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moving machinary over rough surfaces?

landslide

Aluminum
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Location
Australia
Hi Im about to try and move a lathe about 7716lb. I have moved a small machining center probably half this weight before on pipe but it was dropped off onto a concrete slab.

The lathe will probably have to be unloaded onto the ground due to the transport configuration.

I went through old posts and saw some impressive use of UHMW but that would cost me a fortune to sorce.

would 2" pipe roll over a compacted gravel drive way?

I have considered putting formply down and using rollers or skates on that. what are peoples views on the likely hood of that working? I'm thinking it will deform and dimple and not roll. I could use use 1/2" flat bar as slides but youtube indicates this doesn't slide without a winch and slowly at best.

any sugestions so I don't have to have every combo on hand to test?
 
Hi Im about to try and move a lathe about 7716lb. I have moved a small machining center probably half this weight before on pipe but it was dropped off onto a concrete slab.

The lathe will probably have to be unloaded onto the ground due to the transport configuration.

I went through old posts and saw some impressive use of UHMW but that would cost me a fortune to sorce.

would 2" pipe roll over a compacted gravel drive way?

I have considered putting formply down and using rollers or skates on that. what are peoples views on the likely hood of that working? I'm thinking it will deform and dimple and not roll. I could use use 1/2" flat bar as slides but youtube indicates this doesn't slide without a winch and slowly at best.

any sugestions so I don't have to have every combo on hand to test?

Put some 3/4 plywood down, pipe will roll fine on it.
 
If you have some sheet metal around cover the plywood with the sheet metal and pipe rollers will roll easier. What I usualy do in a case like this is to lay out lengths of 8" wide channel that I use for tracks for my hillman rollers . I bought a few 8' lengths years ago for just this purpose and usethem every few months for something although I often wish I had bought 10' lengths as sometimes it would save time leapfrogging the pieces.
 
1/2"×6" flat bar is my go to for situations like that.

This HBM was half on a rough concrete pad and half on gravel/dirt. Jack it up, place the plate and rollers and moving it was no problem.

Took the rollers out and greased the plates for winching it on the rollback.

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With some lubrication, you can probably slide a machine on some steel flat bars if you have a winch or vehicle to pull it.
 
When I had my 24k lb cnc router delivered it was set outside on the gravel due to location of overhead wires. What the riggers did was to set wood timbers in the gravel for tracks for their rollers to run on. They had to dig the gravel out so that the timbers would be low enough to be flush with the concrete floor of my shop. I had to build up the gravel to the height of the floor, app 6-8". It worked fine.

I think if you have very far to move it, the channel iron Frederick mentioned would be the simplest to manage.
 
I'd use channel iron and skates. Size the channel so the skates will run between the toes. They even make skates designed to run in channel with rollers on the side. A regular skate would work fine though.

We've used a hydraulic slide system before. It's basically two rails with a hyd cylinder to push the load on the rails. They are for stuff that weighs 100k plus though. The reason you don't use some sort of rollers is the keep the load from getting away from you. You have to remember, the easier you make something to move, the easier it can get away from you, if your makeshift ground covering starts to give and puts the surface on a incline. That's just something to think about when trying to bridge questionable ground conditions.
 
2 pieces Steel round is naturally self limiting, as once it rolls past the centre of gravity it tips and digs in - depending how tall your item is it can be a bit unnerving, but it works well, is dirt cheap and is very low clearance
 
Thanks for the advice it sounds like just abount anything works but that 8" channel sounds the best.

what wall thickness do i need?

I'll cost it out and if it isn't to much more that 3/4" ply then I'll give it a go.
 
I maneuvered about that same weight through mud and dirt and gravel with a heavy wood skid and 4" pipe cut at 4'lengths to prevent it sinking in and dumping the shaper over but it didn't really roll mainly slid
 

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An old rigger I know over here swears by heavy angle iron laid pointy edge up for moving big machines. The machines slide easily on the top edge, unlike large flats which cause a lot of friction and can end up sliding on the wrong side. You can lay them on uneven surfaces like gravel and rough concrete and move surprisingly large machines single-handedly. Rollers are fine on flat smooth surfaces but how often do you find that?
 








 
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