tricks for moving a bridgeport?

[nperkins]

Anybody have some good tips/tricks for relocating a bridgeport? My company has one that they are giving away, and i want it.. My problem is... How to get it home, and to my garage. Moving it around here isn't tough thanks to the forklift... But i'm not looking forward to getting it off a trailer and into my garage...

 

[jrz]

I hired a small wrecker, $40 cash.

 

[89GLH]

Rollback? Any towing company should be able to help you with it. ^ what he said

 

[Rentawrench]

Get some 4x4 the lenght of the Bridgepoet an lag them to it. This will make a skid ,then use pipe as rollers( cut a lil wider than the skid ).

How high is the trailer off the ground? Ramps ?

An Rotate the head so its not as Topheavy.

 

[lametec]

Forklift it onto a trailer. Bring it home.

Then:

a) Roll it off on pipes. Piece of cake, really. Just make sure you have some way of holding the mill back so it doesn't roll on its own. I used a trailer with a winch, letting the winch out a little at a time.

Sorry about the partial ******.. it was fricken' hot and humid!

OR

b) Call a tow truck. For $50 or so they'll lift it off your trailer and stick it in your garage. I chose this approach for my lathe, since it's not really "pipe roller" friendly.

 

[bimmer1980]

you can also do the labor intensive method....

just do this in reverse...

When I bought my bridgeport, the guy did not have a forklift. So we had to figure out a way to load it. First I removed the head. This is four bolts on the front. Once the head is off, then you can remove the four bolts that hold the ram on. The ram is quite heavy. It took three of us to lift it off by hand.

Now you are left with the base and the table. At this point, I was able to tip my single axle trailer down to it and then winch it onto the trailer.

After a 15 minute ride home, it was easy to lift off with the forklift and reassemble it....

best of luck...

for what it's worth..the rollback or wrecker ideas are good ones and less labor intensive....

 

[Professur]

This, of course, get's it home. How are you going to move it to where you want it afterward?

 

[nperkins]

I have a friend with a flatbed wrecker... I'm thinking have him transport it home, then use pipes to roll it into the garage.

I should have been a little more clear... My boss (lives a few doors down from me) is getting the bridgeport for its head, because its in better shape than his head, but his bridgeport & table are bigger... I'll be getting this bridgeport after he swaps parts... So maybe i'll go and hire my buddy again to flatbed it from his garage to mine (400 feet) lol.

EDIT: Professur... That was my main concern... lol But I think rolling it on pipes is probably going to be the best bet...

 

[justanengineer]

Believe it or not, they are pretty ridiculously simple to take apart, and should be taken apart for cleaning before usage anyway. Remove motor, remove head, remove ram (heavy), remove turret, remove table (also heavy). It should be almost half as heavy now and significantly less top heavy. The killer is the top heavy part, not the weight. You could rent a small drop deck trailer from somewhere like sunbelt rentals, but I find their $70 is too much considering U-haul utility trailers are only a foot off the ground and renting mine was $20. I too recommend lagging the machine to some long 8x8s regardless to make a nice skid, which also helps the tipping tendency.

Before you use it much make sure you take the table off and clean the knee out regardless how it seems cleanliness wise. The knee Z feed has a pair of bevel gears powering it that are likely buried in chips. Mine felt smooth, fine, and easy when I first got it, but I took it apart for cleaning anyway and voila, I can now lift the table with two fingers instead of needing my whole hand.

Oh, and plz post pics btw regardless how you move it...

 

[flatheadguy]

Best way is also the safest. My method...I lower the table all the way. Then crank the table back as far as it will go. Bring the turret forward until there is about 6-7 inches hanging over the front of the base. Turn the turret upside down. Don't forget to remove the drawbar. Lock it all in place. I use a heavy wall piece of 4x4, about three feet long under the explosed rails on the turret. A forklift, from the front, legs close enough to catch the
4x4, tilt the legs back, lift tilt some more when off the ground. And put it wherefver you want. Go VERY slow. It will start to swing if you are careless. I find it best to slowly position it in a place where you can lift and back a trailer under it. Whatever you do, don't stand next to it...or drop it.
Many methods to get the job done, but this has worked for me many, many times.

