I finally pulled the trigger on a Lathe.....UPDATE Post 87....

fingers284 said:
I have basically the same lathe as you just bought and have moved it 3 times. I don't know where your figure of 2500 lbs comes from but Terry G is a lot closer with his estimate. I seem to remember a shipping weight of 1200 lbs at the time of purchase for mine.

Anyhow back to the move. The first thing I did was remove the lathe bed from the stand/base, only 4 bolts and five minutes to remove. Now the lathe will ride very much more stable in your trailer and be a lot less cumbersome to lift. Four more little bolts out to disassemble and the stand can be carried by hand.

A $200 dollar engine hoist (kijiji) as is pictured by BC will easily move & lift the lathe bed for re-assembly. That cost is recoupable after your done with it. Another way (I did this when my machine was new from the store) is to hang a boat winch ($40 from Princess ) between a couple of supported rafters and lift & slide a couple feet at a time until it's where you want it.

I have never had any help of any kind for any of the moves and I think the most it ever took me to do a re-set was 3 hrs from start to a level, running machine. It was actually better doing it myself as I didn't have anybody hurrying something that needed to be handled judiciously and I didn't have to worry about someone elses fingers or toes...I knew where mine were all the time.

When you reassemble the lathe to the base and if your floor isn't perfectly level you can shim the lathe bed flat & level with washers under the 4 base mounting bolts. On my last move I even shimmed the coolant pan to have a slight slope to drain coolant to the one end so coolant drains easily. You shim the high end with washers under the splash pan and shim the low end with washers between the lathe bed and pan, this way the lathe stays level but the pan has the slope.

The only real important thing is to make sure you have your rigging situated and spreader-bared so that the lathe lifts even from end to end and side to side so it doesn't shift when it is hanging (if it shifts while being lifted, handles, dials and such may be damaged).

Just checked Grizzly site, same basic machine without base shipping weight is 1020 lbs.
Click to expand...

Good info!

More to chew on.....

Thanks again fellas!
 
If there are any professional piano movers in your area I would expect they could do it if they want to... the crews are usually big enough to man handle 1200 pounds and use lowering tailgates and substantial dollies.
 
I have a 4000 pound milling machine and a lathe in the 2500 pound range.

I use an engine hoist, a pallet dolly (hydraulic hand truck, or whatever else names they go by) that has a 2500KG rating, and pallets. And LOTS of heavy duty ratchet straps. I actually bought both the pallet dolly and engine hoist specifically to move my machines. And a 17 foot flat bed trailer, but that's another tale... :)

At times I have also had use of a picker truck, and a tow truck, to use to lift things off trailers till I could drive out from under the stuff.

I would say that a set of machinery skates, unless you have a VERY flat and smooth surface to use them on, is not money well spent, even as a rental. Had and watched too many near misses as skates came out from under machines as the whole unit rolled across the very slightly wavy hangar floor. They are maneuverable, though. And work well when you are aware of their shortcomings.

See if you can round up a set of webbing lift sling loops, they don't ding up the castings like the chains shown.

Remember that the lathe is narrow, top heavy, and very poorly balanced. Relatively, the stand weighs nothing. The extra weight of the apron seems to make them fall on their front pretty easily, if the posts I see online are to be used as any reference.

I lift mine by wrapping the slings through the webs of the bed directly in front of the head, and again about mid bed. The carriage and tailstock stay out at the tail end to use for balance. The tailstock gets clamped out at the end, move the carriage to adjust the level that it sits at, when you have it in the air a little bit.

If you got a manual, check it for lifting info. In some cases the info you really want, is right there.

Oh yeah. Help. Limit the number of folks around, to one or two at most. You really need folks that will listen and react if things start to get a little haywire. Think lots, move slowly, don't get hurt. Above all, remember that if it starts to go over, you are way too late to do anything but get the heck outta the way! Make sure your help knows that too!

Again, think!

Then move!

Welcome to the addiction! :)

Cheers
Trev
 
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trevj said:
I have a 4000 pound milling machine and a lathe in the 2500 pound range.

I use an engine hoist, a pallet dolly (hydraulic hand truck, or whatever else names they go by) that has a 2500KG rating, and pallets. And LOTS of heavy duty ratchet straps. I actually bought both the pallet dolly and engine hoist specifically to move my machines. And a 17 foot flat bed trailer, but that's another tale... :)

At times I have also had use of a picker truck, and a tow truck, to use to lift things off trailers till I could drive out from under the stuff.

I would say that a set of machinery skates, unless you have a VERY flat and smooth surface to use them on, is not money well spent, even as a rental. Had and watched too many near misses as skates came out from under machines as the whole unit rolled across the very slightly wavy hangar floor. They are maneuverable, though. And work well when you are aware of their shortcomings.

See if you can round up a set of webbing lift sling loops, they don't ding up the castings like the chains shown.

Remember that the lathe is narrow, top heavy, and very poorly balanced. Relatively, the stand weighs nothing. The extra weight of the apron seems to make them fall on their front pretty easily, if the posts I see online are to be used as any reference.

I lift mine by wrapping the slings through the webs of the bed directly in front of the head, and again about mid bed. The carriage and tailstock stay out at the tail end to use for balance. The tailstock gets clamped out at the end, move the carriage to adjust the level that it sits at, when you have it in the air a little bit.

If you got a manual, check it for lifting info. In some cases the info you really want, is right there.

Oh yeah. Help. Limit the number of folks around, to one or two at most. You really need folks that will listen and react if things start to get a little haywire. Think lots, move slowly, don't get hurt. Above all, remember that if it starts to go over, you are way too late to do anything but get the heck outta the way! Make sure your help knows that too!

Again, think!

Then move!

