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



## vintageiron (Dec 17, 2021)

I currently own a low hours but 35 year old 1.5hp Jet JVM 830 Milling machine. Its badged as an MSC model from where it was bought in the mid 1980's but I 
was told its basically a Jet JVM830F
It was bought by a relative who did some hobby machine work and farm maintenance with it and several other machines. 
I've had ownership of the location and the equipment for 20 or so years now and have used it very sparingly myself. 
Its main use has been for the occasional fly cutting job, some light fabrication, and mostly just as a heavy duty drill press. 
I'm told it weighs in at or just over a half ton. (The original shipping weight on the pallet and crate was 1204 lbs total shipping weight. 
The crate and shipping materials and iron brackets were likely close to 100lbs.

I'm approaching retirement age and no longer plan to maintain that location and the plan is to sell the place in a few years. 
I've been knocking around either selling the mill and just buying something smaller, or to move it to my home basement. 
I can move the machine from its current location easy enough, its getting it down the narrow wooden stairs into my 75 year old house.
I've hauled large items up and down the steps before and have reinforced the under supports of the stairs. I just removed a 400 lb freezer from the basement,
which took two guys and a handtruck. That likely put 1,000 lbs on the steps since I and my helper both weigh over 300lbs, plus the 75" tall commercial freezer and Harper hand truck. Weight on the steps shouldn't be an issue. 

The plan would be to remove the motor, then the upper turret section as a whole, then to remove the handles and the table. 
That leaves me with the Z axis slide assembly and the main body of the machine. 

*Has anyone ever moved one of these types of mills or disassembled one for such a move? *

I have the original papers for the machine, and have had the table off before, but removing the lower section is a bit more involved. 

I'm mainly wondering what the base casting weighs with and without the lower Z axis lift assembly?

I'm thinking that the cast iron framed motor is likely around 90 lbs, with its mount and cast iron pulley attached, the upper turret assembly looks like about 200 to 225lbs or so complete with the belt cover in place, and the table, which is 9x36", is likely between 125 and 160 lbs or so if you include the screw and handles. 
The lower lift assembly is likely as heavy as the whole table itself, its a rather thick chunk of cast iron and is likely in the 150-175lb range. 
These weights are all a guess just by looking at it as it sits. 
I do know that I cannot budge the thing where it sits. No amount of pushing or lifting by hand moves it so much as a fraction of an inch and its not bolted down. 

The casting doesn't seem all that thick but it is cast iron. Its currently sitting on leveling pads, which will also get removed.
I'm also thinking about putting it on a platform once reassembled in my basement to gain a bit of working height. 
My basement has 7ft 4in ceilings and a solid concrete floor. The top of the machine on its current rubber machine pads is 74". 
I'd like to see another 4in of height for ease of use for a guy my size, but its not an absolute requirement and can be done anytime. 
I have rigging gear, winches, rollers, a 1 ton truck and heavy trailer, so moving it is no big deal, its just going require finding a volunteer to help.

I figure if so long as I can get it down to less than 400 lbs, its doable.  Getting the weight down to under 300 would be even better but I think I'd rather 
take less apart than to deal with having to reassemble things that didn't need to come apart. 

I am thinking though that if I do remove the lower lift assembly, I'll likely be able to do the whole move alone, at my own pace and not in any sort of rush. 

There's also two small Craftsman lathes, one a 12-36 (Atlas 3000 re-badge). which I definitely will be keeping.  We determined that it was a 1959 model that I myself first assembled in 1988 and used only for personal use since new. Its on a full cabinet. I'm thinking its not much over 300 lbs complete.  I can lift the motor end off the ground by simply grabbing the edges of the cabinet and I'm not the picture of fitness at my age.

I did consider selling the mill and going one of two ways, either keep one of the larger mills, and go through the needed work to locate one of those into the basement, or sell this one too and just find a table top model that's easier to move or a larger drill press which in many ways makes more sense in some ways.
The important piece to me is the 12-36 lathe, I have plenty of use for that, but the mill isn't a requirement. maybe it would be if it were more readily at hand in the basement though. 

I'm a bit torn between keeping it and giving up the space permanently in the basement, or to sell it and put something I'll use more often in its place. 
From what I see these selling for I don't see it worth me selling it. 
Either way, come the end of 2022, it will be moved or sold to allow me to eliminate the long drive to where its located now. 
I also can't say I'm looking forward to moving the mill down a flight of steps though.


