moving a lathe and mill

[Skyking1992]

I will be moving my Fathers bridgeport mill and south bend lathe from his place to mine. I'm curious about the weight of either machine. The bridgeport does not have any power feed or digital readouts. The name plate on the lathe says 13" over the bed and 5 foot. It has it's own base. Any tips on moving these? I helped him move many years ago and I remember using steel rods as rollers. Put one in front and take one from the back as the machine slides along. Not sure I want to do that on my epoxy floor!

thanks,

Skyking

 

[carap]

Flip the head 180 degrees to lower the center of gravity. You can remover the head and move it in two pieces if necessary. I picked mine up with a cherry picker. Probably not very smart. It was all the picker could lift. We lifted it up and backed the trailer under it. We were to scared to move the mill once we had it in the air. I will see if my manual gives a weight tomorrow.

 

[Wanna Ride]

I'm guessing the mill weighs around 1200-1500 lbs?

 

[hilld]

Rent a forklift and flatbed truck/trailer? Just a thought, or have a bunch of strong buddies.

 

[popcorn-guy]

They're called drayage companies. Use one for safety, their skills and specialized equipment. The few bucks that it will cost will be cheap compared to life time injuries. Bonus, your epoxy floor will survive.

All of the heavy equipment that gets moved into my new shop will be by drayage. I already have had a major back surgery and do not intend to have another if I can help it. Painful.

 

[trbomax]

The mill is 2300#. There are two ways to pick it up,recomended by BP.First (that I dont like) is to center the table then run it in as far as it will go. Screw a 1/2-13 forged eye bolt into the top of the ram and lift away. Option #2 is the same except you pick it up with forks under the ram,or a sling wrapped around the ram. I ve moved both of mine all 3 ways,but prefer opp 2 with sling.

The lathe sounds like one of mine as well,1300#.Either forks under the bed,or 2 slings around the bed. They must be positioned close to the head stock to balence. Run the carrige to the tail stock end but do not grab either the headstock or carrige in any way with the straps.If it has a chip gard on the backside you will have to remove it to do this.

 

[A_Pmech]

Hi Skyking,

If it's a round-ram M-head machine, about 1,500lbs. If it's a dovetail ram J-head, about 2,200 lbs.

I'd move the mill with a pallet jack after cranking the knee all the way down and inverting the head. You can get it up to pallet jack height with a johnson bar and some 1/4" and 1/2" plywood squares for cribbing.

The lathe I would try to move by rigging from overhead, if possible. Lathes are top heavy and don't take well to being rigged from below. Not sure on the weight of a South Bend.

Sunbelt rents some nice single-axle hydraulic drop-deck trailers meant for moving man lifts that work well for moving machines within their capacity.

 

[ZRX61]

I have a 13in SouthBend. It's about 1900lb.....

To make it lighter you can remove the tailstock, crosslide/apron etc

 

[Griff93]

Based on moving two of these myself, I found them to be much easier to handle if you moved them in pieces. My preferred way is to screw the eye bolt in and lift off the ram and top. Then I remove the table and knee. This isn't hard to do. It will help to loosen the knee. Make sure you use a sling and not a piece of chain on the table as it will be against the ways. This leaves you with the base to deal with. It's much easier to move just the base. It's also a lot less top heavy due to the base being very wide front to back at the bottom. Moving these this way of course requires a decent engine hoist but it is very doable.

 

[Torque1st]

It is also possible to get the local Tow company to bring out a boom truck and move them. They can often lift them and extend the boom out to place them where you want in the shop.

 

[denap]

Interestingly enough we just did this due to a move. A ~1T BP J head. I was under some time constraints and ended up hiring a rigger.

They cranked the table in, placed a 6x6 under the ram, and lifted it 4" off the floor with a forklift under the 6x. (we had to contend with the garage ceiling height so 4" is all the room we had)

Once out of the bay, they strapped the BP down and drove it to the flatbed. Total time... about 15minutes. I think most guys who would own a BP could DIY this easily.

 

[brownbagg]

we has some heavy equipment moved by special company. They had something that look like a refrigerator dolly that strap to each end then it would jack the equipment off the floor and push around on the dolly. It wasnt a refrigerator dolly but that the closest that it look like.

 

[rsanter]

you can use floor jacks to roll them outside

rent a forklift or a tow truck. I have dome both and they are both fairly easy

I have also used a cherry picker to get the tiems up and on rollers

bob

 

[bimmer1980]

When I purchased my bridgeport, I moved it in pieces. First I took the motor and drive head off. Then I removed the ram. The ram is super heavy and took three of us to move by hand. Then I was able to winch the base with table onto my little 4x8 trailer.

I was able to reassemble after getting home and was able to use my forklift to put it in the garage. when moving with the forklift, I had the head inverted, etc, as discussed above.....

For moving my 13x40 gear head lathe, I used a forklift under the bed with wood blocking to protect it. The turnmaster lathe was a good 2200 lbs. Not sure what your southbend would be....

