Moving 12x36 Lathe Down Into Basement

Moved a many of machines over the years using a come-a-long. A lever action CM hoist is even better, especially when you get up into the larger one's that have two speed transmission in them.
Back at the family homestead 40 something years ago, we had a small oak tree just outside the back door. We would tie off to that tree with chains and the come-a-long and drag the machines into the garage. Once in the garage, we set the machines on 1/2" pipe and roll them around with a pinch bar to their final position. I was the "grunt" back then doing all of the hard work while dad was hollering at us! Now, my son and son-in-law do the grunt work while I holler at them!
 
I agree with Keith. One piece at a time is how I got my 2 lathes and mill to my basement.
The lathes I did by my self the Mill I had assistance with.
I recall Mr Pete moves a lathe the same way.
 
I have moved multiple loads ranging from several hundred lbs. to over a thousand lbs. up and down my basement stairs. I make up a ramp of two 2 x 6's tied together with cross ties every three or four feet. I use long enough 2 x 6"s so I can place the load on the ramp on level ground. As I move it towards the pivot point, I tilt the ramp, make sure that the upper end of the load is securely anchored. A piece of 1-1/2" pipe at the top serves as an anchor and a come-along controls the descent down the ramp. if you are sliding the lathe down the ramp, there is usually enough friction to prevent a runaway. In that case, I loosen the come-along by several inches and push the object down. In some cases, I have used two come-alongs, one to pull and one as an anchor.
 
If your new lathe has a stand, it would be wise to remove it from the stand if possible. This lowers the center of gravity and lessens the chance of the load tipping. This, of course, is based on your ability to get it back on the stand once it's in your basement.
 
When I moved my South Bend Heavy 10 (weighs about 900 lbs.) into my basement, I used a ¾" plywood ramp on the stairs. For lowering I used long length of 2"nylon webbing one end tied off to the lathe the other wrapped around a tree, that provided sufficient friction to easily and safely belay the machine down the ramp.
 
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If you put a heavy duty pipe in that post hole you can put a birdhouse on top for your wife, a tie out for your dog and you can still use it to lower stuff into the basement. Everyone's happy! Lol

Yeah, If I was that poor bird living in that bird house, it would come a earth quake every time that chain got hooked to it!
 
Warn Pullzall is what I used to get my g4003 down the stairs. Checked it out from the tool crib at work. I think they run $189 or so.
 
Be careful that the stairs are strong enough. The sides may be made of 2x8"'s,but notice that if the stairs are notched into them,there may be only a couple of inches left over at the bottoms of the notches before the bottom edge of the 2x8. I hope this makes sense. Not all stairs are made in this way,of course.

And,if those notches were made with a skil saw,there will be even less than the few inches where the notches are their deepest.

If this is the case,I'd certainly advise adding extra vertical supports at intervals along the sides of the stairway down to the floor. And,LONG screws would be the better way to fasten them. Your lathe will be ruined if the stairs collapse and dump it onto the floor,even if you are not on the stairs.
 
My shop was in the basement of my old house. I fastened two 2x12;s x 16' together side by side to make a 22' wide ramp to slide things down. Cut 2 4x4's to brace the stair stringers at the top to the floor below. Just a few 16D nails are typically used at the top of the stringer. My shop had an Atlas 12 x 36, Rockwell 10 x 36 in the basement. Bigger weight challenge was the Grizzly mill/drill at ~600 lbs. and a Jet JVM-830 mill at >1000 lbs. No problem going down. I lashed them off with a cable tied to the garden tractor and eased them down.

Getting them out was another story, but went smoothly. I have a 10' length of 24" wide roller conveyor, mounted one of the rollers to the top of my ramp. Then ran the cable from the hoist from our quad down to the basement. Made a cart to lash the equipment to, had rollers on the bottom of the cart that rolled on the top of the ramp and rollers on the side to capture the sides of the ramp, kinda like a train truck. What goes down in the basement eventually comes out . . .

Bruce
 
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