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B&S 618 Micromaster Footprint and Transportation Tips

BugRobotics

Stainless
Joined
Jun 22, 2015
Location
Denver, CO
Just purchased a 6x18 Micromaster and would like to know the machine's footprint and any tips for transport. Not seeing any relevant info regarding the footprint in the manual I found on VintageMachinery. Attempting to get a machinery mover to take care of the move but would like to hear about any others adventures with transporting themselves and lessons learned. Thanks!
 
Was it the one I told you about with Jackson? The B&S MMs are great machines, but kind of a PITA to jockey 'round. They sit on a kinematic footprint, and are VERY tippy. The head, column, and saddle all move on the base and they're heavier than they look. Just be careful and aware of these things and you should be okay. Past that, the usual rules about moving SGs apply fairly standardly. Good luck and congrats!
 
Was it the one I told you about with Jackson? The B&S MMs are great machines, but kind of a PITA to jockey 'round. They sit on a kinematic footprint, and are VERY tippy. The head, column, and saddle all move on the base and they're heavier than they look. Just be careful and aware of these things and you should be okay. Past that, the usual rules about moving SGs apply fairly standardly. Good luck and congrats!

No, but after you recommended them I found one down the road from me and jumped on it. Thanks for the info.
 
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Set the table locks so the table is locked at center. Lower wheel head to set wheel (or spindle nose) on a wood block. lift straight up and slide trailer under.. Don't try to hi-low around. Be sure travel oil pot are full. Hand spin spindle a number of times before fire up if it has been setting any time. In good condition one of the very best surface grinders.
Good idea to jog start any grinder spindle even if setting one day IMHO.
 
Set the table locks so the table is locked at center. Lower wheel head to set wheel (or spindle nose) on a wood block. lift straight up and slide trailer under.. Don't try to hi-low around. Be sure travel oil pot are full. Hand spin spindle a number of times before fire up if it has been setting any time. In good condition one of the very best surface grinders.
Good idea to jog start any grinder spindle even if setting one day IMHO.

Thanks for the info!
 
Anyone have the footprint dimensions? Dimensions from the front/back to the two locations where forks would enter in from the bottom would be helpful. The rigger is asking and I don't have the machine in front of me. Thanks again.

618 Micromaster Footprint Dimensions.jpg
 
I like to put a board on forks (so to avoid steel on steel) and lift a machine about 1 inch up then think and consider if safe.. often pinch bar up on wood blocks if needing height to get forks under..seems we lifted such from rear.
Just from memory seems about 35 inches deep. but likely some one can measure.
 
I helped move a 12 x 24 MM surface grinder. That machine had shipping bolts for the column. You parked the column in the correct spot and put the bolts in to clamp the column to the base. That way when you brought the spindle down to clamp the table in place you diden't lift the column off its ways.
I don't know if the smaller machines have that feature but you need to make sure the column and table are secure.
 
I've got a manual for one at the shop. I'll check in the morning.

I was just working on a trio of auto feed 618s. New in 1960ish, in constant use in a tool room ever since. Cross feed half nuts on all three were worn completely out. Seemed like a cheesy design. The nut pop up under hydraulic pressure when the auto feed is engaged. That means you really only have one half of a proper half nut.
 
Secure the Table!!! I get to tell my story again... Moved my shop in 1995... Went to great lengths to secure the arms on the Deckel Pantograph, as well a putting the BP mill and Hardinge HLV-H back on the shipping pallets I had saved.. The one error I made was not securing the table on a Covel OD/ID grinder. I made the turn at the bottom of the hill 200 feet from the old shop, and heard an awful noise.. Looked in the mirror and saw a grinder table sticking through the side of the box truck.. GMC TopKick Diesel truck with only 600 miles on the odometer, and a huge hole punched through the side of the box.. I had bought the 15 dollar a day waiver, the good folks at Ryder laughed and said not to worry...
 
You fork these from the side. Spacing is standard pallet jack size. 1/4-3/8 inch shims are needed on those holes in the back/middle side.
The column is not attached to the base so the usual block to table does not work, it simply jacks the column in the air and bends the in/out screw.
The column must be strapped down before blocking the table.
Since we rearrange the cells for different batch sizes and product I'd guess I have moved this type machine 1000 times.
You know you are loony when a job setup involves moving the machines.
Bob
 
I've helped Dee moving his one. Here is his thread.
Unfortunately, I do not remember too many details. The seller loaded it with a fork lift. We rested the casting of the spindle on wood blocks and strapped down in a way to hold down the table and column, trying to avoid putting any stress on the cross-slide screw.
Dee rented a fork lift at his place requesting for long forks, to simplify unloading from the trailer. If I recall correctly, in order to pick it up from the side you need a minimum o 48" fork length.
This is the detail I completely forgot: I believe that, if you need to pick it up from the front with the forks, you need to place a piece of hardwood side-wise in the "fork pocket" toward the rear of the machine.

Sorry, I didn't take enough pictures.

Paolo
 
Thanks to everyone for the valuable info. I'll head over to the machine today and gather some dimensions. I'll post them here when I get back for anyone else needing them in the future. Thanks again.
 
Got the machine safely home yesterday. The rigger I called (a self-proclaimed former professional btw) was ho-humming about the difficulty so I went it alone.

Pre-loading and loading onto trailer:
  1. Lifted the machine with a forklift from the front and placed it on a pallet that was reinforced with 3/4" plywood
  2. Blocked in the machine at the base so it couldn't shift on the pallet
  3. Strapped the column to the base with a pair of small straps
  4. Strapped the entire machine to the pallet with a large strap
  5. Moved the spindle to the front of the chuck
  6. Locked the X-axis table with a strap
  7. Placed the spindle lightly on a piece of wood
  8. Using a forklift, the machine was placed onto the trailer
  9. The machine was strapped to the trailer using opposing straps around the base-column interface

Unloading from the trailer:
  1. A pallet jack was arranged underneath the pallet
  2. Two sets of straps were used to prevent the machine from sliding down the trailer more than 6 inches at a time
  3. The pallet was lifted only slightly so that there was a constant drag on the trailer bed (steel diamond plate) to prevent accelerations
  4. When the straps were tight the pallet was lowered to the trailer bed and the straps were adjusted for another 6 inches of travel.
  5. This was repeated until the pallet was safely on the ground.

I should note that the trailer sloped downward and my drive is sloped the opposite direction so the trailer met up nicely with the drive. The way it was unloaded went well and felt safe but I attribute that to preventing any excessive accelerations, taking it slowly and having someone help with the pallet jack as I adjusted straps and pushed the machine down the trailer (remember there was constant drag on the pallet). Anyone attempting this should be confident in the loads weight, be aware of quality and load rating of the straps to prevent excess movement, use proper anchor points and prevent accelerations every step of the way. It took around an hour to inch worm the machine off of the trailer. I have included a drawing of the unloading scenario (always forget to take pics of the setups while I'm in the moment) as well as the machine footprint dimensions. Thanks for everyone's input!

Unloading the Grinder without a forklift.jpgB&S 618 Surface Grinder Footprint.jpg

EDIT: In the future I would have rearranged the pallet jack to the opposite side as there was really no reason to have it downstream from the load.
 








 
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