Machine Moving: Indiana To Mn

I've had good luck with machine skates. It takes forever to get it lifted 1/8inch at a time, then do the other side, one at a time.
The rollers we used in Indiana were 1/2inch.

If you use a tow truck be sure that the rig has controlled pay - out. As not all of them do.
The other factor is that while tow drivers have huge experience moving big and heavy things, the driver might not be experienced with lathes/mills/grinders which don't necessarily have a low center of gravity.

Consider always lowering knees, rotating heads, removing motors, etc. Anything to move the weight to the base of the item. And yes things can change in a flash.
Don't try to catch it as it rolls!!
Hiring a rigger, while expensive can be much less expensive than scraping you machine, or the injuries etc.

Daryl
 
I also have had good luck with machine skates, but lifting and lowering can be tedious as you mentioned. They are quite expensive to purchase, but pretty reasonable to rent, well worth the rental fee!
 
All in all it was a good team effort, not a hard headed guy in the group, and suggestions were weighed on merit and taken without egos in the way. earl was a great host, excellent mover too. I think we were extremely safe, and I never had a moment where my pucker factor went up at all. I will say moving bigearl's "little" shaper as the most work, but he made some wickded good jalepeno burgers that easily made up for it:encourage:. The L&S was only a 12" swing lathe... just like a clausing or southbend :rolleyes:. was great meeting everyone, and we should definitely do more meetups in the future
 
xalky said:
....even though it's more difficult to drag a heavy machine, its far safer than putting it up on rollers IMO. This is when a fork lift can be a lifesaver. Be safe out there.
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I agree about dragging. In most cases I don't like rollers under a machine that most of us would have to handle, especially on any kind of a slope. This is where friction is your friend. An anchor bolt in the floor and a come-a-long is a pretty good way to move a machine, slow and easy. It's that transition from the slope to the flat that will get you every time.

When we off-loaded Alloy's new Shizouka mill (about 5000#) in my shop, just the very shallow ramp on the drop deck trailer was a bit of an issue. The mill has wheels installed by a former owner, and even chained off to the forklift, it was still a bit dicey for that 2 foot section. I should have just picked it up rather than rolling it out of the trailer. With the wheels, it kind of had a mind of it's own. When we load it again, I will pick it up and set it in the trailer. I do admit that the wheels are nice, 3 of us were able to just push it into final position.

My preference for machine moving is a forklift rated for at least twice the machine weight, unfortunately this is not always possible in the home shop environment.
 
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