Milling Machine - $950 - Mississauga
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I requested a quote from https://kencomachinerymovers.com/. We will see if they even respond.
TorontoBuilder
Ultra Member
You and my brother have a higher tolerance for the pucker factor than I do...
He keeps proposing such ideas as blocking the rear of the trailer and sliding machines to the rear to lift them. I keep shooting them down, because we're both old with multiple disabilities that limit mobility. IF I were wild and young again moves would be so much quicker.
Yes that will certainly work, but I hesitate to mention such tips to people who have limited experience, or suggest that at a minimum they rent the trailer a day early, purchase 4x4s and make up blocks that have zero chance of falling out of position at any point during the lifting process. machines topple at the wink of an eye. IF I'd been smarter I'd have taken the time to make such an item long ago, and been able to lend them round to others.
Mike, I second the suggestion to use black iron gas pipe rather than invest in machine skates for a single move. Or borrow a pallet and pallet jack from someone local who has them (cough, cough)
I also suggest you will soon discover that the ground level trailer is going to be a non-starter.
Yeah, maybe do the black iron pipe route. Much cheaper. Have you tried renting the ground level trailer before?
TorontoBuilder
Ultra Member
I have repeatedly tried to rent the ground level trailer from sunbelt rentals. I gave up and was stuck going the gantry crane route every time.
They have them on the United Rental site, which probably gives a 50/50 chance of being true.
TorontoBuilder
Ultra Member
Less than 50/50 chance since the UR webpage is for all north america. They dont stock them for rent in canada as you would find if you try to reserve one online.
If you call they will quote you ridiculous price to send one from buffalo or such nonsense. Ask me how I know.
@Maker Mike You're getting all kinds of good free advice so I might as well add my 2 cents worth. 
Based on my experience I'd suggest making a dolly and rent the 4500 lb (?) dual axle, drop-ramp trailer from U-Haul. My thread on my mill move is here: Tecnico's First Mill. There's a good picture of the dolly in Post 32.
I was able to safely relocate my 2200 lb First LC1-1/2 TM (BP clone) from the seller's to my shop without the need for a crane. All I needed was the most rudimentary home made roller-lift lever and an old, cheap ratchet come-along to pull it up the ramp on to the trailer. No lifting - no problem!
I was offered a roll-back truck at a price higher than renting truck & trailer from U-Haul plus building my dolly and the description of "Jus' tip the bed until it slides off" sounded too cowboy for my taste. Then there were the boom truck guy$.
The most important thing you can do right now is think through every step of the move well before hand and think about how to "design out" any potential problems like gantry cranes that don't fit. When you make the move, before anyone has lifted a finger, brief the crew on exactly what is going to happen and what is expected from them. You're in charge!
As far as the dolly, I like the side benefit that I can move the machine around my shop single handed until I know where it's eventually going to end up. I happened to move it today to re-arrange things in the shop. I'll eventually take the wheels off or take it off the dolly but so far I haven't felt the need.
Good luck, hope the advice is at least worth 2 cents!
D
Based on my experience I'd suggest making a dolly and rent the 4500 lb (?) dual axle, drop-ramp trailer from U-Haul. My thread on my mill move is here: Tecnico's First Mill. There's a good picture of the dolly in Post 32.
I was able to safely relocate my 2200 lb First LC1-1/2 TM (BP clone) from the seller's to my shop without the need for a crane. All I needed was the most rudimentary home made roller-lift lever and an old, cheap ratchet come-along to pull it up the ramp on to the trailer. No lifting - no problem!
I was offered a roll-back truck at a price higher than renting truck & trailer from U-Haul plus building my dolly and the description of "Jus' tip the bed until it slides off" sounded too cowboy for my taste. Then there were the boom truck guy$.
The most important thing you can do right now is think through every step of the move well before hand and think about how to "design out" any potential problems like gantry cranes that don't fit. When you make the move, before anyone has lifted a finger, brief the crew on exactly what is going to happen and what is expected from them. You're in charge!