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## nnam (Dec 17, 2021)

Remove move and reassembled is very doable.  However,  down a narrow stairs may be hard.  It appears to be a small machine though.

If it's me, I have to think very hard and be frank with myself if I would use it enough to justify the hard work. Alternative is smaller machine like you said.

Selling the house at the right time can get you 10x milling machines or even more.  With high inflation and the rate may go up, it's an indication,  but who know the future.


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## vintageiron (Dec 17, 2021)

Selling the current location has been in the plans for a long time, its not near where I live and its too far to check on regularly. 
Its not about the sell price but a matter of convenience and not having another property to maintain and worry about. 
A little bit of me wants to move south to someplace cheaper and warmer, so putting something difficult to move in the basement may not be the best plan right now but I also refuse to give the mill away for nothing. I'd shrink wrap it and stick it in a storage trailer first. 
It would be different if it were some old worn out machine but I've known the machine its whole life, and its not had more than a few dozen hours of use on it since it was new, and its been well kept. I've likely used it more in the past few months than its been used its whole life. 

I could however get by with a really heavy duty drill press 99% of the time, and the band saw and belt sander the rest of the time. 

I keep getting told that used mills aren't worth more than $1000 or so, for that little I'll keep it. I can't buy a good used drill press for that amount. 
I had a guy from a local used tool dealer come out and make a few offers and the only machine he made a real offer on was a CNC conversion mill also from MSC, but I sold that for nearly double what he offered a week later. There are two full size mills, one 2hp and one 3hp, both are Asian Bridgeport clones. One from MSC, the other an Astro, which I think also came from MSC in the mid 90's. None are very used machines. 
If I were to keep one of the larger machines I'd likely keep the Astro because its got full Mitutoyo DRO's on it and X & Y power table motors on it. 
That one has an hour meter on it, the meter shows 2.37 hrs since new.  That same dealer offered me $500 for it. I have a guy who's offering me $4k for it but I've not given him an answer or a price yet. It can't be bought for that much new and its basically a brand new machine. That dealer went on about how the thing will need thousands of dollars in refurbishment due to age, he said that the DRO's are obsolete and that the wiring will all need to be replaced. 
I don't see how DRO's can be obsolete and there's no internal wiring whatsoever in the thing, its a motor and barrel switch on a bracket, and a lot of iron. 

I used it last week and i certainly couldn't find anything wrong with it. I opened up the bore size on a buddies VW engine for him, and fly cut a set of cylinder heads for the same motor.  I like that machine but its huge and fitting it into my basement will mean carefully placing the motor so it clears between the floor joists above. Its also overkill for most all I use it for. My uncle bought it off a buddy who ordered it and went bankrupt when he lost a couple big contracts before ever setting it up for use in his shop. 

I have a buyer for the larger MSC mill, the guy taking that one offered me more than it cost new in 1991 so if figured that was fair enough and I won't have to lift a finger to move it. its only got two way DRO readouts on it for some reason. It was never my favorite and I'm glad to see that one leave too.  It leaving also clears the path to get the smaller mill out and moved.

I sold a Brown and Sharpe horizontal mill two weeks ago, it was a smaller machine that never did get much use. 
I also sold a Do-All 7hp surface grinder that was in fair condition. All he used it for was sharpening tooling but the magnetic table was only 7x20" or there about. I didn't see it as a very useful tool for the space it took up.

I was really glad to see that get loaded on a truck and leave. It took up the space of a small car with the coolant tank, filters, and grinder itself. 

I kept two of the larger drill presses but the bigger of the two is only 17" and 1hp made by Rockwell. the other is the biggest model Craftsman sold in the early 80's or so. Its 1hp and 15" with a pretty decent size table and an attached cross slide table on it. Its not rigid enough to really do any milling though. 

Its going to take most of the year to move it all, there's 29 full tool boxes of tools, 11 steel work benches, a power hacksaw, two band saws, (keeping those), a tire machine, a huge commercial Quincy air compressor, both Kwik Way and Black & Decker valve grinders, and seat grinder sets, two OTC shop presses, several larger parts washer tanks, two glass bead cabinets, (keeping those), two large bent sanders, four large welding tables, two Lincoln mig welders, and a truck load of raw steel and small parts he accumulated over the years, plus a huge amount of parts room shelving. All in all there's enough there to fill three tractor trailers and then some I suppose. I've kept the place around for a number of years just for my own use and for storage but the cost of taxes there and the drive is getting to be too much and it has to go. I don't want to be dealing with it all when I'm too old to do it either.  Not having to worry about will also be a relief, especially when I go to FL for months at a time.


