Wells-Index 860C "Universal" mill w/pics and questions

Man, you guys are so helpful. Who'd of thunk? :rolleyes: :lmao: :biggrin:

I've heard that if you give them better beer they'll take up residence. :p Then I'd have to worry about licensing, neutering, and shots. :biggrin:


Plywood sounds like a good idea. I'm thinking that on Monday I'll see if the rental place will drop off a forklift for me to use. I'm a bit worried about using the forklift in this case as with the trailer being so large I won't be able to get very close and will have to use the tips of the forks. The lift may be rated for 5000 lbs but at the "tips" it drops off to maybe < 1000 lbs. On top of that I'll probably have to max out the "height" which would lower that value even more. :bitingnails: Hmmm, maybe a boom truck....

Oh, almost without a doubt I'm going to have to pull the vertical head. Measured the garage door/entrance and it is right at 6'6". Even if I cocked the head at 45 degrees I'm pretty sure it would be more than that. Then when you add a few inches for rollers, plywood, etc. you're heading for a "Laurel and Hardy" type scene. :eek: Maybe I should video this whole enterprise for the Comedy Channel....

-Ron
 
us the forklift and a chain to slide the mill to the edge of the trailer close enough you can pick it up move it to you set it down and then get the forks all the way in
I'd still strap the top of the mill to the forklift mast when moving to stop any tipping a bounce on one side making it tip. as soon as you clear the trailer drop it down as close as possible but not draging then if it trys to tip the ground will catch it also. i would not drive with it raised if you dont have to
that big old girl is voluptious on her top side dont get her tippin
steve
 
Will do! I'm calling the rental place tomorrow to see when I can get the forklift (I would have done it "today" but for some reason I was convinced it was Friday and not Thursday. :p ).

-Ron
 
Man, what a beast! She should last you a loooooooong time. Good luck with it Ron!
 
Splat said:
Man, what a beast! She should last you a loooooooong time. Good luck with it Ron!
Click to expand...

...Or finish me off. ;)

Thanks. I am fairly pumped about getting this up and running. Though it's driving me a little nuts that it's taking so long for me to make any headway. At the same time, my other "projects" are languishing. :( This needs to be set up so I can get something, anything, done. :p

I do get to play with a forklift again though. That's a kick! :biggrin:

-Ron
 
Forklift is on the way. Should be dropped off in the next couple of hours. Damn but they are expensive to rent. I really have to talk the wife in to letting me buy one. :drool:

-Ron
 
Update! First of all - I don't think I've broken or destroyed anything YET. :p I may have buggered up the crappy old wooden stand that my lathe sits on though. The story begins...

Here is a shot of the nice "forklift", it's actually a Terex telehander.



You can still see my truck/trailer/mill in the background.



With the space cleared out, shaper, grinder, bandsaw, drill press, etc. all out in the parking lot here I'm preparing to pull the SB lathe out so I can get the forks under it and get it out of harms way.



Time to start rigging up the mill. The idea is to place the straps under the mill and use the bolt slots to keep the strap from slipping.



Once completed I also put a strap out the turret to keep the mill from flopping around. FYI - both straps are rated for 10,000 lbs.



Man, this one gets adrenalin going. Quickly pulled the trailer out from under the mill, quickly grabbed my camera and took a shot. I think the heart stopped beating for a few seconds.



Safely back on the ground. Here things got "interesting" and I failed to take pictures, sorry. I had some rain storms coming in and the sun was going down, plus I still have all the other machines in the lot. Not ideal conditions.

After working on the vertical head for longer than I should have, I discovered that I could rotate it a full 90 degrees so it would sit flush with the top slide. Great!

Now, I couldn't rig the mill from above and still get it in to the garage, no way, no how. So next I lifted the mill back up so it was only a few inches off the ground. I placed a 2"x4" peice of lumber under the leading and trailing edges. Now I could get the fork underneath the mill and lift it. There were a couple of hair-raising moments as I discovered just how easy the mill slides on those smooth metal forks. Fortunately, with terror inspired reactions I was able to get it back under control before it sustained any damage. (Well, the "X" power drive took a pretty good whack but it's supposedly fubar anyway. Maybe the whack did it some good? :rolleyes:)

More rigging to keep the mill from sliding and some scrap lumber to keep if from sliding back towards the cab and I was set to try again. At this point the sun was just about gone and a slight rain had begun. I actually was able to drive the telehandler all the way in to the garage. Had to. With the back wheels outside the lift was angled upward and I couldn't drop the forks to the ground. Once it was on level ground things got a bit better. I could touch the forks to the ground but not set them down all the way. I ended up having the forks tilted down towards the tips at a slight angle with the tips touching the concrete. From there I undid all the rigging and used another 2"x4" as a Johnson bar to slide the mill off the forks onto the concrete.

By this time is was dark and a hard rain was falling. I had to get at least the lathe back under cover so I set up to do it with the telehandler. Not being able to see due to the dark and the rain things did not go so well. Heard some cracking and almost lost it off the forks a couple of times. I did get it back in to the garage in pretty much one piece though. That's why the crappy wooden stand may need replacement. I didn't have time to assess any damage to it as I needed to get things packed up so I could go home for the night.

My 16" Queen City shaper, LeBlond grinder, and another "parts" grinder are still in the parking lot somewhat blocking access to the garages. I'm pretty sure the couple of cars in there can still get out I'm just not sure they'd be able to get back in. I grabbed some large garbage bags to cover the parts of the machines I didn't need to get wet. The rain's not that big of deal as I had brought a pressure sprayer to clean the machines that are still out side. They were going to get wet anyway. I do not like leaving stuff out in the parking lot overnight though. :mad: It's in a fairly "good" neighborhood and the rain will hopefully keep kids in doors. I will be back first thing in the morning to take care of what ever is left to do. Then I've got to be at my daughters HS graduation at 4:00pm.

I'll take some pics of the mill "inside" although it's going to be another job to turn it and put it in it's finally resting place. Now I've got to figure out how I'm going to re-configure the "shop". :p

-Ron
 
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Half the battle is over with! Now the easy part starts.

Glad you got it unloaded safely.
 
Thanks Ken. I even got it in to the back of the shop...



Just need to rotate it 90 degrees and center it against back wall.

-Ron
 
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Did you get a shoe horn with that shoe box?:lmao::lmao::lmao: Man I thought I had a little shop.
Looks good, hope you get it up and running soon.
 
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