How would you move this machine?

[Sincerd]

So I bought this drill press for $700 and did not realize until I was already picking it up, how large and heavy it was. Hell of a deal, but the real cost is moving the item. Even my beefed up shop crane has no chance, if I could get it under a pallet jack Maybe. The guy had a crane put it on the trailer, I'm thinking that's my only chance in getting it off the hydraulic drop deck trailer. Whatever happens, definitely going to be a huge tip hazard as it's very top-heavy and tall. Do I have any other choice besides renting a crane?

forgot to mention the best part. It's 7" higher then my garage door.

 

[slidehammer]

Do I have any other choice besides renting a crane?

You could hire a rigger. He'd probably use a forklift.

 

[Kpaige]

Gantry crane

 

[larry_g]

What kind of a building are you putting it in? Do you have the room for a forklift or a boom wrecker to get it into? Residential garage? The first big mill I boughe I drug it off the trailer with a come-a-long. For that machine If dragging off I would strap the top of the machine to the bed rails forward to keep it from tipping. Release the top straps 6" and then drag the machine 6". Repeat until the machine is on the flat floor. Drag from the lowest point on the DP to minimise tipping..

lg
no neat sig line

 

[gearhead1]

The old style boom tow truck like Larry mentioned can do this easily. Thats how I moved my milling machine.

Another way is a pallet jack. That’s how I moved my mill inside the shop.

 

[nadogail]

I would first have to see what you have to work with and then I would proceed very carefully.

 

[Kpaige]

I moved my mill drill off a trailer like that. Used a pry bar and rollers to get it off onto my lift table end into place it’s around 700 pounds. I would never do that again damn near killed me.

If you can get it lifted off by a tow rig or neighbor with a tractor or two engine hoists? Then set it on a pair of machine movers and push into place then use levers and wood blocks to lower it one side at a time to its resting place.

These come in many sizes

 

[flyingblind]

Rent a forklift. Get one with long forks and use straps or chains.

 

[olytdi]

Yes, a neighbor's tractor with pallet forks.

 

[wssix99]

Breathe... it's not as hard as it feels! I had a similar problem when I needed to move a 800 lb. fireplace off a truck, onto a lift, up 3 stories and then 2 feet up onto an elevated hearth.

All my help wimped out and I did the 2 foot raise by myself.



The trick was to build up cribbing with wood blocks. From there, you just lean the load and either add or remove blocks. (Cutting up a few 2x6's was a lot less expensive than other alternatives.)

I would stabilize your trailer with jacks and then walk the drill onto a plywood-topped crib. Then, just tilt back-and-forth, taking away blocks.

 

[Renegade1LI]

I agree on the gantry, if you don't have one build a temp wood one.

 

[tool_scrounge]

Safest? Hire riggers or rent a fork lift.

No bolt holes in base so bolting to heavy long wood 4x4s (aka out riggers) and putting a narrow pallet jack between is not an option.

 

[Kpaige]

Your cheapest if hiring it to be lifted off will be a tow company with a boom. We use to hire the wreckers to rig and unload our 20 ton transformers when they were delivered.

 

[Renegade1LI]

Did this before i got a real gantry

 

[cgrutt]

Would you be able to lift it off trailer with a few 6x6 posts and a come-a-long pull the trailer and then lower it onto a pallet or dollie? Any idea how much it weighs?


ETA I was thinking similar to above except with 6x6 instead of ladders. Obviously would need to add some stabilizers...

 

[zkdiesel]

Fire up the big hydraulic powered equipment all of garage journal has

 

[loganb]

If it's on a hydraulic drop deck trailer, you should be able to roll it off and onto a beefed up pallet. Get it lifted up a couple of inches and get some pipes or round bars under it...if you can weld a "drive nut" on the end of one, for example a 1/2" nut on a piece of 1.5 or 2" pipe so you can put a socket/ratchet or ratcheting combination wrench on it gives you more control helping to roll it. Roll it backwards towards the tail, bridge the ramp with some cribbing to let you get it up onto the pallet. I'd suggest adding some 3/4" plywood or steel plate possibly across the top of the pallet to help distribute the load a bit more evenly.

