Buying a Lagun mill... how do I move this thing?

[joec2000]

Hello everyone!

I started another thread here to solicit help on choosing my first mill. I think I've found one and now I need to figure out how to move it. The mill I am looking at is either a Lagun FT-1S or FT-2 ser # 19846. I need to get with Lagun tomorrow w/ the correct serial number for confirmation of what this mill is. Lagun seemed to think it was a FT-2 from the pics. Regardless, I believe this mill clocks in at >2000 lbs. Seller is asking $3500 and with a few small exceptions, the machine seems to be in good shape overall, but hasn't been used in several years so is pretty dirty. Now, onto moving it...

Some pertinent information:

• It is located approx 40 mins away from me in the seller's detached home work shop.
• The mill is sitting directly on a concrete floor (not on a palate or anything like that)
• The seller has a large front end loader that can be used to lift the mill onto a trailer, but the front end loader won't fit in the workshop to pick the mill up. The doors to the workshop are 12' x 12', but the front end loader is bigger than that.
• The seller has several palate jacks that can be used to move it around inside the workshop if necessary
• The mill has what looks to be a factory lifting eye/hook
• I have a 1500 class pickup truck and was planning to rent a drop trailer and a palate jack for transportation home. Might be able to talk the seller into letting me borrow one of his palate jacks.
• The mill is going into my home workshop (2 car attached garage) at the top of a slightly sloped, textured concrete driveway
• I have a friend that was a mover in a previous life and has moved heavy things, but never a mill. He offered to help with this.
• I have absolutely no experience doing this. I don't own any heavy lifting equipment.

I need figure out a way to:

1. Lift up the mill - either onto a palate that I would need to build or onto gas pipe to roll it
2. Get it outside the seller's workshop where the loader can pick it up and drop it onto a trailer

From there, I can drive it home, back the trailer up the driveway to the edge of my garage apron and just role it on pipe there, or if I go the palate route, use the rented palate jack to move it around.

I have never done anything like this before... could a couple of guys "push" the top of the mill to tilt it slightly to get pipe under it or does something need to lift it off the ground to get the pipe under it? If I have to lift it anyway, might as well go the route of the palate, no? If I go the route of the palate, can the mill stay on that permanently to allow me to move it easier in the future if needed? Hopefully these questions demonstrate how badly I need advice here.

Thanks,

- Joe

 

[mmcmdl]

Drag it out of the shop and up onto a trailer using the FEL or a $300 winch . That's how I've moved all my mills and lathes . Looks like an FTV-1 not a 2 .

 

[Martin W]

Lower the knee and swing the head down. Lower center of gravity. Drag it to the door with the loader and a long chain. Like Dave suggested. See if you can rent one of the low equipment trailers and winch it on. Slow and easy wins the race.
Martin

 

[joec2000]

Drag it with a tow strap or something equivalent I assume?

 

[mmcmdl]

Lower the knee and swing the head down. Lower center of gravity.

This too . Even if you don't or can't the mill is not top heavy . It may seem that it is , but the base has weight . My little Kubota has dragged 8000 lb lathes out out the garage with ease since these things slide easily and is not dead weight . A 13,000 lb winch is about $300 at Tractor Supply which I mounted onto the front of my trailer . For ease of moving all my equipment , I have a 10,000 lb dock plate to get it on/off the trailer .

Yep , use a thick tow strap if you don't want to scratch the paint .

 

[joec2000]

I assume I don't need to worry about doing so damaging the floor? I wouldn't care, but this isn't my shop.

 

[mmcmdl]

Won't damage the floor at all . If he has 4 mounting / leveling bolts sticking out of the base , take them off . While they won't damage concrete , they'll do a number on asphalt . Ask me how I know !

Looked at the pics . It's a FTV-1 . The 2 would have a 50" x 10" table .

Look What I Found In The Garage !

:dancing banana:I found my mill finally after many months of cleaning and sorting . It's a Lagun FTV-2S that I reclaimed from one of my former companies last year . I used to run it back in 89 when it was new . It has been taken care of and is still tight ! Now , to get some juice hooked to it .

www.hobby-machinist.com

 

[MrWhoopee]

Invest in a 5 ft. pry bar. Useful for getting pipe rollers etc. under the mill and positioning it once you get it close.

60 in. Pinch Point Bar

Amazing deals on this 60In Pinch Point Bar at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

I moved my mill solo, all the way from the front door, up over a 4 in. lip and to the back using pry bar, pipe rollers, chain, come-along and plywood ramp, screwing anchors into the sill plate of the garage for pull points.

 

[Gaffer]

It's not bad. I've moved two and did it like everyone mentioned above: pipes and come along. Make your plan and go slow and steady. I had the fortune that my sellers had a forklift to load them. For me, it was much less stressful than moving my lathes. They are top-heavy, and the pucker factor is high.

Edit: After moving my first mill and lathe, I bought a pallet jack. They are very handy. I bought a set of Vevor machine skates on sale, which are also very handy. I used both when moving in the Lagun because I hadn't sold the clone and needed one easy to move around as I ran out of shop space.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

you can also lower the knee onto a piece of 4x4 to jack up the front, stick a piece of wood at the mid point of the base, then once you lower the mill back down you can rock it forward to put a piece of wood at the back of the base. Go up 1/2" or 1" at a time. Keep doing that until you can get some 3/4 or 1" black iron pipe under it and roll it to the front of the shop.