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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking Machines > South Bend Machinery > Moving machinery with a Pallet Jack
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  1. #21
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    4396
    Quote Originally Posted by NC Cams View Post
    Getting it out of the room is a challenge. We found we could move ours by picking one end up with a decent fork lift. If you pick up the gear box end and pivot it on a piece of timber, you can slide a floor jack under the tail stock and steer it while moving the heavy end with the fork lift.
    This is the way a friend of mine moves his machinery around his shop. I works great and seems pretty safe.
    Toby D.
    "Imagination and Memory are but one thing, but for divers considerations have divers names"
    Schwarzwald

    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)

    www.refractotech.com

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
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    1880
    Warrning thread degredation in progress!!!!

    Warning !!

    by darebee:
    For a cheap DIY try using 5 or 6 pieces of 2" pipe and roll the machine same as the Egyptions built the pyramids.
    Your alot older than I would have thought!

    Warning!!

    Thread returning to regularly schedualed ..... well thread!
    thanks
    Michael T.
    "If you don't stand for something, chances are, you'll fall for anything!"

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    161
    I recently moved a Series 1 CNC Bridgeport into my garage, and I chose a 5000 LB forklift as my tool. In my honest opinion, there is no better/safer way to move a Bridgeport than via a forklift and a bit of common sense when rigging it. We picked it off the back of a goose-neck trailer and had it sitting at the garage door within 5 minutes or less. The forklift cost was about $165 for a 1-day rental, and most of that cost was pick-up/delivery of the lift. I spent more time disassembling the top-section of the head so it would fit under my 7' garage door than I did actually moving it. Once I had the top-section of the head off, I simply pushed it on steel pipes into my garage and reassembled the head. Not once did I feel worried about the machine falling, tipping or becoming dangerous while using the forklift. As mentioned in some of the above responses, you want to lift it from high points on the machine. I actually placed the forks under the head of the machine, and then fastened a few safety chains around it to keep it from shifting/moving. Everything went just as planned!! Best $165 I had spent in a while!!!

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Posts
    3154
    Definately the way to do it Snakebit.
    Did I say that? - miljnor :O
    That (pipe rolling) method IMO works but is last resort (I am sure that was semi tongue-in-cheek).

    To move the lathe you can block (wooden) under the way castings and lift under the blocks with a forklift, as mentioned the balance point is usually close to the spindle nose, so pick accordingly.
    www.integratedmechanical.ca

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    78
    I have successfully moved lathes and milling machines witha pallat jack and dolly also. Once moved a bridgeport by hiring a towing guy with a flatbed. We pulled the mill up on the bed with the cable winch set low on the mill, strapped it down with load binders and skidded it off using the winch again at the new location. Total cost $80.00 for a 20 mile move. Once on site we moved it to its new location by rolling it along using 6 pieces of 1" pipe cut to 36" long. I have also built a super heavy duty dolly using 2 x 10 and extra heavy casters, 2 fixed and 2 swivel. This is good for up to #1500. I use a shop crane and sling to lift the machine and then position the dolly under it. Roll it to where needed and repeat the process.

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    47
    Getting it off when you get home is a whole new issue- Two hard core swing sets can lift it and you simply drive the trailer out from under it.

    Nc cams- Great idea! I gotta get my BP off a pallet and that is better than an engine hoist......I'm going to hire a boom wrecker to hoist the machine from my upper driveway to my lower (sloped) driveway/shop.......good ideas in this thread!

