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Can two people safely remove Heavy 10 from a pallet?

ghostdog662

Aluminum
Joined
May 6, 2010
Location
TX
I am ready to finally remove my lathe from the shipping pallet it came on. I got it wired up with the new motor / adapter plate to adapt a 75u to 56 frame, cuts fine too. I know these things are dangerously top heavy so I am requesting aid.

Do you think two medium sized guys could remove this off the pallet (about 5" above the concrete) ? Or would it be better to get a little more help or rent an engine hoist?

The machine is already about 3 feet from its intended spot. I dont mean to be a cheap $@! but I can rent an engine hoist for $30 for a few hours. At the same time I dont want to spend time running across town and bring it back for 10 minutes of use.

If I remember right the shipper said it weighed around 600 lbs loaded up.
 
My Heavy 10 is close to 1000 lbs. I wouldn't think about trying to move it without an engine hoist. Not that I could if I wanted to. There are always other creative ways to lift and move it, but you do so at your own risk. Maybe set the pallet on fire?
 
My Heavy 10 is close to 1000 lbs. I wouldn't think about trying to move it without an engine hoist. Not that I could if I wanted to. There are always other creative ways to lift and move it, but you do so at your own risk. Maybe set the pallet on fire?

I had actually entertained that idea but I would rather rent the engine hoist than pay a divorce attorney.
 
Get some pieces of steel flat say 2" wide by 1/2 to 5/8" thick, a crow bar and lift one side of the machine at a time and slip the bars underneath, then slide the machine down the bars to the floor like on railway lines. I have done this many time with machines up to 2 tons, take it steady and no heroics.
Peter
 
Along Peter's line of attack, support one corner of the machine with a jack, then saw away that section of the pallet. Replace the missing corner with a few loose pieces of 2x blocking.
Repeat with the other three remaining corners. When the pallet is all gone, and the machine up on four seperately blocked corners, jack each corner as before, this time removing one piece of 2x at a time and lowering until the machine is eased down onto the floor. Tedious, but you can do it yourself.
 
Another approach, slip several pipes under the bed, and put a strong high school
student on the end of each pipe. Say 8 football players in all would do the job.
 
Although Peter is right in that this and many other slider / lever / et al ideas work well and perfectly safely if you know what you are doing and have some experience of hefty shifting work its a different matter for the inexperienced.

If its a leg & pedestal version rather than a cupboard base type sliding isn't an option, far too easy to bust the legs.

Get the hoist, not forgetting good quality lifting straps or chains (mind the lead screw!). That way its straight forward 10 minute job (so it'll take 2 hours then). Even with experience the "improvised" methods have a nasty habit of getting very hard half way through and taking much longer. I've done 6 machine moves the knife and fork way, next time I'm getting the gear in.

Clive
 
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engine hoist

spend the $$ and get the engine hoist {2 ton} you will be glad you did......
 
Get the hoist, I speak from experience. if you move it without the hoist you will increase the risk of injury. I've spent nearly a year recovering from a low back injury moving my Logan 12", the lathe & cabinent cost $900, Ive spent close to $7000 in therapy, & hospital bills. I don't have full range of motion in my left shoulder yet lots of nerve damage was the end result.
 
Have you considered leaving it on the pallet? Unless you are short, the added height might be easier on your back. Both of my lathes are blocked up higher that they were made. Gary P. Hansen
 
I bought an engine hoist.

I can't imagine moving that lathe without one. Even with a hoist, I'll bet it takes 2 guys.

Mark H
 
Get the hoist, I speak from experience. if you move it without the hoist you will increase the risk of injury. I've spent nearly a year recovering from a low back injury moving my Logan 12", the lathe & cabinent cost $900, Ive spent close to $7000 in therapy, & hospital bills. I don't have full range of motion in my left shoulder yet lots of nerve damage was the end result.


Sorry to hear of your pain and injury, I have made it to 54 without serious injury simply by refusing to let others use me as their heroic measure.

And that includes me refusing to be my own heroic measure.

Spend some money, spend some time, come back another day, etc.


One thing some of the members are overlooking is the 'telehandler' or 'boomlift' forklift that comes on large 'tractor' tires. YOU CAN DRIVE IT ON PUBLIC ROADS. The smallest is about 5,000 pounds capacity, you could literally put your item on a second story balcony.

I was checking into one, asked about delivery, the answer was "if you want, drive off our lot, down the road to your location".

About 200 bucks for the day, some rental agencies prefer to be closed on Sunday, so pick it up Saturday morning, return Monday morning and pay only one day rental. Here in Indy that would be Arrow Rental.

Cheaper than the emergency room.
 
Have you considered leaving it on the pallet? Unless you are short, the added height might be easier on your back. Both of my lathes are blocked up higher that they were made. Gary P. Hansen

I figured this was the last way to leave it, but I don't know anything about this.

The height it is at is not a problem, I was just concerned that this would possibly be robbing accuracy and cause it to be unlevel do to the variation of the garage floor alone, then the difference in height of the wood pieces across the entire platform.
 
A 10L isn't much work to move.. One guy to move the headstock, two guys to pick the bed up off the base & move it. If its a pedestal base, move it w/ a handtruck- if a cabinet then crab it off the pallet onto some 2x4's, then onto pipes if crabbing doesn't work on the floor.

A shop crane will be handy but if you want to use it you'll still have to work the cabinet over to the corner before you can get a reasonably good pick off the pallet.

Greg
 
Out of all of these ideas two are excellent--Renting an engine hoist and setting the pallet on fire. :D

John I am sure that you being a man of machinery as I am will understand that to move a heavy 10 on a cabinet or a pedistal is to me a piece of cake. I guess I am very fortunate to have the strength to do it alone because I have for many years thrown those machines around like nothing lifting the tail stock end up and swinging it off the pallet and while I lift the head stock end have one of my kids pull the pallet out. At 46 years old I feel great but maybe later in life I will feel pain. :D
 








 
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