That wench was a full 1.5 tons and man could she hold her weight! LOL.
Our mission began at 0830 with the trailer and truck hopefully carrying enough to do the job. I did not have the trailer from my neighbour I was hoping to use - I had his more “garden style” than his big 5 ton dump trailer. This added to some issues - but we overcame them!!!!
The guys selling were a funny lot and I think blown away when we rotated the head 180, slipped the table into position and then secured things. The fork driver came over and we did some adjustments and he lifted it in from under the ram. I had wood protection and ratchet strapped his forks from opening. We set the mill on some made up 4x4 and my son screwed things down to the trailer while we tarped and lashed the mill down. It is about 10 to 15 minute drive to Esmond’s and we took about 25 minutes. Some fancy backing up to the garage and we were set for phase 2……
Phase 2 ….. the drop off …. Or - let’s get this big guy rolling!!
Well, some of the change up with the smaller trailer and the way the mill sat in the trailer meant it had to turn 90 degrees so we could get the pallet jack underneath. I had brought some 6” lag screws to bolt the mill to the 4x4’s but Esmond’s mill has the bottom coolant tray option so it is 2” deeper. Esmond shot off to Canadian Tire and picked up some 8” x 1/2” lag screws and we were back in business. With the mill bolted to the 4x4’s I used a 1/2 ton wench (Bretha’s smaller sister)
(1/2 ton come along) to rotate the mill. My boy pushing also helped.
once the pallet jack was fitted we hooked up Bertha (1-1/2 ton chain fall) to the back of the trailer and it connected via straps to the top turret of the mill and also the base. The mill could descend the trailer ramp but not tip or go nuts as it’s fall was being controlled by the chain fall pay out.
One shite thing with the trailer ramp was the space down the middle - to fill that I cut a 3/4” sheet of plywood to bridge any gap (4”) and allot the mill to roll smoother. With my son running the chain falls and Esmond on the pallet jack we rolled the mill down the ramp and into his garage, fairly easy peasy - there was a tense moment when I put down my Pom Poms and we needed to “adjust” the direction of mill flow, but all in all it went fine. We used the pallet jack to get the mill back into the garage as far as we could.
Opinion on the mill:
For $1200 it is a steal of a deal. The quill bearings seem fine and I sensed no play. The head, I suspect has a worn upper and lower speed control bearing. - this may have a bit of other caused damage to the belts and maybe the drive - all can be replaced pretty easy.
There are a few odds and ends that need some TLC and adjustments - I think a nut is off the quill feed Handle at the clutch end. The mill has some wear on the y-axis ways and x axis ways but nothing “oh my gosh”. The table rides pretty smooth in all directions and the head and ram are all free to move. The mill has Mitutoyo scales for a DRO - not sure if working and the power feed on the x-axis is sexy.
I didn’t get a chance to pull off the head as we were a bit late arriving and the mission ran a bit long. My wife’s Birthday today so had to make a bit of an exit.
