Moving a Lathe

I moved a Frejoth 12 x 36 lathe into the basement by myself about 15 years ago. I weighs about 900-1000 pounds. I BUILT a platform out of 2in lumber and removed the lathe from its base and bolted it to the platform. I also mount 4 heavy duty casters to the bottom of the platform. Next I built a ramp to place on the stairs out of 2in stock. I used a come along to control the decent down the ramp. It worked great. After all the preliminary work it took about 10 minutes to get it in the basement.
 
Lathes, especially the smaller ones like you would find in a hobby shop ,are especially top heavywhen they are mounted to a stand. Be careful. And get out of the way if it looks like your gonna lose it.
 
I think the first step in moving a lathe should be to bolt some angle iron rails that are longer than the lathe to the feet. This will form a skid so that pipe rollers can be used. Make some holes in the end each rail to attach chains or cables with a clevis.
 
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