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## nnam (Dec 17, 2021)

You got so much good stuff there.


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## BGHansen (Dec 17, 2021)

My Jet JVM-830 was in the basement of my old house before I met my wife.  I removed the motor and head and carried those down the stairs.  I tied two 2x12's together and slid the base/knee/table down with a come-along.  The top of the stair stringers were braced with 4x4's to the basement floor as they were likely secure with just some 16D's.  Lot's easier going down than coming back up!

Bruce


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## Winegrower (Dec 17, 2021)

BGHansen said:


> Lot's easier going down than coming back up!


This is what always occurs to me when I read these posts.   When I had a basement in the old days and put big stuff down there, well…it seemed like a good idea at the time.   Later, not so much.


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## vintageiron (Dec 17, 2021)

BGHansen said:


> My Jet JVM-830 was in the basement of my old house before I met my wife.  I removed the motor and head and carried those down the stairs.  I tied two 2x12's together and slid the base/knee/table down with a come-along.  The top of the stair stringers were braced with 4x4's to the basement floor as they were likely secure with just some 16D's.  Lot's easier going down than coming back up!
> 
> Bruce


The problem I have here is that the basement steps are in the back of the house, the door is in the middle of a long hallway. To get to the stairs, you have to go through the kitchen, past two closets, and a bedroom, and make a right turn down the steps. The doorways are 36" wide, so that's not an issue but making the turn from the kitchen to the hall is a tight sort of zigzag move as the little hall between the kitchen and the rear hallway is offset about a foot or so. The house has arched doorways everywhere and the structure for the arches makes for a side structure to navigate around. 

I was able to get a freezer out and a refrigerator back down there with no problem so as long as i can lessen the weight enough it should be doable.  Its just hard to find anyone to help that I can count on not to panic and let go or something bad if things go a bit sideways. 
I've moved big machines around quite a bit over the years but never through a house and down wooden stairs. The staircase is 40" wide with a 32" door at the top. The bottom of the steps fall just 39" from the basement wall. Which isn't ideal but not a deal breaker. 

The way the stringers are secured to the top are also my concern, I'd be putting a pair of 4x4's in there as well as a two mid way down. I thought about adding a couple of cross braces as well and making the braces permanent.  The stairs are sort of in the middle of the house at the top.

My thought is also that they didn't budge with that huge freezer and two big guys on them over the summer when we removed the freezer, so I doubt its a big issue if the base is under 400 lbs or so, or even 500lbs for that matter. 

How much did you figure the bottom half weighed?


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## Ischgl99 (Dec 17, 2021)

See if you can find a safe mover to get it down there for you, they have probably seen the obstacles you have many times.  They would probably have a motorized stair climbing dolly that would easily do that, or the manpower to do it manually.  By removing the head and table, the weight should be in a manageable range.


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## vintageiron (Dec 17, 2021)

BGHansen said:


> My Jet JVM-830 was in the basement of my old house before I met my wife.  I removed the motor and head and carried those down the stairs.  I tied two 2x12's together and slid the base/knee/table down with a come-along.  The top of the stair stringers were braced with 4x4's to the basement floor as they were likely secure with just some 16D's.  Lot's easier going down than coming back up!
> 
> Bruce
> 
> View attachment 388823


After looking closer at your pic, I think the table on mine is wider. I have a pair of 6in Bridgeport vises on my table, one at each end, and I still have plenty of working room in between. The one vise was originally set up for a particular repetitive job, I added the second vice for misc use. 
There's at least room for three more vises in between. I'm thinking that the table on mine is another foot or so longer.
The rest of the machine looks pretty much the same other than color, mine is that battle ship gray with a hint of blue in it. If i keep it, I'll be looking for a good used DRO set up for it.  Mine has an auto fogger set up for drilling too, but i added that about 20 years ago. 

There's also a pallet or two of Tapmagic fluid there in 5 gallon buckets. The buckets are getting brittle though, I need to pickup some new buckets to transfer the stuff into. The top on the last one fell apart in my hands when i tried to pull up the pour spout to refill the lube tank on the wall behind the mill and adjacent lathe.