As far as the dolly, I like the side benefit that I can move the machine around my shop single handed until I know where it's eventually going to end up. I happened to move it today to re-arrange things in the shop. I'll eventually take the wheels off or take it off the dolly but so far I haven't felt the need.
Good luck, hope the advice is at least worth 2 cents!
D
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Thanks Technico, I think I will try something like that. How thick of steel plate do you think I would need? 1/4 inch? I am now the proud owner of a very large chunk of cast iron. They will load it with a forklift at the other end. My driveway is a bit sloped, so this weekend I'll have to put an anchor in the back of the garage. Did the trailer angle up on its own when the mill went on?
Rauce
Ultra Member
The load rating on the ramp is pretty low, so I’d suggest reinforcing it. I used 2x6s laid over the ramp when I moved my lathe like that, I sloped the trailer using the tongue jack and put jackstands under the back corners. I let it slide off slowly using a 1 ton hoist horizontally like a com-a-long. If your driveway has a slope in the helpful direction it makes it pretty easy.
Yeah, last thing I want to do is pay for damaging the trailer.
You have lots of good advice, but nobody mentioned the forklift. My advice is to think that through too. Using a forklift on a mill is frought with lots of potential problems too.
Is the seller assuming responsibility for the forklift part of the move?
Maybe not. Best to think through how to do that too. Don't let some fork jockey decide how and where to lift your machine. That can do a lot of damage very quickly!
Also, you will want to position the machine for easy placement and easy removal using a different system.
@Maker Mike Happy to help out, I learn plenty here and it's fair return wherever I can find something give back!
Did we ever determine the weight of that beast? I sized my rig for the 2200lb of my First so if your machine is heavier then you'd need to see if the difference would need to be adjusted for.
The 4" angle I used was 1/4", the 2 x 2 square tubes were 1/8" wall. Those would be easy to beef up if needed just by changing the section thicknesses.
The wheels are rated at 720 lb (PA sourced).
If you look at the 3/8" flange plates on the ends of the 2 x 2 tubing where they bolt to the 4" angle you see one bolt at each bottom corner, there is a third bolt you don't see between them that passes through, just clearing the wall inside the tubing. I needed all 3 in my design for strength. I only needed one at the top since the joint is in compression there and all it would carry would be shear load. This is all bolted together to allow for it to be assembled in place around the machine while the it's up on blocks.
The 2 x 2 tubes are welded to the flange plates with as close to a complete joint penetration weld as I could achieve so they're not just fillet welds. The tubes were ground with a chamfer before welding. Same for all the welds actually.
I used 1/8" for the gussets that tie the (horizontal) castor positions to the verticals of the 1/4" angle. There are gussets both in front and behind the castors and both are needed. With them in place the castors fit into sort of a pocket but they make sure the load is well transferred from the castors to the dolly frame and the 2 x 2 tubes. If your machine is heavier you might need to make the gussets thicker but that's easy.
I recommend making only two of the wheels castoring and doing the steering.
OK, loading. I didn't notice the trailer moving while loading or unloading. To load I drove the back wheels of the truck up on blocks to raise the tongue. For unloading, there was no point in raising the tongue because my shop threshold is a little higher than the driveway so I just dropped the ramp on the floor and moved the machine off.
@Rauce mentioned the trailer ramp not being strong, I laid pieces of 1/8" plate on the mesh of the ramps to protect it. You will want to have a piece of plywood or metal plate in the bed of the trailer too so the castor wheels don't hang up in the corrugations of the bed. Once on board I set the dolly up on wood blocks to get it up off the wheels to discourage it from moving during the trip.
If you can get an anchor point installed in your garage you'll be one step up on me, I'm still thinking about how to retrofit my shop!
Congrats on your acquisition, I'm looking forward to hearing about the move and getting the machine up and running.
