[kvom]

What I would do is put two strong bars of steel under the cabinet wider than the pallet. Then for each of the ends, use the pallet jack or a floor jack to raise the bar slightly and out a sturdy support under it. After the 4th one you should be able to slide the pallet out from under. Then use the pallet jack to lift the machine off the supports.

[MichaelHenry]

I have a different brand mill, but found that an $80 HF racing jack worked pretty well to elevate my base high enough so that the engine hoist legs would fit under. I elevate one side or corner a few inches at a time and slide a block of 2x6 under each foot. Keep adding blocks until you get high enough to clear the hoist legs. Make sure the blocks are large enough to carry the load without rocking.

The jack is easy to store between moves - much easier than a pallet jack as my mill is in a basement.

Mike

[Titaniumboy]

The Eagle has landed!! MInimal blood shed involved. No 911 calls. Pictures later tonight showing the adventure of getting the mill off of the pallet and onto the newly made caster bases.

Thanks to kvom and Mike for their ideas and suggestions.



I found some 3/4" x 4" mild steel bars at school for the caster bases. I didn't get too good of a deal as they charged me $1.30 per pound, but at least I didn't have to go all over town searching. I cut them to rough length on the bandsaw and then machined each end square. I made the total length of each bar 31-5/8" long so that I would have 4" overhanging on each end of the mill base. Here I have temporarily raised the mill slightly so I could place the caster bases underneath and use my Harbor Freight transfer punches to accurately locate the existing leveling threaded holes.

Attachment 228452


I only have a small bench top drill press and I didn't think it was going to like the 3/8" and 1/2" holes I needed to drill in the caster base, so I used my G0704 mill instead. My mill vise is a cheapy Enco 4" vise and the jaws only open up to 3-7/8"; not enough to hold the 4" wide caster base. I ended up removing the fixed jaw and mounting it on the back side of the vise. My main drill set is the Harbor Freight 115 piece set, and the 3/8" and 1/2" drills worked like a champ and made it through all the holes needed. However, I needed every last inch in the Z axis in order to fit the long jobber size drills and the drill chuck. I can see where a set of screw length drills will come in very handy.

Attachment 228454


Getting ready for paint. All holes drilled, chamfered, and plugged.

Attachment 228464


Caster bases all painted with Rustoleum. I hate this stuff because it takes forever to dry hard, but I had a can on the shelf and the color matched up decently with the mill base. Call me a cheap SOB. The paint job is not as nice as the picture shows, but still better than the factory paint job.

Attachment 228466


Drilling out the leveling casters slightly.

Attachment 228468


Casters attached to caster base. I was able to use 3/8" bolts to attach the casters to the caster base.

Attachment 228470

[Titaniumboy]

The caster bases shown in the last post were unabashedly copied from LeeWays caster bases. The only difference is LeeWay used 3/4" x 6" aluminum and I ended up using 3/4" x 4" steel. Thanks again LeeWay!

I had rented a pallet jack to move the mill off of the pallet and onto the caster bases I had made. I've used pallet jacks before, but I guess I either didn't realize how they worked or had a senior moment, because I forgot all about the pallet jacks front wheels. These front wheels made the pallet jack completely unsuitable for getting the mill off the pallet. At least the pallet jack let me move the pallet into a better position in the shop for beginning the offloading operation.

Attachment 228704


I started by using a 3 foot long pry bar to lift the mill just enough to so I could get the round steel pipe underneath. I had been given a bunch of woodworking pipe clamps only a couple of months before, and it was the black pipe from the pipe clamps that I put to good use.

Attachment 228706 Attachment 228708


Inching the mill backwards. You can see the pipe roller towards the mill front has been left behind. The two wood strips that are on top of the pallet kept getting in the way of the pipe rollers.

Attachment 228712 Attachment 228710


Now I've got the rear of the mill hanging out into space. I put some wood blocking in place in case something went wrong and the mill decided to fall backwards on me.

Attachment 228714


A better view of how far I had the mill hanging in midair. I didn't leave it this way without the wood blocking for very long. I think the pallet jack did add some stability as the mill was being rolled.

