Intro and Weight of 13" SBL Question

ChipBed · Jan 13, 2005

My name is Bob, married with kids & grandkids and I live in Rochester, NY. I retired a couple of years ago from a gear machine tool manufacturer, where I worked as a machinist for a while and then as a service rep.
I have a small machine shop at my house, which is lately getting a good work-out, as I'm currently restoring a 1946 Chevy pick-up and a lathe is invaluable.

For years, I've had a 1942-vintage 10" Atlas which has done a lot of work for me, but a couple of weeks ago a friend of mine offered me his 13" SBL, complete with all his tooling and of course I thought about it for maybe 1/2 second and yelled, "HELL, YES !!"

My questions is, does anyone have a ball-park figure as to what a 13" SBL weighs? It'll come to my shop on a trailer and I'd like to lift it off with my "cherry picker" hoist. The hoist is rated for 2-ton (1-ton extended boom). Is this hoist big enough to lift the lathe?

Also, what's the best way to rig the nylon lifting straps on the lathe? Any portion of the lathe to avoid lifting from?

Thanks in advance for your help and I hope to be able to be a productive member of this forum.
-Bob

surplusjohn · Jan 13, 2005

I will try to remember to look up the weight later but in case I forget re lifting lathes with straps. Riggers use a set up that passes the strap around the bed and then up thru the center of the web so that it will not roll. Lots of lathes have a center of gravity just above the bed so if you sling it with a simple basket sling, the entire machine flips over!

surplusjohn · Jan 13, 2005

I will try to remember to look up the weight later but in case I forget re lifting lathes with straps. Riggers use a set up that passes the strap around the bed and then up thru the center of the web so that it will not roll. Lots of lathes have a center of gravity just above the bed so if you sling it with a simple basket sling, the entire machine flips over!

aametalmaster · Jan 13, 2005

1600-1700 lbs for a 13" SBL ...Bob

jim rozen · Jan 13, 2005

A small crane like that will have some trouble
lifting a 13" SB machine.

You might consider dismantling the machine
and moving it in pieces. If it is an older,
underneath drive unit with the cast iron
base, the base along is *heavy*.

Jim

RickV100 · Jan 13, 2005

I just moved a 16" SB weighing about 1800 lbs with a 2 ton engine hoist. What you need to do is to break it down into as may smaller peices are possible and move the bed and stand as one peice.

All I used the engine lift for was lifting off the headstock and overhead motor drive and to lift the bed onto some stout dollies. We were then able to roll it up onto a trailer.

A trailer with a low loading platform is a must when moving one of these on your own. I rented a 5x9 trailer from U-Haul for $24 a day to move mine from Staten Island to Southern NJ.

What type of tow vehicle? I used a 1/2 ton GMC with a class three hitch and it pulled it with no problems.

Rick

ChipBed · Jan 14, 2005

Thanks for the warm reception, guys!

aametalmaster: Thanks very much for the weight of the lathe....exactly what I was looking for.

RickV100: The fellow I'm buying the lathe from will be delivering it on his trailer. It's being pulled by his Suburban. It's only coming 5-miles on "country" roads, so transporting it isn't a problem.

As the lathe weighs approx. 1700#, lifting it on the short boom of my cherry picker with a capacity of 4000#, shouldn't be a big deal. The hoists are, I would imagine, under rated for capacity, for legal reasons. Most manufacturers test their products to twice the limit stated, so I should be pretty safe. I won't be lifting it very high, maybe only a foot at most.

Once again, thanks for the welcome and I appreciate the advice & information. Once the baby is home, I'll get a picture of her set up in my shop......like any proud parent !!!

RickV100 · Jan 14, 2005

if it is a Far Eastern built engine lift I would err on the side of them being over rated for capacity.

Rick

ChipBed · Jan 14, 2005

if it is a Far Eastern built engine lift I would err on the side of them being over rated for capacity.

Excellent point and one I hadn't considered.

Oh, hell, maybe I should just let the wife LIFT it off the trailer

aametalmaster · Jan 14, 2005

I just bought a 16" by the time my wife finds out she will push it off the truck. LOL. Don't lift it any farther than you have to just in case something happens. Have fun and keep in touch with progress...Bob

SouthBendModel34 · Jan 14, 2005

Here's how I moved my SB 13" home. Jacked it up one end at a time and built a wheeled skid right under it using very-heavy-duty casters from a local vendor (Essex Caster in Perth Amboy NJ) (I've posted this link before.) 800-lb each casters were under $50 for four, tax included.

An old S.B. 13" like this weighs about a half-ton w/o the motor and overhead countershaft. (It was originally thought to be a Series O, now thought to be a Model 34. Model 34 might actually be part of Series O) Note that there is no QCGB - "loose change" gears instead. Note also that there is no cabinet base. Newer models would be heavier.

Tow vehicle was a 1987 Olds Cutlass RWD V-6. The trailer/lathe combo didn't exceed the rated towing capacity but kind of "manhandled" the car. I stayed under 45 MPH.