If you're doing this on a slope, put a safety sling/come along around the bottom of the machine back to the front of the trailer and roll it out with the come along/winch. On the same token if it's getting bound up and you're pulling it into the shop and have decent concrete, you can easily drop a couple of threaded anchors into the slab to use as a pull point for the winch to help pull it along the rollers and off the trailer.

This is all based on the assumption you have adequate head room to pass it thru the door opening...ideally you can unload it inside the structure it's going into and not outside. If it needs laid down to get in...yeah you need assistance

 

[cruzer75]

Two 2x12 together with 8ft span will lift 2000lbs. I put 4x4 posts under them. Worked well, lift my 1900lb lathe out of my truck.

I then moved said lathe with 1 in tubing and a pry bar.

The you tube has lots of machine moving videos.

Question on the drill press. Isn't that a jig bore?

 

[Kpaige]

This is a very top heavy piece of equipment. I just advise if you are not 100 percent comfortable doing any of our suggested ideas that you call on someone to do it.
First off you get hurt you saved nothing.
Second machine falls you save nothing.

Just a pause for safety……..

 

[rbgearz]

Before I bought a lift truck, I rented one for a day to take my shop equipment off of a trailer. Wasn't that expensive. Saved alot of worrying.

 

[wssix99]

Would you be able to lift it off trailer with a few 6x6 posts and a come-a-long pull the trailer and then lower it onto a pallet or dollie? Any idea how much it weighs?


ETA I was thinking similar to above except with 6x6 instead of ladders. Obviously would need to add some stabilizers...

I tried this with my fireplace. 6X6 is too big, but a crib built up of 2X lumber is just fine. Once the unit is pulled or walked on to the crib, it literally comes down in 2 minutes. Very easy.

 

[nadogail]

Sometimes the best thing to support something heavy and lower it gently is a large block of Ice.

 

[Sincerd]

Safest? Hire riggers or rent a fork lift.

No bolt holes in base so bolting to heavy long wood 4x4s (aka out riggers) and putting a narrow pallet jack between is not an option.

I've got a mag drill

 

[Sincerd]

Forgot to say, it's going in my 2 car garage. This thing in 7" too talk to fit.

 

[bugnut]

plastic shims and 1x's to crib up and get a couple hf dollies under it, if the roll off is gentle. Then a gantry as you have 7" of height requiring the head and base to not be planar. If not a fel would be the next option for me as I could pull it over and place were I wanted by holding the headstock and dollying the base.

No challenges here, be smart, safe and think of where you could hurt/damage something.

 

[BillK]

Unless you really need it I think I would sell it and get something a little smaller

If it is taller than your garage door you are going to have to tip it over somehow. Too late now but I would have had it loaded on the trailer on its side with the base to the rear of the trailer. Then you could have backed into the garage and slid it off and tilted it up at the same time somehow.

A rigging company might have something like a heavy duty appliance hand truck that can do the job ??

What kind of power requirements does it have ?

 

[cannuck]

Forgot to say, it's going in my 2 car garage. This thing in 7" too talk to fit.

Fairly simple. I have a 10' door so can take it off your hands. Beautiful tool!

 

[gfd_703]

Issue everyone is missing is the 7 inches taller than garage door. I think one option will be a boom truck. Rig the machine, lift off trailer, lower to ground. lean over, drag under the door opening, lift boom to stand machine back up. Only problem with this is the garage door is going to be in the way of lifting the boom to stand the machine back up. Maybe a small forklift, carry machine into garage on its side and then use forklift to stand it back up. Third option and the only one Garage Journal approved is to build a bigger and taller shop addition to accommodate the new machine. LOL

 

[racecougar]

Is it 7" too tall when on the trailer, or 7" too tall when on the ground?

As far as how I'd do it, I'd use my skid steer to unload it. Getting it thru the door depends on the answer to the question above.

 

[CraigStu]

Concentrate on how to lay it over safely. 700# is too heavy for normal people to move w/o equipment. But it isn't that big of a deal otherwise. You could lay it down on two dollies and roll it into the garage. I'd figure a way to lay it down while still on the trailer. Can you pull under a tree and use a come-a-long to lay it down? Lay it onto a piece plywood or osb or a pair of 2x10s. Now that it is down, back into the garage and pull wood and tool off the trailer onto the garage floor. This way the underside of the wood will take all the scraping as it slips off the trailer. Come-a-long it close as possible to where you want it and come-a-long from ceiling trusses vertical again. If you make you ceiling truss attachment right above where you want it to end up the come-a-long attached to the top of the tool will get it within a few inches. Once vertical and close to your location, if you use the come-a-long to take up some of it's weight, and have a helper to lower it at the right moment, you can get it positioned easily. I recommend a come-a-long because they are inexpensive to buy, 1-2 ton capacity are common, easy to store, and come in handy for all kinds of jobs.

