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Preparing to Move a Lathe Safely
- Thread starter ACHiPo
- Start date
My Sheldon Mw-56-P doesn't weigh as much as your Graziano, but I was able to move it myself with a drop deck trailer, and some round stock. Once I got it off the trailer and into the garage I disassembled it and took it down the stairs to the shop piece by piece.
Here it reassembled and ready to work.
Here it reassembled and ready to work.
Mike,
Thanks! It's definitely a "big boy" lathe!
Nice machine!
That's the approach I was considering (if CarryMaster casters won't work). Did you attach the equipment to the beams, or just rely on gravity?
Yes, "green with envy". Are the bottom of the pedestal castings reasonably flat? - if yes, then the best bet is decent size rollers (i.e. ~2" dia). That center section may not be strong enough to take the weight when sitting on a roller? The pedestal castings are heavy, but the machine is still very top heavy.
If you put it on skids, you still have to lift/lower the machine - and you make it even tippyer (though you could make up a dropped bottom sledge). That may be overthinking the issue.
A set of Hilman rollers would of course be great (I did not appreciate the three roller method until I had some professionals move a machine for me - worked awesome).
I have several machines that sit on machined feet (so the bottom is not flat) - I made up lots of rollers, enough that they were basically touching. I have since acquired a pallet jack, and it is absolutely fantastic. I use it way more than I thought I would. My shop is pretty tight, so every machine does not get all the space it needs. Also, whenever an addition to the fleet arrives, then a shop re-org needs to happen. The pallet jack makes the moves easy enough that I don't hesitate.
The PJ is rated at #5000 max, but seems to be struggling at #3000.
More pictures please.
If you put it on skids, you still have to lift/lower the machine - and you make it even tippyer (though you could make up a dropped bottom sledge). That may be overthinking the issue.
A set of Hilman rollers would of course be great (I did not appreciate the three roller method until I had some professionals move a machine for me - worked awesome).
I have several machines that sit on machined feet (so the bottom is not flat) - I made up lots of rollers, enough that they were basically touching. I have since acquired a pallet jack, and it is absolutely fantastic. I use it way more than I thought I would. My shop is pretty tight, so every machine does not get all the space it needs. Also, whenever an addition to the fleet arrives, then a shop re-org needs to happen. The pallet jack makes the moves easy enough that I don't hesitate.
The PJ is rated at #5000 max, but seems to be struggling at #3000.
More pictures please.
I'm not sure what the bottom is like. I did learn from the dealer that the wood pedestals are attached to the leveling pads, so will already be installed when the lathe arrives at my shop. That will make it easy to get a lifting device under it, but complicates the 4x4 and pipe idea.
I'm trying to find out the thread size and pitch on the leveling feet. CarryMaster makes a heavy duty (4400 lb) caster with an M16 thread. With any luck I can just unscrew the leveling feet and screw in the casters.
Another option is to replace the wood blocks with casters like Z2V--if the wood blocks are attached to the leveling feet, there must be holes in the plates (or I can pull them off and drill them I suppose).
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I moved a slightly lighter lathe (14x48 Clausing) by making a "sled" from 4x4 timbers fully 8ft long. The timbers were joined by ACME screws all the way across (about 3.5ft). I lag bolted the lathe to the wood (through bolts would have been better). Using this huge sled I was able to load and unload the lathe using horizontal sliding pulled by a winch.
My theory was "you can't drop what you don't lift".
My theory was "you can't drop what you don't lift".
Even with casters, you still have to set up some sort of a leveling arrangement - one way or another that machine has to have its' 4 feet on solid ground. I don't have any science to prove it, but I don't even like leaving the machine on the jacking bolts. I only use the jack bolts to lift the machine to get a bar under, or to adjust the leveling shims - in service, the machine sits on steel pads. A #3000 lathe is not something you should be moving very often.
Wait until you actually have the machine. Then, if you can get away with simple pipe rollers - then all is good. I'm sure those #4400 casters are not cheap either - so have a look before building a solution.