Us machine co by mill

1Bender

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I am wondering if anyone would happen to know what a us machine co by mill weighs? I have to drive to Richmond this weekend and pick up a mill that I bought about a month ago…I’ve rented a uhaul 6x12 trailer to drag both ways…(yea I know but it’s the only way I could get a open top trailer to haul it…) max load on the trailer according to uhaul is 2700 lbs…only bit of information I can find on this come from a thread on the particle machinist forum (please don’t boot me over that…) anyhow the guy named his “Bertha” and stated it weighed 3/4 of a ton which is 1500 pounds…internet is telling me 1800-2400 for older mills…loading is not a issue as there is both a forklift and a overhead crane where I have to pick it up from…unloading it however is a different matter as all I have is a cherry picker to unload with…I thought about breaking it down and putting some of it in the bed of my truck and the body on the trailer but from what I’m reading that’s a all day job in itself…I’m already driving 6-7 hours each way and then load time which will make for a long day as it is…any kinda direction on this would be much appreciated!!! I’ve included a pic of it sitting on the forklift that is at the pick up site
 

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Mill is a model VT I guess auto correct changed it to by…sorry ain’t figured out how to edit as of yet…
 
I think your estimates are probably really close. Somewhere around 2000 pounds, give or take.

If you can find one, I highly recommend a Hydraulic Drop Deck trailer instead of the UHaul. The drop deck doesn't have conventional axles, so the entire platform of the trailer can be sat on the ground. Makes it easy to drive a fork lift up on it and drop the machine. Once you're home, you can get the machine up on pipes or machine skates and roll it off the trailer.


If the UHaul is your only option, then you might want to just call a tow company that can send a wrecker with a crane to lift it off the uHaul and set it in your driveway.
 
You could disassemble it a bit to make it lighter. Put the head, the motor, and the table in the bed of your truck. I would guess about 2300 lb total weight. My .02
 
It's gonna be sketchy. Personally I would not recommend it. Here's my old V1 in the same situation, only minus table, head and motor. Even at reduced weight the rental cherry picker was bouncing and had me spooked. My preferred method of moving the mill is a palletized wooden base that lets me run a pallet jack in from any direction. At the previous house I would back the trailer up to the side of my concrete driveway and bleed the air out of the tires to lower it onto blocks. The one person would man the pallet jack, and a second would stabilize the mill. Made 3 moves like that with no issues.
 

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It's gonna be sketchy. Personally I would not recommend it. Here's my old V1 in the same situation, only minus table, head and motor. Even at reduced weight the rental cherry picker was bouncing and had me spooked. My preferred method of moving the mill is a palletized wooden base that lets me run a pallet jack in from any direction. At the previous house I would back the trailer up to the side of my concrete driveway and bleed the air out of the tires to lower it onto blocks. The one person would man the pallet jack, and a second would stabilize the mill. Made 3 moves like that with no issues.
How NOT to unload a lathe from a car trailer. LOL!

IMG_9836.jpeg

Not as sketchy as it looks. Having it on the pallet made it a lot easier. I mitigated any real risk and just took it slow.
 
Drop deck trailers are the best if available. I have used U-Haul Trailers to transport some pretty heavy equipment including my 4300 pound Gemco Shaper. I let the air our of the tires on the trailer, jacked up the tongue using a floor jack and then used pipes to roll the equipment off of the trailer. Works quite well.
 
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It's gonna be sketchy. Personally I would not recommend it. Here's my old V1 in the same situation, only minus table, head and motor. Even at reduced weight the rental cherry picker was bouncing and had me spooked. My preferred method of moving the mill is a palletized wooden base that lets me run a pallet jack in from any direction. At the previous house I would back the trailer up to the side of my concrete driveway and bleed the air out of the tires to lower it onto blocks. The one person would man the pallet jack, and a second would stabilize the mill. Made 3 moves like that with no issues.
Yours looks a lot like mine from pictures anyhow…I was thinking that I’d have to remove the knee assembly and the radial arm but it appears that the motor, head and table will suffice…what’s yours weigh? I wasn’t planning on doing nothing sketchy…simply picking it up off the trailer and pulling the trailer out from under it…I’ve got a super heavy duty furniture mover (for lack of a better way of putting it) that I was going to set it on to move it across the floor…made of steel with big heavy casters on each corner…then when I got it into a position I was happy with pick it straight up again and pull the mover…bolt it to the floor right there and reassemble…btw out of curiosity got any idea as to when yours was made?
 
Yours looks a lot like mine from pictures anyhow…I was thinking that I’d have to remove the knee assembly and the radial arm but it appears that the motor, head and table will suffice…what’s yours weigh? I wasn’t planning on doing nothing sketchy…simply picking it up off the trailer and pulling the trailer out from under it…I’ve got a super heavy duty furniture mover (for lack of a better way of putting it) that I was going to set it on to move it across the floor…made of steel with big heavy casters on each corner…then when I got it into a position I was happy with pick it straight up again and pull the mover…bolt it to the floor right there and reassemble…btw out of curiosity got any idea as to when yours was made?
Weight: the manufacturer said 1 ton (approx) shipping weight. If you haven't found this yet go to vintagemachinery.org and search for Burke Machine Tool Co. There are 2 U.S. Vertical Milling Machine publications there, one a manual, the other a sales brochure which has the weight. If I understand the serial number mine would be made in '53, towards the last. Yours is a later style, with the vertical axis crank offset from the table crank. I've seen pics of early ones with those in-line, knuckle busters. No need to bolt to the floor, unlike a lathe, mills don't twist of their own weight. My pallet is of oak 2x6's I had, it also brings the controls closer to my height. Also watch where the cherry picker's legs stick out. It was hard to dodge them and still have a clear area to lower the mill.
 

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