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Moving radial arm drill

theperfessor

Cast Iron
Joined
Sep 15, 2011
Location
Southern Indiana USA
Looking at buying a used radial arm drill. 9" column, 3' arm, 28" x 60" base x 80" high, weight about 4500 lb. Any tips on how it would be moved? Upright, on its back, etc. Not planning on doing it myself, just curious about how it might be done.
 
That weight may be correct for Asian or very old, but its to light for American iron WW2 or later. Typically move with forklift. Arm all the way down, blocked and secured to base with chains or straps. Don't trust the arm/head locks. Slung from overhead would be better, but requires good head room.
 
That is the advertised weight w/o the knee table, I can only assume it is correct. I appreciate the responses, I was just looking for a little info before I went any further with the deal. I figure the more trouble moving it the more expensive it will be. At this point I'm not able to be at the point of sale to look over the packing/crating/moving.
 
Looking at buying a used radial arm drill. 9" column, 3' arm, 28" x 60" base x 80" high, weight about 4500 lb. Any tips on how it would be moved? Upright, on its back, etc. Not planning on doing it myself, just curious about how it might be done.

This subject comes up about every two months or so. Every time somebody buys a radial arm drill the first thing they want to know is how to rig it safely. If you look back through the past threads you'll find page after page of good advice.

Regards Tyrone.
 
A radial drill with a 3 foot arm and 9 inch column drill from Bickford or Morris would be about 4500 to 5000. Anything from Carlton or American would be closer to 6000. I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to lay one down. I know of one drill that had to be laid on its side to come out of the building and the rigging was more than the drill.
 
I had one about that size in my yard.....moved it several times with my old dragline ,rigging (as you call it) by myself ....around two ton is not a big deal.....a common or garden 4 ton forklift will easily handle it onto a truck or into a shed.Just be sure the arm is secured and cannot swing .....never ,never rely on locks .Chain everything in place.
 
I did search through this forum and read a couple other threads and saw how NOT to do it.

I'm thinking that I could weld up a couple of "H" shaped frames, narrower at the top than the bottom, that could be bolted down to the base. Build two of them and triangulate/brace between them. Lower the arm down on to the crossbar between the uprights and locate the head between them. Pad well with wood and chain everything in place. Then bolt the whole thing down to a reinforced skid and build a crate around it with internal bracing between the column and arm and the crate.

This would be hauled in a box truck and could easily be shoved into a corner and chained against two walls. There is a forklift at the sellers end for loading and the same outfit that moved our shop four months ago and is located right down the road from us has a forklift that can easily do the unloading and spotting in our shop.

Thanks for responses, anything I'm missing?
 
Forget box truck...makes everything 100 times more difficult.....To move a 2 to 3 ton radial ,get a 4 ton (or larger) tray body truck with a decent headboard/loadrack .....removing the drill from where it is installed is often the most difficult,because users sometimes set them into the floor so the base surface is flush with a concrete floor.The drill has to be raised up and timber put under the base ,so that a forklift forks ,or chains can be placed underneath........This is where I was always very careful......get ,in writing,and agreement on the floor ,reinstatement or left as is...Agree and sign both parties......Drill is scrap metal cost,new floor could be thousands.Follow my previous moving instructions ,and you will have zero problems.
 
Another trap for a newbie ......if you rent a truck ,do not get one with an aluminium floor ,machines will damage it ,and hirers make 90% of their profit screwing renters for damage...........I had (still have ) a Leyland with a 24x8 steel checker plate tilting tray with an old Atlas crane of 6 ton capacity .This truck could move any machine I ever bought ,and also moved thousands of tons of scrap steel ,which is very damaging for trays....Something like this is what you want...For a shorter trip ,you can leave the machine still hooked up to the crane ,and save lots of time unloading.
 
I also would eliminate thoughts of a box truck. It could theoretically be done but days longer to do for sure.

If you can load it on a deckover trailer and handle it with a forklift your life will be so much easier.

Use a pump sprayer of LPS3 or Fluid Film first, then lay cardboard, movers blankets and then tarps.

I had a Gilbert radial for a while and eventually got a smaller Breda version.

John K has great advice about using 2" ratcheting straps to secure the arm to the base in an inverted V configuration - make them independent and not reliant on friction alone.

I have seen them grouted to the floor in long-time installs which would be a pain to have to chip enough out to begin the process.

I don't plan to ever put mine on the floor, yes I know about the potential issue with the swinging arm. It can sit on hardwood cribbing like 95% of my other machines until its someone else's issue.
 
~1904 Hamilton Radial Drill, three foot. About 5,000 pounds give or take.
Raised the drill on the trailer and built the skid..
Gravity and a come-along to remove it.
Hamilton Radial Drill 1.jpgHamilton Radial Drill 1904.jpg
John
 
A point with radials ....if the base doesnt sit flat on a solid floor ,they will get up a chatter as the base flexes.This is completely aside from the safety aspect of making the machine tip over proof.....And never try to slide a machine on a rental alloy floored truck ...it do massive damage to the tray. ....Sliding with lube would be risky ,because the lube is still there when you hit the first corner ,or brake......Bad enough just the assorted slimy grunge that gets on machine bases......Seen 8 ton machines slide away on forklift tines ...cast iron on steel with a little lube is deadly ,believe me....Ive been doing this kind of stuff for near 60 years ,and got smashed up once ...which is more than enough.
 
A point with radials ....if the base doesnt sit flat on a solid floor ,they will get up a chatter as the base flexes.This is completely aside from the safety aspect of making the machine tip over proof.....And never try to slide a machine on a rental alloy floored truck ...it do massive damage to the tray. ....Sliding with lube would be risky ,because the lube is still there when you hit the first corner ,or brake......Bad enough just the assorted slimy grunge that gets on machine bases......Seen 8 ton machines slide away on forklift tines ...cast iron on steel with a little lube is deadly ,believe me....Ive been doing this kind of stuff for near 60 years ,and got smashed up once ...which is more than enough.

I remember taking a boring machine bottom table back to " Kearns-Richards " for re-machining on the top face. We were taking it on the back of a flat wagon. The driver didn't tell me the woods he'd put the table on were wet from over night rain and I forgot the ways were lined with " Shamban ". We had it lashed down with ratchet straps across the tee slot lifting irons we'd used to lift the table. Not very good, but we were only going about 10 miles to the K-R factory. It was a really nice morning so we didn't bother sheeting it up.

The first sharp bend we took on joining the motorway the driver looked back and said " The load's moved ". I looked back expecting to see that the table had moved about 6 inches. What I saw was a 5 ton table hanging half on and half off the wagon ! All that was holding it on was about 1/2 " of ratchet strap on the corner of one of the tee slot lifting irons.

We pulled over sharpish into a lay by and phoned for a mobile crane to come and rescue us. The driver was on pins expecting the motorway police to arrive at any minute. Just as the crane arrived so did the police. We righted the load much more securely and got ready to set off. The driver was worked up about being done for having an unsafe load. The copper said " It's a moot point, the load is still on the vehicle. If it had have fallen off the vehicle onto the motorway you would have had a case to answer ".

Regards Tyrone.
 








 
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