Attachment 228716 Attachment 228718


I quickly put the caster base and wood blocking back underneath the mill.

Attachment 228720


The OEM leveling pad has been screwed in and is now holding the caster base in place. The caster rollers don't quite reach the floor so some wood blocking is needed. The threaded holes where the OEM leveling pads was full of all kinds of paint and junk, and I had previously chased all four internal threads with an M12 x 1.75 metric tap.

Attachment 228722 Attachment 228724


The mill is now half supported by the pipe rollers on the pallet, and half supported by the leveling casters. The mill has now been moved rearward by another 6" to 8".

Attachment 228726


A reciprocating saw made quick work of cutting the pallet in half. Notice the odd construction of the pallet. This pallet had a 3 x 4 grid of blocks underneath instead of a full-length beams.

Attachment 228728


Then I moved the mill forward so that the front was now hanging over the edge of the pallet. The front caster base was then put in place and the OEM leveling pads screwed in.

Attachment 228730 Attachment 228732


The pallet jack finally becomes useful, although I suppose a car jack would have done the job also. The pallet jack was used to raise the front of the mill slightly so that the pipe rollers could be removed. The towel is there to protect the paint on the caster base; the Rustoleum paint is still able to be dented with a fingernail after three days.

Attachment 228734


With the pipe rollers removed, now the remaining pallet half could be removed.

Attachment 228736


The pallet jack was relocated to the rear of the mill. Only a slight lift of the mill and the final wood blocking is removed.

Attachment 228738


The mill is finally on the ground!

Attachment 228740


The Torus mill is now fully mobile in the shop. Next step: 240 volt power.

Attachment 228742

[LeeWay]

Excellent use of brain power. The upgraded casters look more like they can handle the job. The smaller ones I used work okay, but are probably right at the edge of the limit for weight. I would not want to roll it much. Once on the pads though, it is rock solid.
I remember when I leveled my table, the tray was not level. I'm curious to know how yours is. My tray tilted to the front, but was okay side to side.
Shimming would get it right, of course, but I had planned on a front drain anyway, so it really was not an issue.

Your floor looks very nice as well. I just painted my floor gray. It always has plastic pellets from routing polycarbonate, so I have white dots on it. Just not the black ones.

That is a fine looking machine you have there.

[Titaniumboy]

The upgraded casters look more like they can handle the job. The smaller ones I used work okay, but are probably right at the edge of the limit for weight. I would not want to roll it much. Once on the pads though, it is rock solid.

I had been concerned about the casters rolling over the grooves between the concrete pads in the shop, but these 2-1/2" wheels are working great when rolling over these grooves.

When I ordered these from the eBay vendor, the caster shown on the right was shown on the eBay listing and was identified as a Trio Pines caster. The caster shown on the left is what was actually sent to me, and is a brand called Durable.

Attachment 228910


In this picture the casters are reversed, with the Trio Pines on the left and the Durable on the right. It is hard to tell from the picture, but the Durable casters rubber foot seemed very loose fitting to me; loose enough that I contacted the eBay vendor and requested that the advertised Trio Pines be sent to me. My plan was to evaluate both sets of casters and then return one of them.

Attachment 228908


This set of pictures shows more clearly how loose the Durable rubber foot is on the left as compared to the Trio Pines rubber foot on the right. It was almost as if the Durable caster was assembled with the wrong size rubber foot.

Attachment 228912 Attachment 228914


Both sets of casters are rated at 1000 pounds per caster, but the Durable casters seem more rugged than the Trio PInes. In spite of this I decided to use the Trio Pines on the Torus mill because the rubber foot seemed to fit better and be more rigid. When I contacted the eBay vendor to return the Durable casters, I was told to just keep them. They may well end up replacing the mini mobile base on the G0704 bench mill.

I remember when I leveled my table, the tray was not level. I'm curious to know how yours is. My tray tilted to the front, but was okay side to side.
Shimming would get it right, of course, but I had planned on a front drain anyway, so it really was not an issue.