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## BGHansen (Dec 17, 2021)

vintageiron said:


> The problem I have here is that the basement steps are in the back of the house, the door is in the middle of a long hallway. To get to the stairs, you have to go through the kitchen, past two closets, and a bedroom, and make a right turn down the steps. The doorways are 36" wide, so that's not an issue but making the turn from the kitchen to the hall is a tight sort of zigzag move as the little hall between the kitchen and the rear hallway is offset about a foot or so. The house has arched doorways everywhere and the structure for the arches makes for a side structure to navigate around.
> 
> I was able to get a freezer out and a refrigerator back down there with no problem so as long as i can lessen the weight enough it should be doable.  Its just hard to find anyone to help that I can count on not to panic and let go or something bad if things go a bit sideways.
> I've moved big machines around quite a bit over the years but never through a house and down wooden stairs. The staircase is 40" wide with a 32" door at the top. The bottom of the steps fall just 39" from the basement wall. Which isn't ideal but not a deal breaker.
> ...


I'd be guessing at 700 lbs. Naturally,  the more you take it apart,  the easier the job moving it. If you pulled the table, the base/column/knee would be pretty manageable.  You may want to lay some 2x10s flat on the floor to save any carpet or vinyl.


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## matthewsx (Dec 17, 2021)

Do you have a shop at your current house? Enough property to build one?

Basement shops are nice but having tools in a separate building is even nicer, how does your significant other feel about it? If relocation is in the cards you could look for a place with a shop already on it or space to build.

Since your use is fairly low now you do have the option of figuring out what you really want to do, many of us are certifiable nuts on the hobby and would be gunning for a 30 x 40 shop with all the tools we could fit if we were in your shoes....

John


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## nnam (Dec 17, 2021)

BGHansen said:


> I'd be guessing at 700 lbs. Naturally,  the more you take it apart,  the easier the job moving it. If you pulled the table, the base/column/knee would be pretty manageable.  You may want to lay some 2x10s flat on the floor to save any carpet or vinyl.


I would say doing like you did, put a couple 2x6x12ft or whatever and slide it out with controlled cables, let it go slowly wrapping around a strong stick, and also have a second backup cable just in case.  I don't know how strong each step is, but doing this would make sure it distribute the weight out.  Also, going down is easy.  So let it slide down in a controlled way is easiest.


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## Mitch Alsup (Dec 17, 2021)

matthewsx said:


> Basement shops are nice but having tools in a separate building is even nicer, how does your significant other feel about it? If relocation is in the cards you could look for a place with a shop already on it or space to build.



I support this notion:: build yourself a garage shop (if the property size allows it.)

Secondly, once you have used a Bridgeport sized mill (of which Jet JVM830F is) you won't really be happy with less.
So, get some safe movers to analyze the issues faced, and see what they say about how far to disassemble the mill.


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## vintageiron (Dec 17, 2021)

Building a shop is not an option, I've tried in the past and can't get the zoning approval. Not to mention how much it would raise my property taxes. I'm actually planning trying to lose the storage shed because of taxes, they hit me for $2100 a year for a shed here. I can't imagine what they would want for a garage. Then on top of that, the electrical utility here requires a separate and commercial electric service for an 'out building'. 
It would ad another $75 per month. The garage idea was refused 9 years ago due to a proximity ordnance. It seems that there's a minimum distance of 1,200 ft required between garages here and the properties are only 75ft wide. They put that in place after a fire burned up a couple houses many years ago and the fire company couldn't get back to the garage that was burning.  If you do ad a garage, it cannot be behind a fence, it has to have street access, and you need 15ft to the property line on the side and rear, it can't be taller than the house, and it has to be at least 25 ft from any other structures.  It all pretty much makes a shop both a legal hurdle and tax issue here. I'm already paying over $7k in property taxes here and $4k a year in electric. 
The basement works better in a few ways, one is that it doesn't need to be heated or cooled separately, its cooler in the summer and already warm in the winter. Its space not being used for much else other than my washer and dryer and a some wood working tools right now. 

I've used the larger machine and its certainly a lot nicer but getting that thing into the basement will be a lot more work and it still may not even fit height wise. The Astro is 89" tall at the head, and that's without any pads or the power draw bar set up in place. 
The small mill will fit and suit my needs just fine. The main advantage I see is speed and time with the larger mill for what I'm doing, the mill isn't something I use very often, which I why I'm still contemplating what to do.


