Better Way to Lift 1100 (IMNSHO)

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I knew I didn't want to lift the machine by the table if I could find a way around it. I'm sure they engineered it to do no damage, the table only supports probably less than a third of the machines weight, etc. But my tables and gibs had just gone through a tenuous journey in a strange dark truck. I felt no need to stress them out any further.

Using the lift kit purchased from Tormach, a Erickson 09000 1" x 8' Endless Lift Sling, and a 3/4" solid steel bar I was able to use a combination of the two methods they recommend to lift the machine. As you can see in the pics I made some custom wood spacers to keep the sling from contacting the way covers when I should have just taken off the way covers instead.

Disclaimer: I'm not necessarily encouraging anyone to do this so don't sue me when you drop the machine on your kid because your steel bar was rusty. And what was your kid doing under your mill anyways? Bad form.

How do you keep the machine from rolling back? Do you use another sling and bar? In example, i can't imagine the machine balancing from just lifting it from the front. Looks like it would be a pretty solid way to lift it up.

He's using the lifting bar which also hooks onto an eyebolt on top of the column.
Good way to lift it, I used something similar

ahhh i see it now. The picture kinda kid the full view.

Great idea, I would tram it before you install the coolant guards incase you need to shim up a foot like I did.

If I did it over again I would have first modified the flat of the table with leveling compound (i'm going to try garage floor epoxy paint, hope it works) to make the coolant flow to the drain, then got it perfectly trammed, then put on the coolant guards on. Now I have to try to clean the table with the machine on it before I can apply the epoxy. Gonna be a pain in the butt.

I just raised my right feet on the stand 1/2" high, then trammed and found a twist in my mill, I shimmed the front foot of the mill between the stand but after looking back I could of probably lowered the back left stand foot, maybe.. either way its all trammed and my coolant goes to the drain, saves a lot of evaporation this way.

That's the practical solution, but for some reason my OCD makes me not want to have a half inch of shims between the mill and the stand. Plus I'm leaking a bit and I'm hoping I can do a self leveling sealant thick enough to shore up some of the leaks. I'll probably be unable to clean it well enough to make the sealant bond and end up with a bit of a cluster but we'll see.

But hey thanx for posting!!!http://htcf.info/17.jpg
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Nono the 1/2" is my stand, its a half inch high on the right to get coolant flowing off the stand and the mill table, otherwise you lose way to much water to evaporation. The shim under my mill foot is only .03" or so, that's all I needed for a "perfect" tramm

Only .03 after 1/2" on the stand? You probably lucked out a little there. Granted my 1/2" estimate was way off I'd still expect to see at least 1/8" or 1/16" assuming your table remains somewhat rigid. But then again I remember reading in the Tormach manual that even when you shim your machine you're moving it up a fraction of the size of the shim because the machine just ends up pressing the table down on that spot more. I guess the machine just wants to stay level.

At this point I'm actually planning on switching over to air cooling with a lube drip.

I didn't luck out that I see, the mill comes trammed from factory, so if its not tramm it is twisted, as mine proved to be, since I only shimmed 1 foot.

1/2" over the span of the width of the stand is nothing, just enough for water to drain but doesn't effect tramm.

This is an assumption that could lead you into the long grass. A more realistic assumption might be that "probably it left the factory trammed"

Or, more optimistically:

The mill comes trammed from factory, so if it’s not trammed when it arrives something must have happened after it left the factory.

Phil:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BAMCNC.COM

the mill comes trammed from factory, so if its not tramm it is twisted.

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Right, but I trammed it 360 degrees, I spent... Let's just say long enough to know it was twisted and how to fix it...