 

[nperkins]

Flathead... That's great for transporting at work where we have the forklift... But we don't have a forklift at home...

 

[Jim Stabe]

I had to move a 3,000 lb Kondia mill (heavy duty BP clone) out of a basement shop and up a steep, narrow sidewalk and onto a trailer. I made some low boy dollies using 1,000 lb rated steel casters. You can get it up on the dollies easily using a fabricated pry bar with a long handle like pictured. We were able to pull it up the hill using a 1,300 lb winch from HF mounted to the trailer hitch of my truck. We also removed a 16" lathe using the same dollies. It doesn't sound like you have the same challenges but if you need to move machines around, dollies like these work really well.

The dollies work better over uneven surfaces if you run a 1 1/2" tube through the 2" side tubes from front to back on each side.

 

[ihredo4]

When I moved mine I dropped the knee as low as possible. Moved the ram forward enough that the head could be inverted. Then used pry bars and blocks to get it high enough to get a pallet jack under it. And moved it onto the trailer with a winch. When we got to the shop we reversed the above procedures. We left ours on 6X6 blocking to raise the mill up off the floor to make it easier to use. We are rather tall and every bit helps.

 

[mjozefow]

Rent a drop deck trailer from Sunbelt. A_Pmech and I moved a 5k lb shaper into my garage in about an hour with very little sweating.

 

[nperkins]

Just for reference... Here's the bridgeport...

For $100, how can i go wrong!

 

[OldCarGuy]

First off lower the table all the way down. And invert the head. Making the center of gravity as low as possible. Bolt two 4”x4” under the base. Using a pallet jack load it on a tilt back truck. The Bridgeport can easily be maneuver it into place on the pallet jack...


Or,,, Build a bridge crane in your like. Makes the job easy! Drive the open trailer in the garage. Pick up the machine and simply drop it in place!

 

[APEowner]

I lifted mine of the car trailer with my cherry picker style engine hoist.

 

[A_Pmech]

Pallet jack on a drop deck trailer or forklift tines under the ram with 2x4's between the tines and the ram dovetail.

In any built-up area you can rent a 4,000lb forklift for around $125 a day.

 

[Joe From NY]

NEVER EVER do like these two guys:

You never want to get down ramp of this much steel in case the cable snapped

Come on man, Dont ever wear open toe sandals if you are doing a serious equipment moving job. I am going to post these two photos on a machinist forum, where they would be funny if they weren't so seriously scary.[/SIZE]

 

[Joe From NY]

Look at these guys' solutions:

http://www.truetex.com/movebpt.htm

http://www.wrljet.com/bridgeport/

http://www.metalworking.com/Dropbox/Moving_a_Bridgeport_2J_Head_Milling_Machine_2.pdf

http://bluechipmachineshop.com/bc_blog/?p=443

 

[Shadowdog500]

Here is a good example on how not to move a lathe.

Chris

 

[Strouty]

The EASIEST way to move this is to call me, I will come over with my crane, I will pick it up, load it onto my truck, you won't even have to worry about unloading it. I will actually reimburse you the $100 for allowing me to help.

 

[Joe From NY]

 

[DCarr]

Set it on a car trailer. I have moved a few with one including the Supermax which is a couple of hundred lbs. heavier. For mine I need a reachleft because of the gravel. Once on Concrete you can pick them up just enough with a decent engine hoist and move it into place.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I mounted mine on a couple of 4x4 with lags, then loaded onto my trailer with my forklift at a remote location. Once home, put a wood block under my trailer tongue jack to increase lift, then wound it until it lifted up the rear of the truck without clearing the tires from the ground. The trailer was almost touching the floor of my shop, with the trailer outside. I blocked under the rear of the trailer, placed a half sheet of 3/4 plywood, blocked up heavily underneath, then rolled the mill into the shop after using a cable puller to let it roll off the slanted trailer under complete control. It was unloaded within 20 minutes after getting home, totally by myself, with no sweat. I left the wood underneath it, and now by using the pallet Jack, it can be moved anywhere in the building I want. Mine is a round ram model, which is shorter, and the wood makes it the height of a dovetail model at the quill feed handle.

 

[OccupantRJ]

To get a trailer down to shop floor level, I have also let the air out of the tires, or dug a couple of slots in the ground to back into with the tires, to lower the back of the trailer.