D
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So the mill is in the garage now. It is one of those garages that a somewhat less that a 1 car garage. I had it delivered as the company I bought it from had the resources to load it on their truck and deliver it. I rented a forklift on my end to offload it. First time driving a forklift, which was kind of fun.
I have the following to remedy:
The motor and variable pully are missing. The motor shaft is longer than a normal shaft to accommodate the variable pully. A new motor assembly is around 2k, which kind of hurts. I could buy a new variable speed head for 4.6k, or a new electronic variable speed for 7k. I could try and buy a different motor, extend the shaft and buy just the pulleys. I don't have a steady rest on my lathe, but would need one to extend the shaft. I could wait for something to show up on E-bay or Kijjiji.
The DRO doesn't work. Will most likely buy a cheap one off Amazon until the time I decide to convert to CNC.
The quill lever is missing, and the quill does not return up properly.
A couple of handwheels are missing their handle.
I think the power drawbar works as the solenoid was picking up, which is a good sign.
Open to any wisdom out there. Thanks
I have the following to remedy:
The motor and variable pully are missing. The motor shaft is longer than a normal shaft to accommodate the variable pully. A new motor assembly is around 2k, which kind of hurts. I could buy a new variable speed head for 4.6k, or a new electronic variable speed for 7k. I could try and buy a different motor, extend the shaft and buy just the pulleys. I don't have a steady rest on my lathe, but would need one to extend the shaft. I could wait for something to show up on E-bay or Kijjiji.
The DRO doesn't work. Will most likely buy a cheap one off Amazon until the time I decide to convert to CNC.
The quill lever is missing, and the quill does not return up properly.
A couple of handwheels are missing their handle.
I think the power drawbar works as the solenoid was picking up, which is a good sign.
Open to any wisdom out there. Thanks
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I don't think that move could have been any easier congrats great experience Welcome to the club.
Wow! This ride will be fun!
I might be tempted to check the table and spindle before investing a lot more.
Assuming that doesn't raise any flags, my first shot would be to see if I could find a parts machine somewhere with a working varispeed motor and maybe the other bits and pieces you need. Maybe even post a wanted ad in Kijiji / Marketplace. I've seen them in the past with pooched tables, pooched spindles, dropped with bent handles, and broken turrets / rams.
I'd guess you will be really anxious to get things going, and it will be hard to be patient, but I'd try real hard to find a parts machine first. If you are desperate, you can price everything you need at H&W machinery repair. There are a few Canadian suppliers too.
I've bookmarked your thread and will let you know if I spot anything promising. I'm sure others will do the same.
Where are you?
Thanks Susquatch,
I'm in Richmond Hill. I got in touch with the Darbert guy today. Hoping he can give me an option that isn't an arm and a leg. This whole interchangeability thing seems to be a can of worms. I go buy some donor head thinking I can scavenge parts never really knowing if the parts will fit. I don't see any abnormal wear on the ways, at least to my newbie eyes. Gotta read up on box ways. Might look at a head rebuild kit just to start fresh.
Mike
I'm in Richmond Hill. I got in touch with the Darbert guy today. Hoping he can give me an option that isn't an arm and a leg. This whole interchangeability thing seems to be a can of worms. I go buy some donor head thinking I can scavenge parts never really knowing if the parts will fit. I don't see any abnormal wear on the ways, at least to my newbie eyes. Gotta read up on box ways. Might look at a head rebuild kit just to start fresh.
Mike
Ya, it is a can of worms, and you can get bitten. But all-in-all I think its a pretty good bet that stuff does fit. I'd just guess at 80% is ok and 20 bites you just based on my own very limited experience with my Bridgeport clone.
Proxule
Ultra Member
Clean out your scales with alcohol, and double check all the connections, Depending on the flavor of scales you can just buy a new scale, Or new readout from ali.
Quill likely has a broken return spring, Or unlatched internally, easiest fix from your list.
FULL REBUILD TIME BABY!
GLuck!