 

[f121]

Disappointed no one has mentioned a skid steer yet. Is this really GJ?

 

[racecougar]

Disappointed no one has mentioned a skid steer yet. Is this really GJ?

Look two posts up.

 

[f121]

Look two posts up.

That was a close one, glad you’re upholding the standards

 

[racecougar]

That was a close one, glad you’re upholding the standards

I do what I can.

 

[cannuck]

Forklift not likely doable because top of mast and backplane are far above forks. Garage ceiling height? If 12' forklift might work.

I would lay it down on trailer outside, back in between or beside two engine lifts and pick it up to remove trailer, lower base from one lift while lifting top...BUT - rig it from the narrow dimension as it will kick hard sideways as it nears the top. A chain fall rigged sideways can catch and control that.

 

[Rst277]

Concentrate on how to lay it over safely. 700# is too heavy for normal people to move w/o equipment. But it isn't that big of a deal otherwise. You could lay it down on two dollies and roll it into the garage. I'd figure a way to lay it down while still on the trailer. Can you pull under a tree and use a come-a-long to lay it down? Lay it onto a piece plywood or osb or a pair of 2x10s. Now that it is down, back into the garage and pull wood and tool off the trailer onto the garage floor. This way the underside of the wood will take all the scraping as it slips off the trailer. Come-a-long it close as possible to where you want it and come-a-long from ceiling trusses vertical again. If you make you ceiling truss attachment right above where you want it to end up the come-a-long attached to the top of the tool will get it within a few inches. Once vertical and close to your location, if you use the come-a-long to take up some of it's weight, and have a helper to lower it at the right moment, you can get it positioned easily. I recommend a come-a-long because they are inexpensive to buy, 1-2 ton capacity are common, easy to store, and come in handy for all kinds of jobs.

Best idea yet. Lay it down on the trailer. Use a come a long and put a couple of pallets with 3/4 " plywood on the bottom and 2 tires incase it falls over. Back into the garage, use pipes under the plywood to roll it off the trailer. Your man door frame should be stout enough if you put a 4x4 outside of it as a temporary anchor. Once it is on the concrete inside, stand it up with the come a long, put the pipes under it and roll it where you want it. Not that difficult, slow and steady, don't let it fall on you.

 

[Pen & Wrench]

Not sure you can gain 7 inches but in my old garage with no opener, I take a vice grip and push the door completely horizontal to gain enough height to get my skid loader in and out of the garage, is your door set up such that you can gain some height if you do something like that on your garage door?

 

[NORTON'S SHOP]

...forgot to mention the best part. It's 7" higher then my garage door.

Prefect opportunity (excuse) to get a larger shop, with a larger door of course!

 

[GrayFlattop]

Yeah - you are going to have to lay it down to get past the door. Just as well as it will be safer / less likely to tip.

Are there any tapped holes in the castings that you could screw an eye bolt into to serve as lifting points? I've moved a lot of machinery in my time (via work), but I've always had equipment available. Think it through.

Worst case, hire a rigger. I still recall my first encounter with professional riggers in the early 80's - they delivered a new Bridgeport to the basement of the building where I worked. The only way to get it to me was down a long flight of outdoor concrete stairs - fortunately the stairway had a modest pitch. They had a small forklift, chained it to the carriage and backed it down the stairs.

Laying down presses to install was pretty common at one plant I worked at as none of the doors had much height. Most smaller presses arrive on the trucks laid down, but at least our current plant has roll-up doors with sufficient height (26') for all but the largest of our presses. Generally, the big boys arrive in smaller pieces to be assembled on-site. Last press, the smallest piece weighed 465,000#. Watching the riggers install that is something I'll never forget. No injuries, no damage - just calm calculation, the right equipment and plenty of experience.

 

[bb29510]

two guys with a truck