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Keep it from tipping when moving
- Thread starter jareese
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2020
- Messages
- 1,038
Ouch...that hurts!
There is a "How to move a lathe" thread but it's old and doesn't really have much info in it that will help people. It might be good to have a sticky thread on lathe moving tips/tricks and techniques. I just saw another thread here where someone posted about their new lathe and showed it on the trailer and being unloaded...it was a disaster waiting to happen. Even strapping a lathe to a trailer requires some thought and more often than not the pictures I see show it being done wrong.
I messed up and killed a lathe by being dumb and I almost had my most recent lathe ruined by someone else being dumb (I should have been more insistent on how we loaded it). It wouldn't be too hard to put all the collective knowledge in one place to help others avoid the anguish and expense, and possible injuries. Just yesterday I watched a video about a lathe moving accident that resulted in one guy breaking his leg and requiring multiple surgeries...not terribly hard to imagine. "Just pushed it a little bit sideways and it went over..."
There is a "How to move a lathe" thread but it's old and doesn't really have much info in it that will help people. It might be good to have a sticky thread on lathe moving tips/tricks and techniques. I just saw another thread here where someone posted about their new lathe and showed it on the trailer and being unloaded...it was a disaster waiting to happen. Even strapping a lathe to a trailer requires some thought and more often than not the pictures I see show it being done wrong.
I messed up and killed a lathe by being dumb and I almost had my most recent lathe ruined by someone else being dumb (I should have been more insistent on how we loaded it). It wouldn't be too hard to put all the collective knowledge in one place to help others avoid the anguish and expense, and possible injuries. Just yesterday I watched a video about a lathe moving accident that resulted in one guy breaking his leg and requiring multiple surgeries...not terribly hard to imagine. "Just pushed it a little bit sideways and it went over..."
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2022
- Messages
- 253
I was doing my best to go slow and follow all precautions. Didn’t check to see if anything slipped, then I hit the low spot/crack. That was it. Seems like it only tipped about an inch then it was on its face. But in slow motion. Sucked. Front skate was/is a 3 wheel skate in a triangle like shape. I won’t be using it again for lathe moves. Possibly just junking it.
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2020
- Messages
- 1,038
Yep, that's similar to how I killed my first lathe. I was moving slowly, one wheel hit a seam in the concrete and a second later it was on it's face as well....cracked the headstock casting completely. Luckily just before it happened I realized I was trapping myself and switched sides or it would have gotten me...it would have been bad.
Whether it's skates, pallet jacks, dollies, etc the common them is often that the machine isn't secured to those items so a small, but sudden stop is all it takes to get it moving and that's all it takes.
My recent loading incident was a guy loading my 14" Logan using a forklift....but the lathe wasn't strapped to the forks. I wanted to lift it with a strap choked around the bed cross bracing but he already had it raised up and was like "it'll be fine". He told me to pull the trailer forward a bit because an overhead crane was in his way, but he wasn't watching the trailer tailgate, which bumped the lathe and it slid right off the forks. Luckily it landed on the corner base of the cabinet and then the chip tray caught the edge of the trailer and stopped it. It bent a hand wheel shaft ($200) and I had to straighten the chip tray edge, but that was it...very lucky. Strapped to the forks, or lifted by a strap and it would have just wiggled a bit.
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2020
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- 1,342
I worked at AT&T in the early nineties. They made a computer meant to live under the sea and listen for submarines. Each one was hand made and cost millions. They were delivering the last one that was made (that I know of) to the ship that was to take it out to sea. Picked it up off the truck with fork lifts, then promptly dumped the crate on its face.
You'd think unionized "professionals" would know to take a minute to strap down a million dollar payload.
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2023
- Messages
- 129
I will be picking up a 10x20 Model 1957 Logan in a week or two,, its extremely back heavy
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2018
- Messages
- 6,541
Well, this is not the thread to post in BEFORE you move your lathe... but if it comes to it, I can give you pointers on how to stand one back up.
What part of Nevada, @Headhunter Pipe Co? My wife's 3rd generation Nevada, and my family is 5th gen. Washoe county.
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2023
- Messages
- 129
Humboldt county I go to Reno couple times a month for Doctors appointments. Never go to Carson
I will run a thread on before I move the lathe . I have never moved a presession metal lathe before of any size....But the guy I am buying it from has. First words out of his mouth was this lathe is back heavy.
Yes My Late Ex Father in law was mayor of Elko for 22 years ( He was insane ) ( really ) Held the town counsel meeting at Monna's local brothel.
I had a zero day air freight of a safe door once. We got the damn thing to the restaurant in the middle of an ice storm only to find they hadn't tapped the holes for the mounting blocks for the hinges. That cost Gary Safe over $1200 to ship that door and that was almost 30 years ago.
Well, if the city council meetings were held at the local hoot-n-holler, would bring new meaning to doing ones civic duty.