- Joined
- Jan 22, 2012
- Messages
- 655
Well my new lathe arrived last night. I had ordered a lift gate delivery and specified a "short" truck so he could fit up my driveway but they showed up with a pretty big truck. I am in Oregon near Portland and we are getting some pretty bad weather right now so I had really hoped the truck would show up before dark. He ended up getting there a half hour late, 4:30, and of course the rain was just pelting down and it was getting dark. After negotiating the turn from the main road onto our driveway he had no trouble getting up to my house but that's when the fun began. I actually have a lot of room between the shop and the house to maneuver in but it was now dark and the driver hadn't been there before so it required several tries to bet the truck turned around and jockeyed in front of the access door. At one point in this mess the truck got off the gravel and into the muddy field and wasn't moving, just digging down. I was seriously worried at this point we would have to get a tow truck to get him back on the gravel. I dug around his drive tires to form a ramp and we gave her hell and just got it out. Lucky he was pointed down hill at the time so gravity could do it's thing. Finely the truck was positioned in front of the door and we could just get the lift gate to reach the shop floor. Then the driver discovered that his pallet jack wouldn't fit the crate as it was too low and it was also wedged into the corner restricting access. I wasn't about to give up at that point so I found a piece of steel tubing and some blocking and we managed to raise the crate enough to get his pallet jack under it. I was on the ground by the lift gate when he was getting the lathe onto the gate when the lathe tilted and started to slide off toward the floor. I thought for sure I was a dead man at that point but he got the jack lowered and the crate on the lift gate just in time. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I was so glad when the lathe was safe on the floor. I was soaking wet from the rain but happy to be alive and in one piece. I got the crate opened up today and everything looks good except I couldn't find the VFD anywhere. I called PM and my name was down for a VFD but it was never shipped so that will be a few more days getting here. I didn't get any pictures of the delivery since most of it was in the dark and pouring rain. I'll try to get a pic of the hole in the mud where the truck was almost stuck. He was off the gravel into the field by at least 3 or 4 feet. Looking at it I can't believe we got it out without a tow truck. Dodged a bullet there. I'll update this thread as I get the lathe up and running.
Happy to hear everything worked out.
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