Moving a South Bend

I've moved SB 9" all by myself with no problem. If you use any lifting straps/device to move it, only loop around the webs inside the bed. NEVER allow a loop to even TOUCH the leadscrew, carriage, QCGB or headstock. When lifting, your strap should be as close to the headstock as possible (there is a web there). Use the carriage position to balance the lift.

Just remember that 98% of the weight is cast iron. If stress is put on CI, it will break, not bend.

Remove as much as you can before you move, such as tailstock, gear cover and most gears. If you find it still too heavy, you can even remove the headstock, too.
 
I’ve moved a few South Bends by myself. Very, very easy to strip down to lighter pieces. The models with Quick Change Gear Boxes a little bit harder because the lead screw and gears going into QCGB tend to be stuck on shaft after a while of use. Like usually 20 to 30 years. But...still easy as long as you are careful.
 
Mr Pete has a couple of videos documenting his disassembly and reassembly of a 10" Logan lathe for a move into his basement. Different brand and a little larger but the same basic principles. I found it quite useful when I got my 10x24 Powermatic all 950lbs of it. I had help loading it, but unloaded and got it into my basement mostly by myself. I removed everything but the headstock. Even pulled the spindle and gears.

An engine hoist and study cart are your friends.




Make sure you document and organize your parts during disassembly. Of course we all expect it will just take a day or two, in my case the lathe sat in pieces for 2-3 months before I finally got it moved in and reassembled. It could have been a lot of fun trying to figure it out if I hadn't kept things together and took some before photos.
 
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