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Need advice for moving milling machine with fork lift

West-7

Aluminum
Joined
May 24, 2019
I just got a excello 602 milling machine that I need to move into the shop and thought I'd ask for some advice from professionals with more experience before moving forward. I have some experience moving and rigging equipment but that was with all the proper equipment and on hard surfaces. My fork lift was rated for 3000 lbs in 1952 so it may be a stretch for it to lift this thing.

Mill is currently crated outside of garage on the ground. The ground around the machine is very compacted but I may still end up sinking in when I try to lift the mill. Any suggestions for what I can put under the tires to prevent sinking? I have steel plate I can use but I'd rather not reduce it to scrap if I don't have to.

My forks are 2' too short to go under the crating and I would require extensions which would reduce the capacity of my already weak fork lift. I could probably lift the mill from the turret but I'm worried about tipping the mill over. Would making up extensions out of some 1/4" wall rectangular tubing be sufficient for this?

Any other suggestions for how I should do this?

Will take pictures right awayAIMAG0760.jpg
 

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Move table and head as close to turret as possible. Pick from turret side and minimal amount of lift as possible. Ie keep it low. Prior to pick, drive back and over the ground to make sure it’s compacted. If the forklift doesn’t sink in, the forklift and mill are not likely too. Drive slow. You can always add a strap at the top of turret to the mast to keep it on the forks in case you stop too fast.
 
I just got a excello 602 milling machine that I need to move into the shop and thought I'd ask for some advice from professionals with more experience before moving forward. I have some experience moving and rigging equipment but that was with all the proper equipment and on hard surfaces. My fork lift was rated for 3000 lbs in 1952 so it may be a stretch for it to lift this thing.
The OEM manual, available online thanks to another PM member:

http://manuals.chudov.com/Excello-602-Mill-Manual.pdf

..says 2900 lbs.

"What Flail said". Also turn the head at 90-degrees to give you better clearance under the garage door, invest a goodly ration of caution in planning ahead, and apply patience during, the move should be no big deal.
 
Demolish the crate. Move the ram so some sticks out both sides of the column. Grab some dunnage and pick it from the ram. It's harder to fall over when you lift from above.

Oh, surely. And the factory-recommended rigging for an overhead lift is shown right in that manual I linked.

That said? It is likely to be a right bitch to then get the FL mast & c. under the damned shop/garage doorway opening, yah?
 
on edit just saw How close you are. Lay down heavy plywood and use 2"pipe to roll it in, or drive across it with the lift.
 
on edit just saw How close you are. Lay down heavy plywood and use 2"pipe to roll it in

It ain't that heavy. Doesn't even "require" a FL at all, actually, though it's faster than brains and a bit of leveraged muscle-power.

One could place it "mostly" inside the door with FL onto a bit of leveled grillage, back-off, re-rig... then apply gentle nudges from FL & prybar to slide it into desired final location.

One-man task. No fear of rollers getting out of control.
 
Going to sleep on it and see what I come up with in the morning. I'll have to measure and see if I can lift from the turret with the head turned all the way down to the table and still have clearance.

Also need to move two lathes as well and was planning on lifting them from the bed as outlined in the manual but they have short beds and are very head stock heavy. Any tips?

Need this stuff to earn a income so trying to be as careful as I can.

I'm going to have to move larger machines into this building eventually and it's definitely not going to be fun. When I build my shop the first thing going into is a overhead crane.IMG_1237.jpgIMG_1239.jpg
 
That said? It is likely to be a right bitch to then get the FL mast & c. under the damned shop/garage doorway opening, yah?
Not really. The ram will be out towards the tips, all you have to do is set it on the concrete floor on top of a couple galvanized pipe rollers from Home Depot and away ya go. The forklift mast doesn't even have to come into the garage. A Bridgeport / Sharp / Whatever is only a couple thousand pounds, easy to roll across the floor.
 
Oh, surely. And the factory-recommended rigging for an overhead lift is shown right in that manual I linked.

That said? It is likely to be a right bitch to then get the FL mast & c. under the damned shop/garage doorway opening, yah?

The forklift does to need to enter the garage

With the forks tilted back while travelling, lifting under the ram is about the safest way. Once you are as far into the garage as you can get, tilt the forks down and set it on the floor, or on rollers on the floor
 
Both lathes are in the garage, leveled and in final position.

The forklift easily picks up the mill thankfully but the transmission is weak and will not move with the mill in the air. The forklift has a transmission leak and may be low on oil so I'm going to dump some lucas oil that stops slippage in and see what happens.

