# Moving -PM935 & PM1236



## Stonebriar (Nov 1, 2017)

I have a question on pallets and pallet jacks.  I am moving  and will be shopless for about a year.  I need to build pallets for the mill and lathe to be moved with a pallet jack.  The top I will use 2x6 where the machines bolt in, 2x4 for the rest. The bottom I was thinking 3 rows of 3/4" plywood across.  2x4 or 2x6 for the uprights? 

I see all the time where delivery has to set the load on another pallet to use a pallet jack. I want to avoid that. Please chime in with your knowledge.

Rick


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## Clock work (Nov 1, 2017)

The slackers who delivered my 935 came within maybe 20 deg of dumping it off the lift gate and again on a flat driveway... that second one still completely amazes me. Both cases the factory pallet began to lift off the throw-away pallet they had placed on the bottom. It's my understanding that a pallet on a pallet comes from the fact that the factory pallet is incompatible with their pallet jacks due to a horizontal ground-level board (2x4) it would have to climb in order to get into position (




__
		https://flic.kr/p/SjPDw4
). I designed a pallet-lifter for my tractor's 3-point and found numerous sources on line that specify the dimensions and construction of a standard pallet. Make the bottom of what you build comparable with the bottom of what a standard pallet is (openings, vertical climb-over) and they should have no reason to waste a pallet on you. I'd also suggest that your duckboards be the strongest wood you can find and employ fasteners that are at the upper end of the grip range because if guy on the fork truck decides to do a few donuts with your mill on it, it will be better able to resist tipping, at least within the first several degrees of tilt.


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## davidpbest (Nov 1, 2017)

Most pallet jacks will not get under a standard 2x4 on edge.   I have all my machines on platforms so I can move them around with a conventional pallet jack and built the platforms out of 2x6's cut to 4.5" tall, glued and screwed the 3/4" plywood to those on the top.   Leave the bottoms open.


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## Stonebriar (Nov 2, 2017)

I'll just add a strip of 3/4" plywood to my 2x4 edge boards and that should do it then.  Thanks for the response.


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## wrmiller (Nov 2, 2017)

Can't help with the pallets, but just wanted to say "Good Luck" with your move. I just went through this and for me it wasn't the least bit fun. Maybe because mine was not planned, i.e., a unexpected layoff at work? 

Anyway, I hope everything works out for you.


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## Stonebriar (Nov 4, 2017)

Thanks WRMiller I'll need it.  This is a planned move money to build the house, but sadly there will be no shop until I sell the current house so everything goes in storage.  I followed your move on here and having worked in the IT field understand your situation.


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## Clock work (Nov 4, 2017)

Something I promised myself I'd do when/if I move is... next shop, first thing I put in is a hoist on a rail. Even in a basement. Something I can lift and move with.


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## trottrr50 (May 21, 2018)

davidpbest said:


> Most pallet jacks will not get under a standard 2x4 on edge.   I have all my machines on platforms so I can move them around with a conventional pallet jack and built the platforms out of 2x6's cut to 4.5" tall, glued and screwed the 3/4" plywood to those on the top.   Leave the bottoms open.



David.  I am considering purchase of a PM935 and a PM1340 for my limited space sholp and I am planning to have my machines movable with a pallet jack.  Could you please post photos of the pallets you use on your machines.  Steve McKay


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## davidpbest (May 22, 2018)

I should say that I don't normally move machines around in my shop - at least not the big ones.   But they are all designed in some way to get a pallet jack under them if required.  

 My shop is in my basement, and I have gone to elaborate ends to fit the equipment into the space.   If you're at all interested in that saga, have a look at this Basement Shop Setup.

My large European woodworking equipment is all designed to accept a 21" wide pallet jack under the chassis. I designed the stand for my PM1340 specifically to accept a pallet jack under the bottom rails (Custom PM1340 Stand).   My current mill is a Rong Fu 45 (the real deal) and because I have 83" height restrictions in my shop I have it on a shop-built stand with integral pallet as mentioned in my post above.   Here is a  photo of that (excuse the mess, I'm chewing up aluminum by the bucket today).







Nothing fancy about it.   Two layers of 3/4" baltic birch plywood glued into a sandwich sitting on two stringers that are 4 x 4.5", also glued to the plywood.   

I will caution you about moving large machines like this around on a routine basis.   Unless you have one outrageously stiff stand for the PM1340, you are likely to throw the bed/headstock out of alignment when you move it around with a pallet jack on anything but a very flat floor.   Twist in the bedways is a quick way to convert making a cylinder into making a tapered cone.   

Although I can move my 1340 with a pallet jack, I leave it stationary until the floor needs painting.   I plan on replacing the Rong Fu with a 935 soon, and due to ceiling height restrictions, I will not put it on a pallet, and instead let it sit on aluminum 4" round bar slugs that penetrate the wood floor and go down to the concrete into epoxy - much in the same manner I did for the 1340 as shown here:   


























Hope this helps.   You might also look around at some of the other posts for the 935.   Lots of people have fabricated a stand with big casters to be able to move it around.


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## trottrr50 (May 22, 2018)

Ok, thanks for the quick reply.  the pallets in your picture is similar to what I had in mind.  I should not have to move the large machines often, but I want to be able to when needed.  I have been searching a number of the forums on machining to get some other ideas.  Steve McKay


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