 

[larry_g]

You can see how I did it on my build thread. Like others I levered it up and put skids under it and used a come-a-long to pull it onto the drop deck trailer. At the new shop I drug it off with the backhoe. Skids are good things.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[welder4956]

Flathead... That's great for transporting at work where we have the forklift... But we don't have a forklift at home...

Why not rent a forklift for a day to move it? We have done that at our office bldg occasionally to unload equipment from trucks.

 

[metal1313]

trailer and a pallet jack, you can rent both for less than 100 for the day and call it good.

 

[nperkins]

I'm thinking lift it with the forklift, 4x4's underneath, borrow a pallet jack from work, get it on a trailer, then just wheel it into my shed using the pallet jack and a sheet of plywood..

I'll definitely have to document it...

 

[OccupantRJ]

I'm thinking lift it with the forklift, 4x4's underneath, borrow a pallet jack from work, get it on a trailer, then just wheel it into my shed using the pallet jack and a sheet of plywood..

I'll definitely have to document it...

Just be sure to control it's descent off the trailer, and account for the settling of the rear of the trailer as the weight transfers rearward on it. Be DAMN sure to leave the trailer hooked to the truck during unloading, or the trailer will lurch forward. Pictures would be good. The thread link below is of my moving into my shop. No Bridgeport pics, but there are a few of the lathe being moved out of the trailer. The dog was in charge.


http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61583

 

[PaulR]

NEVER EVER do like these two guys:

You never want to get down ramp of this much steel in case the cable snapped

Come on man, Dont ever wear open toe sandals if you are doing a serious equipment moving job. I am going to post these two photos on a machinist forum, where they would be funny if they weren't so seriously scary.[/SIZE]

:shrug: why not? If that bridgeport comes down on a pair of steel toe boots it's only going take that much longer scrape up what used to be your feet.

 

[murph64]

I paid $100 for a rollback to pick up and deliver my Fray mill a couple of years back. WELL worth it, as I had no access to a trailer, nor any help available.




Andy

 

[CKC]

I moved mine last weekend, I did not disassemble anything as we were only going 6 miles; if it was farther I would pull the head, besides removing the DRO, I spun the head 180, brought the table back up to support the head, rented a cat skid steer with forks and trailer, picked it up from the side under the ram with wood 1X under the ram on either side of the column, loaded it on the front of the trailer drove the skid steer on the trailer tied everything down, took it back to my shop and unloaded, very safe! we spent less than 3 hours total.

My mill sets very high with a 12" spacer and mounted to 1" X 6" angle with wheels, I also have leveling screws in the angle when its in position in the shop, with the wheels it makes it nice to move and clean behind.

 

[lametec]

NEVER EVER do like these two guys:

You never want to get down ramp of this much steel in case the cable snapped

Why don't you explain how you got your Clausing lathe out from that basement? I saw the post on Practicalmachinist.

At least in my case nobody was in the direct line of harm should the cable have snapped or something else failed.

Not trying to start an argument here, but if you're gonna be the safety advisor, at least practice safety yourself!

I consider the way I moved my Bridgeport to have been safe. There's always some risk involved, and I felt it was small enough to go ahead an do it that way. I'll be picking up my second Bridgeport soon, and the unloading will be done in much the same way I did the first one.

 

[Strouty]

Except for the sandals!

 

[lametec]

Well, the sandals were when moving the lathe. I used shoes when moving the mill.

 

[bobadame]

A 1 ton wrecker with a telescoping boom does this easy. About $50. for the service call in this area. Once it's on the concrete you can inch it around with a big crow bar. There are cutouts in the base for this purpose.

 

[Kennedy1]

I've heard of using golf balls to move equipment, only thing is you will have to keep them under it while rolling it. Has anyone else ever heard of or tried this?

 

[OccupantRJ]

I paid $100 for a rollback to pick up and deliver my Fray mill a couple of years back. WELL worth it, as I had no access to a trailer, nor any help available.




Andy

Only other Fray I have seen. I bought one years ago without the head and mounted a Bridgeport J head onto it with an adapter plate, then motorized a Bridgeport rotary table with a 90 degree drill, and automatic locking collets. It mills a V tip on small rod parts at 500 an hour now.