There's enough clearance with the mast up to clear the door.

Ended up lifting the mill with the forks directly under the turret with boards between to prevent damage. I tried using lifting straps from princess auto rated for 2000 lbs but all 4 of them failed the first time I tried to lift the mill :eek: I should have known better than to buy chinese lifting straps.
 
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I should have known better than to buy chinese lifting straps.

LOL! Just read the fine print next go! That 2,000 lbs rating was probably the sum ...for the whole SET OF FOUR, and even then only when in the impossible perfect balance of stresses!

No issues with Horrer-Fright 4,000, 6,000 and such "real" straps sold as onesies.

Considering the source, I tend to treat them as single-use at half rating, then de-rate again once they have my greasy paw-prints on them, discard and buy new outright once over a year old. All fibres can degrade with age, chemicals, even the atmosphere - natural Manila/Hemp in mere weeks and months, synthetics, too, just not usually as rapidly. Chain is good to have, but beware that you know what the rating of that is, and from whence it came as well.

Besides wood & polywood - often bungee-corded and taped, my preferred universal padding for sharpish edges is those $5.00 or so recycled rubber doormats most any of the "Dollar" stores sell. And/or one can use an entire recycled TIRE for lots of things, too. The bead is seriously strong.

There are old riggers. There are bold riggers.

There are damned-few old, bold riggers.

PS: In general, Lucas additives suck. Not uncommonly they make a problem WORSE.
 
LOL! Just read the fine print next go! That 2,000 lbs rating was probably the sum ...for the whole SET OF FOUR, and even then only when in the impossible perfect balance of stresses!

No issues with Horrer-Fright 4,000, 6,000 and such "real" straps sold as onesies.

Considering the source, I tend to treat them as single-use at half rating, then de-rate again once they have my greasy paw-prints on them, discard and buy new outright once over a year old. All fibres can degrade with age, chemicals, even the atmospehre - natural Manila/Hemp in mere weeks and months, synthetics, too, just not usually as rapidly. Chain is good to have.

Besides wood & polywood - often bungee-corded and taped, my preferred universal padding for sharpish edges is those $5.00 or so recycled rubber doormats most any of the "Dollar" stores sell. And/or one can use an entire recycled TIRE for lots of things, too. The bead is seriously strong.

There are old riggers. There are bold riggers.

There are damned-few old, bold riggers.

Scary thing is these where individually packaged and labelled as rated for 2k lbs each

I'm going to have to find a source for good quality lifting straps. I've worked in job shops my entire career and they've always had sketchy borderline useable rigging equipment and that's not something I'm going to tolerate in my shop.
 
I'm going to have to find a source for good quality lifting straps.

They aren't all that dear to ship, (steel chain is another matter..) and Canada has no shortage of such gear. Go ogle showed just under 4 million hits.

Here's a few:

Nylon Slings | Canadian Lifting and Supplies

Slings - Super Slings

Lifting Slings | Wesco Industries

And yer correct.

Gear that is frayed, chemically degraded, or otherwise damaged from abuse or accumulated stress is bad news looking for an audience.
 
I've a similar scenario and I'm looking into the possibility of making a lifting beam with some lifting lugs attached to it for moving equipment. Where can I get M20 lifting eye nuts please?

Harry
 
#15 harrycrowther

Where can I get M20 lifting eye nuts please?

Search the internet for M20 eye nuts, there will be plenty to choose from.

What concerns me is that you have to ask how to do an elementary internet search, but do not feel the need to ask whether M20 has a sufficient safety factor for your lift.

Who is designing the beam? What are you lifting?
 
I was looking for an engineering company that can provide guidance about lifting eyes and supply them.
The idea is to clamp a plate with slotted holes onto a beam and attach some kind of lifting eye under the plate. I was hoping a lifting eye manufacturer would be able to advise the suitability of their lifting eye. It will be reused several times for lifting equipment that is less than a tonne. I've found a few M20 eyebolts which tend to have a FoS between 1.2 to 1.6 tonnes. So it seems like it might be feasible.
 
I’ve probably moved over 1,000 mills. Almost always lift under the ram, either the forks under the ram with padding, or straps under the ram. Some mills have a lifting eye threaded into the ram, if it’s there we sometimes use it.

The last, least desirable option is forks under the base. A mill is very top heavy picking it under the base, we never do this unless headroom just won’t let you get under the ram.

You can use blocks between the forks and ram, to lower the top if the mast, to gain headroom.
 








 
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