HAAS TL-1 Lathe Leveling Pin Thread?

[madbaby]

Folks hope you all having a good weekend. Here is what I am up to. We hava a HAAS TL-1 arriving in a few days. We are modding some machine skates to move a HAAS TL-1 into the ye olde machines shoppe. These are nice meaty skates, about 40 lbs of steel each, rated for 6 tons. I have attached a picture describing what we are trying to do.




At one point in the move there is a 4" step, concrete-to-concrete, the machine needs to jump over. Unfortunately we cannot get a forklift in that area. We have to use engine hoist and a winch, meaning machine needs to go in one pair of feet at a time. I would like to attach the skates to the feet so that they cannot slide or fall off during this procedure. The top of the skate has sticky-back rubber and I do not trust that to hold a machine on its own.

To prevent tipping from the skates, I plan to machine some custom shoulder bolts. The shoulder will go through lathe casting and the threaded tip will thread into the top of the skate. The center of that skate houses a hollow flange with external M24x1.5 thread. Large enough I can turn a plug to accommodate a 5/8" thread.

Does anyone know what type of thread the leveling pins on TL-1 use? How long the pin is? I tried to locate part# with HAAS documentation but failed. Appreciate if you can share.

P.S. If the skate model is useful to you in any way, perhaps for move planning, I would be happy to share.

P.S. I am aware riggers recommend 3 skates instead of 4. We have talked about making an axle with a C channel and using 3 skates like a military grade Reliant Robin. I might just so that. The CAD does not reflect this.

 

[Vancbiker]

Machine that light, I would make a ramp to do the step up. A skilsaw, some 2x4s, and a sheet of 12 gauge sheetmetal to cover is all it would take. If short of manpower to push up the ramp, a come along would take care of that. If you do use a come along to tug it up the ramp, be sure to prep a couple wedge chocks to block the skates for when you need to reset the pull.

 

[madbaby]

Machine that light, I would make a ramp to do the step up. A skilsaw, some 2x4s, and a sheet of 12 gauge sheetmetal to cover is all it would take. If short of manpower to push up the ramp, a come along would take care of that. If you do use a come along to tug it up the ramp, be sure to prep a couple wedge chocks to block the skates for when you need to reset the pull.

Thanks fore the tip Vancbiker. Got plenty of wood and a big tablesaw available. We can put a ramp together. At 96 inches run over 4 inches rise, makes a <~3 degree ramp. ~800 lbs of force to push up. Everyone I know is either a hobbit or a dwarf though.

I was also thinking we can lay 6 layers of 3/4 plywood over concrete base, and have the machine lowered on the plywoods. Then it is at correct level and parallel to ground. Any thoughts?

 

[Orange Vise]

TL-1s are easily moved with a pallet jack.

Push the TL-1 close to the ledge and prop it up on wood, level with the ledge.

Then build an extension platform out of wood, also level with the ledge. Get the pallet jack up onto the platform, lift the lathe, and push it forward.

 

[madbaby]

TL-1s are easily moved with a pallet jack.

Push the TL-1 close to the ledge and prop it up on wood, level with the ledge.

Then build an extension platform out of wood, also level with the ledge. Get the pallet jack up onto the platform, lift the lathe, and push it forward.

OV, the control panel arm clears the ceiling by just shy of 3" to spare. The pallet jacks available to us start at 3". If there is a way to take down the control panel then it could work. I have seen people do that on older HAAS mills. Do you know if that is possible on TL-1?

 

[Hoss710]

the leveling feet studs use to be 3/4 × 10 . I cant imagine them changing that on a machine that size.

 

[madbaby]

the leveling feet studs use to be 3/4 × 10 . I cant imagine them changing that on a machine that size.

After 2015+ models of TL-1 the base casting has changed. IDK if they upgraded the studs. HAAS toolroom mill sports 1" x 20 studs and it is 4500 lb mill. Fully tooled TL-1 is ~5000 lbs.

If we cannot figure out before the machine shows up in a couple days I am planning to use M14 bolts. The 14 mm happens to be the clearance fit for the machine skate center bores. I counterbore the skate for the bolt head. Bolt goes into skate from bottom up. I can turn some soft metal bushings to put on the bolt making it flush with base casting thread. Then grease it all, lower lathe on the bushing, and have the lathe steer around the bushing. I made one and tried with a 1000 lb load last night and it felt like a promising idea.

 

[G00 Proto]

I crawled under my '18 TL1. Near as I could tell it was 1"x14... and now I have chips in my knees.

 

[madbaby]

I crawled under my '18 TL1. Near as I could tell it was 1"x14... and now I have chips in my knees.

Thank you sir, you are my hero. Assuming is it 1x14 UNS then my calculator here says major diameter 0.9984 / 0.9881. I guess I can turn a .988 bushing with a 9/16 bore, loose fit inside (M14 bolt) and outside, and it could work.

 

[bsg]

1" 14 on our 2013 TL2......

BTW, I moved our lathe around on a pallet jack, just don't use the soft tire models!

Kevin

 

[madbaby]

1" 14 on our 2013 TL2......

BTW, I moved our lathe around on a pallet jack, just don't use the soft tire models!