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## matthewsx (Dec 18, 2021)

vintageiron said:


> Building a shop is not an option, I've tried in the past and can't get the zoning approval. Not to mention how much it would raise my property taxes. I'm actually planning trying to lose the storage shed because of taxes, they hit me for $2100 a year for a shed here. I can't imagine what they would want for a garage. Then on top of that, the electrical utility here requires a separate and commercial electric service for an 'out building'.
> It would ad another $75 per month. The garage idea was refused 9 years ago due to a proximity ordnance. It seems that there's a minimum distance of 1,200 ft required between garages here and the properties are only 75ft wide. They put that in place after a fire burned up a couple houses many years ago and the fire company couldn't get back to the garage that was burning.  If you do ad a garage, it cannot be behind a fence, it has to have street access, and you need 15ft to the property line on the side and rear, it can't be taller than the house, and it has to be at least 25 ft from any other structures.  It all pretty much makes a shop both a legal hurdle and tax issue here. I'm already paying over $7k in property taxes here and $4k a year in electric.
> The basement works better in a few ways, one is that it doesn't need to be heated or cooled separately, its cooler in the summer and already warm in the winter. Its space not being used for much else other than my washer and dryer and a some wood working tools right now.
> 
> ...


If a drill press will suit your needs then I think you have the answer.

Slather the mill in cosmoline when you store it and ship it south when you get your place in the sun.

Or, sell it to someone with space. The person who said it’s only worth $1k may have been trying to get a deal. You can list it for what you want and put it in storage if you don’t get it.

Sounds like a measuring tape will give you the answer about your basement but if there’s any chance you’ll move soon why bother. 

I had to let a Gorton 1-22 Mastermill go that I didn’t think would fit in my garage. I now realize I could have gotten it in there but selling it was the right thing to do at the time. 

John


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## Ischgl99 (Dec 18, 2021)

Would adding a Bilco access door to your basement be possible?  All the houses where I live have these and it makes getting things in and out very easy.  I brought my Burke mill and PM-1236T, as well as all my woodworking equipment, in through the access door.  I have enough room in my backyard that a flatbed wrecker was able to maneuver in front of the door and tilt the bed to lower the heavier equipment down the stairs.


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## nnam (Dec 18, 2021)

I think taken it apart and bringing it down is doable.  However, I would consider the bringing it back up.  If bringing down is a problem, the reverse can be a huge issue.  The moment it's down there, the resale value may go down dramatically, unless it's easy to be brought back up.

For awhile, I store my milling machine in a room, with promise that I move it.  It lasted several months.   I had to wrap it in plastic.  But if you have a room, can convince your spouse, and thinking of moving, maybe that's an option.

I would get out of that place with that much tax on a shed.


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## BGHansen (Dec 18, 2021)

My pre-marriage basement shop was moved pretty painlessly.  Of course, I was 31 at the time.  I tied two 2 x 12 x 16' together which perfectly fit on the stairs.  The top of the ramp had a couple of pieces of angle iron with a steel roller.  This extended just above the floor.  I borrowed a buddies 12V winch which was bolted through the floor into 2x4's below the subfloor.  I made a cart from 2 x 6's and 3/4" ply for the hauling up the stairs.  The winch cable went over the steel roller at the top of the ramp.  I had 3 pieces of 10' roller conveyor too.  Once stuff was winched up the stairs, the cart straddled the conveyor and was worked out of the dining room into the garage.

I had the Jet JVM-830, a Grizzly round column mill, Atlas 12 x 36 lathe, and a Rockwell 10 x 36 lathe.  Had a plethora or woodworking stuff too, but it was all Craftsman stuff, nothing really beefy like a Delta Unisaw or Powermatic.  

I did have a safety cable tied to the >500 lbs. stuff through a come along.  Fortunately didn't have to test my rigging.

Bruce


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## mmcmdl (Dec 18, 2021)

I graded my first house's yard and knocked out 8 ft of concrete block and bricks and installed an 8 ft sliding door . Rented a Baker York AT forklift and loaded my equipment in less than an hour . Came out just as easy when I moved two houses up the street . Machines are now in the garage which sucks . There is no way I would ever attempt to put heavy equipment into a/my basement with no entrance . I know a lot of people personally that have , and they tell me the new owners of the house will have to deal with it . The equipment will go with the house . 

I still own the first house and use it as my storage building while my son is in there . One day I'll get the shop back in the basement .


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## vintageiron (Dec 19, 2021)

Bilco doors are not an option, I thought about it, had a few others look at the layout of the house and there's just no way to do it.
The only option would to put them on the front lawn, and that's not going to happen.

