Bringing a PM-1054TV-3PH into my Garage

[erikmannie]

Here is a video of a guy using a pry bar to move a knee mill by himself.

Start at the 11:33 mark:

As a bonus, you can watch some of the *huge* (like *epic* huge (maybe 1/4”)) gaps that he welds earlier in the video.

 

[erikmannie]

It sucks that I am under pressure in that (1) I have to take a day off of work without pay to receive the knee mill and watch/guide the riggers, & (2) the rigging crew charges about $400/hour while they are on scene.

I have to balance this high hourly rate versus taking my best guess *exactly* where (and how high) to put the mill. By the way, I bought the Precision Matthews leveling pads (see link & photos).

I have to think that after using the milling machine for a while, I will want to make some adjustment in location and/or height.

All of this being the case, the first location and height will be my best educated guess, and I can make adjustments later after I make some skates and a toe jack.

https://www.precisionmatthews.com/shop/levelingpads/

 

[Firstram]

When will it be delivered? You could rent a drop deck trailer and pick it up from the shipping depot. Moving equipment can be intimidating but it's not really that hard.

Make some skates and rotate your lathe 90°. Slide mill pallet off the trailer to the ground, unpack the mill and slide it back onto the elevated (blocked) trailer. Move the trash, reposition the trailer and slide the mill off.

You only need to buy a few 2x4's, some plywood and a come along. You already have the equipment to make a large pry bar and some simple skates. Skates aren't even necessary, use pipe or solid stock that you can turn into cool things down the road!

 

[erikmannie]

I am making progress. I bought this to help get the 8” vise up on the table:

 

[erikmannie]

When will it be delivered? You could rent a drop deck trailer and pick it up from the shipping depot. Moving equipment can be intimidating but it's not really that hard.

Make some skates and rotate your lathe 90°. Slide mill pallet off the trailer to the ground, unpack the mill and slide it back onto the elevated (blocked) trailer. Move the trash, reposition the trailer and slide the mill off.

You only need to buy a few 2x4's, some plywood and a come along. You already have the equipment to make a large pry bar and some simple skates. Skates aren't even necessary, use pipe or solid stock that you can turn into cool things down the road!

Mid- to late- May. Thanks for the info.

 

[Just for fun]

To me there was quite a bit of work from the time the mill is unloaded from the truck to the point I was ready to move it into place, especially paying someone $400 an hour. Does the rigging crew charge travel time?

I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to have them unload the mill and hit the road. Give you a chance to uncreate it and get you mind wrapped around moving it into place.

With all the help here on the forum maybe you won't need the rigging crew to come back.

I know I was stressed before I received my mill. After it was here, I came up with a way to move it relatively stress free. I had my wife to help though, and she is a great help.

 

[Tipton1965]

To me there was quite a bit of work from the time the mill is unloaded from the truck to the point I was ready to move it into place, especially paying someone $400 an hour. Does the rigging crew charge travel time?

I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to have them unload the mill and hit the road. Give you a chance to uncreate it and get you mind wrapped around moving it into place.

With all the help here on the forum maybe you won't need the rigging crew to come back.

I know I was stressed before I received my mill. After it was here, I came up with a way to move it relatively stress free. I had my wife to help though, and she is a great help.

That's exactly what I did with the riggers I used. They unloaded the machine in my shop and left. They charged me $400.00 out the door. And as you stated that gave me time to figure out a plan that didn't cost me by the hour.

 

[jddevinn]

Mine was delivered with the eye bolt installed as well.

Note that mills are extremely front heavy. You will need to clean the ways and adjust so that the center of mass is beneath the eye bolt if you lift using that method. I wouldn't want to pay the rigging crew to wait around while I uncrated and cleaned.

 

[Aukai]

Once mine came off of the truck we cut the pallet down to minimum size, and used a pallet jack to set it where it was going to stay. There was enough of a lip front and back that I could leverage the mill up enough to crib it with a stack of 2 x 4s. Once the pallet was pulled out I took 1 2 x 4, from the front, then the back in succession until it was on the ground. Now I'll have to get it back up again to put it on the risers. In your pictures of the feet I do not see how that would lift the the mill, maybe level it, but I'm not seeing much lifting.

 

[Just for fun]

I also got the feet with mine, the studs are not that long. Just enough to level the mill but not lift it more than maybe 1/4".