Disassembling an rf-30 for moving

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discus

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Hi everyone,

Hoping someone who has done this can help me out here. I recently picked up a Rong Fu RF-30. I believe it is a 1997 with the power down feed. The problem is it needs to go down the stairs and into my basement. I am wanting to remove the column from the head. This would really lighten it up. I already have the column and head removed from the base. Is removing the column as easy as taking the cap off the top of the column and cranking the head up until it comes off? I want to be sure I take this apart properly. Hoping to get it moved downstairs then cleaned up and a fresh coat of paint before reassembling. Any other experience any of you might have about the sheetmetal base these have is also welcome. It seems kind of flimsy. If there is any modifications I should be doing to it before I put the mill back up on it, now is the time. I was going to make some leveling feet out of some hockey pucks.

Cheers

Dale
 
Last edited:
discus said:
Hi everyone,

Hoping someone who has done this can help me out here. I recently picked up a Rong Fu RF-30. I believe it is a 1997 with the power down feed. The problem is it needs to go down the stairs and into my basement. I am wanting to remove the column from the head. This would really lighten it up as well. I already have the column and head removed from the base. Is removing the column as easy as taking the cap off the top of the column and cranking the head up until it comes off? I want to sure I take this apart properly. Hoping to get it moved downstairs then cleaned up and a fresh coat of paint before reassembling. Any other experience any of you might have about the sheetmetal base these have is also welcome. It seems kind of flimsy. If there is any modifications I should be doing to it before I put the mill back up on it, now is the time. I was going to make some leveling feet out of some hockey pucks.

Cheers

Dale
Click to expand...


Shoot I just drove thru there the other night and could of helped....Murphy'Law I guess. I helped a fellow several years ago moving his Run Fo into his basement. We pulled the column with the head attached in his garage and then he rented a appliance dolly and we took it down his stairs. He had drilled a hole 1/2 way up in his rafters and hung my 1/2 ton chain fall from it and lifted it. In the garage I had brought a portable A-Frame, but I believe a HD engine hoist would have worked too. Be careful and have a plan, ask a coupe of friends to help. Be sure to wear some leather gloves as the edges on Rung Fo are somtimes as sharp as a knife. Be sure to file any sharp edges where your Nylon strap will go. Be careful! Rich
 
Any of the lifting methods mentioned will work. When moving mine, I bring out the engine hoist.

2 men can lift it on and off with a 3rd to guide on the way back down (that was before I had the hoist). BUT, it is best to have a hoist of some sort to be sure when taking it off the first time. No fun juggling an approx 200- 250lb piece of metal at head height. You may also want to check out: http://rick.sparber.org/Articles/MoveMill/MoveMill.htm

Once in place, and prior to final painting. It will pay to tram the column. Mine was quite a ways off leading to very poor surface finish and I had to shim the column (messing up the paint and body putty in the process). My major improvements were:
  • Trammed the column see: http://rick.sparber.org/TM.pdf
  • New grade 8 bolts and nuts to lock the head on the column (originals were junk and galled badly leading to the head shifting on even moderate cuts)
  • table scraped (sorta )flat -hump in the middle - maybe form clamping abuse?
  • 3 axis DRO
Now pretty happy with it (but still hoping for a Bridgeport some day).
 
Thanks for the advice guys. I got the head down in the basement with some help from a friend and an appliance dolly. I'm finishing repainting the base and cross slides today. Once that is done and back together on the stand I am planning to use a hoist hooked to a steel beam to get the head/column remounted. I still would like to remove the column from the head to clean it up and paint it as well. Not sure if I can just crank it up and off yet. Was hoping someone had done this and could comment.

Dale
 
yes pull the top cap off the column and then just crank up and lift off. As i recall the crank will not take it all the way off, but yours may be different so be careful. On mine it stopped raising and then we lifted it off
 
bronk said:
yes pull the top cap off the column and then just crank up and lift off. As i recall the crank will not take it all the way off, but yours may be different so be careful. On mine it stopped raising and then we lifted it off
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I'll try and get it removed today.

Cheers
 
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