    Brian

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
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    12177
    Someone revived a half dead thread so I figured I would show moving a machine but not with a pallet jack.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails VF2MOVE 1.jpg   VF2MOVE 2.jpg   VF2MOVE 3.jpg   VF2MOVE 4.jpg  

    VF2MOVE 5.jpg   VF2MOVE 6.jpg   VF2MOVE 7.jpg   VF2MOVE 8.jpg  

    VF2MOVE 9.jpg   VF2MOVE 10.jpg   VF2MOVE 11.jpg   VF2MOVE 12.jpg  

    VF2MOVE 13.jpg   VF2MOVE 14.jpg   VF2MOVE 15.jpg   VF2MOVE 16.jpg  

    VF2MOVE 17.jpg   VF2MOVE 18.jpg   VF2MOVE 19.jpg   VF2MOVE 20.jpg  

    VF2MOVE 21.jpg   VF2MOVE 22.jpg  

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    16
    Friday night I drove down to a friends, who teaches at the University of Delaware, and found a great deal on a lathe (a South Bend 13x40, CL0145B, barely used) they needed to get rid of. The next morning, Mike, Dave, and I went to the university, rolled the lathe on two dollies out of his lab, across two doorways, down a handicapped ramp, along a brick walkway, and finally lifted it onto the trailer with my engine crane. The drive home was uneventful, and I recruited my neighbors (who stupidly agreed!) to help unload it into the garage.



    We used the ratchet straps around the base and legs of the lathe to slide it back on the trailer. Once the straps were maxed out, we lifted it with the engine crane, drove the trailer forwards, and placed it at the end of the dovetail on the trailer. We kept the engine hoist in place as a safety, to prevent the lathe from possibly tipping. The block of wood under the leadscrew is to keep the straps lifting at the bed, from contacting and possibly bending the lead screw. There's a little gap there, and no contact.



    Then, we backed the trailer into the garage, so the little engine hoist wheels wouldn't have to make it over the 2" step at the garage threshold, lifted it off, drove the trailer out, and placed it down. Simple! A forklift would have made it much easier, but I don't have one, and this only took 2 hours.



    More pictures are at:
    http://www.skulte.com/gallery/view_a...uth-Bend-Lathe.

    Reaction from my girlfriend - Geez. That's big. Where are you going to put it?!!

    --
    Andris

  9. #29
    Join Date
    May 2005
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    1810
    Quote Originally Posted by z28tt View Post
    Reaction from my girlfriend - Geez. That's big. Where are you going to put it?!!
    Andris

    "Well, honey - the way I see it is this: Your car is waterproof. The lathe is not. Sorry - can I have your keys, please?"



    Scott
    Consistency is a good thing....unless you're consistently an idiot.

  10. #30
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    Jan 2005
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    Reaction from my girlfriend - Geez. That's big. Where are you going to put it?!!
    Ya I get that all the time! :banana:
    thanks
    Michael T.
    "If you don't stand for something, chances are, you'll fall for anything!"

  11. #31
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    Sep 2004
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    161
    Girlfriend?? Hahahah.....I remember those days. Just wait.......the story changes when you get married!!

    Wife - "What the hell did you bring home this time?? There is no more room for anything else in that garage!!"

    Me - "There is plenty of room out there. I just need to move a few things around".

    Wife - "Is it going to make us any money?"

    Me - "Sure, it will buy that new living-room suite you were looking at last weekend!!"

  12. #32
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    Jan 2005
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    Wife - "Is it going to make us any money?"
    I would be filing for a divorce if my wife uttered those words to me!

    She is more than welcome to half of everything but my nadds!
    thanks
    Michael T.
    "If you don't stand for something, chances are, you'll fall for anything!"

  13. #33
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    161
    Ahhh........you just have to know her sense of humor. It's not as bad as I portray. I would have never married her if she was a control freak. Had a few of those in the past.........never again!!

  14. #34
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Posts
    476

    A few years wiser

    Well, I started this thread a while back, when I was still trying to find a way to get machines into (and eventually back out) of my garage.

    Most of the trouble comes from two problems:
    1. Getting the heavy machine to (or from) the front of the garage
    2. Lifting and moving the machine into (or out of) a truck, or trailer.

    It's the last 40 feet from the truck into the garage that seems to be so hard for the home machinist.

    Over the years, I've tried a lot of the DIY techniques for moving a big machine, including pushing along on rollers, prying with steel bars, lifting with engine hoists, renting, owning (and then fixing) forklifts, machinery skates and custom-made roller-fixtures.

