Keep it from tipping when moving

[brino]

Now I build a cradle with 6" wheels for the headstock end and a bracket with heavy caster wheels for the tailstock end and can roll a lathe around with one hand and zero chance it will fall. I use a shop crane to lift each end a fraction of an inch, remove the wheels and then lower to the ground....pretty painless. I just brought home another lathe and I'm getting ready to make a cradle and caster bracket so I can move it into my shop from the storage side of my barn....I'll have to take some pictures and document it in case it helps someone else avoid this sort of problem.

Yes, please do share your tools and method.
Thanks!
Brian

 

[rabler]

Not my idea, Tom Lipton (oxtools) has a Youtube video on making these. Basically a couple of pallet jack wheels, some angle iron, a few bushings and some threaded rod. Very useful for moving machines around. Sorry I don't have a better picture showing the construction but you can see it in the youtube video link. These work way better than skates as once tightened around the base they stay put quite well. A toe jack is the easiest way to get them underneath in the first place.

 

[Shotgun]

That is still an extremely narrow base for such a top heavy load. It does improve the situation. It widens the base slightly, and movement is largely constrained to the long axis of the lathe. At least until a turn is tried that is. Take a turn at faster than a snails pace, then have a wheel hit a crack or piece of gravel. . . well. . . things could get exciting. I'd still want something supporting from the top.

 

[rabler]

That is still an extremely narrow base for such a top heavy load. It does improve the situation. It widens the base slightly, and movement is largely constrained to the long axis of the lathe. At least until a turn is tried that is. Take a turn at faster than a snails pace, then have a wheel hit a crack or piece of gravel. . . well. . . things could get exciting. I'd still want something supporting from the top.

If you're moving at "faster than a snails pace", you're doing it wrong! Momentum is your enemy. General rule of thumb is you want the base width to be the same or greater than the height of the center of gravity. More in any direction that you apply horizontal force. Pry bars don't just give you mechanical advantage, used correctly they keep the horizontal force as low as possible, greatly reducing tipping moment. And they truly move things slowly, no momentum, stop prying and things stop moving rather than keep rolling.

That said, these are MUCH, MUCH better than just sitting on skates, as the threaded rod clamps the wheels to the base pretty securely. Enough that it will stop the lathe rather than the lathe sliding off if you're working under simple push/pull/pry bar, as long as you're inching along rather than building up any momentum. And it has to slide quite a ways, lengthwise along the base before it comes loose. Significantly more safety factor than skates that often only need to offset 2-3" in any direction before problems occur. Works well given the base is cast iron, almost 30" wide, not sheet metal. And the wheels are about 6" diameter which makes a difference when dealing with cracks and dirt. Pallet jack wheels are designed to be used in this range/application. Still using a pivoting skate under the tailstock end, but that is at 5' or so from the casters, so if that skate comes out the machine won't tip forward/backward.

But you are right, this is far from the ultimate solution for moving things, just a single step. I use this approach on machines up to 5,000 lbs. Above that and you're pretty much stuck with skates if pivoting is involved, as often a crane support to hold that weight won't fit.. Most knee mills are even more top-heavy than lathes. I have a couple of 8-9000lb machines. That means you move things maybe 1" at a time, then stop and recheck all the skates to be sure another inch won't be problematic. Frequent use of a toe jack to reset the skates. Yes, it can take days ...

Yes, this picture just sucks from a safety perspective. Good thing it isn't an old Star Trek episode or my wife would be in trouble wearing a red shirt But one notable feature is the use of wood blocking that is just less than the skate height just in front of the yellow skate on the right. It gives some chance that that the machine has something to keep it from dropping if a skate squirts out. It mean you never move more than an inch before resetting everything. That resetting is usually done with a pole or other mechanism to keep from having to bend over inside the tipping/fall zone of the machine. There are a lot of little tricks that all add up to succes vs failure. Just trying to throw out ideas, but everything and anything you can do helps. Certainly overhead support if available is something to jump on. But without a suitable gantry, tying this to the rafters would just guarantee that it brought the building down.