I haven't got the mill in the final location , so I haven't bothered with leveling the table yet.

Your floor looks very nice as well. I just painted my floor gray. It always has plastic pellets from routing polycarbonate, so I have white dots on it. Just not the black ones.

Thanks! I had the floor done back in 2006 and it has held up fairly well. The floor can get really slippery if it gets wet. I've also had several spots discolor when the motorcycle tires have been left in one spot for extended periods. I think I've doubled the number of divots in the floor during the last two months because of me dropping heavy steel or cast iron parts. There is a lip from the driveway up to the garage floor that is about an inch high, and when the mill was wheeled into the garage via pallet jack by the driver and I, a chunk of epoxied floor popped off of that lip.

That is a fine looking machine you have there.

You too.

[Titaniumboy]

Well....
Could the room include a Haas milling center, Hardinge toolroom lathe, surface grinder, Solidworks, and HSMExpress? :wee:

[tmarks11]

I would still need boring bars for my G0602 10x22 lathe.

Just a note: be careful about thinking what a good deal it is to get a set of boring bars with a boring head, especially when you are looking at an imported non-brand.

The set of boring bars I got in a similar deal (but with the 2" head) were complete garbage. Claimed C6, but didn't cut at all. Sharpening, polishing, etc did nothing. Only one of the entire set would actually cut mild steel. I sincerely doubt that there was any carbide in them, regardless of the claim.

The boring bars on the set you were looking at is 3/4", which probably require you to buy a special toolholder for your G0602 lathe.

If you want solid boring bars, look for once with carbide shafts on them so they don't flex. More expensive, but worth it. I just did a project where I remade a part 3 times because of my crummy boring bars, so I am pretty passionate about it. Nothing worse than watching your boring bar repeatedly flex even when you dial in successive small 0.005-0.010 cuts on a machine with 7.5 hp... larger cuts didn't happen either.

Envy you the machine you got, happy cutting.

[LeeWay]

Well....
Could the room include a Haas milling center, Hardinge toolroom lathe, surface grinder, Solidworks, and HSMExpress? :wee:

...and do we pay by the hour?

[AiR_GuNNeR]

Leeway used them without issue. I will be using them as well. If you are concerned you can always use 6 instead of 4. I don't understand why they are only rated at 1200 total and 600 lbs each. You could always use 6 of them...
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I think the reason they rate that that way is because with a four wheel caster system, it is very unlikely, (unless you rolling the mill across a surface plate), that all four wheels will carry the same load). At some point when three wheels are carrying the weight, and the machine rocks across two wheels to the other wheel, two wheels will carry the full load.
Eric

[hjl4]

You're right Eric, that's why when you buy casters for any job, you always double the rating to avoid possible issues. So for 500 pounds total, divide by two and there is the required load rating per caster. 250 lbs. I was going to say something when I read his post with the casters he chose, but figured he knew well enough. On a smooth floor, sure go ahead and divide by four. Any cracks or roughness in the floor, you double.

[LeeWay]

I think any of the ones mentioned in this thread are fine for a Torus or Pulsar. I don't think you can over do it for castors though.

[Titaniumboy]

It's alive!!

I've been working on installing a new 100 Amp subpanel in the garage. It was a little easier because the main disconnect from the utility was on the other side of the wall. Finally got the subpanel energized yesterday, and finally the Torus had power supplied to it.

And nothing happened. We checked the incoming terminal strips for voltage and found it. No power, however, beyond the relay mounted on the terminal strip. Finally I had the bright idea to push the green button labeled "PC START" on the side of the control enclosure, and that did the trick. The fans finally came on. The computer also booted up and displayed the Windows desktop. I found a spare USB mouse and launched the icon labeled "Mach 3 Loader". Mach 3 asked for a profile, and I choose the one with Pulsar in the name. I couldn't get anything to move on the mill and gave up for the night.

Today I bought a $15 wired USB keyboard. Also learned that pressing "TAB" activates the JOG function. And I got all three axis moving! And I got all three axis to home.

