How to Unload/Unbox new 14x40 lathe

[Provincial]

That’s nice and all, but no real advice or suggestions.

If you look at my reply in the context of the thread, you can see that I am affirming your wisdom in asking the question here, and also approving the extensive amount of knowledge offered by the members who posted. Just the opposite of what I experienced in Alaska, a place where one would expect the population to be knowledgeable, open-minded, and innovative in order to survive, much less flourish.

I've done my share of rigging and handling large, heavy, unbalanced, and odd-shaped objects. I have yet to tip over anything I rigged up, nor had my rigging fail. The other posters have covered the subject very well, and I don't have anything to add that pertains to your particular project.

I apologize if I disappointed or offended you.

 

[JohnDB]

If you look at my reply in the context of the thread, you can see that I am affirming your wisdom in asking the question here, and also approving the extensive amount of knowledge offered by the members who posted. Just the opposite of what I experienced in Alaska, a place where one would expect the population to be knowledgeable, open-minded, and innovative in order to survive, much less flourish.

I've done my share of rigging and handling large, heavy, unbalanced, and odd-shaped objects. I have yet to tip over anything I rigged up, nor had my rigging fail. The other posters have covered the subject very well, and I don't have anything to add that pertains to your particular project.

I apologize if I disappointed or offended you.

I thought that it was exactly on point.
And for whatever reason people have this cognitive dissonance when it comes to certain things and situations.

I can afford to purchase a small airplane...therefore I must be able to fly it. I've watched instructional YouTube videos and done XBox and computer simulators...even stayed in a Holiday Express overnight a couple years ago.

An obvious fallacy....

Rigging is the same thing...
I've watched professional riggers lose hands and fingers mostly....once a foot...it happens so fast in the dumbest ways in the least likely of circumstances that you wouldn't think as they were "less dangerous" situations. And they had a lot of very expensive and nice equipment for moving heavy equipment....a lot better equipments than anything I've seen posted here....made to hoist much heavier loads in a very controlled manner.

And what you are thinking about is how some people do not have the ability to recognize the dangerous environment that they either created or have wandered into.

Hobbies are just that....hobbies...for fun.
Hobbies are supposed to be life altering in GOOD ways and not negative.
Money is cheap...because it can't buy you a new natural hand. Artificial hands still suck.

It eventually comes down to a funnel of incidents.
So many situations distills into so many near misses....which distills into minor accidents....which distills into major accidents.

Stay out of the funnel.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Internet forums like this are both a blessing and a curse.
They are a blessing because they can guide a beginner towards a way to accomplish a desired goal.
"Slow the bit down to drill stainless steel" or You need more rigidity in your setup. Shorten your boring bar".
They are also a curse because there are so many who are afraid. Maybe afraid of life itself.
Those types see a task to be done and only see the hazards. Being unable or unwilling to do the task themselves, they advise letting "the experts" do it and thereby stifle ingenuity.
One does not learn how to lift a 1600 lb lathe in a day. But even a simple man can contrive a way to lift a 500 lb engine in an afternoon.
And from success at lifting the engine comes the confidence and creativity to lift a 1000 lb tractor, a 1600 lb lathe and then a 4000 lb milling machine.
I tend to get impatient with those who are afraid and usually don't trust them to help.
If the hoist is tipping under the load it is bearing they focus on their fear and not focusing on correcting the problem and preventing the mishap.
On the tractor boards they call them safety nannies. They advocate for more and more safety devices and laws to require their use.
They want to be wrapped in a man made cocoon of safety devices - to the detriment of developing good situational awareness and ingenuity.

 

[JohnDB]

Internet forums like this are both a blessing and a curse.
They are a blessing because they can guide a beginner towards a way to accomplish a desired goal.
"Slow the bit down to drill stainless steel" or You need more rigidity in your setup. Shorten your boring bar".
They are also a curse because there are so many who are afraid. Maybe afraid of life itself.
Those types see a task to be done and only see the hazards. Being unable or unwilling to do the task themselves, they advise letting "the experts" do it and thereby stifle ingenuity.
One does not learn how to lift a 1600 lb lathe in a day. But even a simple man can contrive a way to lift a 500 lb engine in an afternoon.
And from success at lifting the engine comes the confidence and creativity to lift a 1000 lb tractor, a 1600 lb lathe and then a 4000 lb milling machine.
I tend to get impatient with those who are afraid and usually don't trust them to help.
If the hoist is tipping under the load it is bearing they focus on their fear and not focusing on correcting the problem and preventing the mishap.
On the tractor boards they call them safety nannies. They advocate for more and more safety devices and laws to require their use.
They want to be wrapped in a man made cocoon of safety devices - to the detriment of developing good situational awareness and ingenuity.

I get what you are saying...where the safety equipment is the problem....the man riding the horse in an OSHA compliant fashion is an example of that.

But that's not what many here are saying.
Recognizing risks, understanding how to mitigate or engineer things to mitigate the risks is what we are discussing.

 

[Harry Knutz]

No problem

 

[Just for fun]

Hello all - I will be getting a 14x40 Lathe in the very near future (few months yet) and I seem to be stuck on how to actually get the lathe off of the pallet it will be on. I think I have everything else figured out, at least as far as I am aware - I know there is *always* that ONE thing.. I am in the country, I can buy or rent an engine hoist and straps if it will work, my concern is straddling the pallet.... I have a low ceiling in the garage so large equipment, like a Skid-steer, most likely won't have the height needed...

Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions!

