I have to move my 1236

MikeWi

MikeWi

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I'm moving to Pittsburgh soon, and that means moving my 1236 lathe back up the basement stairs. I'm not looking forward to that. I'm thinking that It will help immensely to reduce the weight by removing the motor and the headstock from the ways. Bonus, I get to learn how to align the headstock! yay. Any thoughts on doing this? At least it will be at ground level at the new place!
 
I moved mine twice before I sold it. I broke it down the way it shipped to me and built a pallet to mount it onto. It was stable that way and not too difficult to slide around. I didn't have stairs to navigate though. Good luck on the move.
 
Whatever you need to do to be safe. Personally, I'd try to avoid removing the head stock, but it's not uncommon. I removed the head stock of my old Rockwell 10 x 36 lathe and didn't have too much trouble realigning it.

I'd brace the top of the stringers of your stairs with 4x4's down to the basement floor (vertical columns) as you might be exceeding what dimensional lumber and 16D's can hold. Would hate to see your stairs or worse yet one side come off the 1st floor deck and dump things 8' to the floor.

I moved an Atlas 12 x 36 and Rockwell 10 x 36 out of the basement of my old house. I pulled the motors, tail stock and the carriage. Left the head stock and bed together. I made a plank out of two 2x12x16' as a ramp that set directly on the stairs. Made a couple of side brackets from angle iron and ran a 3/4" rod of steel between the angle, turned down at the ends to fit loosely into a couple of 1/2" holes in the angle (3/4" rod became an axle). That was at the top of the ramp. Made a cart out of 2x4s and plywood with casters on the bottom. Then screwed a buddies 12V truck winch to the floor and hauled everything up by myself. The cable ran over the 3/4" steel rod at the top, kept the cable from chewing up the plank. On top of the lathes, I brought up a Jet JVM-830 mill (900 lbs.), Grizzly mill/drill (700 lbs.), Craftsman drill press and some other woodworking tools that were under 100 lbs. Also brought up an 8' slate pool table (3 pieces at ~150 lbs. each). I have three 10' lengths of roller conveyor too. Use that to maneuver things out into the garage once they were on the 1st floor.

More detail than you asked for, just reliving my move in 1991 . . . Repeating, I'd try to avoid removing the head stock, but whatever you need to do to stay safe. You'll enjoy having a shop on the first floor.

Bruce
 
LOL Good idea, but no, that's not what's happening. Just doing a sanity check.
 
When I moved my 12X36 (750 lbs, 200 lb stand) from my old house 25 years ago. I hired a machinery moving company to do it, and they charged me $150 for 2 miles, but it was money well spent... I've moved lots of mills and lathes since, but I kinda stay away from stairs.

I will have to move a larger lathe up some stairs someday soon, and I'll be getting a hotshot crane truck with a swivel head to drag it up the stairs for me. It is just over 3000 lbs total; 1200 lbs in the bed, and the rest in the headstock and apron.

Some questions on your move: How much does it weigh fully assembled? Does it have an integral base, or is it on a stand? Do you have a safe winching point and a straight pull, or do you have to go around corners?

All these things contribute to my next point: have a plan. If you don't have a movement plan, you have a good chance of having a problem.

BTW: On some lathes, it is easier to take off the carriage than the headstock, and no realignment issues.
 
You are about to find, as many have over the years, that it is an order of magnitude more difficult to move something into a basement than out of it.

What I mean is when gravity is working to help you it creates 10 times less work than when you are working against it. I had to break down my lathe and mill to get them into the basement and it was difficult. I suspect I will find a need to break them down further to get them out.
 
I agree completely. That's why the crane. 6 guys took it down the stairs, and needs a 5 ton crane to get it back out.
 
There was a house near me that sold recently, It was listed as a mechanics dream house as the Bridgeport in the basement stayed with the house. It sold pretty quick.

I have a Tree 2UVR mill @3400 lbs, a 1340 lathe at 1100 lbs and a surface grinder at 1500 lbs in the basement. They all came around 2 90° corners and down the stairs. If they ever have to come out it will be the same way.

I built a ramp out of 2 2x12s laid flat at a shallower angle than the stairs, and then built braces to spread the load to every stair evenly and finally covered the whole thing with 3/4 ply to further spread the load. In the hallway on the 1st floor I also covered the whole floor so the the casters would not break thru the narrow floor boards.
I then ran a 12,000 lb working strength cable through the house and down the steps to the machines, the other end of the cable went out a window and to the hitch on my full size 4x4 pickup truck. I had the shop crane just outside of the window with a snatch block to hold the cable off the window sill.
I welded up a dolly with four 4" swivel casters that I bolted the mill to. For the other machines I just bolted two 2x12s to the dolly to act as adapters for the other machines.

A big thing to pay attention to is that as the machines tilt coming up the ramp the center of gravity moves toward the down hill side, so make sure that the machine is moving with the heavy side at the top so that it does not tip on the way up, also make sure that your attachment points are both high and low to help keep it stable.

As long as you plan everything ahead of time and try to think of everything that can go wrong and plan for that, It should be a nice boring move.

All three times it worked slick as can be. The mill was the first piece so it was a bit of a learning curve. it tried to cock sideways half way down the ramp. The truck was already in 4 LO and absolutly no problem pulling the mill back up for a second try.
 
I used to have a post here of how I moved it into the house but it seems to be gone now. I'm thinking I'll just move it back up the way I took it down, but better. I originally winched it down the stairs on a ramp. It will be harder to pull it up, but I think we'll manage.

"As long as you plan everything ahead of time and try to think of everything that can go wrong and plan for that, It should be a nice boring move."
That's how I approach anything like this, and why I'm asking what may seem to be an obvious question. No assumptions. :)
 
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