Moving a 12,000 lbs. Lathe

alskdjfhg · Jan 2, 2014

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/antique-machinery-history/moving-my-new-lathe-274537/\
We got the lathe turned around and moved out of the corner where it was, and pulled about 100 ft. to the shop door. The lathe is waiting for the truck driver to come and move it to its new home tomorrow.
I took a video of us making the 90 degree turn, but when I went to upload it to youtube, I gave up because of the outrageous load time. So the only pictures of the move are the ones of us placing the skids under the lathe. I will take lots up pictures of the lathe being winched onto the truck instead of a video.

The skids are 4 layers of 3/4 in plywood, this was plenty strong on the tailstock end, but a bit light for the headstock.

We had to swing the tailstock out, the pic in the second post shows how far we moved it, to do this my Dad and I just pushed the lathe by ourselves. But when we tried to pull the lathe straight, we couldn't do it. The people that were working in the shop offered to help us with a little 5,000 lb. forklift. We used the forklift to pull and to lift the lathe so we could reset the skates. The forklift handed the tailstock end fine, but strained tremendously when lifting the headstock.

After this we just pulled it straight through an isle way for about 100 ft. This was actually the hardest part because the skates went crazy when they hit the smallest of divots in the floor. And we had to really work to keep the skates in the right direction. This was what the video was about but I don't think I will be able to upload it.

All in all the move went pretty smooth and every thing worked out.

alskdjfhg · Jan 2, 2014

Over flow pictures.

Mike C. · Jan 2, 2014

Sorry, I got distracted by that small HBM in the background! droooollll.

ButchC · Jan 2, 2014

Nice lathe! but if it was me I'd get that sky high drive taken down before it went an inch further. Lathes are so easy to tip over it cant be believed,, until you see it happen.

Mike, I just got my 25T G&L HBM going two days ago, cant wait to bore a hole!

4GSR · Jan 2, 2014

Mike C. said:
Sorry, I got distracted by that small HBM in the background! droooollll.

Yea, me too! And that small Blanchard there in the picture, too!

OH, Who's that in the STATOIL coveralls?

alskdjfhg · Jan 2, 2014

There is alot of old manual machine tools in this shop, they don't use any of it. In another corner of the shop, there is a VDF lathe that swings about 5ft. And across from where this lathe sat, there was a big Cincinnati-Bickford RA drill that had a 14in column.
The reason they are getting rid of this lathe is because the old guy that ran it, left.

The guy in the STATOIL coveralls is my Dad.

4GSR · Jan 2, 2014

alskdjfhg said:
The guy in the STATOIL coveralls is my Dad.

We now know who did all of the work!!!

Where's my son when I need him?

alskdjfhg · Jan 3, 2014

4GSR said:
We now know who did all of the work!!!

Where's my son when I need him?

Well somebody's got to hold the camera.

Our normal work arrangement is that we take turns on the jack, the lathe went up and down about a dozen times before we got the skates and skids under it.

Mud · Jan 3, 2014

Nice job. Good Idea on the layers of plywood for skids, I hadn't thought of that.

Those crawler skates are the worst. I have a set and don't like them. I haven't seen a rigger use them in years.

alskdjfhg · Jan 3, 2014

We got the lathe moved from the shop to it's semi-permanent home.
We used a car type tilt bed truck to move the lathe, the weight was okay but the lathe was about too long for the truck. I am not going to use the trucker that I used ever again, because due to his arrogance in listening to a 16 year old kid (me) he nearly dropped the lathe over the side of the trailer. He also did not use the truck winch to slow the lathe's decent, and there was a slick spot on the bed so the lathe slid uncontrolled for about 5-10 ft. What stopped the lathe was the fact the the tailstock end dug into the ground.
Here is a quick video of the loading the lathe.
Loading a 12,000 lb Lathe on a Tilt Bed Trailer - YouTube

johnoder · Jan 3, 2014

Thanks Matt - I'll scratch them off the tilt bed / roll back list.

alskdjfhg · Jan 3, 2014

Don't ask about the hard hats, they were required by the shop owner. This is how we made the 90 degreee turn.
Moving a 12,000 lb Lathe on Rollers - YouTube

rustyironism · Jan 3, 2014

Nice Job.
Don't fret too much about perceptions of others that you are "only 16".
You obviously have experience and genetics on your side.

The truck driver may just be arrogant to everyone.
I have known adults that I wouldn't let move a shopping cart....

The best part is that in 5 or 6 years, when you are 50 (Rip Van Winkle was NOT fiction...), you'll see the youngsters do as well, or better, than you..

Looking forward to seeing first chips off that beautiful lathe.
Mike

alskdjfhg · Jan 3, 2014

If anyone is interested, I have more detailed pics of the lathe going up the truck and I also took another video about unloading the lathe.
The first of the attached pictures shows how the foot dug into the ground.
The second is how we left it for the night, we were in a hurry so we will do a better job of covering it up later.

And about the truck driver; he is not the first person that treated me in that way, but we got it moved regardless, so it doesn't matter.

Nella · Jan 4, 2014

When I move equipment on a hard surface I use about 3" pipe aprox. 4ft long to roll it on, angle the pipe in the direction of travel and it will turn the lathe as you move it. It would take 4 pieces of pipe, two for the head stock and 2 for the tail stock and as the first piece of pipe is about to come out of the back end of the base put the next piece of pipe down on the front side if the base. When the 20" L&S came off the rollback it was set on the pipes and took the skidsteer and rolled it diagonal across a 10" wide ditch and into position with ease.

alskdjfhg · Jan 4, 2014

BTW, what jobs would that Blanchard grinder be good for, I understand what a Blanchard grinder is, I just can't think of a way to use it.

johnoder · Jan 4, 2014

Wonderful for getting both sides of plate burnouts reasonably flat and parallel

alskdjfhg said:
BTW, what jobs would that Blanchard grinder be good for, I understand what a Blanchard grinder is, I just can't think of a way to use it.

alskdjfhg · Jan 4, 2014

Would it be a machine worth trying to mess with?

4GSR · Jan 4, 2014

Don't look at a gift horse in the mouth! Take it if offered to you! Figure out what to do with it later.

This is what Dad always said to me and I take it to heart most of the time.

Ken

toag · Jan 4, 2014

better to have and not need than need and not have, besides how often does one lose money on a machine tool, i mean if you buy it for scrap, you can always get scrap out of it,maybe a job or two will pay for gas.

Moving a 12,000 lbs. Lathe

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