The current septic drains run around the one side of the house starting out at the front kitchen, wrapping around and making their way down the one side and more than half way across the back to about 3ft off the basement floor where it all goes through the wall and out to the septic tank and four cesspools in the back yard.  The septic system also means that 3/4 of the rear yard is taken up by the septic system.   The electric service, and all major plumbing is also along the same side. The only open corner is where the furnace and oil tank sits in the basement, and the whole other side is too close to the property line, plus the chimney, oil fill and a TV antenna tower are on that side. 

If the mill goes down the basement, its there to stay, I wouldn't bother to remove it. It would become part of the house.
I figure that if I move far enough south to avoid winter, the new house likely won't have a basement, and will likely have a garage attached.

Once I sell the place where the mill sits now, I won't have any place to store it or 'save it for later'.  I'm not paying to keep it in some storage facility, it would be cheaper to just keep the current place and pay the taxes and other expenses. The last I checked they wanted $400/mo for a 10x20 storage locker at one of those storage places. It would be cheaper to just scrap it and buy a new one once I move. In a year I'd have paid for another mill.

I had a guy show up yesterday who drove here from NC, he came prepared with an enclosed trailer, and his two grown sons and a rolling gantry crane. I left with the larger MSC, and the Astro, plus both the vertical and horizontal band saws. They were in and out in two hours. He showed up with an extra tall 3 axle  enclosed trailer about 32ft long complete with a winch, and dozens of floor tie downs and lots of etrack on the walls.
I asked him what he felt the smaller mill was worth and he said its of no value to him, its too small. He told me to scrap it or see what I could get on CL. He paid 12k for the two mills and $800 for the vertical band saw. The Astro was the best of the lot, but I see them selling for $5500 to 6500 locally, and the MSC was okay, but it was a cheaper mill. The DRO set ups added a lot of value too. The gantry he had was self powered, it had a built in power winch on one side and the cable hung from the top beam. He threaded a bolt into each mill, and lifted it up, slid two brackets in place on each side and a few planks, and set the mill down lightly on the planks. They then just drive the mill out to the trailer parked at the door and winched it up the ramp. He set each one down and strapped it in place whole.
He told me that the Astro is the same as a larger Jet, its no relation to the current Astro brand from India.
He said that would be around $11k to $12k brand new. The MSC he said would be around $6500 to $7k new today. 
I was glad to have that space empty and to not have to move them myself. The buyer said he's setting up to build racing components and  needed two manual mills for simple operations that don't justify setting up a CNC machine.
He got my number from a real estate agent I was talking to down that way a few weeks ago.

The two main pieces left to move are the smaller mill and the lathe. I'll move the lathe in a few weeks then likely decide on whether or not to sell the smaller mill or not.
If the lower section is going to be 700 lbs, I don't see that as doable here. There's no real way to use a winch, the basement doors face a wall in the hallway, behind that wall is the shower so i can't just punch a hole in the plaster to find something to attach too. Putting it in the floor, would be in the way of getting the mill to the doorway. The hallway is only 36" wide there, just wide enough for the door to open. The only way to do it is if it can get strapped to a handtruck and slowly wheeled down the steps with two guys.

Its sounding like that's going to be more trouble than its worth.
Between getting it down the steps and then making room for it and rearranging the whole basement for it, I think it just may have to get sold.
I did consider converting my side porch to a work shop, but it would mean a big tax increase here. If i enclose the porch, it then adds roughly 100 square feet to the size of the house. If the shed I'm taking out is costing me $800 a year, I'd assume the porch would be as much or more.
Its bad enough that I pay as much as I paid for the house in taxes every six years here. Putting the mill on the porch would also mean having to climate control that area as well, and it would have to be made pretty well insulated, something its not now. Noise would also be a problem there.  It would be more convenient but I think the neighbors would complain if I were running it at night and it would be pretty much an eyesore right there where you walk into the kitchen. I don't think I even like that idea. I'd also have to run electric there for it.


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## Flyinfool (Dec 19, 2021)

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...




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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.


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## mmcmdl (Dec 19, 2021)

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 !


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## vintageiron (Dec 20, 2021)

Flyinfool said:


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


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.



mmcmdl said:


> 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.


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## Flyinfool (Dec 20, 2021)

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.


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## vintageiron (Dec 21, 2021)

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.


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