Relocating my shop - advice wanted

[hman]

Well, the time has come to move my (larger of 2) shop from Oregon to "somewhere" in the Phoenix area. We'll buy a house with shop space after I've sold my Oregon house, then move my wife's house (and my smaller shop).

MANY, MANY thanks to all of you who've made suggestions about how to go about moving machine tools!!!!

I decided that, rather than depending on a crew of tweakers or off-the-street lowlifes to load heavy/fragile machines into a moving van, I'd rent a PODS container, load it myself, have it shipped to AZ, and stored until we have a new house.

Progress to date: Disassembled my RF-30 mill and 12x24 lathe from their respective stands, etc. Removed the motors to reduce weight. Made a pair of 24 x 48 x 1 ½" (doubled ¾" ply) bases with attached 2x4 rails. Lag screwed the machines to these. Used an engine hoist to place them partially inside the PODS atop ¾" pipe rollers. Rolled them inside, levered them up with the tongue of a 2-wheel dolly to remove the rollers. Securely screwed both platforms to the floor.

I then upended the mill table (visible in the background of the first mill picture), added plywood plates on the open sides, and used the resulting "box" to hold a great bunch of rod and bar stock. Being paranoid, I later unloaded the stock, added a sheet of plywood to reinforce the PODS floor, and reloaded it all (and then some).

Next day I loaded in my 14" wood cutting bandsaw and two roll-arounds. Still need to load the lathe stand plus several boxes of lathe and mill parts. I don't plan to load the PODS any higher than about halfway up. No sense taking chances.

Note that the black (HF) cart is loaded with the drawer faces against the wall. The gray one has handles on the drawers, so I loaded it facing out. But it has provision for a lock bar running down the faces of the drawers, so no problem with opening.

By the way ... working slowly and carefully, I've been able to do all of this by myself, using just the engine hoist, the rollers, some hand tools, and a saw. My wife did help when it came time to remove the rollers from under the platforms. I wouldn't want to move a Bridgeport by myself, but now feel pretty confident about moving/manipulating medium-sized tools.

More fun to follow ...

 

[Downunder Bob]

Well, the time has come to move my (larger of 2) shop from Oregon to "somewhere" in the Phoenix area. We'll buy a house with shop space after I've sold my Oregon house, then move my wife's house (and my smaller shop).

MANY, MANY thanks to all of you who've made suggestions about how to go about moving machine tools!!!!

I decided that, rather than depending on a crew of tweakers or off-the-street lowlifes to load heavy/fragile machines into a moving van, I'd rent a PODS container, load it myself, have it shipped to AZ, and stored until we have a new house.

Progress to date: Disassembled my RF-30 mill and 12x24 lathe from their respective stands, etc. Removed the motors to reduce weight. Made a pair of 24 x 48 x 1 ½" (doubled ¾" ply) bases with attached 2x4 rails. Lag screwed the machines to these. Used an engine hoist to place them partially inside the PODS atop ¾" pipe rollers. Rolled them inside, levered them up with the tongue of a 2-wheel dolly to remove the rollers. Securely screwed both platforms to the floor.
View attachment 238577 View attachment 238578 View attachment 238579 View attachment 238580 View attachment 238581 View attachment 238582 View attachment 238583 View attachment 238584
I then upended the mill table (visible in the background of the first mill picture), added plywood plates on the open sides, and used the resulting "box" to hold a great bunch of rod and bar stock. Being paranoid, I later unloaded the stock, added a sheet of plywood to reinforce the PODS floor, and reloaded it all (and then some).
View attachment 238585
Next day I loaded in my 14" wood cutting bandsaw and two roll-arounds. Still need to load the lathe stand plus several boxes of lathe and mill parts. I don't plan to load the PODS any higher than about halfway up. No sense taking chances.
View attachment 238586
Note that the black (HF) cart is loaded with the drawer faces against the wall. The gray one has handles on the drawers, so I loaded it facing out. But it has provision for a lock bar running down the faces of the drawers, so no problem with opening.

By the way ... working slowly and carefully, I've been able to do all of this by myself, using just the engine hoist, the rollers, some hand tools, and a saw. My wife did help when it came time to remove the rollers from under the platforms. I wouldn't want to move a Bridgeport by myself, but now feel pretty confident about moving/manipulating medium-sized tools.

More fun to follow ...

Looks like you've got it pretty much under control. I dread the thought of having to move, and if our future plans hold good we wont ever have too. Still if it ever comes up , there is plenty of help and advice here.

 

[coffmajt]

Doug - Good questions, here is my plan so far:

I will hire a moving company to move the household stuff (furniture, etc.). I will probably hire some help to get the heavy stuff out of the basement; I may also have them move the stuff to the new location. I plan to move toolboxes and "loose tools" (which I will pack) myself, as well as tooling and accessories.

The old house and the new house will both be available for a while, so I don't have to move everything at once. I'll be going back and forth a few times while I get the old house ready for sale, so I can take a trailer load each time.

The reason I have two shops is that I do the wood shop stuff in the garage - I don't have a dust collection system so an open garage door is the next best thing to keeping air-born dust levels down. Unfortunately this limits wood working to the warmer months (I'm in Michigan). All the metal shop stuff goes in the basement, so I can work there year-round.

