Need A Cost Effective Solution To Move My Lathe, Mill And Other Machinery

[gt40]

Well, that was quick- I sold the house in 2 weeks and now have to be out by June 30th. I am moving from Santa Monica to Bainbridge Island- 1000 miles roughly. Movers don't want to touch the 13x40 jet cnc lathe or the pm45 mill or my giant Agazzani bandsaw. If anyone has a good suggestion on cost effectively moving this stuff, it would be really appreciated.

 

[roadkillbobb]

try contacting a rigging company, they usually move heavy equipment or materials...good luck..

 

[Ed ke6bnl]

you will need to check with machine movers they are used all the time at Machine shop auctions. or call an auction company and see who they use to move there equipment movers. not cheap

 

[JimDawson]

If you have a tow vehicle, a U-Haul trailer would be a good option. If that's not the case, you could rent a truck from them also.

I might call a couple of local machinery dealers to see who they use to haul machines. Even if that doesn't provide a good answer, you may get a good lead on an independent trucker that specializes in hauling machines. A local rigging company would be a good resource. You may need to spend a bit of time on the phone, but I'll bet within an hour you can find someone that can do it.

 

[John_Dennis]

Get some heavy angle and bolt them to the bottom of the lathe to make a skid. It will make it very easy to move the lathe using old water pipe for rollers. Your best bet may be to find a way to ship it from a local business with a truck hight dock to a destination with a truck high dock. Businesses with regular freight pickup get much better rates for palletized cargo than individuals. Residential door to door is expensive because it is very time consuming for the delivery company. If you can get a business to work with you on each end, they can use their fork trucks to load your machines onto a rented drop deck trailer that you can take the machines home with.

Make your own pallets and be sure that they are smooth on the bottom so that you can use the 3/4 pipe rollers to move them when loading and unloading.

 

[aeroHAWK]

I moved two Series I Bridgeports, a Series II Bridgeport, a 13 x 38 Lathe, 6 x 12 Surface Grinder, and Logan Lathe, from Santa Rosa, CA, to Whidbey Island, WA.

I got some 4 x 6 lumber and bolted 4' or 5' lengths crosswise to the bottom of the machines. Using a pallet jack and fork lift I got them into a Budget rental truck (their biggest - 26,000 GVW). A pallet jack and fork lift got them off the truck.

In CA I could borrow a pallet jack and fork lift, In WA I rented them. The rental was $20 - $30 for the pallet jack and ~ $120 - $150 for the fork lift. The truck and fuel ~ $1,000. That was four years ago. You won't need that big of a truck.

 

[epanzella]

Bolt some angle irons to the bottom of your machines to widen the footprint, particularly the lathe. Add heavy castors to the angle iron, then just roll the machines onto a uhaul or flatbed. The castors will help you roll them around on the other end as well. Below is a picture of a wood version that I used to move new machines around to get them into my workshop.

 

[Doubleeboy]

If they were mine I would bolt them to a skid, then crate them for protection, then either rent a truck, or trailer or pay the fiddler and ship them common carrier. If you crate them using 5/8 plywood you make it a challenge for them to puncture the crate with a forklift fork. If you crate them with slats of wood you make it very easy for them to puncture box and damage your tools. If this seems like too much you could pay the price, hire a rigger at each end to move, prepare, crate and deliver to common carrier dock, then do the reverse when you get to BB Is. If I had to make a guess, having hired riggers and shipped tools, you are looking at up to $3000 total for riggers and shipping if you want some one else to do all the work.

michael

 

[Inflight]

If you need to leave any machines behind for a while (all summer), I have space in LB and they will be well taken care of.

 

[Andy Rafferty]

The Pod people helped me move 400 miles they shipped about 15k lbs of my shops, locomotive, rolling stock and metal. and stored it for almost a year while I finished the floor in the shop. The way the delivery driver's lift grunted when he set it at the house was priceless and he hung around out of dying curiosity. Even though they said no weight limit, I knew better and set all on stringers to span their lift points and blocked and braced everything. I'd use them again.