Can you post some pictures of your machines??

 

[lametec]

When I moved my Bridgeport I didn't rotate the head down. Reason being that it would cause the oil to drain out and all over the place (including the belts).

When you look at it, there's not that much weight difference between the upper and lower parts of the head. Certainly not enough to counter the over 1000 lbs of steel that sits below it.

 

[bluesman2a]

I'm with A_PMech...

I built a pallet and move my lathe and mill around with a pallet jack. I just went ahead and bought one from Northern for about $180... It was a great investment and I use it for all kinds of stuff around the shop now.

Also, 2-post lifts work well here too... This is how I got it off the trailer and onto the pallet.


Here's the crew I brought in to help move the mill... Please excuse the off-color "Pirate Salute", but it was in response to working harder versus having the right tools to work smarter... Wound up doing most of the moving myself mainly because it was a ONE man job once we got it off the trailer.

 

[drmoonshine]

I will be moving my Fathers bridgeport mill and south bend lathe from his place to mine. I'm curious about the weight of either machine. The bridgeport does not have any power feed or digital readouts. The name plate on the lathe says 13" over the bed and 5 foot. It has it's own base. Any tips on moving these? I helped him move many years ago and I remember using steel rods as rollers. Put one in front and take one from the back as the machine slides along. Not sure I want to do that on my epoxy floor!

thanks,

Skyking

Your best bet to save your epoxy floors would be a pallet jack. Even the weakest of men can use them and I bet you could find a cheap one. I'd check with a rental company or buy one if you have use for it.

 

[trbomax]

here you go,right from the owners manual.

 

[Skyking1992]

Thanks for all the help. I'll probably do this in stages. First the lathe because it's the first and easiest to get to. My Dad is 98 and has no interest in the machines any more. My mother wants the garage back.

 

[bimmer1980]

how did your move go? Everything go ok?

I know this is bringing back an older thread.......

 

[Alaric.H]

You can cut some steel rods to length and put them under it and roll it around moving the front rod to the back as it moves forward.

 

[monkers]

I have a 1960 J Head Bridgeport, it weighs about a ton, we winched it on a roll back....worked good, and another time put one on a trailer with a skid steer....not as nice but thats all we had at the time.....the lathes we bolted boards to the bottom (like runners) and winched it up on the roll back...

 

[bczygan]

Bridgeport
In pieces is the answer. That's how I did mine. Loosen and rotate and lower the head and remove it. (easy)
Remove the screws from the bed and remove it.
Remove the ram.
The base is still heavy so pick it up with a forklift or engine hoist or roll on pipe rollers.
Option: Get a tow truck to lift it on and off a trailer.
Move the bed, ram and head on a HD hand cart.

South Bend Lathe
In pieces here too! I know of a dozen busted lathes that didn't disassemble (Including mine), and it's easy to take them apart. Use this guide:

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/INrlTHM08JkUNxwAsePzh_k_RZdIhN5Joo8MCcQJLfddrcum5yrFnF4Q1H0u0d_w_SfQFG914DJineYENbAEmqPu-SzhbQ/How%20To%20Disassemble%20a%20South%20Bend%20Lathe%20for%20Moving.pdf

 

[jarhead]

Moved two lathes and a mill yesterday with this drop deck trailer. The grey Marathon lathe weighed #3600, the Grizzly Mill G9902 weighed #2400, the Grizzly G0750G Lathe was #1250.
Joe

EDIT: I realize this is a old thread, added my info for info/knowledge. I did allot of searching and reading before I did this move....

 

[jmarkwolf]

I've moved Series 1 Bridgeport machines (2200-2400lbs) 3 times. Learned good tricks watching Youtube videos.

Don't try the cheap route, but you don't have to remortgage the house either.

Do searches on Youtube.

 

[racecougar]

I expect the OP has taken care of it by now, as this thread is nearly 12 years old.

 

[jarhead]

I expect the OP has taken care of it by now, as this thread is nearly 12 years old.

see my edit, thanks

 

[Skyking1992]

Well, a blast from the past!

I'm the OP. I can't believe it was 2010 when we moved those machines. I ended up hiring a company to move 6 machines: Bridgeport mill, South Bend lathe, DoAll band saw, Delta drill press, a pedestal grinder, and a belt sander. Money well spent in my opinion.

My Dad lived to the ripe old age of 102. The last couple years he had dementia, but when I visited him and told him I had moved his machines and that they were all operational, his eyes it up and he smiled. Fond memories.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Couple pry bars, toe jack, wood wedges, and machine skates/rollers to move on the floor (skates if you dont want to mark floor).

Then call a tilt back tow company.. they will pick up and slide off from front of shop garage.

 

[niget2002]

I bought a gantry to move my mill once at the shop.

 

[nadogail]

Wonderful story. Thanks for sharing it.