Moving heavy machines

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MusicMan

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I have often noted people posting that they would like to buy a heavy secondhand cast-iron machine but don't have enough people to move it into their workshop. I love old machines and have so far installed two Boley lathes (100 Kg and 200 Kg) and an Arboga miller (300 kg) in the garage at the front of the house and a Wadkin saw (250 Kg) in the workshop at the end of the garden, so I thought I'd share some experience. I am no weightlifting superman but a moderately fit 75 yr old retired academic engineer, and usually can't call on any strong relatives, friends or neighbours.

The first thing to remember is that one almost never has to lift the full weight of the tool. If part of it is still resting on the ground, or on the edge of the car/van floor, the weight one has to lift is roughly halved - hence 'walking' a machine is much easier than lifting it.

Next is that machines disassemble! The 200 kg lathe took apart into pieces that I could just about lift alone, and very easily with a hoist. Taking the top off the Wadkin saw made it much easier to move, and it could be disassembled much further.

A simple trolley made from 25 mm ply and heavy castors (shown in the pictures) is invaluable. With this the seller and I moved a 200 kg lathe, in pieces, from his garden to my car out front, through his living room, with his wife watching and on guard!

Also shown is a small hydraulic lift. I looked at engine hoists at first, but these are quite expensive, very bulky and difficult to store. The white one in the background of the first picture is an Oxford invalid hoist. These are compact and manoeuvrable as they are intended to navigate round furniture. This one cost £80 on eBay, and came with a 300 lb test certificate and has been invaluable. I rarely use it to lift a tool straight up but have done on occasion, and for reassembling and aligning heavy machines it makes a world of difference.

To do this safely I suggest a few guidelines (still at your own risk!)

1. Never put body parts under or in the falling trajectory of anything heavy!
2. Wear steel-tipped safety shoes.
3. Use proper nylon slings. 1m or 2m slings rated for 1 or 2 tons are cheap on eBay, and rope is often surprisingly weak.
4. Don't be in a hurry, but think through the next move. In particular, think where the machine will end up if it slips or tilts from your ideal arrangement.
5. Use ramps to negotiate steps. If necessary, build a ramp before starting to move the machine.
6. If something is clearly still beyond the efforts of you and your pals, get the machine shipped by pallet delivery (surprisingly cheap) hire a small removal firm (man with a van) for a couple of hours to move it from your drive into your workshop. These guys are immensely strong, have the equipment and know how to move stuff. Call and explain what you want to do.

Of course I am just looking at heavy 'hobby' equipment rather than industrial machines. But there are specialist movers who will handle even these, if you really want that 2 ton super capacity machine. I hope this will stop some people being put off by the thought of installing a machine that is too heavy for them to lift.

An estate car with a lipless boot is strongly recommended!

Anyone else have moving tips to share?
 

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If I can, I always make sure my heavy machines have wheels on - or use rollers.

When moving heavy lumps of stuff, I find that this stone age technology works well - I keep a few short lengths of scaffolding tube and some scaff boards to make rollers and a track to roll them on. Using this method I can push a 200Kg Rayburn stove around with one finger, or move a 2 tonne shipping container almost as easily.

Cheers, W2S
 
MusicMan":1n95qw9t said:
I am no weightlifting superman but a moderately fit 75 yr old.... The 200 kg lathe took apart into pieces that I could just about lift alone

Caught you out in a fib there, because you clearly are a weightlifting superman!

Seriously, that's an excellent post, and the very best of luck with your lathes!
 
Many years ago when I worked at an engineering firm the way we used to move machinery around was with a long crow bar to jack one end or corner up and slide roll bars or moving skates underneath or if possible a hydraulic pallet truck.
 
Yes, it worked for the Egyptians! I like the idea of short scaff tubes. Pallet trucks are great but not so suitable for amateurs. If I have that much space to store one, I want to put another machine there!

Here's how the lathes and miller ended up, in the single garage. At the far end is the bench for working on musical instruments (hence my moniker).
 

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round scarf tubes or round timber posts work very well. heavy duty dollies are invaluable and can be made very cheaply with off the shelf parts from screwfix.
For a simple dolly you need the following;
1. lump of wood with hole drilled through the centre to take the 'axle' for the wheels.
2. Two suitable wheels with a decent weight rating and preferably non-pneumatic tyres.
3. suitably sized threaded metal rod for the axle (needs to fit snugly through the centre of the wheels).
4. two or four lock nuts to secure wheels onto threaded axle.

