Question about moving an Atlas shaper

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brownac1983

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Hey guys, I'm looking at a 7" Atlas shaper that's a few hours away and I need some advice. I've read that the shipping weight on these is around 350lb. Are they like a lathe in the sense that I easily break it into major parts and load it into an SUV myself, or do they need to be moved assembled? In other words, can I take the SUV and load it in chunks, or do I need to take the pickup and shop crane? I know a 350lb lathe is no problem because I can load it as headstock, motor, tailstock, and base, but I've never moved a shaper before.

Thanks.
 
when i moved my Ammco 7" shaper,
i left it whole and moved it as one piece.
i manhandled the shaper onto my truck tailgate and shimmiy'd it on in
 
The only part readily removed is the vise and maybe the motor. I have moved mine several times by myself removing only the vise. Shipping weight includes the crating and misc parts that may have been included. The machine won't weigh near that much.

When I picked mine up (after a 3-11 shift), wife met me with a full size pickup to go a couple of counties over. The seller helped carry it, I think, up a fairly steep driveway. When we got back to the mill, I transferred it to my 1/4 t truck by myself. It wasn't that heavy. It wasn't a feather pillow, but wasn't too bad.

Depending on the circumstances, a couple of 2X4s might come in handy. And tie-downs, of course. Go get it and enjoy. I carried mine around in the little truck for a couple of days. One fellow, in an independant shop, stared at it and, cussing, said he didn't know they made one that small.

.
 
I have never owned nor had anything to do with a shaper. But the Sears Power Tools catalogs from the 1950's confirms the shipping weight as 350 pounds. That does not include the weight of a motor or of a floor stand if one is present. Nor of any accessories or tooling. But would include the weight of a wooden crate at least for the shaper itself. Which is unlikely to be present.

Not knowing any more about the details of the shaper than I do, I would personally use a pickup truck and a light trailer to haul an engine hoist for loading the shaper. I would ask the owner for a few photos showing the shaper and the access route from where you will park the truck to the present location of the shaper.

If you attempt to disassemble it for moving, Murphy says that you will lose some parts or pieces and will forget part of how it came apart by the time that you get around to reassembling it.
 
I agree with the above. Detaching it from the base and taking off the vise and motor will save you a little. But believe me you don't just slide off the ram, it's an involved process. We loaded 7b in the back of my pickup without the stand with everything else attached by hand. but this was not lifting to different heights like off the ground, but from the stand height to the pickup bed. It is a chunk of iron and not light. There was three of us to load. I unloaded by myself sliding it onto my HF lift table. Then lifted it on to its stand with my engine hoist. Be safe, it's better to expect the worse and be prepared than to be unprepared and drop it.
 
350 lbs is not all that heavy, BUT I would still take the P/U and the shop crane along, I would much rather have over kill than under kill.
If it is on a stand, absolutely take it off the stand. On the stand will be to top heavy to safely drive for a couple hours with.
Even if it on gravel or a soft surface, use the crane to pick it up and then back the P/U under it. I remove the tailgate so that I can load it farther forward. I used this technique to get a ~450 lb rock from the middle of a farmers field where it was impossible to move the crane with any weight on it because the casters sunk into the ground right to the frame. I used the reverse to get it out of the truck into the yard. I placed the truck so the rock was exactly over the spot I wanted it, picked it up with the crane and drove the truck out from under it and set it down.
 
Yes, best to leave it together as others have suggested, only take it off the stand. Murphy's law is always present, all to easy to lose parts and cause damage to the machine.
 
I moved my Atlas 7B on my own. Put it into the back of a Ford Explorer with help from the seller. I slid it down a 2x10 plank onto the floor of my garage. Used a fridge cart to get it to the basement and an engine hoist to lift it onto the bench. The machine is not difficult to move. Go the SUV route and keep it dry for the drive.

All I removed was the vice, motor (just a pin to pull) and the belt guards because they are fragile and expensive to replace (also just a pin).

Cheers.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
However, all so-called SUV's are not created equal. Measure the height and width of you rear opening and compare that to the height and width of what you are driving umpty miles to pick up. Also consider the load capability of your rear deck. Most SUV's have a storage area under the rear deck, and some of the lids are pretty flimsy.
 
I moved my South Bend shaper by myself. I did remove the motor, vise and belt covers. The (home built) stand was almost the same height as my pickup bed so I was able to slide it off the stand onto a piece of old carpet and used that to slide it further into the truck. I then strapped it down well. I then loaded the stand. When I got it home I did the reverse. I did basically the same thing with my Atlas MFC mill although I used an engine hoist to unload because I wanted it on the ground so I could paint the stand. Work careful, work smart. Plan every move. Think about all the things that can go wrong.
 
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