- Joined
- Oct 20, 2014
- Messages
- 133
Part One
About 5 weeks ago I was browsing on Gumtree (our Craigslist equivalent) when I saw an ad for a mill drill for $400.
The ad had only been posted within the last 5 minutes and I rang the bloke straight away, at first he didn't realise what I was calling about, he certainly wasn't expecting a response that quickly.
Anyway 45 minutes later I was at his place and this is what I saw.
It was mounted on a sturdy stand but in the back of his ute. I couldn't run it as we didn't have a 15A extension lead but it all looked OK and the price was good so we did the deal. But it got a bit more complicated when I started thinking about how to transport it home.
He offered to let me to drive his ute to my place with it but I knew it was standing far too high to back into my garage.
I agreed to call him the next morning with a plan to collect it.
He had mentioned it had been put onto his ute with a fork lift, so I called and asked if he still had access to the forklift. Yes he did. So the plan became drive both his vehicle and mine with my trailer to where the forklift was and transfer the machine from the ute to my trailer. Then he told me he couldn't drive at the moment and would have to get his son to come from work to do it.
So when I arrived at his house to go to the factory where the forklift was, the son couldn't leave work and wasn't coming. It was at this point that he mentioned the reason he couldn't drive his own vehicle was because he had lost his license for speeding. I had figured he must have had a medical reason, he didn't look like the speed demon type, but you just can't tell!
The plan then became put my trailer onto his ute, drive to his mates factory where the the forklift was, lift the machine from ute onto trailer, drive back to his house, transfer the loaded trailer back to my vehicle and then I'd be on my way.
Anyway, it all worked more or less OK. I didn't get upset when he speared the side of my trailer with one of the forklift arms, it only dented it a little bit! It was a very nervous drive home with a top heavy load in the trailer and hoping like heck I wouldn't need to do an emergency stop anywhere.
When I got home and backed the trailer up to the garage I realised there wasn't any height to spare at all!
About 50mm too high. Well if I let the trailer tyres down I'll get my clearance!
Millimetres to spare under the garage door!
Some rearranging of garage contents was needed to get under the 8" x 2" beam.
I got it off the trailer with a couple of chain blocks.
Very conscious of it being top heavy so I had a panic rope looped around the top of the machine in case it started to topple over !
The base plates on the legs had holes already drilled so I went and bought a set of wheels, which I fitted while the chain blocks were still rigged up.
Then I rolled it into the workshop and part one was done.
pete
About 5 weeks ago I was browsing on Gumtree (our Craigslist equivalent) when I saw an ad for a mill drill for $400.
The ad had only been posted within the last 5 minutes and I rang the bloke straight away, at first he didn't realise what I was calling about, he certainly wasn't expecting a response that quickly.
Anyway 45 minutes later I was at his place and this is what I saw.
It was mounted on a sturdy stand but in the back of his ute. I couldn't run it as we didn't have a 15A extension lead but it all looked OK and the price was good so we did the deal. But it got a bit more complicated when I started thinking about how to transport it home.
He offered to let me to drive his ute to my place with it but I knew it was standing far too high to back into my garage.
I agreed to call him the next morning with a plan to collect it.
He had mentioned it had been put onto his ute with a fork lift, so I called and asked if he still had access to the forklift. Yes he did. So the plan became drive both his vehicle and mine with my trailer to where the forklift was and transfer the machine from the ute to my trailer. Then he told me he couldn't drive at the moment and would have to get his son to come from work to do it.
So when I arrived at his house to go to the factory where the forklift was, the son couldn't leave work and wasn't coming. It was at this point that he mentioned the reason he couldn't drive his own vehicle was because he had lost his license for speeding. I had figured he must have had a medical reason, he didn't look like the speed demon type, but you just can't tell!
The plan then became put my trailer onto his ute, drive to his mates factory where the the forklift was, lift the machine from ute onto trailer, drive back to his house, transfer the loaded trailer back to my vehicle and then I'd be on my way.
Anyway, it all worked more or less OK. I didn't get upset when he speared the side of my trailer with one of the forklift arms, it only dented it a little bit! It was a very nervous drive home with a top heavy load in the trailer and hoping like heck I wouldn't need to do an emergency stop anywhere.
When I got home and backed the trailer up to the garage I realised there wasn't any height to spare at all!
About 50mm too high. Well if I let the trailer tyres down I'll get my clearance!
Millimetres to spare under the garage door!
Some rearranging of garage contents was needed to get under the 8" x 2" beam.
I got it off the trailer with a couple of chain blocks.
Very conscious of it being top heavy so I had a panic rope looped around the top of the machine in case it started to topple over !
The base plates on the legs had holes already drilled so I went and bought a set of wheels, which I fitted while the chain blocks were still rigged up.
Then I rolled it into the workshop and part one was done.
pete