To make it;
Drill hole through lump of wood.
Slide axle through hole.
Slide wheels onto axle on each side of the lump of wood.
Put lock nuts on to secure wheels in place without over tightening (the wheels need to turn lol).

You then have a simple lifting aid which is brilliant for moving heavy panels, tools, machines. You can even screw larger boards on top of it to create a larger area to put something on. They are infinitely useful things, take minutes to make, cost very little and can save your back from ruin.

Happy Humping :D
 
Just a short related rant set off by the OP's comment about an estate car with low lip/flat bed. I'm looking to replace a 13 year old Golf estate and it seems that NOONE now makes an economical, square-backed estate car with a low lip. They are all "sport-styled", with steeply sloping backs that restrict the volume, swoopy curves everywhere so that rear side windows are a joke etc. etc. :evil:
 
dickm":u8es53bi said:
Just a short related rant set off by the OP's comment about an estate car with low lip/flat bed. I'm looking to replace a 13 year old Golf estate and it seems that NOONE now makes an economical, square-backed estate car with a low lip. They are all "sport-styled", with steeply sloping backs that restrict the volume, swoopy curves everywhere so that rear side windows are a joke etc. etc. :evil:


Totally agree...estate cars are getting worse with each new edition having a smaller cabin thanthe last.. all sporty design styling guff...the low profile roof rails are also particularly rubbish. (hammer)

With regards to moving heavy lumps, we disassemble as much as possible and use an old bakery dolly to wheel about :D

Jim
 
dickm":1zc95fp2 said:
it seems that NOONE now makes an economical, square-backed estate car with a low lip.
Go back to your VW dealer and look at a Passat estate. Very low lip, huge flat load space, low depreciation and dirt cheap to run and insure.
 
jimmy rivers":3i59utzs said:
dickm":3i59utzs said:
Just a short related rant set off by the OP's comment about an estate car with low lip/flat bed. I'm looking to replace a 13 year old Golf estate and it seems that NOONE now makes an economical, square-backed estate car with a low lip. They are all "sport-styled", with steeply sloping backs that restrict the volume, swoopy curves everywhere so that rear side windows are a joke etc. etc. :evil:


Totally agree...estate cars are getting worse with each new edition having a smaller cabin thanthe last.. all sporty design styling guff...the low profile roof rails are also particularly rubbish. (hammer)

With regards to moving heavy lumps, we disassemble as much as possible and use an old bakery dolly to wheel about :D

Jim

Get yourself a Ford Focus Mk1 estate - bloody brilliant cars. I'm on my 3rd one (an X reg) and wouldn't have anything else for work. Cost £350.

Cheers

Karl
 
Karl":1l76e9wi said:
jimmy rivers":1l76e9wi said:
dickm":1l76e9wi said:
Just a short related rant set off by the OP's comment about an estate car with low lip/flat bed. I'm looking to replace a 13 year old Golf estate and it seems that NOONE now makes an economical, square-backed estate car with a low lip. They are all "sport-styled", with steeply sloping backs that restrict the volume, swoopy curves everywhere so that rear side windows are a joke etc. etc. :evil:


Totally agree...estate cars are getting worse with each new edition having a smaller cabin thanthe last.. all sporty design styling guff...the low profile roof rails are also particularly rubbish. (hammer)

With regards to moving heavy lumps, we disassemble as much as possible and use an old bakery dolly to wheel about :D

Jim

Get yourself a Ford Focus Mk1 estate - bloody brilliant cars. I'm on my 3rd one (an X reg) and wouldn't have anything else for work. Cost £350.

Cheers

Karl

Couldn't agree more. Had two myself and I just treated them as van with windows.

As for moving heavy machinery once on a smoothish surface I find small diameter bolts (10mm) with their heads cut off make great rollers and such a small lift to get them in. I move my 1000 kg Felder from time to time with just these and a good pry bar
 
Excellent post, Musicman. And you're not that far away from me and so I know who to tap for help when I need something heavy moving :wink: :D

If rolling stuff I also recommend buying some cheap shuttering ply to put on top of the ground if it is soft/gravelly/stony as small wheels will sink/jam/fall into a hole. You only need two sheets or even one sheet cut in half if your item is small, and then leapfrog them past each other as you go.
 
