Thoughts on moving a JVM-830F milling machine into the basement?

[Flyinfool]

There was a thread not real long ago with a similar basement issue.

Bringing home a new to me G0752Z

Made a trip out to Indiana to buy @rabler 's Grizzly 10" x 22 lathe. The G0752Z is the same as a G0602, but it has a VFD, and a DRO. Randall was great, first insisting that I operate the lathe and do some sample operations. It was sufficiently different from a mini-lathe that I had to...

www.hobby-machinist.com

Make a plan and work the plan.

My mill is 3400 lbs and "stripped dpwn" I am guessing the basse was 1800 lbs. My basement stairs are 36 wide with a 32 inch door at the bottom. Mill had to come up a step to get in the back door 90° turn to go down the hall and another 90° turn to go down the stairs. Went in as smooth as butter in a hot frying pan. I doubt if it will be much more difficult to get out.

 

[mmcmdl]

Off topic here . This evening we'll be moving the Christmas tree into the house . It'll surely be an adventure . Feeling like crap the past two days from the chemo and trying to hang in there . This may be more of an adventure than moving the equipment around !

 

[vintageiron]

There was a thread not real long ago with a similar basement issue.

Bringing home a new to me G0752Z

Made a trip out to Indiana to buy @rabler 's Grizzly 10" x 22 lathe. The G0752Z is the same as a G0602, but it has a VFD, and a DRO. Randall was great, first insisting that I operate the lathe and do some sample operations. It was sufficiently different from a mini-lathe that I had to...

www.hobby-machinist.com

Make a plan and work the plan.

My mill is 3400 lbs and "stripped dpwn" I am guessing the basse was 1800 lbs. My basement stairs are 36 wide with a 32 inch door at the bottom. Mill had to come up a step to get in the back door 90° turn to go down the hall and another 90° turn to go down the stairs. Went in as smooth as butter in a hot frying pan. I doubt if it will be much more difficult to get out.

Getting mine into the house and to the basement steps likely won't be an issue, I have a set of custom built ramps that I built from aluminum for getting things in and out. The ramps are good for about 1,200 lbs. They won't help once it gets to the basement doorway though.
If I can't get this down to under 400lbs, I don't think I'm up for the challenge. I'm not at all what I used to be and fully realize that.
All the ideas for winches and cables are great but without doing major damage to my house, that's just not going to happen here.

This is what I'm dealing with:


I think it boils down to if I can't find a way to manhandle it into the basement its really not worth the trouble right now.
I'm not looking to tear up the house to get it downstairs and while having it is a plus, down the road, I'll only regret putting it down there.
Along the same lines, part of the advantage to it not being a full size mill is the fact that its not as heavy.
If I don't sell it in the coming months, and it does end up in the basement, its there forever as far as I'm concerned.

Like a few have mentioned, going down the stairs is one thing, getting it back out is something else.
I'm getting to the point in my life where I don't want to own a bunch of things I can't move easily.
30 years ago, I wouldn't have thought twice about putting it in the basement but these days I'm not sure if its a matter of thinking farther ahead or just being realistic as to what I can still do.

Off topic here . This evening we'll be moving the Christmas tree into the house . It'll surely be an adventure . Feeling like crap the past two days from the chemo and trying to hang in there . This may be more of an adventure than moving the equipment around !

Getting old isn't any fun. I certainly get what you mean. As health issues pile up, what we can do day to day often depends on what we have left in the tank on any given day.

 

[Flyinfool]

You have two doorways right across from the stairs to use as anchor points for the rigging with ZERO damage to the house.

If the bath has a window that can be opened you can run a cable from the mill, out the window and to a trailer hitch on a car to use as the control. Tonnage rules, most cars are heavier than the mill. I used a shop crane with a snatch block to hold the cable off the window sill. You can use the car to lower it down with nearly zero muscle power needed.

 

[vintageiron]

The bathroom doorway is offset quite a bit but I guess it could be doable. The bathroom has a tiny, non opening window. The walls of the bathroom are also completely tiled, so putting any stress on the door jamb might not be a good idea.
If the window did open of if I were to completely remove it, there's still the issue of that area being directly over the septic system. Any car out the back would be risking falling into the cesspool.

I'm still leaning toward just finding a two big helpers capable of simply manhandling it down there on a handtruck.
I and a buddy were able to get a 44" wide top and bottom tool chest down there in two pieces a few years ago, We simply carried it, it was 320lbs minus the second and third row of drawers to give us a point to grab hold of it. I rolled it to the basement door, I went first, (taller), and carried it by the bottom, while my helper carried the high side with one hand inside where the drawer was removed. It wasn't that bad.
The freezer was over 400, and that was going up the steps and I and a neighbor were able to get it up the steps by just carrying it. We tried using a hand truck but it wouldn't clear the top of the staircase so we unstrapped the handtruck and just carried it, taking it one step at a time.
After that ordeal I added the extra legs to the stairs. I had calculated the weight of the freezer, my helper, and myself and figured there was at least 900 lbs on the staircase that time. I'm tall and stocky, my helper was short and heavy, both around 350 lbs or so, and the freezer was listed at 477lbs. I had removed the door so I figured it was around 425 lbs or so. It was almost too heavy to lift, which is why we went step by step, setting is down on each step. I wouldn't ask the same neighbor to help with the mill, he was having trouble that day and I was worried he'd have a stroke or heart attack on the steps, trapping me on the wrong end of the freezer. But it got done. It was sort of a return favor, I helped him get a dishwasher, combo washer/dryer, and refrigerator into his upstairs apartment a few months prior.

I really think it'll be lighter than 500lbs with the table, turret, and motor removed.
The table is likely the heaviest removable part, with the knee being the next heaviest, then the upper turret. It wasn't too bad to move to where it is now on pipes but I was a lot younger 30+ years ago and I didn't need help getting up then. I've been nursing two bad knees and a hernia for a while, so I have to be smart about how I lift things and how much I lift, and for how long.

Another issue will be planning it all on a day without any rain or snow.

I'm going to do the lathe first, and see how that goes. I'm thinking that'll be a fairly easy. Two of use moved it where it sits now, and my uncle, then in his 60's got it into his station wagon by himself in two pieces. Once its strapped to the handtruck that should be easy. If i get lucky, I'll find a helper to carry one end of it and we'll just carry the thing down there in two pieces.