OT: Bringin' it home?

I'm about to take possession of a well used lathe that weighs more than 500 pounds, and I'll only have one helper.

I need to get it out of the factory, onto my pickup and then into my walk-in basement.

I'm thinking that the hardest part will actually be getting it into my truck, as the building that it's in only has loading docks for full size trucks (floor level is several feet higher than my truck bed).

It's unlikely I'll have access to a forklift or equivalent at the pickup, but I will be renting an engine hoist, and my neighbor will stop by with his tractor to help me unload.

Advice and ideas welcome.
Please!
Bruce.

Method 1: The way you'll be inclined to do it
Use a few 2x4s to make a ramp to your truck, and use a come-along or the like to slowly help it descend.

Method 2: The right way
Hire rigger

Even though this is a small machine, I'd be worried about lowering it that distance with only two people. They tend to have the Cg way up towards the headstock, which makes the whole lathe want to try a back-flip.

Bring everything you think you might need, and go slow.

Also, breaking the lathe down into smaller components would be great and entirely eliminate both options above, to be replaced by simply lugging the parts to your truck.

Good Luck,
Henry Wettersten

Hi, You might want to be more specific about which lathe it is exactly. 500 lbs would seem pretty light for a lathe coming out of a factory. Most any lathe with a swing more than 10 inches will weigh more, many considerably more. 500 lbs is a piece of cake with an engine hoist, 1000 or more wouldn't be. Use straps and grab as high as you can. Lathes tend to be top heavy and can flip VERY easily. Good luck, Jim.

Hi, When I moved my 22 inch lathe with three pedestals, weighing about 5000 lbs, I made a steel skid for it to sit on that I bolted to the pedestals which allowed me to use pieces of pipe as rollers and a pinch bar to move it and this also made a wider base making it more stable. Just an idea.
Regards,
Keith

There are people who weigh more than 500lbs. My suggestion is call the paramedics and tell them there's a really fat guy in the basement who needs help getting out, and oh by the way would you mind carrying this lathe on your stretcher since you're going down there anyway?

You guys are great (and funny)!

Sorry about the lack of details, I've been looking for a while; at new Chinese metal, old American metal, finally figured it'd either be a griz g0602, a SB 9" or Logan 10" - but while saving I happened on what I think is a very good deal for an older jet (Tiawanese?) with a 10" swing. Being my first lathe I won't feel like it's really mine until I get it home.

I'll get extra straps, lumber, and look into partial dissasembly. Not sure where to even start with a rigger - would they be in the phone book, and if so under what exactly?

And reading about Keith moving 5,000 pounds made my palms sweat and backside pucker - yikes!!!

Was a lurker here and elsewhere while looking, you all do a lot of good.
Thanks for your thoughts, both on this issue and others.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a lathe in that size usually be bench top on a stand? And if its the right stand it may appear to be one piece, in that case, the engine hoist and you're golden(take them apart). If its only 500lbs, I think it will be easier than you think.

I'd rent a U haul trailer, less than $30, to get the low bed and use an ordinary engine hoist.

For my 17" X 54" lathe, (over eight feet long) I bolted 4 X 8's to the legs, the long way and moved it home by myself but at only 500 lbs, 2 X 6 would be more than enough. Surely it's less than 4' long, cut an 8'-2 x 6 in half and take a cordless drill and 4-3/8" carriage bolts with nuts and washers. You'll need rollers, if you don't have suitable pipe at hand, buy a 10' length of 1" EMT, (electrical metallic tubing, big box store) and hack saw it into 4-30" lengths. The thin wall will be more than strong enough.

Drop a piece of plywood in the bottom of the trailer, (wood floor in trailer = no plywood) and secure with 2 X 4's against the 2 X 6 skids, to the trailer sides and 2" drywall screws into the plywood.

This little milling machine weighs well over 1,000 lbs and it was easy to move by myself. Obviously, tie the top of the lathe off to the side rails very well.

In the background, you can see the cheap red engine hoist I lifted it off with.


For the (I assume) open legged lathe, you could bring random length 2 X 4 scraps and screw them across the 2 X 6 skids, tight to the trailer sides with 3" drywall screws, pre-drill the holes.

Moving any top heavy machine safely, means asking yourself if what you are about to do, can possibly cause it to fall over. Grabbing it by the top to lift will will give a no answer to that.

Take pictures and tell us how it went.

Bob

bbourdon, I think that lathe will weigh more than 500 lb. I think all the Jets are gearhead lathes and quick change for threads and feeds. I would guess between 1000 and 2000 lb.

Actually the 10 inch Jet is more than likely a belt drive machine, never seen a gear head in that size. Probably 24" between centers. I have a 12 X 36 Jet belt drive which I moved in my El Camino without even unbolting from the stand. A 10" should be easy to move in a pickup. Unbolt from the stand, remove the tail stock, pick up with the engine crane as close to the head stock as possible and use the carriage to balance. Might as well do that, as you're going into a basement anyway. Should be able to move the lathe with a 2 wheeler once back on the ground.

I moved a 10-inch lathe (late model SB 10L, or, heavy ten) mostly by myself with one helper by breaking it down into component parts. A 3-1/2 foot long bed of one of those lathes can be readily moved by two people. The worst part is the steel bench with underneath drive, and that can be broken down if you use a floor jack to support things (motor, rest of drive assembly) from underneath while you unbolt stuff.