When I first started moving lumps of old cast all I had was a block and tackle and some small gauge round tube which often got flattened by the 1100kg I was moving. I would resort to greasing lengths of timber and dragging said machine. Because I like to mess with industrial lumps I think the best thing I got was a hand pallet truck.
One piece of advice which music man touched on was don't be in a hurry, don't allow any helpers to rush things and go all gung ho. I prefer to move machines by myself and think about the best coarse of action. I once got a machine delivered by a pallet courier and it got delivered on top of a couple of crappy pallets. The courier guy offered to help and before I new it things went pair shaped.



I felt sick when I saw it running away and falling over, luckily only a broken motor casing and a small casting broke but it could of been something irreplaceable like the tables. I felt rushed and so could not sit down and assess how best to move it. I have moved something like 25 heavy lumps and the only time stuff has gone wrong is when some one is 'helping'.
 
I worked in an industry where we had super precision optical gear to move - it was heavy because it was big and had
to be ultra rigid and stable. These devices cost upward of £50,000.

The lesson I learnt was - moving heavy objects is all about planning. You do NOT improvise.

BugBear
 
Very true, Wallace and Bugbear. I worked in a similar industry, X-ray instrumentation, with very expensive equipment, and I learned a lot from watching how Intel, a major customer, moved our stuff in to their clean rooms. Never be in a hurry, think the plan and the route and the pitfalls through carefully. When moving the saw, I set objectives such as: "This morning I will get it out of the car and onto the dolly". This afternoon I will get it from the front of the house to the back". "Today I will move the saw four inches vertically onto its timber stand".

Intel would require us to ship a 2 tonne precision instrument from UK to Oregon and arrive at their loading bay within a half-hour window. We had previously sent them all drawings, dimensions, weights, attachment points, centres of gravity and even earthquake-resistance calculations. In turn they were ready with a crew, all equipment, a route and a plan and at that point we could sit back and relax. They would have it slotted into the clean room within a couple of hours, including stripping off the triple-wrap clean room protection wrapping in three stages in areas of increasing cleanliness.

The ply for soft ground is a great tip, Roger.
 
The centre of gravity reminded me of when what was involved when Brown Root were designing oil-drilling platforms. The overall design had been roughed out but the engineers, metallurgists, electrical - in fact, all the teams involved in the design of an oil platform - now had to turn that into detailed plans. Each guy had a bar-coded In/Out tray and each morning he'd have stuff to do scanned in to his In tray and there was a deadline to turn it round and scan it back out. No pressure then. Each items location and weight was entered into an Excel spreadsheet and the sole output was a single sheet with a box and a cross somewhere within it. That was the overall CoG of the entire platform and as long as that cross remained in the box then all was good.

And then along would come the metallurgists and say 'We can't guarantee the weld on something that thick so you need to make the tank larger'. Which had a knock-on effect on the piping. Which had a knock-on effect on the electrical conduits. No pressure, then.
 
When moving heavy, large objects, plan route, measure object, measure route, re-plan route.
Used to make measuring gauges for the motor industry, our size limit was the door out into the yard!
If someone other than Barry, the oldest member of the buying team ordered the box, then much more time was allowed to get the box out.
Unpack, exit, repack.
Got quite good at eyeing up lorries, for fit. Not all were as tall as the driver thought.
It's time, thought, method, and equipment. Remember Stonehenge was built, without a JCB.

Bod
 
Bod":128e0shd said:
Remember Stonehenge was built, without a JCB.
And early in the 19th century, the head gardener at the Edinburgh botanic garden moved all the mature trees (up to 30 feet+ tall and with multi-tonne rootballs) from the old garden site across residential Edinburgh to the current site, with just human power and horses.
 
When I took delivery of my Sedgwick planer, I used lengths of broom-stick as 'Roman-Rollers', to get it into the shop. Twenty odd years ago now. It's still on the rollers.
I keep meaning to make a proper trolley for it, but in fact the machine is already in the only sensible place for it. I need only move it a couple of feet 'fore and aft' along the garage; depending on the length of whatever I wish to plane and thickness. As I rarely make anything longer than six to eight feet, it's okay.

But I really would like a nice set of wheels for it!

Hmmmm. Now how can I do this job! :lol:

John
 

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