Moving big equipment out of a basement...

Jeez Dabbler, you just scared everyone with the talk of $10000 for one BP.... I'm shaking in my boots , what have I done to my family. :faint:
Maybe leave instructions that your machines be buried with you (and get a large burial insurance policy?

Or check out how Gibbs got the boat out of the basement:

 
I agree, the lathe needs to come off the stand or bad things are likely to happen. It is to top heavy to be safe.

I agree with other in that it is their move, your only input should be to stop them if something does not look right or safe but at the same time it is not your responsibility to determine if what they are doing is safe. A lawyer and a liability release would be a good idea. If you get involved with the move you are also taking on liability.

Speaking of top heavy, pay attention to where the center of gravity will move to as the load tilts going up the ramp. you do not want it to tip over forward.

My Mill is a lot heavier than a Bridgeport (3,400 lbs) and it went down and up with no issues. It had the base, column, knee, and Y saddle on it. I did not have access to weigh but I am estimating 1800 - 2000 lbs, It was bolted to a custom made dolly with 4 swivel casters. Used a 12,000 lb rated cable that ran through the house, out a window with the shop crane and a pulley to hold the cable off the window sill. Attachment to the mill was 3/8 grade 80 chains. The cable was then attached to the Class IV hitch on my 7,000 lb 4X4 truck, the truck was already set in 4 Lo to be able to move slowly with power and control. At one point a caster tried to jump the track and the truck had zero issue pulling it back up for a second try.
We had 2 people guiding the load, one manning the shop crane as the pulley had to raised and lowered as the angles changed during the decent, and a 4th person driving the truck. Everyone was fully briefed on the plan and all of the contingency plans and what ifs, and all of the contingency plans to the contingency plans.

The mill had to come in the back door make a 90° turn, down the hall and another 90° turn to the basement stairs. I had a ramp built so there was actually no weight on the stairs and the slope of the ramp was less than the slope of the stairs. Used the truck to lower the load, I had tracks on the ramp to guide the casters straight. All floors were covered with 4x8 sheets of 3/4 ply to help spread the loads, The floor was 2.5 wide hardwood, the point load of a wheel would have punched right through that without the ply.

The lathe was "ONLY" 1,100 lbs, I used exactly the same equipment and procedure as the mill. I had it off the stand and bolted to the same dolly that I used for the mill. Moving that was as boring and uneventful as it could possibly be. Boring heavy moves are a good thing.

I then used all the same equipment and procedures for the 1,800 lb surface grinder. Again very boring.

Some of the rules of the move.
NO ONE is allowed below the load.
No one at all is allowed in any part of the house at all. (If the load should get away one of the supports holding the main beam of the house is right at the bottom of the steps.)
No one gets in line with or near the tension gear.

If the load gets away from them where is it going? What will it hit as it flies across the basement at high speed. Could it take out structure of the house and cause a cave in?

It is all a lot of fun once you have a plan, you work the plan, and the plan worked.
 
@lkldpl Sorry for the late reply I have been unavailable.

I made my own gantry crane, and also designed and fabricated the joist crane. I m trained in structures, and had the gantry checked out by another Engineer using FEA. I have also moved 9 or 10 mills and even more lathes (mostly for other people) I have over 35 years rigging experience, and my father was a professional rigger in steel mills, and gave be a bunch of pointers before he passed.

Don't underestimate the complexity of such a move. I spent 3 months planning the move, one month installing the necessary equipment and lining up labour. The move took one day, as the winching firm was charging 80$ per hour. I had 9 volunteers helping, with specific instructions for each person... One individual was there solely to be a safety officer, ready to call STOP if anything at all looked of, or someone was not where they were supposed to be. There were 3 stops that day, all for minor things.

We cut a hole in the side of his house for the winch cable, and reinforced the stairway, as the biggest piece - the Bridgeport base - weighed 995lbs. All the machines were broken down into manageable pieces and placed on custom built moving dollies. (every piece was weighed on a crane scale before being strapped to its dolly)

The stairs got 2X8 on flat on either side, so there was only about 10" of walking space in the middle. Once a piece got to the top of the stairs, they had to be turned 90 degrees, and then out the door - on to a temporary landing outside the door. (The doorway was 8" above the concrete patio).

3 professional rigging firms refused to bid on the job, citing safety concerns. one wanted 10,000$ for just the Bridgeport mill taken to the back yard.

In the 9 hour move, all things went exactly to plan. not one inch of movement was unexpected or out of the planned envelope.

--- I should add that I helped move most of the equipment down the stairs - 45 years ago. Down is much easier than up.

