Moving this machine

snoopdog

snoopdog

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Planning on taking the vise off, and moving the table further inward. Anybody know offhand what the lifting eye threads are? And what is the purpose of the ring at the rear of the horizontal column, and can I use it as a lift point? Do you feel the lift from the center would be balanced?
 
It looks top-heavy to me. I'd want to try and rotate the head so that the motor is angling down, maybe supported by the table (board in between)
I'm guessing the center of gravity is about where the nodding knuckle is. Speaking of which- is the nodding gear broken? Head stuck?

If you put a screw eye in the ram I'm sure you'll find the machine wants to tilt forward when lifted
The main column is hollow so the weight will be forward of it. The knee + table looks quite heavy
-Mark
ps did you just buy it? How far do you have to move it?
 
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Ring at the rear is for another head.

Slotted is common.

Our BP is 5/8 threads, yours maybe, or metric.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk
 
If the machine wasn't made in the US, the threads for the lifting eye are likely metric.

Mark is right on point. Very heavy, and most is ahead of the column. That big electric motor complicates lowering the center of gravity. Remove it if possible. If not, lower it as much as possible, and position it as close to the column (front to back and side to side), then move the table as close to the column as possible and hang the table opposite the head/motor to counterbalance.

Bridgeport recommends moving the ram forward just enough to get one fork of a forklift under the front end of the ram and the other fork behind the ram. More weight will be on the fork ahead of the column. A lot more.

I recently moved a Bridgeport step pulley mill with a stuck ram. I had to put a nylon strap up by the head to allow for the weight being forward. I don't like lifting by the eyebolt, since you are relying on threads in cast iron, and not very large threads!
 
Be mindful that it’s the dovetails on the ram that are going to bear the weight if lifted by the eye.
 
My manual shows lifting by only the eyehook, which as I recall was a 5/8"-11. In fact I did lift it with a chain hoist. With the ram positioning and the use of the table, it's easy to get it to hang level without rotating the head at all.

I've reported in another post long ago that during delivery, it was hanging a foot, maybe 2 above the concrete hangar floor. The delivery guy said "I think it's this here that lets it go down" and flipped something...CRASH...the mill fell that distance, landed square and stayed up. I found no damage then and about 15 years later, I still haven't.
 
markba633csi said:
It looks top-heavy to me. I'd want to try and rotate the head so that the motor is angling down, maybe supported by the table (board in between)
I'm guessing the center of gravity is about where the nodding knuckle is. Speaking of which- is the nodding gear broken? Head stuck?

If you put a screw eye in the ram I'm sure you'll find the machine wants to tilt forward when lifted
The main column is hollow so the weight will be forward of it. The knee + table looks quite heavy
-Mark
ps did you just buy it? How far do you have to move it?
Click to expand...
Bought awhile back, nothing stuck, have to move it about 60 miles. Funny, it looked fairly balanced in person, not so much in the photo.
 
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Is that a Lagun mill ? Sure looks like one I had .
 
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