You Better Be Sitting Down When Asking the Cost of Moving a Machine

projectnut said:
If it was up to the wife that's where it would stay. Unfortunately, it uses a water-based flood coolant for both cooling the blade and flushing out the swarf. I've tried mist and stick lubricant, but neither will keep the swarf from building up in the kerf. It needs the flood system and at fairly high volume to move the swarf out of the way. Without it I'm afraid I'll lose a tooth on the blade, and at $150.00 a blade I'm not willing to take that chance. Retoothing a blade runs around $30.00 plus shipping both ways which adds another $30.00. Plus, I don't want to take the chance of the coolant freezing and ruining the pump or reservoir

The garage has electric heat and it's minimal at best. Opening an overhead door for only a few minutes changes the inside temperature drastically even though the doors, walls and ceiling are insulated. Recovery time is more like hours than minutes.
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I get the freezing issue, could you add some kind of antifreeze for the winter months or maybe just keep the circulating pump going?

Please pass along the company that puts new teeth on, I may be interested for my saw.

John
 
matthewsx said:
I get the freezing issue, could you add some kind of antifreeze for the winter months or maybe just keep the circulating pump going?

Please pass along the company that puts new teeth on, I may be interested for my saw.

John
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The company I'm dealing with is Grand Blanc Industries out of Grand Blanc Michigan. Their cold saw blade center goes by the name "Cold Saw Blade Store". Retoothing is a bit of a misnomer. What they actually do with an HSS blade is grind all the existing teeth off then cut all new teeth on the smaller diameter. This company makes blades from scratch. They treat a blade that needs to be retoothed as though it was a new blank.

One of the blades I'm currently having "Retoothed" started as a 350mm 120 tooth blade for mild steel. It's been reground and resharpened enough times to bring the diameter down to 315mm. When it's finished this time, it will be a 305mm, 110 tooth blade for mild steel. They can technically be resharpened until there isn't enough diameter left to pass through the slot in the bottom of the vise. That does assume however you haven't bound the blade to the point it's cracked beyond its useful diameter.

If the blade is carbide tipped and all you do is knock off the carbide it can be replaced. If you actually damage the base metal, it's cheaper to just replace the blade unless it's a monster.

As for saving on the gym bills, that's a stretch at best. When I'm done at the end of the day I feel as though I've worked so hard, I should look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, when I look in the mirror all I see is a sweaty Elmer Fudd looking back at me.
 
projectnut said:
The company I'm dealing with is Grand Blanc Industries out of Grand Blanc Michigan. Their cold saw blade center goes by the name "Cold Saw Blade Store". Retoothing is a bit of a misnomer. What they actually do with an HSS blade is grind all the existing teeth off then cut all new teeth on the smaller diameter. This company makes blades from scratch. They treat a blade that needs to be retoothed as though it was a new blank.

One of the blades I'm currently having "Retoothed" started as a 350mm 120 tooth blade for mild steel. It's been reground and resharpened enough times to bring the diameter down to 315mm. When it's finished this time, it will be a 305mm, 110 tooth blade for mild steel. They can technically be resharpened until there isn't enough diameter left to pass through the slot in the bottom of the vise. That does assume however you haven't bound the blade to the point it's cracked beyond its useful diameter.

If the blade is carbide tipped and all you do is knock off the carbide it can be replaced. If you actually damage the base metal, it's cheaper to just replace the blade unless it's a monster.

As for saving on the gym bills, that's a stretch at best. When I'm done at the end of the day I feel as though I've worked so hard, I should look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, when I look in the mirror all I see is a sweaty Elmer Fudd looking back at me.
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Thanks for the info, my blades are carbide tipped and pretty small so it sounds like I'll be looking for a new one after I use up the one I'm using, and the spare.

John
 
When I was looking at options to get my 1236T from my garage in to my basement through an outside Bilco door, I asked the moving company in the business association I am in for a quote. Perfectly flat back yard and no obstructions to go around, moving it about 50 feet, quote was at least $800, and could be more if the job was more complicated once they got there. He said they have to pay their guys a minimum day and it didn’t matter if it took 5 minutes or 4 hours, price was the same.

Needless to say, I did not go that route!
 
projectnut said:
I finished up assembling and testing the cold saw last week. I was getting a bit tired of dealing with it so I thought I'd contact a few moving companies to see what it would cost to move it to the shop. I'm glad I was sitting down when I got the prices. The least expensive quote to move the machine 30 feet through the house and down a flight of stairs was $550.00. The most expensive was closing in on $1,500.00 when I cut the conversation short and told the gentleman the price was more than I could afford at this time. Keep in mind this machine has a footprint of slightly less than 24"x 24" and weighs 600 lbs.

Prices seem to have increased drastically over the last couple years. The last time I had a piece of machinery of this size moved the cost was in the $200.00 range and took less than half an hour. It looks like I'll be disassembling it one more time, hauling it piece by piece to the shop, and reassembling it one more time.
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Look at it from the company’s perspective. Two guys, maybe 3. A lift, skates, jacks, etc and a truck to haul everything. Then facto in some people’s 30 feet will be 300 yards across the neighbors flowerbeds and you can begin to see why the quote is so high.
 
twraska said:
Look at it from the company’s perspective. Two guys, maybe 3. A lift, skates, jacks, etc and a truck to haul everything. Then facto in some people’s 30 feet will be 300 yards across the neighbors flowerbeds and you can begin to see why the quote is so high.
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In this case there will be no need for jacks, skates, or any equipment other than a dolly. Two men should be able to do the job in less than 1/2 hour. When I had a company move the column for the Bridgeport they came and went in 20 minutes. They worked in this job between 2 larger jobs they had in the area.

It almost seems like these days moving companies only have a skeleton staff on duty and call-in people "as needed". As mentioned earlier when the employees are called in, they are guaranteed a full day's pay. I can understand that but would think there are enough small jobs that they could consolidate several to be done in a given area on a given day. I can't believe there are very many customers willing to pay in the $1,500.00 range for less than half an hour's work.

Not only am I not willing to pay those prices, I'm also quite sure I can disassemble the machine and move it to the shop by myself in less than half a day. I'm also quite sure I could have the machine up and running again in the same day if I were so inclined. As it sits now, I'll work in some disassembly and transport between other jobs as time allows. Once the machine is in the shop, it shouldn't take more than a couple hours to reassemble it and dial it in.
 
By the time you call, get prices, make arrangements. Then settle for the day that is convenient for them (not you). And the show up between noon and 5 that turns out to be 10am because they got done with another job early. Then listen to all the blah blah blah. And making sure everything is ready, out of the way, etc.

I'm too lazy to go that route. It's too much effort. Easier to move it/fix it/deal with it myself.
 
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