Reach out to me on DM and we can talk by phone, and I'll try to answer any questions

@lkldpl Sorry for the late reply I have been unavailable.

I made my own gantry crane, and also designed and fabricated the joist crane. I m trained in structures, and had the gantry checked out by another Engineer using FEA. I have also moved 9 or 10 mills and even more lathes (mostly for other people) I have over 35 years rigging experience, and my father was a professional rigger in steel mills, and gave be a bunch of pointers before he passed.

Don't underestimate the complexity of such a move. I spent 3 months planning the move, one month installing the necessary equipment and lining up labour. The move took one day, as the winching firm was charging 80$ per hour. I had 9 volunteers helping, with specific instructions for each person... One individual was there solely to be a safety officer, ready to call STOP if anything at all looked of, or someone was not where they were supposed to be. There were 3 stops that day, all for minor things.

We cut a hole in the side of his house for the winch cable, and reinforced the stairway, as the biggest piece - the Bridgeport base - weighed 995lbs. All the machines were broken down into manageable pieces and placed on custom built moving dollies. (every piece was weighed on a crane scale before being strapped to its dolly)

The stairs got 2X8 on flat on either side, so there was only about 10" of walking space in the middle. Once a piece got to the top of the stairs, they had to be turned 90 degrees, and then out the door - on to a temporary landing outside the door. (The doorway was 8" above the concrete patio).

3 professional rigging firms refused to bid on the job, citing safety concerns. one wanted 10,000$ for just the Bridgeport mill taken to the back yard.

In the 9 hour move, all things went exactly to plan. not one inch of movement was unexpected or out of the planned envelope.

--- I should add that I helped move most of the equipment down the stairs - 45 years ago. Down is much easier than up.

Reach out to me on DM and we can talk by phone, and I'll try to answer any questions you have.
Thanks Dabbler for replying. You sound like more than a dabbler to me, more like an expert. You and everyone on this site have been so helpful and given me plenty of ideas and a lot to think about. Right now, I've told my estate liquidator that we need to provide a clean working space (that is eliminate all the clutter from the basement workshop and the porch areas) before anyone can proceed further and even come up with a plan. I have nixed the plan that I did not consider safe (riding the assembled lathe up the old stairs on 2x6 skis). As far as a gantry crane in this basement, I'm not sure there is enough headroom, more measurements need to be taken. However, about 8 feet in front of the stairway is a work bench topped with a 7/8-inch thick x 30-inch x 80-inch steel slab (weighs about 600 lbs). So, one idea I came up with was to build a 2-span bridge from the work bench to the cocrete porch floor and lift the lathe bed onto the work bench and winch it across the bridge. The mid-support beneath the bridge could be placed on the basement floor slab at the base of the stairway. Hence, this would span the old stairway and also reduce the incline up which the lathe would have to be winched. Have not considered yet what materials could be used for the bridge and mid-support below the bridge. One thing is, we don't know the weights of the CJ lathe (1910 patent date) and Bridgeport mill. Anyway, I would be interested in your thoughts on my bridge idea. I am a retired engineer, but spent my career in Geotechnical engineering, so was more concerned with supporting structures on soil.
 
I agree, the lathe needs to come off the stand or bad things are likely to happen. It is to top heavy to be safe.

I agree with other in that it is their move, your only input should be to stop them if something does not look right or safe but at the same time it is not your responsibility to determine if what they are doing is safe. A lawyer and a liability release would be a good idea. If you get involved with the move you are also taking on liability.

Speaking of top heavy, pay attention to where the center of gravity will move to as the load tilts going up the ramp. you do not want it to tip over forward.

My Mill is a lot heavier than a Bridgeport (3,400 lbs) and it went down and up with no issues. It had the base, column, knee, and Y saddle on it. I did not have access to weigh but I am estimating 1800 - 2000 lbs, It was bolted to a custom made dolly with 4 swivel casters. Used a 12,000 lb rated cable that ran through the house, out a window with the shop crane and a pulley to hold the cable off the window sill. Attachment to the mill was 3/8 grade 80 chains. The cable was then attached to the Class IV hitch on my 7,000 lb 4X4 truck, the truck was already set in 4 Lo to be able to move slowly with power and control. At one point a caster tried to jump the track and the truck had zero issue pulling it back up for a second try.
We had 2 people guiding the load, one manning the shop crane as the pulley had to raised and lowered as the angles changed during the decent, and a 4th person driving the truck. Everyone was fully briefed on the plan and all of the contingency plans and what ifs, and all of the contingency plans to the contingency plans.