Welcome to the addiction! :)

Cheers
Trev
Click to expand...

More good info!

Thanks!
 
You need to be able to level the lathe one it is setup, so it cannot just sit freely against the floor, nor can it be bolted down to anything fixed. While fixing the lathe to concrete or raising it on pallets sounds great, it will induce flex in the bed unless extreme care was taken to assure that the surfaces are highly parallel, co-planar, and level.
 
using round bars off a tilt deck is asking for issues, it will defiantly drop a distance off the end, also that base is not made for rollers its just sheet steel, use a shop crane and take the weight, drive away and lower slowly, get a swivel hook, you can turn the lathe to sit on the legs and use 2x8s across the legs to support, wheel it in and place where you want it, inside the cabinet in corners will be jack screws for leveling, get some 1/2 plate for the screws to sit on and level machine, do this leveling as quickly as possible to avoid stress and check it a few days after.

this model was sold in our local store years ago, I do not recall but I believe the holes in bed went down thro, use good straps thro these holes to lift by, someone already suggested 2 straps one close to the head and the other mid point, 2500 sounds a lot for that machine weight but a shop crane will lift it comfortably

if you have a local Acklands in town they have movers and dollies to move it around, they may loan them out for free as its one of there machines and potential future sales
 
Blastattack said:
You need to be able to level the lathe one it is setup, so it cannot just sit freely against the floor, nor can it be bolted down to anything fixed. While fixing the lathe to concrete or raising it on pallets sounds great, it will induce flex in the bed unless extreme care was taken to assure that the surfaces are highly parallel, co-planar, and level.
Click to expand...

Maybe you misunderstood. The pallets are simply for moving the stuff around. Once you have it on a suitable pallet, you can get the dolly under it easily. You also have a far wider base under the machine, that reduces the opportunities for a spill.

Getting the machine set up, secured, and cutting straight, is a whole 'nuther adventure.

Cheers
Trev
 
trevj said:
Maybe you misunderstood. The pallets are simply for moving the stuff around. Once you have it on a suitable pallet, you can get the dolly under it easily. You also have a far wider base under the machine, that reduces the opportunities for a spill.

Getting the machine set up, secured, and cutting straight, is a whole 'nuther adventure.

Cheers
Trev
Click to expand...

I was referring to Terry-g's setup, where the thing is sitting on wood blocks. Pallets was the wrong terminology. I have moved machines and other heavy stuff around the shop by distributing the load a pallet or other support.
 
That lathe looks identical to my 13 x 36 Atrump - also mfd. In Taiwan. They are NOT lightly built machines! It was in a basement when I bought it. I jacked up each end and bolted double thickness 2 x 12 about 36 -39" long crossways to the bottoms of the pedestals for stability. Hired a flat bed wrecker and, after placing skids on the steps, winched it up onto the driveway and onto the tilt bed. Went slick as s..t. backed wrecker up to garage, tilted bed and slid lathe right into garage. Once on garage floor, it was easy to move around by using 3/4" iron pipe as rollers.

By the way, bought my mill at the same time and also in the bsm't. At about 800+ lbs and standing upright in a confined space with a low ceiling, it was more of a challenge. Had to build a sled for it and lower it with little space to work. Once strapped in, we moved it the same way.

You have received some good advice. Just carefully think it through, err on the side of safety, don't cut corners and go for it.

One additional piece of advice: In addition to the tailstock, toolpost and chuck, remove all protruding handles - including the two plungers on the gearbox. They are all easily sheared off if you get a bit close to an immovable object.
 
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When I set mine in place, I poured a 3 1/2 inch pedestal upon which I set the stand. Because I'm semi-tall and because my back doesn't like bending over, I like the extra height. I drilled into the floor and set rebar to tie the pedestal to the floor. The floor is six inches thick (I poured it too) so, with the two together, it sits on nearly ten inches of concrete.
In the hydraulics shop, I used pieces of 2" plate to raise the 22x120 Mazak I was using. If I worked at the machine sitting directly on the floor, I was nearly crippled by the end of the day.
By the way, the big lathes had holes in the castings which were made to accept shafting and slings could then be used to lift the machine. That Mazak was heavy enough that the 2 ton chain hoist would just lift the headstock end as long as you kept it going. If you stopped the hoist, you had to drop back down and take another run at it.
 
Well here's an update....

Just got off the phone with the previous owner, he figured it's only 600 lbs, I was figuring closer to 2K (based on specs on the inter webs), my machinist buddy figures it's closer to what the fella selling it says, but also figures we should "budget" for 1000 lbs so we have a safety margin!

So this is sounding better and better all the time..... By the time we strip it down, I'm sure it's doable with an engine hoist a-la BC Riders pics.

Thanks for all the ideas/advice it is all going into the cauldron and will be distilled into a plan for moving and set-up!

I'll be sure to take pics and keep ya'll informed on progress and final placement!

Cheers!
 
I've used a tow truck to unload a lathe that size before off the back of a pick up, it was off the base though in 2pcs.
A few years ago I made myself a gantry on wheels to take machines apart and moving them, quite useful.
Also did use a tilt bed truck a couple times and rollers, my Kingston HJ-1700 lathe came in that way. Main thing is take your time and don't tip it on its face...
I'm moving my whole shop later this year, it'll involve taking the time to make new skids/pallets for them in steel and wood, more to grab/roll onto, less likely to tip and so on.

Either way, many ways to get'er done, congrats on your purchase.
 
Did my 12x36 with an engine lift. Lifted it up off the pick up box, drive out from under it. Set the lathe on the outrigger legs of the engine hoist, rolled it into place. Turned it between the legs, set it down then just turned it into place on the shop floor. It was about 800lbs stand n all
 
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