 

[jareese]

So, waiting on the factory to give a quote on the items I need... Now the wait begins..

 

[pontiac428]

This is the solution I figured out a day too late. After righting my lathe, I made some locating pins out of expensive metric shoulder bolts to keep the skates centered in the threaded jacking screw holes for the machine feet. This gave me 1-1/4 of "runaway prevention" from the uneven concrete. With pins, I went back to 4 skates. After tilting but still 1" from dropping my mill while moving it on 4 skates, I thought I'd get smart and move the lathe with 3, because Euclid said 3 points defines a plane. Anyone who follows the goofs and blunders thread knows what happened. With 3 skates you are more stable on varying floors, but you lose any negotiating room between upright and upside down. I swear, my lathe went over with less than 1/4" of lean while I was turning a skate at the headstock, missing my body by not much. So 4 skates is safer, as long as you can keep them from running away. Here's the only pic I had:

 

[rabler]

This is the solution I figured out a day too late. After righting my lathe, I made some locating pins out of expensive metric shoulder bolts to keep the skates centered in the threaded jacking screw holes for the machine feet. This gave me 1-1/4 of "runaway prevention" from the uneven concrete. With pins, I went back to 4 skates. After tilting but still 1" from dropping my mill while moving it on 4 skates, I thought I'd get smart and move the lathe with 3, because Euclid said 3 points defines a plane. Anyone who follows the goofs and blunders thread knows what happened. With 3 skates you are more stable on varying floors, but you lose any negotiating room between upright and upside down. I swear, my lathe went over with less than 1/4" of lean while I was turning a skate at the headstock, missing my body by not much. So 4 skates is safer, as long as you can keep them from running away. Here's the only pic I had:

View attachment 442111

These import skates are a kit. They definitely need work to be a really useful tool. Another upgrade would be to add a disc of plywood around that pin. And clean the paint out of the bearing grooves. I have also taken to cutting the red polyurethane off the rollers. If you’re moving more than about a ton per skate (some are stickered for 6 tons!) the poly deforms and makes rolling tougher. Of course the poly is kinder on flooring.

 

[jareese]

This is the solution I figured out a day too late. After righting my lathe, I made some locating pins out of expensive metric shoulder bolts to keep the skates centered in the threaded jacking screw holes for the machine feet. This gave me 1-1/4 of "runaway prevention" from the uneven concrete. With pins, I went back to 4 skates. After tilting but still 1" from dropping my mill while moving it on 4 skates, I thought I'd get smart and move the lathe with 3, because Euclid said 3 points defines a plane. Anyone who follows the goofs and blunders thread knows what happened. With 3 skates you are more stable on varying floors, but you lose any negotiating room between upright and upside down. I swear, my lathe went over with less than 1/4" of lean while I was turning a skate at the headstock, missing my body by not much. So 4 skates is safer, as long as you can keep them from running away. Here's the only pic I had:

View attachment 442111

"I swear, my lathe went over with less than 1/4" of lean while I was turning a skate at the headstock" - Sounds all too familiar!! it aint a heckofa lot!!

 

[jareese]

Not my idea, Tom Lipton (oxtools) has a Youtube video on making these. Basically a couple of pallet jack wheels, some angle iron, a few bushings and some threaded rod. Very useful for moving machines around. Sorry I don't have a better picture showing the construction but you can see it in the youtube video link. These work way better than skates as once tightened around the base they stay put quite well. A toe jack is the easiest way to get them underneath in the first place.
View attachment 442029

Saw that - I'm thinking of making some of those for the next time I need to move this thing.

 

[jareese]

Now I build a cradle with 6" wheels for the headstock end and a bracket with heavy caster wheels for the tailstock end and can roll a lathe around with one hand and zero chance it will fall. I use a shop crane to lift each end a fraction of an inch, remove the wheels and then lower to the ground....pretty painless. I just brought home another lathe and I'm getting ready to make a cradle and caster bracket so I can move it into my shop from the storage side of my barn....I'll have to take some pictures and document it in case it helps someone else avoid this sort of problem.

I wouldn't mind seeing that as well