There are a few things you need to consider before selecting a truck to move machinery with. The biggest factors are influenced by the pick-up and drop-off locations. Our pick-up locations have loading docks, so we picked a truck that lined up with the dock(48"-52"). The drop-off point, the garage, opens to a snowy and icy Chicago alley. To bring the machines down, without a forklift, you get a truck with a lift.
Picked up by Mihai. (brrrrrrrrr)
He wants the precious straps I'm holding.
There was on an online auction, Myron Bowling, that was selling tons of stuff that I guess Panduit didn't want anymore. They were auctioning everything from machines to office furniture to more of everything. We put together a list of potential bids and eventually as the bids went up, we had to let go of some items and focus on what we really wanted.
Here are the three items we won in the auction.
With the truck, we picked up our items from Tinley Park(lathe and tapper) and Orland Park(mill). The pick-up from Tinley was pretty smooth. The Myron people were very friendly. Once we got to Orland Park, we ran into some issues. The milling machine was missing pieces that the auction description and photo reflected. The power feed, collets, and light w/ arm had been removed. We weren't too happy about it, so they offered to throw in an extra vise. We accepted but I asked them to search one more time for the missing the parts. Success, they found a box that had the missing parts in it. I'm glad I asked them to looked again.
On the way back to the garage, we stopped at Home Depot to pick up two sheets of plywood. The plywood is used to cover the alley, providing a smooth and flat surface to move the machines on. The mill would be first off the truck, since it would be the hardest. Luckily, we had plenty of help from some of our friends. I manned the pallet jack while everyone else held the mill with straps. In the picture above, you can see the head on the mill is rotated about 90 degrees. Since the truck wasn't high enough, we rotated the head to make it fit. Also helps bring down the center of gravity a little bit.
At this time I'd like to talk about safety. It is important when moving heavy machinery to make sure you're doing it safely. The safest thing we could do would be to pay professional machine movers to do it. But, we don't have the money for that. The milling machine weighs around 2200lbs. That's around the weight of a small car. Also, the mill is VERY top heavy. It's not hard to tip one while moving it. To be safe, no one is allowed to be anywhere near the sides of the mill. In the case that the mill falls, you don't want to be under it. Trust me, there is no stopping it.
Secondly, to prevent the mill from tipping over, we have four guys holding on to the top with straps. It's important that you don't wrap the straps around your hand. If the mill goes, so do you. The lift on the truck is rated more than enough to handle the weight of the mill. The safest way to lower the lift is to do it in one motion. It's tempting to want to lower the lift incrementally, but the hydraulics in the lift causes lots of vibrations, which could tip the mill over. Tension is kept on the straps while lowering to stabilize the mill.
Next up is the lathe. After moving the mill this goes off without a hitch.
Here you can see our plywood ramp. Nothing beats moving machines in the cold winter.
The machines are moved and everyone is excited. New endeavors are in the works. To sum up the day, the move couldn't have been any easier. Good planning, being safe, patience, and a good team, are all important factors when moving heavy machinery. Big thanks to Fernando, Leeder, and Rafal for helping us out. With their help, the move was smooth and safe.
And now for your enjoyment, here's a video we made of the move.
Future Plans
- Obtain a headstock for the lathe (currently missing)
- Install 24V DC motors on the mill and lathe (battery powered)
- Expand current solar system to 800W, two more panels and two more batteries
- Add CNC functionality to the mill
I really like this great job folks.
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