Moving John Ruth's Lathe

The center of gravity of a lathe is indeed high, so be careful. Bolting it to some 4x4's to increase the width of its footprint might be a good idea.

John Ruth

ChipBed · Jan 14, 2005

SouthBendModel34:
Excellent pics you posted. I have a set of 5" caster wheels like you used and I'll dig 'em out in the morning. You might just have saved me a lot of work & time!

I'm helping my friend (the SBL seller) to move the one I'm buying out and his replacement one in place tomorrow (Sat). His lathe came on some 6"x6" wooden planks, so maybe we can put my wheels on those timbers and duplicate what you did. I'll take a camera and, depending on how far we get & how much we (I) screw up, maybe I'll have some pics to post.

Once I get her in place and get my shop back in shape, I'll have to take a pic of an old, unidentified horizontal mill, speed-controlled by a Model A Ford transmission and post it on the general board. I think I found me a home here !!!!

Thanks again everyone for your help.
-Bob

cl5man · Jan 19, 2005

I've got a 13 1/2 Southbend with a 6' bed. I weight it completely assembled but with no loose tooling on it. 1,380 Lbs with a certified digtal scale. I loaded in back of my toyota tacoma 4x4. Just barely fit with about 6 inches of the tailstock side on the tail gate. I drove it down I-10 for about 70 miles. I only went about 60 and there wasn't much suspension travel left on the back wheels. When I got it home I broke it down to just the bed and "legs" if you will. I moved it into my hobby room with a regular 2 ton engine hoist. Trying to get it through the sliding glass door was a pain, took several hours to get it through into the house.

cl5man · Jan 19, 2005

Sorry, I just looked at your picture there. My lathe is a little newer with the under drive belt system. I'm sure mines much heavier than the one in the photo.

RickV100 · Jan 19, 2005

Bob,

You get the lathe delivered yet?

Rick

BruceC · Jan 20, 2005

I moved two 13" south bend lathes (one long bed and the other short bed) by myself. I rented a trailer whose bed drops to the ground. I tried putting the lathes on pipes (used as rollers) but this didn't work too well. What seemed to work the best was to use a large crow bar (approx 4 ft long). I put the tip of the straighter end of the bar under the indentation at the bottom of the lathe base (at the head stock end of the lathe) and lifted up on the bar. This moves the lathe an inch (or less)forward. It was slow going but the lathe slid across the garage floor. I also move the end of the lathe to the side to "steer" it by pushing down on the crow bar causing the end of the lathe to lift up, and pivot the "handle" end of the crow bar to one side which causes the end of the lathe to pivot to the other side. I hope this method wasn't harmful to the lathe.

ChipBed · Jan 20, 2005

You get the lathe delivered yet?

RickV100:
Yep, got it home yesterday and will level it today or tomorrow. Then I have to run "juice" to it, so it probably won't be until early next week when I finally make chips. Might take a bit longer, depending on the cold. My shop is heated, but the &*%! 0° temps still seem to come up through the concrete, even though the ambient temp is 50° or so.

I posted a pic of the lathe in place on an separate post, but probably should have done it here for continuity's sake, so I'll include it below (proud papa !).

I built a skid out of 2"x6" lumber, two per side and mounted 5" caster wheels on the bottom of the skids, just like SouthBendModel34 suggested in his post above. The fella I bought the lath from has a car trailer with a winch, so we winched it up on the trailer. Worked like a charm !!

jim rozen · Jan 20, 2005

Lovely machine. I can see the remains of the
'skateboard' in the photo.

How did you hoist the lathe onto the dolly?

Jim

Bob-O · Jan 20, 2005

I never considered making a dolly when I moved the old underdrive 10" South Bend out and the new cabinet base Heavy 10 in. I took 4 pieces of 3/4" thick 6" dia crs ( bar ends)we had in the scrap bin, faced them, drilled & tapped 1/2-13 on center. Then I mounted a heavy duty caster to each plate. I lifted the lathe with a floor jack and put a caster assembly at each of the mounting holes in the legs with 1/2" bolts. It was really easy to swivel the lathes in and out of my tight garage shop.
Bob

ChipBed · Jan 20, 2005

How did you hoist the lathe onto the dolly?

Jim,
We used a 6' pry bar and raised each end an inch or so at a time, supporting it with 2"x6" blocks of wood piled one on top of the other as it came up. It was raised approx. 12" and the skid was rolled under it. We then lowered it down to rest on the dolly the same way it was raised. I initially thought about lifting it with a "cherry picker" engine hoist, but the more I thought about that, the less I liked it. The way we ended up doing it was extremely easy & safe and, once it was up on the dolly, one person could easily roll it around.

My intention was to take some pics of the whole thing, but once we got working, never gave the pics a thought until it was on the floor in my shop - too late !!

Intro and Weight of 13" SBL Question

Aluminum

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Cast Iron

Aluminum

Cast Iron

Aluminum

Diamond

Diamond

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Aluminum

Aluminum

Cast Iron

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Aluminum

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Hot Rolled

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