Moving big equipment out of a basement...

[Dabbler]

@projectnut ---getting those machines back out fo the basement is much harder! I'm glad you have a workable arrangement.

I'm using a heated garage, but keep it to +5C all winter, warm enough for an hour of work on most days, and for longer days I raise it to +15C - not the greatest for accuracy on the surface grinder, but hey, this is a hobby after all! It still costs more than a hundred a month to keep it warm...

 

[C-Bag]

I love the idea of a basement for the temp and humidity stability. If there was a big access door, enough head room and ventilation it would be ideal. Especially in the Central Valley where it’s between 90-110 from May to October it would be wonderful.

 

[DavidR8]

Reading all these accounts of moving tons of machinery is quite awe inspiring!
Well done everyone!


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[NC Rick]

Reassembly is ongoing. Hampered by a 580 sq ft garage with 3 lathe,s 4 mills, surface grinder, full size universal tool and cutter grinder, wash tank, General 12" unisaw, and household storage. Every step takes hours, but I'll get there eventually. Reassembling the mill for sale, and selling my little 12X37 lathe to create space.

All the stuff I bought and moved intact are up and running...

That is a lot of machinery in the amount of space you have available! Our electric rates are likely lower that yours but heating and air conditioning costs us well under $100 a month. I'm keeping my shop at 68 all winter and 71f all summer. The AC is important for humidity control here in NC and I keep it below about 50% (humidity likely isn't an issue for you?). My point (or questioning thinking) is that perhaps with the thermal mass of the machines, if you kept the temperature set the same all winter, perhaps it wouldn't cost more? Here if I changed the temperature so drastically the condensation would be so bad that everything would rust severely. I love iron. I hate rust! Sorry for the thread drift but having a lot of cool iron in a small available space is what our hobby dictates. Is there anyone on this forum who has too much space?

 

[vtcnc]

Wow, a LeBlond 15x60 in the basement? They must have lowered it in with a crane and then built the house over it. Usually people hand pick machines that can easily be broken into manageable pieces, but this collection belongs in a shop with a forklift and a roll-up door!

If my basement didn't have a carriage door, I wouldn't even have been able to get my Atlas down there.

When I first bought my Atlas it went down the basement steps piece after piece. After I built my shop, it came out piece by piece. In my case our house was built in 1925. I’m not sure the bulkhead entrance was ever a consideration but nonetheless that’s how it ended up. What I’m still scratching my head over is how they got a full oil tank for the furnace down there.


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[Dabbler]

Our electric rates are likely lower that yours

Here in Calgary, we have it a bit colder than you; -40 degress (C or F) is expected each winter, but -30 C is more common. An average winter day is -15C. keeping it up to +5C is a spread of 32 degrees F. I heat with gas which is more economical, but insulation is vital to saving your wallet!

 

[NC Rick]

Here in Calgary, we have it a bit colder than you; -40 degress (C or F) is expected each winter, but -30 C is more common. An average winter day is -15C. keeping it up to +5C is a spread of 32 degrees F. I heat with gas which is more economical, but insulation is vital to saving your wallet!

I have been to "the stampede" It wasn't quite so cold. I also spent a few weeks in a late January in Winnipeg... that was worse than the very Northern part of Wisconsin my wife is from. I would think a warm shop would be a priceless commodity mid-winter in your parts. I can often just go for a motorcycle ride if I get too much cabin fever

 

[DavidR8]

I have been to "the stampede" It wasn't quite so cold. I also spent a few weeks in a late January in Winnipeg... that was worse than the very Northern part of Wisconsin my wife is from. I would think a warm shop would be a priceless commodity mid-winter in your parts. I can often just go for a motorcycle ride if I get too much cabin fever

Of course one could live where I do.
It’s 8 C/ 49F this morning. If we see 0C it’s a weather emergency


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[Flyinfool]

Basements always make it more fun. My basement is climate controlled so that keeps the machines happy. It was interesting getting the machines down there. from the back door I had to negotiate 2 90° corners and the stair way. My house was built in the late 1800s, my machines ate an 1100 lb 13x40 lathe, that came down as one piece, an 1800? lb surface grinder, that was disassembled for the move since it needed to be rebuilt anyhow, and the 3400 lb mill that was disassembled anyhow for cleaning.
All 3 were bolted down to a home made dolly that has four 6 inch swivel casters. I have never yet had to try to take anything out of the basement, that may be a bit more difficult than it was for in, gravity was helping for going in. I used my 7000 lb 4x4 truck as the anchor point and control. I ran a 12,000 lb working load cable from the machine thru the house and out a window with the engine hoist and a pulley to hold the cable off the window sill, and out to the trucks trailer hitch. With the truck in 4 Lo it had no problem controlling the loads. I built a ramp over the steps and covered it wit 3/4 ply, also the hallway floor was covered with 3/4 ply to spread the point loads from the dolly wheels. I had one person driving the truck, one person manning the engine hoist and pulley to keep the cable off the window sill as the angles changed, and 2 people guiding the machine down the ramp, NO ONE was allowed below the machine or even in the hose while the machines were being lowers in case it got away, the support that holds up the main beam was right at the end of the steps.

I love watching the looks on peoples faces when they look at these machines and try to figure out how I got them into the basement.

When I bought the first machine I called a bunch of moving companies and they would not touch machinery, I called a bunch of riggrs and they would not touch residential to a basement, the closest I found was one rigger that said for $1000 they would come and watch and then pick the machine up when it fell on me. I told them that if they paid me $1000 I would teach them how to make such a move.

Bottom line is to plan out everything and its contingencies and what could go wrong with recovery plans for those possibilities and then work the plan.

 

[Dabbler]

@Flyinfool bravo! nice improvisations. +1 on the planning. To move the machines out of the basement took a month of planning...