Found a “deal” on the local facebook

[Mill Lee farm]

wow...
I'll add a tip for the surface grinders, the tables are just held on by gravity. Take 4x4 or 6x6 wooden blocks to put between the table and the spindle. (Best if you can get it under the spindle and not the grinding wheel/spindle bearings/broken stone) Lower the spindles until they secure the table good! Otherwise they can bounce in transit and ruin your ways.

I've actually been looking for a surface grinder..........

 

[D.sebens]

wow...
I'll add a tip for the surface grinders, the tables are just held on by gravity. Take 4x4 or 6x6 wooden blocks to put between the table and the spindle. (Best if you can get it under the spindle and not the grinding wheel/spindle bearings/broken stone) Lower the spindles until they secure the table good! Otherwise they can bounce in transit and ruin your ways.

I've actually been looking for a surface grinder..........

Thanks for the tip! I plan on selling the two grinders and the horizontal mill out of this bunch. Too bad you are quite a ways away!

 

[Mill Lee farm]

Ill also add that if you’ve got a forklift you shouldn’t really have to disassemble the knee mill.

I had riggers pick up and deliver my mill and they didn’t even lower the head! Bolted it down to a heavy skid and strapped it. They just moved it around on the pallet!
Totally freaked me out but these guys have rigged for decades and weren’t bothered by my ‘tiny’ stuff…


Before anyone asks ‘why riggers’… it was a compressed timeline, I also got a 13x40 lathe, I would have had to rent everything including a trailer, this way I used no vacation and they were already emptying the entire entire printing shop for either relocation, shipping (sold) or scrap….

They had a small forklift. Nothing fancy at all

Good luck!

 

[jwmelvin]

If the grinders have roller ways, remove the table. Otherwise the rollers can indent the ways during transport. If they are plain ways, just secure. Dave tied the hand wheel with a rope when I bought his grinder and thank goodness he did as it stopped the table from flying off in a turn.

 

[Shotgun]

Totally freaked me out but these guys have rigged for decades and weren’t bothered by my ‘tiny’ stuff…

I've got stories about guys who've done it for years dumping valuable (several million) equipment on its face. Familiarity breeds complacency.

 

[Dabbler]

@FOMOGO I've moved them both ways. For a first-timer, it can be easier to move them with the ram off.

-- I agree it is not necessary. I've moved them more often fully assembled. (I prefer to remove the head, rather than turn it upside down, but that is just me. everybody's results may vary!)

 

[Mill Lee farm]

I've got stories about guys who've done it for years dumping valuable (several million) equipment on its face. Familiarity breeds complacency.

True enough.
Decades of experience doesn’t necessarily = competence.
And I don’t have enough experience moving big equipment to truly know what I should be worried about.

I can say they were very smooth operating the forklift. But it does all go wrong in a split second!

I was not implying disassembly isn’t needed. Everyone has their own method and comfort level. I only wanted to give a 1st hand example.

 

[woodchucker]

Do you think I need to remove the head? That’s another thing to strap down. Is lowering the knee and rotating the head enough?

How much do you guess the head weighs? Can two people lift it I assume its a hoisting operation

yes, for transport leave it all intact except vises, loose stuff. When deciding to go down the stairs, take it apart.
I would beef up your stair stringers with some vertical 2x4s with ply triangles tying it all together.
Then I would make ramps for bringing down pieces.
I have ramps that were supposed to be temporary, but after taking them apart and putting them up a bunch of times, I just leave them on the stairs. The wife doesn't mind. And we have used it to get furniture that I make up the stairs. I have a winch that I put at the top of the stairs and it controls the decent or ascent. I tried a hand cranked winch, and that was a disaster.

 

[D.sebens]

Got them home! Slight miscalculation though! We started trying to lift the southbend and my tractor doesnt have the power to! We are going to enlist the neighbors help tomorrow. He’s got enough machine to lift it!

 

[Dabbler]

I figure the SB surface grinder to be about 2600 lbs...

Nice get!! I hope your sale of the surplus machines goes super!