Bridgeport Mill - Factory pallet 45 degree angle

Hello,
Do folks have any idea why Bridgeport / Hardinge put new mills on the pallet at 45 degrees?


We may be moving a good distance (New York to Tennessee) so I will need to store the machines for a bit. To make multiple moves easier I plan to put the mill (and my Monarch 10EE) on pallets and am wondering if there is good reason to copy the factory approach.

Regards,
Adrien

Puts the two long dimensions, table & knee/ram, pretty much across the diagonals of the pallet. Better use of space on pallet and in transport and reduces the risk of overhanging parts on adjacent machines knocking into each other. Looking at your picture I'd want bit more table handle protection tho'. I guess Bridgeport lag bolted the machines down to nice new pallets which is probably enough to keep them upright but, being an untrusting soul, I'm happier with the table wound gently down on some support timbering at each end. Used a rectangle of 2 x 2 with a chipboard cover plate at each end. Wit everything tied securely together nothing was gonna make a bid for freedom.

Horribly unbalanced load on the pallet truck when kitty-canter like that. Most of the load goes on one leg. About the one time the narrow type of pallet truck are a real advantage because leg spacing isn't that much more than Bridgeport column width hence the effective imbalance is rather less.

Clive.

Looks like the factory was trying to protect the Y Crank Handle from collision damage using a standard size pallet.


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Thanks for the speedy and thoughtful replies.