping.

The steel wheels aren't great, but do the job.

If you don't want to spend that much, check into renting one for half a day.

Re: Engine hoist X 2

john lucas

For lathes just rig up some rollers and a way to lift it. For a large drill press I used steel rods. I lifted one side using a crow bar and inserted a rod or two. Then lifted the other side and put a few rods under. roll it a few inches until a rod comes out, move that one to the front and repeat as often as possiible. Obviously only works on flat smooth surfaces.

For larger tools or having to move up a ram I build a platform with wheels. The rougher the surface the bigger the wheels need to be. Then I use a floor jack to lift one end and put the platform under that end. Then lift the other and add a second platform. If it's not horrendously heavy you can use one large platform. It does require sliding the platform under the piece which can be quite challenging and usually requires 2 people. I made small 2 wheel platforms that attach to each leg of my Powermatic so I can move it by myself anytime I want to. It took larger platforms to move all of my shop equipement into and out of the POD I had to store them in when I moved.

When I had to move a huge Oliver lathe by myself I purchased a cheap chain hoist from Harbour Freight. I used ropes to attach it to my truck and drug it up some ramps onto the truck. then when I got home I did the same dragging it from the truck onto my trailer which was lower. Then from the trailer to the shop. sometimes it took considerable rigging to get the ropes onto something solid enough to pull that kind of weight.

Re: engine hoist and low wall trailer

David Smith

Thank you Dave, great idea and description. Two months ago my neighbor brought his engine hoist over for me to fix, I had to rebuild the hydraulic cylinder. I now know where to borrow one if the need should arise.