**edited delivery timeframe

Having a low ceiling does pose a problem for sure. I have not read all of the comments, but I think Neil @7milesup has the right solution. As long as you can rent a professional cherry picker style hoist. The rental place here in my town has a really nice unit where the legs are parallel to each other and (I'm guessing) 5 feet apart. The hydraulic ram is probably 1.5 times larger than my cheap unit. You can also rent a pallet jack which came in very handy for myself. That being said personally I don't think I would want to move your lathe across the shop hanging from the cherry picker/engine hoist. I would move it pretty close to where you want it with a pallet jack then lift it with the cherry picker.

But if you can't get a pallet jack and your floor is nice and smooth lift it an inch off the ground and move it where it needs to go. My experience at least with the cheap ones they get a little shacky moving them much.

My cheap unit was just barely able to handle the task of lifting my 12x36T unit. If I ever have to move it, I will not use my cherry picker it's just not worth the chance. As it turns out the boom on my cheap unit is welded crooked, the higher you go the more it wants to pull it to one side.

Wishing you the best of luck! I know you have lots of ideas in the thread of how to do it. Looking forward to seeing your new lathe and how you get it moved.

@jareese I purchased a 14x40 about two years ago and faced the same dilemma. The pictures below are how I went about it, but in a nutshell, I built a plate with an eyelet that went up through the bed ways. The two bolts sticking registered against a web due to balance issues. I removed as much of the pallet as possible so that the engine hoist legs would start to straddle the pallet. Then, attached the engine hoist to the eye and started to lift. I started to cut the pallet away with a Sawzall and eventually, due to how I had it balanced, was able to slide the tailstock end of the pallet out from underneath the lathe. One big advantage of lifting a lathe this way is you will not have to worry about it tipping over unless you have a catastrophic failure of the engine hoist or chain.

View attachment 434392View attachment 434393View attachment 434394View attachment 434395

 

[Dabbler]

@7milesup +1 on your suggestion! I have also used a plate with an eye bolt to move a bare lathe bed, and it works very well, and is very easy on the lifting equipment, and is very low profile - all of which was needed for the lift in question, and is important to the OP as well.

 

[Ultradog MN]

But that's not what many here are saying.
Recognizing risks, understanding how to mitigate or engineer things to mitigate the risks is what we are discussing.

I agree with what You say too.
But IMO,
Where this thread went south is when I suggested "engineering" a temporary gantry out of wood - to "mitigate the risks" inherent in using other methods that were suggested.
Example:
Modifying an engine hoist type device is not a job for amateurs but that was not complained about.
I am also saying that one can not do the engineering if he is too afraid to try something. And forums Do bring out people who intentionally make him balk.

 

[JohnDB]

I agree with what You say too.
But IMO,
Where this thread went south is when I suggested "engineering" a temporary gantry out of wood - to "mitigate the risks" inherent in using other methods that were suggested.
Example:
Modifying an engine hoist type device is not a job for amateurs but that was not complained about.
I am also saying that one can not do the engineering if he is too afraid to try something. And forums Do bring out people who intentionally make him balk.

It's the figuring out of various steps needed for tooling and the setting up necessary to successfully machine various parts (Yak shaving, speeds & feeds and tool geometry) to achieve the results that causes people to assume they know how to be successful at rigging.

Not everyone is a polymath.

Rigging is a completely different skill set.
I'm very comfortable Rigging even if I don't enjoy that sort of work.
Machining is where I get excited and know that I'm completely uncomfortable doing it...but it intrigues me...and I usually suck at it. But I am learning and getting more knowledge as I go. (New discipline that I enjoy). However, so long as I remember the basic safety protocols, (don't leave keys in chucks, safety glasses and keep my hands out of trouble) I'm fairly safe with what I'm doing.
It's lower powered stuff. Lower energy potentials most of the time...not always but mostly.

Rigging is very different, lots of potential energy held static or moving that potential energy. And that potential energy will be explosive should it be accidentally released. (Broken straps, bent steel, and etc) a broken strap will remove a finger from snapping under strain to the fail rate. Even chains and shackles have caused injuries because people use them beyond their ratings.

And from reading some of these posts of new equipment purchased and installed I'm wondering if some of these people damaged their new toys by improperly Rigging them....runout increases of 4 thou or more is not as noticeable as a bent screw. But that momentary lift by the ways could easily do it even if it was by the head. Just depends on what was done and the size/weight.

Rigging is a lower knowledge base skill...it doesn't take much to learn it by people who understand the basics of mechanical engineering....but those bent engine hoists are telling me people aren't taking the time to learn them. Hence the words of caution.
Between the penny pinching and the "it'll be foiyn" attitudes it's a wonder that people are surviving the hobby. Rigging isn't much different than firearm safety...easy, simple, and non negotiable. But we often only hear about firearm accidents.

 

[mmcmdl]

I am in the country, I can buy or rent an engine hoist and straps if it will work, my concern is straddling the pallet.... I have a low ceiling in the garage so large equipment, like a Skid-steer, most likely won't have the height needed

Late to the thread . Take the lathe off the pallet and then move it into the garage . A 14 x 40 is easy to push around on cement . A few pipes make it easier , a set of skates makes it simple . 6 months ago I wiped out an entire maintenance shop with a 21 HP kubota with a 685 lb rated front end loader . Had no issues what so ever . I'll be pulling a 2300 lb mill out of the garage this or next week . We put them into the back of pickup trucks before . Not what I would ever recommend , but once the cash was in my hand they did what they wanted . Rigging is easy , especially when no steps are involved .