- Joined
- Mar 21, 2013
- Messages
- 4,064
Some may not know (nor care) about the layoff I recently got caught up in, but for those who do, here's an update of what's going on at the moment.
Apparently, hiring a 'older person' in the high-tech arena is not a popular thing to do right now. So... The house sold, but I took it in the backside a bit as the market here has softened after the layoffs this year of all the high-tech/high-paying jobs around here. But it sold, so all is good. Being as we are getting into the off-season for movers, I managed to snag a pretty good deal to load up the house, store it locally for a couple of months, and then deliver it to the new homestead once we find it. Including the machines! When I showed the mill and lathe to the guy giving me the estimate, he just snorted and said that they move gun safes that weigh more than my mill. Boy was that a huge load off my mind! And not as expensive as I thought it would be. Sometimes peace of mind is worth a little extra...
So the movers are showing up on the 29th and I'm up to my neck in trying to get the shop ready for transport. Everything has been going pretty good, but I kept coming back to my little pile of metal that I have accumulated over the the last three years. I roughly figure that I have about 500 lbs or so of metal so just throwing it in a couple of those covered tubs from Lowes wasn't going to cut it. Then the idea of a wooden box on a furniture dolly (one of those 1000lb ones) came to mind. So that's what I did.
A couple of 4'x2' pieces of 3/4" plywood, a long piece of 2x2", and a dolly. Problem was that I don't have any woodworking tools, and aside from a little race car in Cub Scouts, I've never really tried to make anything out of wood. Bought a little 13" hand saw, the wood, and some screws, and had at it. Left arm was getting real tired after sawing all the pieces, but the little impact driver and screws made the assembly real quick. It's not pretty, but it will get the job done. The box is 30"x19"x12" tall and screwed down to the furniture dolly. In the pic I have the steel in there except for a couple of large rounds and two large plates of grey iron. It is already heavy as heck and I haven't even loaded the aluminum yet. It is going to take at least two guys to move this, and I'm going to suggest that instead of trying to push this up a loading ramp that they load it on the lift-gate truck that is coming for the machines.
On the 30th we are driving down to our daughters house in Queen Creek, AZ. She is putting us up (and putting up with us) until we can find something to live in. Will try to find something in AZ, but it's not looking real good. We also have our eye on the Abilene area in TX as a possibility as homes that we can afford are fairly abundant down there. Looking for a house with either a two-car garage, a one-car and a carport (wife doesn't want her car out in the weather), or some combination of the two and a small workshop. I have a few saved in Zillow in both AZ and TX so we will see what happens. There's this nice older house sitting on 2 acres with a 30x30 shop out back in TX that I have my eye on...
I will have one of my computers at my daughters so I will likely get on here from time to time. I will also have my iPad. You guys take care and hopefully this life-altering situation ends well.
Apparently, hiring a 'older person' in the high-tech arena is not a popular thing to do right now. So... The house sold, but I took it in the backside a bit as the market here has softened after the layoffs this year of all the high-tech/high-paying jobs around here. But it sold, so all is good. Being as we are getting into the off-season for movers, I managed to snag a pretty good deal to load up the house, store it locally for a couple of months, and then deliver it to the new homestead once we find it. Including the machines! When I showed the mill and lathe to the guy giving me the estimate, he just snorted and said that they move gun safes that weigh more than my mill. Boy was that a huge load off my mind! And not as expensive as I thought it would be. Sometimes peace of mind is worth a little extra...
So the movers are showing up on the 29th and I'm up to my neck in trying to get the shop ready for transport. Everything has been going pretty good, but I kept coming back to my little pile of metal that I have accumulated over the the last three years. I roughly figure that I have about 500 lbs or so of metal so just throwing it in a couple of those covered tubs from Lowes wasn't going to cut it. Then the idea of a wooden box on a furniture dolly (one of those 1000lb ones) came to mind. So that's what I did.
A couple of 4'x2' pieces of 3/4" plywood, a long piece of 2x2", and a dolly. Problem was that I don't have any woodworking tools, and aside from a little race car in Cub Scouts, I've never really tried to make anything out of wood. Bought a little 13" hand saw, the wood, and some screws, and had at it. Left arm was getting real tired after sawing all the pieces, but the little impact driver and screws made the assembly real quick. It's not pretty, but it will get the job done. The box is 30"x19"x12" tall and screwed down to the furniture dolly. In the pic I have the steel in there except for a couple of large rounds and two large plates of grey iron. It is already heavy as heck and I haven't even loaded the aluminum yet. It is going to take at least two guys to move this, and I'm going to suggest that instead of trying to push this up a loading ramp that they load it on the lift-gate truck that is coming for the machines.
On the 30th we are driving down to our daughters house in Queen Creek, AZ. She is putting us up (and putting up with us) until we can find something to live in. Will try to find something in AZ, but it's not looking real good. We also have our eye on the Abilene area in TX as a possibility as homes that we can afford are fairly abundant down there. Looking for a house with either a two-car garage, a one-car and a carport (wife doesn't want her car out in the weather), or some combination of the two and a small workshop. I have a few saved in Zillow in both AZ and TX so we will see what happens. There's this nice older house sitting on 2 acres with a 30x30 shop out back in TX that I have my eye on...
I will have one of my computers at my daughters so I will likely get on here from time to time. I will also have my iPad. You guys take care and hopefully this life-altering situation ends well.
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