I would recommend a Penske rental truck with a one ton lift gate plus a pallet Jack for your heavy machines. If you have a shop crane you can lift each one enough for get a pallet underneath, then moving is real easy providing you have hard surfaces to move over. Good luck. Jack

 

[woodtickgreg]

You and I are a lot alike in the fact that we like to do things ourselves. I believe that if you want it done right do it yourself. I would not feel comfortable having people that know nothing about my machines moving them.

 

[hman]

Looks like you've got it pretty much under control. I dread the thought of having to move, and if our future plans hold good we wont ever have too. Still if it ever comes up , there is plenty of help and advice here.

+1 on the help and advise. Thanks again to all! And for you, best wishes toward not ever having to move. Even if nothing is lost or damaged, it's sure to be a huge productivity disruption for at least several months.

I would recommend a Penske rental truck with a one ton lift gate plus a pallet Jack for your heavy machines. If you have a shop crane you can lift each one enough for get a pallet underneath, then moving is real easy providing you have hard surfaces to move over. Good luck. Jack

I'd have liked doing that for my move to AZ, but I plan to be driving my pickumup truck, loaded with last-minute stuff, as well as the gas cylinders that movers consider a no-no. I do plan to do this when moving my AZ shop across town!

You and I are a lot alike in the fact that we like to do things ourselves. I believe that if you want it done right do it yourself. I would not feel comfortable having people that know nothing about my machines moving them.

I've seen entirely too many posts here about inexperienced movers! That said, I still have a table saw and chop saw here - need to do some finish carpentry in the house before I sell. But these are pretty light tools, and easy to move.

 

[kevin]

Looks like you are the right track. What is the load limit on those PODS. If I were you, I would double up on those ratcheting straps - it's cheap insurance (think about the consequences if something gets loose and starts moving around).

One more suggestion: Stuff newspaper, plastic bags, or whatever you have on hand into your tool drawers to help keep things from shifting around. IF you don;t have some way to lock/fasten drawers closed, you can wrap plastic wrap around your tool boxes.

Please let us know how things worked out when you get to the other end of the move.

 

[4GSR]

I hope the plywood pads your machines are bolted to, are screwed down to the floor of the pod with lots of screws. Your bandsaw doesn't look very secured. All it takes is one time of the truck driver having to lock his brakes, and everything in the pod gets rearranged!

 

[hman]

Looks like you are the right track. What is the load limit on those PODS. If I were you, I would double up on those ratcheting straps - it's cheap insurance (think about the consequences if something gets loose and starts moving around).

PODS says the weight capacity of the 7' unit I got is 5200 lbs. Estimating 500-800 lbs for the mill, the same for the lathe, maybe 500 lbs of steel stock, <200 lbs for the band saw, and a WAG of <300 lbs for miscellaneous crap, that comes out to a worst case total of 2600 lbs, well under their max capacity limit. I've doubled up on several of the straps, and I’ve given thought to where things might shift to if cast adrift.

I’d covered much of my garage floor with those 2’ square jigsaw-interlocking ½" foam panels. Took them all up before moving the tools, and they’re now being used as cushioning/padding between the items in the box - again, just in case something moves unexpectedly. I'd also used ¾" plywood panels at the mill and lathe to hold setup tools. These have been placed between the machines and the outer walls.

One more suggestion: Stuff newspaper, plastic bags, or whatever you have on hand into your tool drawers to help keep things from shifting around. IF you don;t have some way to lock/fasten drawers closed, you can wrap plastic wrap around your tool boxes.

Please let us know how things worked out when you get to the other end of the move.

Drawer contents are indeed padded, and (thanks to dlane's earlier post) I'd bought some stretch wrap. Made use of it in several places (mainly around tool boxes). As I'd mentioned previously, one of the roll-arounds is faced to the wall, so the drawers can't open. The other has a stop bar across the drawer fronts.

I finished loading the box last night. Today I'll take a bunch more "cya" photos, verify the contents inventory, etc. Tomorrow I'll call the PODS people and send it on its way. It'll be in storage (hopefully in dry AZ) for a couple of months - we have yet to buy a new house there. If anything "interesting" happens between now and then, I'll be sure to post.

 

[hman]

I hope the plywood pads your machines are bolted to, are screwed down to the floor of the pod with lots of screws.

Used about 9 to 12 high quality #10 screws for each.

Your bandsaw doesn't look very secured. All it takes is one time of the truck driver having to lock his brakes, and everything in the pod gets rearranged!

Used two separate lengths of nylon "ribbon" (parachute ribbon?). Plus, the other contents are packed in pretty solidly and will prevent it from moving very far. Admittedly, the upper section is not secured. But as nearly all the weight (ie, the motor) is in the base, I doubt the saw will be able to fall over.

I've used some pretty good (nearly new) straps and lots of that nylon ribbon rope. My only concern right now id the possibility of pulling the screw eyes out of the 2x4 framing inside the box. But I drilled undersized pilot holes into very sound looking wood and screwed them in pretty far. I have high hopes I did it right.

PS - Thanks for your concern! All comments are indeed welcome.

Another PS - I gave the lathe ways and mill table a good spraying with Fluid Film to prevent surface rust (just in case the PODS people store the box in Oregon instead of in AZ).

 

[4GSR]

You need a bunch of those VCI duce bags they pack with CNC machines that come from Japan to hang in your pod. I think I still have a dozen of them stashed in every cabinet in the shop. They never go bad. They dry out during the dry seasons and do their job during the wet seasons.