I haven't been able to get the spindle moving yet. I don't see a "Spindle Start" button anywhere. And going to the MDI screen and entering "S100 M3" didn't do anything. I think I need to watch some Mach 3 videos. Actually I need to watch my first Mach 3 video.

I also learned that the limit switches only work when Homing. The limit switches do not work when jogging. I managed to hit the physical limit on all six limits: X+, X-, Y+, Y-, Z+ and Z-. How much damage did I do?

I'm using a wired mouse and a wired keyboard because I'm assuming that wireless USB would not be a good idea to interface with the mill.

More fun to come tomorrow!

Titaniumboy

[SCzEngrgGroup]

The Pulsar profile will not work right on a Torus, especially w.r.t. the spindle interface. You need to get a Torus profile....

The "limit" switches don't work because they're not limit switches - just home switches. Use soft limits in Mach3.

Regards,
Ray L.

[hjl4]

Ha Ha Ha, that's funny. Next time try M3 S100, first telling it to rotate clockwise then at what speed. A little bit of G-Code learning would be better then watching a bunch of videos. Baby steps first before you can run. Glad you got it alive though. It's definetetly a great feeling when you see the machine boot up for the first time.

[rlockwood]

Traditionally, calling the spindle speed first is more correct; though most any modern control reads the whole block at once, so it doesn't matter.

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[SCzEngrgGroup]

"Next time try M3 S100, first telling it to rotate clockwise then at what speed."

"Traditionally, calling the spindle speed first is more correct; though most any modern control reads the whole block at once, so it doesn't matter."

These comment suggest you guys don't really understand how G-code executes. As with most programming languages, g-code has a very well-defined execution order. The order in which things appear on the line NEVER matters in g-code. "M3 S100" is exactly the same as "S100 M3". Similarly, "M6 T2 G43 H2" can just as well be written as "G43 T2 H2 M6", or any other order you like. They will all execute identically, barring a G-code interpreter which violates the RS-274 specification..

Regards,
Ray L.

[keithmcelhinney]

Titaniumboy set up the soft limits in mach. I just did this so if you have any questions, email me at [email protected]. Just search on setting soft limits in mach in google and it is pretty straight forward. You can usually start the spindle on the main mach screen by entering a speed in the spindle speed box and then press the spindle cw button above it.

-Keith

[LeeWay]

There are two switches n the right side of the box. Both of those must be switched on. Then hit the green button.
Open the door. You should see that all the drives and BOB have led's. The spindle drive also has a DRO and it will let you know the status. When it is ready, I think it has an r. I have had a few different error codes show up on it. Once in a stall condition. Once for something else. Both times all I need to do was reboot everything including both of the switches on the right side.


If you write down line numbers on Gcode, tool number, locations of all three DRO's you can get back where you were when this occurred.

[rlockwood]

"Next time try M3 S100, first telling it to rotate clockwise then at what speed."

"Traditionally, calling the spindle speed first is more correct; though most any modern control reads the whole block at once, so it doesn't matter."

These comment suggest you guys don't really understand how G-code executes. As with most programming languages, g-code has a very well-defined execution order. The order in which things appear on the line NEVER matters in g-code. "M3 S100" is exactly the same as "S100 M3". Similarly, "M6 T2 G43 H2" can just as well be written as "G43 T2 H2 M6", or any other order you like. They will all execute identically, barring a G-code interpreter which violates the RS-274 specification..

Regards,
Ray L.

Well, I believe rs274d defines the order in which items are executed, which is entirely different from them all being executed simultaneously as you suggest. And the last bit is FAR more common than you probably realize. For instance, on my Mori's, which have a Fanuc18i, reversing m6 and Tx produce very different results. Place the M6 first and you get a tool change to the previously preloaded tool, followed by preloading of the specified tool. If no tool was previously preloaded, you get an error. Flip them and you get preload of the tool specified, followed by a tool change. The order optimization section of the programming manual is probably 25 pages long, and details most every scenario possible.

Rob

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