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Moving a Knee Mill

zp3design

Plastic
Joined
Jul 26, 2010
Location
Northern California
Fellas,

I'm moving to another state and moving everything myself. Biggest challenge will be the mill, typical B/P style knee mill aprox. 2500 lbs. Will be loading it inside my enclosed cargo trailer. Does anyone have an idea of the weight of the entire removalable head? Not just the motor and drive but the entire top end?

Thanks
zp3
 
Man! Whatta PITA! Grab the dynomometer and chain hoist, go into the small shop, back off the turret nuts a 1/4", hoist the turret just clear, and take a reading. Before breakfast? Whatta PITA.

Wait. That figure won't do you any good because I have a slotter head on the other end of the ram. Whew!

I'm gonna take a WAG at 700 lb. That's a guess, not an actual verifiable figure. OK. Who has an actual weight you can take to the bank? How close was I?

Note: Different make turret mills may vary in total assembled turret weight - that includes turret, ram, and head. In most turret mills there's a lifting bolt hole in the ram. Use it to lift the turret but slide the ram to level the turret.

YMMV according to make and relative weight of major components. If you ship the turret separetely make a fitted pallet that captures the turret base diameter, ram dovetails, and spindle quill. Don't cheap out on the labor and lumber. The assembled turret can be damaged it slides into a hard stop against something solid especiallly the head.

Personally, I think removing the turret is more work that it's worth unless you have to move the machine in an under-capacity rig making two trips. I suggest if your rig has the load capacity, you move the machine intact. Lower the knee all the way and block it and tilt the head 180 so the motor is under the ram. That way you have only one heavy thing to move, load, haul, unload, move, and spot instead of two and the GG has been lowerd by a foot.

No matter how you move the machine, move it on a heavy bolted timber skid with the machine's base bolted to it. Remember you are only one minor bump away from an overturned machine and a bunch of busted furniture. It's a PITA but skid, secure, and shore machine tools being transported. You will be glad you did your next hard stop to avoid somone running a stop sign.
 
I would be really wary of putting it inside an enclosed trailer. That's because the walls in enclosed trailers I've checked out seem like a house of cards in terms of tie down structure as compared to the mass of what you have there. I don't know what the floor has, but where you tie this down, it should be bolted thru to steel understructure.

This goes back a few years, I should self-critique to make all 4 chains independent, but it worked well. The use of the roundslings was primarily not to scratch up the fresh paint.

bpt_rig_2.jpg
 
The only things I think I would add to the way the BP in post #5 is secured is a piece of timber between the table and head and a solid arbor in the spindle hole to keep debris for accumulating in that open spindle bore. And tie the loose chain away from table.
The timber and a locked knee make a more secure head during transport. Grease the table and ways to avoid any moisture and road/bird crap.
 
We just tied mine down to a trailer with a few ratchet straps if I recall correctly. Worked great, I think it would've been okay without straps sitting there if you took it slow. But then again, we only moved it a mile or less.
 
We just tied mine down to a trailer with a few ratchet straps if I recall correctly. Worked great, I think it would've been okay without straps sitting there if you took it slow.

I'm going to call you out on poor judgement there as that's not appropriate to post as "advice". This machinery, if it gets off a truck or trailer on the roadway, is going to kill someone behind you. Thus its deadly serious business and you need more consideration than to advise a rank amateur machine mover its OK to go with less than appropriate safety considerations. 1" ratchet straps you buy in a blister pack aren't the right choice. Go with blocking and at least 2" wide straps.

Gee thanks, Forrest :cloud9:
 
I moved my Bridgeport mill 3 times since 1977. I moved it all by myself with a pry bar and a come along. I use six 1/2" CRS rods 4 ft long as rollers. Lift the mill with a pry bar push in the rods. I can push the mill cross the shop and out into the driveway no trouble at all. Then I let the air out of the trailer tires to lower it. Use the pry bar to lift the mill and put boards under it each time. Lift is 1/2" at a time using 1/4" plywood, 1/2" plywood, 3/4" boards, 2x8" boards and some sheet metal so it slides easy. Lift it up 5" then use the come along to pull it on the trailer. I take it off the trailer the same way.

Lower the head no reason to remove it.
 
Turret, ram, head, ect. Is about 750lbs. I used an engine hoist to lift it off with no problems and strapped it to a palet. Then lifted the rest with the same 2 ton engine hoist with the boom on the 1.5 setting. It was scary at first but it loaded and unloaded relatively easy.

For those that do not have access to a fork lift, this is an option. If the hoist was capable, post 5 is the far better option. That is how I prefer to move it when available.
 
I'm going to call you out on poor judgement there as that's not appropriate to post as "advice". This machinery, if it gets off a truck or trailer on the roadway, is going to kill someone behind you. Thus its deadly serious business and you need more consideration than to advise a rank amateur machine mover its OK to go with less than appropriate safety considerations. 1" ratchet straps you buy in a blister pack aren't the right choice. Go with blocking and at least 2" wide straps.

Gee thanks, Forrest :cloud9:

They wren't HF specials :D They were 2.5" heavy duty straps.

Just to clarify things, I said it probably would have been okay. Not as advise but an out loud thought.
I'm not advising you to use ratchet straps, either. Just saying what I did for my small knee mill.
 
The tie downs are to keep it from starting to move, once it starts moving it's over.
That applies to machine tools as well as heavy equipment.

A D8 or a 235 is way heavier then the strength of the chains holding it down, if it starts moving they wont stop it.

descent 2" ratchet straps are more then adequate for a knee mill if it's done right post #5 is one of the right ways to do it.

But that wasn't the question it was how heavy is the part.

Most likely the base section will be put on a pallet so it can positioned in the trailer, head room is an issue, and it becomes more stable not being
so top heavy.
All valid reasons to remove the head and ram assembly .
 
I moved a bridgeport across the county in a uhaul after college. I may or may not of had the welder at work weld a couple of aluminum brackets for my ratchet straps in the front of the body that I may or may not have cut out when I got it to my new house. The rear straps when under the door OK. :)
 
If you remove the entire top of the mill I wonder how you will lift the main body? I guess some loops under the table and hope the center of gravity is below that. Buy the forged lifting eye and lift it in one piece. Lifted from the top it will not flip over.
Bill D.
 
I came into this problem when I removed the complete upper half (from the turret up).

It's to hard to explain what I did. But I some what put one long (18,000 lb rated) strap underneath the body in an X shape and tried not to put any presuure on the table or knee when I lifted it. I didnt want the table or knee holding the weight of the column. It didnt look like it would work, but it did. It leaned towards the back (column) at about 20-25 degrees. But I had the table all the way back and all the way down. It would of been better if I had the table forward to even the weight out.
 
Remove the turret after you put it on the trailer if you are so inclined.
No reason to take it off before moving, since you cant lift it without the turret/ram as stated above.
On second thought, why remove the ram?
 
Fellas,

Thanks for comments, removing the top end is still the plan, primary reason being concern about strength of trailer floor. I will still spread the load with a pallet. I can easily do the wood work needed to build fitted pallet for head. This is actually my forth time moving this mill so not new to the process. In the past I always did it the conventional manner, lower knee rotate head 180 and move it by what ever means available, short tow and repeat in reverse. This time its 500 miles across mostly desert and being very careful and conservative regarding the risk involved. I'll just bite the bullet on having to do the reassembly.

Thanks again for replies,
zp3
 








 
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