Just be sure to take along a good assortment of wrenches, sockets, allen wrenches, screwdrivers, etc. floor jack, furniture dolly, and/or hand truck, heavy gloves, rags, and some boxes for loose parts/bolts. Also, have the lathe shop manual/parts book along for reference.

The bed was stripped fairly easily: remove tail stock. Loosen bearing caps, back-off the spreader screws, lift off bearing caps. Cut/remove flat drive belt (you want to replace it with a spliced serpentine belt later anyway). Remove spindle from HS. Unbolt HS from bed. Have somebody hold the QC gearbox while you unbolt it from the bed. Withdraw the gearbox with lead screw attached (supporting the lead screw) from the apron. Remove the lead screw bearing support from right end of bed. Remove the saddle/apron/cross slide/compound assembly by sliding off right end of bed. Unbolt bed from table.

Put a floor jack under the motor and unbolt it. Replace the floor jack under the underneath drive assembly and unbolt from table (this monster is heavy). Remove doors, end panels, drawers (if any) from table to lighten and gain better access underneath.

You can now carry or muscle all the parts with a hand truck. The steel table will be the worst. A furniture dolly will help with that.

All this crap fit into the back of of a mini-van (rear seats removed).

Well, if thats the case then all he needs is tools to remove the lathe from the base and two 2"x12"x10' boards to slide the lathe down to the truck and then slide the base down. He may have to support the boards in the middle to keep them from bouncing up and down.

The lifting point on my lathe, and perhaps most, is an eye bolt with two plates that sandwich through the bed of the lathe. Adjust it to where the center of gravity and lift with the eye bolt.

Tom

U-haul box truck w/ a lift gate. Same height as the loading dock @ the factory, same height as his concrete floor when he gets it home.

Ditto for a rollback tow-truck (though, thats going to cost you more.)

If the neighbors tractor can lift high enough to get it out of a box truck, a liftgate version isn't even needed.

If you have a long-haul to make w/ it and would prefer to use your truck, rent a liftgate locally, put lathe in the box truck, pull arse-end of trucks together, and use liftgate to lower to your bed height and transfer, return uhaul (local moving charge is usually dirt cheap.) A liftgate is about the cheapest portable elevator I can think of.

idea for loading pickups. It it much better to lift the pick up rather than to slide something down a ramp into a pick up. a few skids, and some OSB or 2 x 8s will make a ramp that you can back up onto.

Engine hoist. Ten minutes into the back of a pickup, trailer or flatbed. Same out and where you want the lathe. With the walk-in door, sit the lathe in on some plywood just inside the door, slide it out of the way, move the hoist in and put it where ever you want it with ease.

You can get a collapsible hoist from HF for about $180, worth its weight in gold. Mine has loaded/unloaded my Van Norman 12, SB12, 9" Jet (set on buyers trailer), drums of oil, an many other things that ordinarily would have been a severe task to move. Getcha one.

FWIW, this may have already been covered...but IMHO you can't use an engine hoist to drop a load down from a loading dock...think of the path of the front wheels to get the load centered over the pickup truck bed I do mean you can drop stuff but not in the manner you want.

Many engine hoists get maxed out quickly on vertical height when going up high...so it would be worth some measuring beforehand. A compact pickup truck has a slightly lower bed-height than a full-sized.

If it were me I'd spend the money for a Uhaul trailer like Robert posted above...good low deck. Just find the "ramp" and back the trailer up into the dock.

Thanks for all of the great ideas guys, I'm looking into each. Will take photos...
Bruce.

It's home

Finally got my lathe home, a neglected and somewhat abused Jet 1024, but they let it go for much less than the savings target I had set for either a griz G0602 10x22 or a Southbend 9. It's got some warts and scars that need tending, but I'm hoping it'll be good enough to learn on (aside from drilling/bolting/stick-welding the occasional pieces of angle or repair, I'm pretty ignorant of all this metal stuff).

I ended up going the "rent a truck with a lift-gate" route.

Almost didn't as most only offered them to businesses, not to mention other undesirables like a buck a mile... Was about to build a ramp out of 4x4s with threaded rod holding them together and some attachments to hold it in place for moving the lathe into the bed of my pickup.

Last desperation try was with Penske and let me tell you they were great; said no problem reserving a 16' truck with a lift gate for me, $50 unlimited mileage and I could have it for the weekend. An hour later they called back and asked if I minded taking a 24' truck instead - same conditions. Lathe was a bit lonely back there.

Turned out the tough parts were getting it out of the factory's forgotten recesses, and then later into my basement.

I swear in the years since the lathe was installed (and then went dormant), walls and doorways went up, along with racks and other obstacles.

Two of us had to muscle (mostly drag) it almost the entire distance from the bench to the open part of the factory; the engine lift was too big for most access ways, being used only in spots (like lifting it up while sliding the bench out of the way, though there wasn't even room to do this in a simple operation).

Got it out of the truck on on to the bench alone, just taking it slow and easy - well, maybe easy aint the right word
(...tried to upload an image, not supported?!?)

Anyway, I'm cleaning it up and trying to get both it and me to to something useful. Before I bother you all with more questions on just what the hell I've gotten myself into, I want to say thanks!
Bruce.