The mill had to come in the back door make a 90° turn, down the hall and another 90° turn to the basement stairs. I had a ramp built so there was actually no weight on the stairs and the slope of the ramp was less than the slope of the stairs. Used the truck to lower the load, I had tracks on the ramp to guide the casters straight. All floors were covered with 4x8 sheets of 3/4 ply to help spread the loads, The floor was 2.5 wide hardwood, the point load of a wheel would have punched right through that without the ply.

The lathe was "ONLY" 1,100 lbs, I used exactly the same equipment and procedure as the mill. I had it off the stand and bolted to the same dolly that I used for the mill. Moving that was as boring and uneventful as it could possibly be. Boring heavy moves are a good thing.

I then used all the same equipment and procedures for the 1,800 lb surface grinder. Again very boring.

Some of the rules of the move.
NO ONE is allowed below the load.
No one at all is allowed in any part of the house at all. (If the load should get away one of the supports holding the main beam of the house is right at the bottom of the steps.)
No one gets in line with or near the tension gear.

If the load gets away from them where is it going? What will it hit as it flies across the basement at high speed. Could it take out structure of the house and cause a cave in?

It is all a lot of fun once you have a plan, you work the plan, and the plan worked.
Thanks for the good info. One question I have is how was the pulley anchored to keep stress off the window sill?
 
A few thoughts. The lathe and mill must be disassembled. They will become safer to handle, and put less stress on the stairs and landing. If in any doubt, reinforce the stairs and landing.

Slope is not all that important - rollers can minimize any friction. I wasn't trying to make a comprehensive list of things about moving machines - that could fill several books. I would not be qualified to write anything beyond the basics about loading, safety, and process.

stairs are stronger than you might guess, but reinforcing them using 2X4 uprights never hurts. 2x4s are cheap. I bought 40 2x4s to strengthen the stasirs and landing, and to build a cradle to help move the 60" lathe bed out of the basement window - it weighed 1000 lbs on its own.

As I mentioned I spent 3 months figuring out what needed to be strengthened, what needed modification, and prepping everything.

I'm not so keen on bridging from a workbench to the top of the stairs.
 
A few thoughts. The lathe and mill must be disassembled. They will become safer to handle, and put less stress on the stairs and landing. If in any doubt, reinforce the stairs and landing.

Slope is not all that important - rollers can minimize any friction. I wasn't trying to make a comprehensive list of things about moving machines - that could fill several books. I would not be qualified to write anything beyond the basics about loading, safety, and process.

stairs are stronger than you might guess, but reinforcing them using 2X4 uprights never hurts. 2x4s are cheap. I bought 40 2x4s to strengthen the stasirs and landing, and to build a cradle to help move the 60" lathe bed out of the basement window - it weighed 1000 lbs on its own.

As I mentioned I spent 3 months figuring out what needed to be strengthened, what needed modification, and prepping everything.

I'm not so keen on bridging from a workbench to the top of the stairs.

All of these discussions confirm that I am happy that:

• I have a walk-out basement shop

• My machines are small and manageable (as much as I would like to have larger, at least I don’t need to worry about how anyone (including me) will get them out.
 
A few thoughts. The lathe and mill must be disassembled. They will become safer to handle, and put less stress on the stairs and landing. If in any doubt, reinforce the stairs and landing.

Slope is not all that important - rollers can minimize any friction. I wasn't trying to make a comprehensive list of things about moving machines - that could fill several books. I would not be qualified to write anything beyond the basics about loading, safety, and process.

stairs are stronger than you might guess, but reinforcing them using 2X4 uprights never hurts. 2x4s are cheap. I bought 40 2x4s to strengthen the stasirs and landing, and to build a cradle to help move the 60" lathe bed out of the basement window - it weighed 1000 lbs on its own.

As I mentioned I spent 3 months figuring out what needed to be strengthened, what needed modification, and prepping everything.

I'm not so keen on bridging from a workbench to the top of the stairs.
Thanks for you input. The steps in this basement had some termite damage in the past, so would definitely do something to reinforce them. Will also explore whether the basement window is large enough to pass the lathe bed through.
 
Thanks for the good info. One question I have is how was the pulley anchored to keep stress off the window sill?
The pulley/sheave was hung from my shop crane, the crane was located just outside of the window. It had to be constantly adjusted up and down to keep the cable from hitting any parts of the window as the angles changed with the elevation of the machines.
 
The pulley/sheave was hung from my shop crane, the crane was located just outside of the window. It had to be constantly adjusted up and down to keep the cable from hitting any parts of the window as the angles changed with the elevation of the machines.
Thanks, that helps me picture it.
 
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