Moving an Atlas Craftsman 101.07403 lathe

[ARC-170]

I'm going to be making a new workbench for my lathe and mill (the wife needs more room in the garage and I like to keep her happy), so I need to safely move my machine to a better spot. I have an engine lift and two straps. I've lifted the lathe before, but it tipped back and sideways because of the weight distribution. Scared the hell out of me! It was not cleaned up or fully assembled then, either. I'm concerned I will break something this time. I'm not sure a load balancer would work, though. However, I haven't tried it. It seems like I would need something that levels the load in two directions: left/right and front/back.
What is the safest way to move this so it doesn't tip? I only need to move the lathe about 20 feet over a level and smooth garage floor. It weighs about 350 lbs.

Any pictures of the strapping method would be great.

I found this from wa5cab.
If you have to do it by yourself, you should make a spreader bar from say a 4" by 1/2" flat bar or the equivalent in a "T" or two pieces of steel angle about 4 feet long. Rig up two choker straps or use one long one. Put the chokers around the headstock and the tailstock to keep the top-heavy lathe from turning over. Attach them to the ends of the spreader bar. With the carriage at the tailstock end of the bed, by test lifts, find the balance point for attaching the spreader to the hoist. If you need to move the lathe several feet, lift it enough to set it down on the hoist's legs until you have it in the final lifting position.

Is this the spreader bar? Making a simple one is an option as well, as long as there is no welding.


This would work, wouldn't it:


I think I can get the lathe balanced "left/right", but the motor and bracket stuff on the back still unbalances it from front to back; how do I solve this? I took the motor off and all the mounting hardware as well and it still tipped. Maybe get a third strap and attach that to lift the back? I'd have a triangle of straps instead of just two.

 

[mmcmdl]

ARC , I would think you and a buddy could simply push this lathe into position . My son and I are constantly moving the equipment around in the garage . Lathes , grinders , BPs . Once you get past that static friction stuff it slides pretty easily .

 

[Dhal22]

Steel erectors use spreaders to hoist massive steel roof framing. The concept works just be sure of the arrangement.

 

[ARC-170]

ARC , I would think you and a buddy could simply push this lathe into position . My son and I are constantly moving the equipment around in the garage . Lathes , grinders , BPs . Once you get past that static friction stuff it slides pretty easily .

I've tried that. It's currently on a sheet metal workbench. I've slid it and it bends the sheet metal. I can lift the whole bench onto some moving dollies and wheel that over, then slide the lathe off, but the new bench is higher than the old one by about 3". I'll still need to lift it. The last time I lifted just the lathe, the straps weren't long enough, it tipped and almost fell on me. Ugh! This time I'm doing it right.

It occurs to me I could lift one end at a time off the old bench on to the new and just go slow and be patient. I could get help as well, but it's so damn heavy and awkward! I thought I'd ask what others have done; no use re-inventing the wheel!

 

[Dhal22]

How about renting a 6x6 scaffolding with wheels and suspend it inside the scaffolding? Maybe 4 Come a Longs (1 on each corner) and lift it inside the scaffolding ever so slightly?

 

[mmcmdl]

I've had my share of lathes that didn't want to stay upright over the years also . I had to have a brew party years back to get my buddies to help return my first 17" to an upright position . Slow and steady these days .

 

[Dhal22]

How about renting a 6x6 scaffolding with wheels and suspend it inside the scaffolding? Maybe 4 Come a Longs (1 on each corner) and lift it inside the scaffolding ever so slightly?

Heavy scaffolding.. The lower section of this photo.

 

[middle.road]

How far does it have to go and over what type of surface?
The following is based on a smooth floor and requires (2) persons... (and if the floor is nicely epoxied, discontinue reading...)
I moved my 1440 on large teflon pads to get it into place. With the way the cabinet is I couldn't roll it on pipes, well you could but only short distances at a time.
We had it at the front of the garage and then I pried it up with a pseudo johnson bar and Honey placed the 6" pads on the four corners.
Then pushed and sometimes leveraged it with the tamping bar to move it ~12 feet.
Left a couple of scratch marks on the concrete though with the bar, but it slid pretty easily.
Always keep it as low and level to the floor as possible.

 

[Radials]

I have moved my enco 13x40 a number of times before getting it situated into place in my garage. I too have only used an engine hoist and some lifting straps to do the job. This is over 1000 lbs and I've always been able to get the balance right while its just a few inches off whatever it previously was resting on. In the pictures here the chuck is still on but you could make sure yours is removed to lower the center of gravity a little more and reduce the weight on the already heavy head stock end. My tail stock was removed for this reason. Also my lathe didn't have the motor attached when I lifted it here as you mentioned yours wasn't either. The straps are positioned on either side of the carriage and its locked to prevent it from slipping. Naturally I would recommend doing whatever feels safest to you, but I think it could be done maybe if you got yourself a couple longer straps.




Another option could be to leave it attached to the sheet metal work bench and lift the lathe and the bench together as one with your hoist. As low as you can on the work bench put some ballast to lower the center of gravity. Get it in position and then you just need to lift the lathe onto its new base. I don't have any pictures of moving my older smaller lathe but that is how I would move it, with the bench attached and the lathe rigged like in the pictures above so that the base acted like a counter balance.

 

[Dhal22]

I have moved my enco 13x40 a number of times before getting it situated into place in my garage. I too have only used an engine hoist and some lifting straps to do the job. This is over 1000 lbs and I've always been able to get the balance right while its just a few inches off whatever it previously was resting on. In the pictures here the chuck is still on but you could make sure yours is removed to lower the center of gravity a little more and reduce the weight on the already heavy head stock end. My tail stock was removed for this reason. Also my lathe didn't have the motor attached when I lifted it here as you mentioned yours wasn't either. The straps are positioned on either side of the carriage and its locked to prevent it from slipping. Naturally I would recommend doing whatever feels safest to you, but I think it could be done maybe if you got yourself a couple longer straps.

View attachment 310193
View attachment 310194

Another option could be to leave it attached to the sheet metal work bench and lift the lathe and the bench together as one with your hoist. As low as you can on the work bench put some ballast to lower the center of gravity. Get it in position and then you just need to lift the lathe onto its new base. I don't have any pictures of moving my older smaller lathe but that is how I would move it, with the bench attached and the lathe rigged like in the pictures above so that the base acted like a counter balance.

View attachment 310195

Beautiful.