Easiest Way To Lift A Lathe

Around here, we have tool rental places. If you have similar business enterprises in your area, you might see if they have suitable equipment available. Our local business rents an engine hoist for $40/day that will lift 1200 lbs. to a maximum height of 96"

I would strongly advise not to lift with human power. A slip could be disastrous for the lathe and the lifters.

Now if an elephant is available,:laughing:
 
RJSakowski said:
Around here, we have tool rental places. If you have similar business enterprises in your area, you might see if they have suitable equipment available. Our local business rents an engine hoist for $40/day that will lift 1200 lbs. to a maximum height of 96"

I would strongly advise not to lift with human power. A slip could be disastrous for the lathe and the lifters.

Now if an elephant is available,:laughing:
Click to expand...

Good point about lifting with human power. I don't like the idea of it either, slips didn't even cross my mind. Our fleet mechanic at work might let me borrow his personal cherry picker. If not, I guess I'll rent one and borrow lifting straps from work.
 
If you have exposed 2x6 ceiling joists, you can brace a 4 to 6 foot section with 2x4s to the floor to make a temporary gantry.
If you don't think one 2x6 rafter is strong enough, you can sister another one on it.
Or, you can make a big tall sawhorse with a 2x6 and some 2x4s.

Unless you have lots of ceiling height, come-alongs present a problem because of the head space required.
 
Most garage doors have 4x12 headers (two 2x12s). A big eye-bolt attached through them make a handy lifting point.
 
To lift my G0602 (less than half the weight of the 4003), I built a lift point by drilling holes in two adjacent 2 x 8 joists of a length of 1" threaded rod. The holes were elongated on the upper side enough to allow insertion of the threaded rod. A length of 1" pipe and washers served as a spacer which permitted tightening the assembly. I inserted the rod through the first joist, slipped the first washer on and then the pipe spacer. I then threaded the assembly through the second washer and the second joist. Finally, I place the two outside washers and the nuts on the rod and tightened the nuts securely to create a permanent lift point.

For heavier loads, it might be advisable to make re-enforcement plates out of 1/4" plate to better distribute the load.
Lathe Lift Point.JPG
 
The beginning of this video shows how we raised a mill, you could do the same thing.

 
You might want to use a "Johnson Bar" or similar lever to lift the machine slightly.
http://kk.org/cooltools/johnson-bar-or/

Then place a series of 1-1/2" to 2" pipes slightly wider than the base sections of the machine under each end. I moved my lathe, Bridgeport milling machine and several other tools by myself using this method. Once on the pipes are under the machine(s) it can easily be moved and steered by one person. Just be sure to place another pipe in the path after the first one rolls out from under one of the base sections.

We used this method to move heavy equipment and place it where I worked. Many of the machine pieces we moved weighed several tons and could easily be handled by one person pushing the machine while another places the pipes. The method works well if the floor isn't badly sloped, cracked, or heaved, and it's clear of debris in the path. For a one time move it's a lot less expensive than buying or renting a hoist.
 
If it's the one with the stand I'm not sure 5 people is enough. The gross weight is listed at just over 600kg

If you can do it with man power that would be the cheapest and quite an easy way. The only difficulty would probably be that the headstock end is going to be much heavier than the tail. Getting enough people around it and able to grab something that's strong enough to hold it buy might be a bit of a squeeeze.

Phone friends, ask for help , maybe rent an engine hoist + straps. (all the hire companies hear in the UK don't throw in straps or shackles with hire)

Only being semi pessimistic as I ended up with a horizontal milling machine chained to my railings for about a week.

Temporary lifting frames can be made up from big wood and a chain hoist is a powerful thing too.

Good luck :)

Stuart
 
Buy the engine hoist pictured

You'll find more uses for it

I have three of them
 
Ditto the cherry picker. Fortunate to have one at work like the one pictured above. Lifted my heavy 10 out of the bed of my truck, and it is a high bed (4x4).
 
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