    Those techniques work... but you certainly trade your own sweat, time, and safety to do it cheap. Finally, I've come around to thinking that the way to go is to just call up the local rental yard and have them drop off a reach forklift.

    A regular forklift only solves the "move it off the truck" problem, not the "move it into the garage" problem. Regular forklifts tend to be an annoying 2" too tall to fit into a standard garage. A reach forklift can reach all the way in and just pick it right up!

    Yes, it costs money. But it sure is easy and fast! In fact, it was so easy that I removed a 5500lb Mori Seiki SL1 lathe from my garage, drove it up the neighorhood street, and put it on a semi-truck in less than an hour - less time than I spent editing the video! (link below) That's less than an hour, _including_ the time to maneuver it out of the garage.

    For tight maneuvering inside a garage and for fine tuning the position, I now prefer to use my shop-made machinery skates and toe jack. Tools no home shop machinist should be without.

    Glad I didn't lose any toes in my earlier (and sketchier) years! What a difference a few years experience makes.

    [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUSU9ax6q04"]YouTube - Easy DIY Machinery Moving: Reach right in![/nomedia]
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails foreman.jpg   gradall mori.jpg  
    __________________________
    my blog: http://www.mechtopia.com/blog

  15. #35
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    Jun 2007
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    32
    I believe the Bridgeport series 1 CNC that I want to buy has to big, sturdy eye-bolts on top of the ram. Is it okay to lift the entire machine using these eyebolts and a crane to get it on a truck. Don't have a manual where I can look it up.

  16. #36
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
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    486
    Quote Originally Posted by Tailgunner View Post
    I believe the Bridgeport series 1 CNC that I want to buy has to big, sturdy eye-bolts on top of the ram. Is it okay to lift the entire machine using these eyebolts and a crane to get it on a truck. Don't have a manual where I can look it up.
    NO

    I have the book, and the book gives the dimensions to make that eye bolt bracket. The eyebolt is intended to lift the ram off the machine, not to lift the entire machine.

    Tom

  17. #37
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    Mar 2005
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    1136
    Quote Originally Posted by Tailgunner View Post
    I believe the Bridgeport series 1 CNC that I want to buy has to big, sturdy eye-bolts on top of the ram. Is it okay to lift the entire machine using these eyebolts and a crane to get it on a truck. Don't have a manual where I can look it up.
    like this one? if so, you can see in the pics the plastic panels on either side of the ram have been removed - there are is a large hole through the casting through which a strap will pass.

    if its not that style, just sling around the ram


  18. #38
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    Jun 2007
    Posts
    32
    Quote Originally Posted by TarHeelTom View Post
    NO

    I have the book, and the book gives the dimensions to make that eye bolt bracket. The eyebolt is intended to lift the ram off the machine, not to lift the entire machine.

    Tom
    Thanks for the warning. I won't do that then.

    Thanks for the additional information and picture Mcgyver.

  19. #39
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    Jun 2005
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    476

    Re: Moving machinery with a Pallet Jack

    Well, I started this thread a DECADE ago! I've had many machines (mills, lathes, surface grinder, etc) and moved each into and out of my garage, even moving houses a few times. I just finished putting together a video that answers a lot of the questions I had 10 years ago - about how professionals move machinery without breaking a sweat. I tried to edit in a way that helps anyone new starting with a retrofit project, or even just buying a manual machine for the garage. A lot of the basic techniques (toe jack & machine skates) are easily accessible to hobbiests on the cheap - either by making or renting these tools. I also highlight why someone might consider paying for a rigger, even when professional rigging seems very expensive compared to the purchase price of a used machine.



    Actually, I have a few other videos about machine moving. If you're interested, you can look at my channel. Among the videos, I share the shop-made machine skates and toe jack I built to move machines around the garage at will.

    Hope it's useful to a new generation of DIY machinists. =)
    __________________________
    my blog: http://www.mechtopia.com/blog

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