It seems the first big challenge in DIY retrofitting is to get your heavy mill or lathe home. That's a challenge daunting enough to keep many from ever buying a large machine, be it a Bridgeport mill or a Monarch lathe.

My hope is that if we get enough good advice and experience posted here, we can move this thread to the FAQ section for everyone's benefit.

Many of us have used an engine hoist (shop crane, as Harbor Freight calls it) to move our equipment, to get it onto and off of a trailer and even to move it into position. These shop cranes are great for lifting in place, however, I can say from experience, that actually scooting a mill along using a shop crane is tricky and leaves you feeling like you're cheating death, or at least narrowly missing an injury.

A lot of folks feel that it is outright unsafe to move a mill with a shop crane. There are a few posts from people who had a mill tip over on them!


So how do professional Machine Movers (also called Riggers) do it? They have 10,000 lb forklifts to lift and transport the equipment, and "skates" to maneuver the machine the final distance into spaces forklifts can't fit into. I got to thinking about this -- is a pallet jack essentially the same thing as these "skates" that riggers use?

If so, it seems that the combination of a shop crane ($150 from HF) and a pallet jack ($200-$300) would make moving machinery affordable and much safer than the shop crane alone. If you don't think that cost is affordable, compare to $195/hour for Riggers, including their lunch break!

So has anyone used this combination to move Bridgeport-sized machinery? How well did it work? Are there safety concerns, or is this in fact a good way to go? I found three seperate ads on craigslist for used pallet jacks (2 ton) for under $100, so that sounds like a pretty attractive option.

Thoughts? Ideas? Advice? Let it rip!