Moving a mill

[Maplehead]

Hi All
I apologize in advance for all the extra info.
Next month I am biting the bullet on a mill upgrade. I've been using a Little Machine Shop micro mill that comes in around 110 pounds. I am going to upgrade to my "final" mill. For a while I was considering the PM-727 or the higher quality 728. However, my end-all-mill needs to be beefier than those mills. I would love to get a PM-835 but I don't have the headroom for it. I believe I am settling on the Grizzly G0678 smaller knee mill. It looks like a nice beefy mill for my needs.
However, it's just under 1000 pounds. The mill will be going into my basement. It's not an easy access basement as the back basement door into my little shop is on a lower level than the driveway. I would have to go down 8 pressure treated wooden stairs to get there, onto dirt. Inside via the kitchen/basement door is out of the question. So I am curious, can this G0678 mill be easily disassembled/re-assembled? If so, what would you guesstimate the heaviest component weight to be?

 

[7milesup]

I have no specifics at all on how much each piece would weigh but it is certainly possible to completely disassemble the mill and move it to your basement. It is just nuts and bolts. Putting it back together would take some time, especially since you need to verify tramming, etc (which you should do anyhow.)
Just a thought here... have you looked at the Precision Matthews 833TV? It has a larger working area than the Grizzly, and PM's customer service is incredible. I believe it would be about the same price BUT the 833 is made in Taiwan, which is better than China (the tariffs are pushing the prices up of Chinese machines vs the higher quality Taiwan machines).
Just a thought..

 

[Flyinfool]

It has a swivel and tilt head that means that it is not hard to take the head off. This will also help a lot with the top heaviness.
It also should not be difficult to remove the table, and possibly also the Y axis. That should get it down to a weight that 2 strong guys and a dolly can move down the steps. Have the knee as low as it will go while moving it.

My mill is 3400 lbs and once I removed the head, the ram and the X and Y axis got it down to around 1800 lbs, that went down my basement steps bolted to a homemade cart with 4 swivel casters and a ramp made of two 2x12s covered with 3/4 ply. and supports under that to each of the wood steps to spread out the load. I made the ramp a much shallower angle than the steps. I used my P/U truck as an anchor to lower it slowly down the ramp. It was a nice uneventful move. If you have access to the back of the wood steps you can add some posts under there to help if you are worried about the steps holding.

My 1400 lb surface grinder was split in half for the move. My 1100 lb lathe came down just as it shipped. both were bolted to that same cart and went down that same ramp with the same truck as an anchor.

When going down a ramp, pay very close attention to the center of gravity so it does not tip forward on the way down. Make sure the heavy side goes down last. do not attach the lowering line at the base. attach it at your best guess of the vertical center of gravity. Hitting it exact is not at all critical.

Shipping weight on your mill is 966 lbs it will be less when unpacked. That is the weight of 4 adults my size. once you take it apart I would have no worries about the structure of the house holding up.

 

[machPete99]

That G0678 looks similar to my Rockwell mill, which I disassembled for transport. The heaviest piece is the column which might be around 200-250#.
Next heaviest piece is the knee casting but its mostly bulky, 1 man lift.

 

[Maplehead]

I have looked at the 833tv but it's 89" tall. The bottom of my 2x8 joists are at 79".
It's good to know the move can be done. I'll let you guys know when the mill arrives so you can assist. I'll have the beers cold and ready.

 

[BGHansen]

I have a Jet JVM-830 which is a clone of yours. Had mine in my basement back in the day. I pulled the head at the column, used an engine hoist with straps to lift it off the column. Lifted the rest with the engine hoist using a chain through the column which was looped through a steel round at the bottom. The round bridged the bottom hole in the column. I have 3 10' length of roller conveyor which were used to position the mill at the top of the basement stairs. Slid it down from there with a come-a-long on a couple of 2 x 12's cleated together. I braced the bottom of the stair stringers with a couple of 4 x 4's from below.

Bruce

 

[Aaron_W]

I have looked at the 833tv but it's 89" tall. The bottom of my 2x8 joists are at 79".
It's good to know the move can be done. I'll let you guys know when the mill arrives so you can assist. I'll have the beers cold and ready.

I have a 78" ceiling, so very familiar with your issue. Not a lot of choices for the ceiling impaired. Grizzly has 2 sizes in that style, HF has one like the smaller Grizzly. Jet, Enco and others started selling a similar mill in the 80s. Then for vintage mills you have the Rockwell 21-100 and Clausing 8520/30. The PM30 bench mill will just fit at 76" tall.

I found a Clausing 8520 which I believe these mills were inspired by. I broke it down to the stand, column / knee, table, head, and motor. The column / knee was the heaviest, 2 of us loaded it by hand into my truck, and I used an engine hoist and heavy duty cart to move it into place when I got home. I was able to hand carry everything else. I think the Clausing weighs about 750lbs if this is the 8x30 version it weighs about 200lbs more, but I don't know how the extra weight is divided. If you remove the knee you can substantially reduce the weight of the column for moving.

 

[7milesup]

I have looked at the 833tv but it's 89" tall. The bottom of my 2x8 joists are at 79".
It's good to know the move can be done. I'll let you guys know when the mill arrives so you can assist. I'll have the beers cold and ready.

Super! I will give you all the advice you need for a simple payment of cold beer.

 

[pontiac428]

Sometimes, you gotta think outside the box!

 

[ACHiPo]

Sometimes, you gotta think outside the box!

Ok so that makes me laugh. Your picture immediately reminded me of a book my Mom used to read to me when I was a wee one about a steam shovel that dug a big hole for a skyscraper. When he (yeah, the steam shovel was a he with eyes and everything--think of the movie "Cars"), but couldn't get out so became the steam boiler for the building.