Kevin

Kevin thanks for the tip. Mine has a thin polyurethane-coating on the rollers (perhaps for directional stability?). High durometer stuff, feels a bowling ball, easily 80+ shore D. I could not scratch it with a big screwdriver. There is a solid steel roller supporting this, with 3/4" axles, and needle-bearings in between. Sixteen rollers in total.

Did you have bad experience with with a soft tire model? Would you care to share? I could turn the rollers to solid steel if it will be less trouble.

 

[bsg]

Did you have bad experience with with a soft tire model? Would you care to share? I could turn the rollers to solid steel if it will be less trouble.

Yes, the tire distorted and then you could not roll the pallet jack with the load on it!
The softer tires make it quieter to operate upstairs but suck for a heavy loads!

I bought a 10,000 capacity pallet jack for home, with a 6,000 lb. machine on it, it rolls nice and easy, stopping on the other hand!

Kevin

 

[madbaby]

Yes, the tire distorted and then you could not roll the pallet jack with the load on it!
The softer tires make it quieter to operate upstairs but suck for a heavy loads!

I bought a 10,000 capacity pallet jack for home, with a 6,000 lb. machine on it, it rolls nice and easy, stopping on the other hand!

Kevin

Makes sense. I best swap steel rollers. I need to take the skates apart anyway for milling counterbores so I can get the steering bushings in there. We have to get the machine inside before the rain comes back. A squished tire with tonnage on it while the clouds are brewing is the last thing I need tomorrow. Hopefully all goes well and I can post some pics with the lathe and a cold drink.

Frankly, as exciting as new machine day is, I cannot wait for this to be over. I have been having nightmares about making 7 o'clock news while moving this thing "Tonight on WCIA. Not getting run over by industrial equipment linked to longer life. First the weather."

 

[madbaby]

UPDATE: The machine is here. Whew! So relaxed. No news vans and helicopters were needed. But we sure attracted a lot of attention. A dozen cars or so saw it during the move, stopped by to say hi and compliment on the machine. They were geniunely excited which made us smile too. It feels good to have a human side when messing with industrial machinery.

Here is in a pinch how the move all went down - I am sharing this with I hope our experience helps someone.

She showed up on a wide wheelbase highway trailer. This is not your FedEx 18-wheeler. Wide wheelbase 18-wheelers do not like one-way turns with no room to make wide turn. Survey the route and tell your truck driver to use the route that does not have those. Trust me. Yes they have GPS. No they do not known the neighborhood like you do.

Machine was on the gooseneck part of the trailer. It was packed like a satellite shipment from NASA. Nice job HAAS with packing. What is even more surprising, HAAS people showed up to make sure the move was all going smooth. I did not expect that - nice touch with the customer service. Anyway, ask your trucking company how they loaded it onto trailer before it show up. Unloading from the gooseneck part instead of highway part, you need a different (read: bigger, badder) forklift and, long forks or for extensions. Lest the machine tends to lift away from forklift before forks can tilt up. We also needed to remove the first plank of the pallet to make clearance for fork extensions. These are bolted with 1.25" bolts, a trailer hitch ball wrench will come in handy. We have paid $600/hr for the local forklift and operator. After seeing them work I can say it is money well deserved. Tell your rigger it is a HAAS and they know to bring proper extensions for HAAS jobs. Truck drivers are not amused when they are told to wait for fork extensions when the elog is ticking.

Forklift driver was very kind and a seasoned pro. He even helped us lower the machine on the skates directly, and put four .98 holes over four 14 mm bolts with such precision it must be commended. We dropped the bushings in around the M14 bolts. My Wife and I (both of which are fishbone build) were then able to roll it easily. As many people on many PM forums mentioned, with skates, even though all four are on the floor, only 3 skates are fully loaded. Since our skates are not castering type, one skate tends to steer away sometimes. This is easily managed with a 24" breaker bar thru the skate handle and you can steer with hand or foot. The way we loaded the skates (see my first post for drawing) one per each feet of lathe the machine handled in a very balanced manner at all times. Locking one pair of skates with a pipe and fittings and steering with the other pair was, we found, easiest. If pushing from headstock, best steer with rears like a forklift does and lock the fronts together.

Overall the skates worked perfectly. This is despite machine even had to sit on skates overnight because dropdeck had a jammed hydraulic system and we had to wait for that to get fixed. No deformation of the thin polyurethane. Does not pick up chips or debris from shop floor either. Pushed just fine next morning. For reference we used 6T skates for a 2.5T machine.

Next day our best friends showed up to help for the final part. (You guys rock!). We ended up building a heavy wooden platform from 4x4's and 2x12's, with no more than 6" separation of 4x4 spars, and have the deck lower onto it. That worked very well. Wood would not even creak with heavy machine rolling on it. As shown in my drawing it went in tailstock first, except being tilted. Head being heavier did not cause any issues, it might even have helped skates to clear the threshold. We negotiated the ledge with two ladies steering from inside and two gents pushing from outside. Machine cleared the door frame as planned. A 3/4" birch plywood with edges beveled to 25 degrees was used to protect the threshold from the skates.

Once again, tip my hat to you PM folks for all for the help and replies. I turned the bushings to specs on this forum before the machine showed up and they worked perfectly.

Now it is time to wire her up and call HAAS FSO, so it can start paying for itself - already have jobs lined up.