Moving machine shop equipment over epoxy?

[JoeArt98]

Can anybody tell me if I can move some heavy equipment over epoxy floor? I have a Bridgeport mill and a 14" lathe. I will need to move them on furniture dollies. Will epoxy stand up to this kind of weight? This is my first post! Thanks in advance, any help will be much appreciated!

 

[Machinist guy]

We have some sort of epoxy coated floor in part of the machine shop here and we regularly drive a medium size forklift over it with no damage to the floor so far.

 

[A_Pmech]

I would not move those machines on furniture dollies. Use a pallet jack!

As long as the floor was coated correctly, it will be fine. This is my floor after rolling a 6,000 lb. surface grinder over it on steel machinery skates.

 

[EpoxyCoat2]

It should have no problem standing up to that weight. If the floor was prepped correctly everything should be fine.

 

[GarageWarrior]

Furniture dollies are not going to handle that weight. They are hard to roll/turn once loaded and can also outright collapse, and tip your machine over.

Ideally you'd want toe jack, riggers pry bar and machinery skates, but can also get by with a cherry picker and some rolling pipes. Not my picture, but should give you an idea:

Also check Practical Machinist forum - they have a lot of good tips on how to move heavy things

 

[JoeArt98]

I am worried about the small steel wheels on the furniture dollies (2" dia. I think) rolling on the epoxy. My ceiling is too low for a fork lift in the garage. We moved the machines out of the place where they were on furniture dollies.... Can you rent machinery skates, or will I have to buy them? I think my equipment weighs about 2000# each. I can get them in the door, then have to roll them into place. Then use engine hoist to set. Pallet jack is great idea!

 

[A_Pmech]

Machinery skates can sometimes be rented, although availability is spotty.

Pallet jacks are easily rented, however.

 

[Kevin54]

You can also rent an air skid to move the equipment if you have a compressor. If you don't want to rent those, or can find any to rent, you can always pick up a few sheets of luan plywood to put down on the floor, then roll on some pipe. Or if you have a rigger nearby, see if they can move the equipment for you with a forklift. If should only take them a few minutes to do it.

 

[NitroShark]

I not sure what epoxy coating system you are going to use but my equipment is similar to yours. My floor is about 40 mils DFT with filled in control joints and I had no problem rolling my Bridgeport on ¾ water pipe. I had to make dollies for the LeBlond 15X40 lathe as it is about 4000 lbs. Here is a picture to show you the results and what you need to make.


Shawn

 

[A_Pmech]

Very slick Nitro Shark!

 

[JoeArt98]

Thanks, Nitro Shark! This is just what I need.

Again thanks for all the replies on this thread! I have been on this site for several months, but this was my first question for the community. I'm sure it won't be the last.

 

[NitroShark]

glade it worked out for you.

Shawn

 

[Chip McAllister]

wow. Nice floor, what product did you use. I have a new 24x28 garage and need to finish floor. Any Ideas....

Chip

 

[bloomingtonmike]

Nitro - no through bore turning?

What is the secret to lifting a 4500lb 1050 mill or lathe to get those under it? What wheel did you use?

 

[bullnerd]

Yeah, that little trolly must have a kick azz axle stub!

Floor looks sweet!

 

[NitroShark]

To pick the lathe up, I used a 2 ton floor jack and a couple of wood 4X4s. Remove chip pan and lift up under the head stock. Insert 2 wheel dollies. Do the same on the tail stock side.

For axles I machined a .786 (20mm) stub with snap ring and Tig/plug welded into a machine hole. Wheels are used (borrowed) from my BendPak 4 post dollies.

Shawn

 

[bullnerd]

Slick, nice job.

 

[NitroShark]

wow. Nice floor, what product did you use. I have a new 24x28 garage and need to finish floor. Any Ideas....

I used a Tnemec coating stratashield system.

http://www.tnemec.com/product/stratashield/


http://www.tnemec.com/

Shawn

 

[Hephaestus29]

There's a guy on here somewhere that built
his own machinery lift using maybe 4
trailer jacks if i remember correctly. You can
get trailer jacks with a capacity of 1500 lbs. each
at harbor freight, tractor supply might have
higher rated jacks . If i remember the guy had
a long piece of steel with two jacks on each end
on both sides, and maybe each side linked together.
He didn't have to lift it but a few inches
and cranked each handle a little at a time.
I think he may have wheeled it right into
his trailer by himself . If anyone remembers
this please post a link.