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Moving a Mazak Lathe

Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Location
marysville ohio
Anybody ever moved a Mazak SQT250MY on a rollback? it weighs 12,000lbs. What is the best way to get it started up the incline? Advice anyone? Rigger wants $6,000 no money for that!
 
My brother and I moved my dad's shop by using 8 or 10 I beams bolted to the machinery. Could not get the crane in the old shop and we used pipes under the beams to roll out into the street where the crane loaded onto a truck. We used a torch to cut holes where ever we needed for the various equipment. For one piece might be costly but for a whole shop it was economical.
 
That's a lot of weight for a typical rollback !
I guess there are some with higher capacity.
I've moved a lot of equipment using pipe or round bar.
Not sure what the base is like, but if you can get a bar under it, it'll move quite easily. You need 3 or 4 bars to keep putting one in front.
Once you get it to the rollback, put a piece of OSB under the front edge, so that helps the front edge slides up the bed.
If you can get a piece of 2" or 3" pipe under the machine, that will allow it to get up on to the roll back bed without getting caught on the lip.
Just take your time and have lots of eyes on the job.
Good luck !
Bob
I just remembered. The rollback guy had a couple of "tire skates", he called them. Plastic skids designed to go under the tires when doing a repo, and not being able to get it out of park. These will let the front edge slide up the rollback bed. I was impressed how well they work.

(4 Pack) Tire Skates for Tow Truck Wrecker Rollback Carrier Safety Orange
 
If you nor the tow company has never done this before you'd be smarter to use a Landoll, not a rollback truck.

Most single rear axle rollbacks start getting into skilled operator territory past a concentrated 10k lb load. Most heavier duty single axle rollbacks can haul 14K on the deck if they avoid scales, but it's not a sound rule for machine tools.

You can use a double axle rollback, but these are less common and a big PITA because the deck height is 4ft+

Landoll is like the Swiss Army Knife of moving heavy shit.

You will need good skates to do this. You will need to look at the machine and see what kind of toe jack(s) it will require.

Also, I have not moved that exact lathe, but have moved many small slant beds like it. They are have a different mass distribution than you'd expect. The headstock is not the heavy part. The X axis and turret are usually the heaviest part of the machine. That plays a big part in deciding where you place your 3 skates to move it. You need the weight reasonable distributed to move it easily on skates.
 
If you nor the tow company has never done this before you'd be smarter to use a Landoll, not a rollback truck.

Most single rear axle rollbacks start getting into skilled operator territory past a concentrated 10k lb load. Most heavier duty single axle rollbacks can haul 14K on the deck if they avoid scales, but it's not a sound rule for machine tools.

You can use a double axle rollback, but these are less common and a big PITA because the deck height is 4ft+

Landoll is like the Swiss Army Knife of moving heavy shit.

You will need good skates to do this. You will need to look at the machine and see what kind of toe jack(s) it will require.

Also, I have not moved that exact lathe, but have moved many small slant beds like it. They are have a different mass distribution than you'd expect. The headstock is not the heavy part. The X axis and turret are usually the heaviest part of the machine. That plays a big part in deciding where you place your 3 skates to move it. You need the weight reasonable distributed to move it easily on skates.

Yeah it is a bit more than a "heavy ten". The biggest machine I have moved on my own is my 20" Miltronics lathe, about 7500lbs and my L & S Power turn at about 8500lbs or so.
 








 
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