How to transport a lathe

[f350ca]

I'll second Patio's suggestion, bought a lathe from Crown Assets Disposal last winter, they won't load anymore so I got a tow truck to lift it then backed the trailer underneath.
Put a beam across the arms of the car hoist here to unload it.
Greg

[AllenH59]

I have moved my 2400 lb lathe twice. both times I built a pallet under it, with 4x4" timbers, and I lifted it with a strong back and a soft sling under the bed at both ends. It was lag bolted to the pallet and the pallet was bolted together. I put a lot of effort into building the pallet, including putting pulling hooks on the end of the pallet so I could pull it into place with out pulling on the lathe. It was a large project, and the moves were both 30 miles, but could have been 3000. I set it lengthways in the load so that a panic stop would not have made it topple. You will thank yourself if you make the pallet a foot wider on each side. Lathes are top heavy.

[david5605]

If the ¾ ton pickup's bed is long enough why not just have the forklift lift it into the bed and then just strap it down real well? Prior to loading bolt it down to a couple of 4x4 pieces of lumber to increase its footprint. You could also load it with a boom style wrecker. Lift it up, drive under it and let it down.

I hauled a 14x40 2400+ pound Takisawa lathe in my ¾ ton Chevy with no problem.

I'd never lift a lathe with one strap as shown in a previous photo. Factory recommended way or not. All you would have to be is enough off center weight wise for the lathe to slip sideways in the sling. If it starts to slip just run and hope for the best. My lathe had holes to run 1" bar through and lift it by 4 points.

Engine hoists are great until you find you dont have the required capacity with the boom/legs extended, the casters can't handle the weight and you can't get the boom high enough. Not to mention the legs always manage to be in the way of moving the trailer/vehicle.

If you use a trailer tongue weight will be critical. It will be a ugly trip if you find you can't go over 40 mph or praying for a hill to go up so you can stabilize the truck/trailer and slow down. Btdt.

Think it all out and be careful with however you do it.

[spro]

I've moved a few lathes. The webs of most lathes' beds are a place to sling. THIS requires another location to prevent the headstock from seeking gravity. It should be tied to the web sling, so that if anything happens, it doesn't default to pressure against the head spindle.
By slinging at the webs, it requires more thought about the balance. I have had to look back and see the mistakes. One bent leadscrew or attachment will make you think about how you expect accuracy from a machine when were impatient from even transporting it.

[Hopefuldave]

I've moved my 4500-pound (2 tons in English money) lathe several times, using a rented Landcruiser and a 4-wheel "plant trailer" - these have a sturdy steel grid drop-down tailboard and a winch over the hitch, I roll the lathe up on lengths of scaffold pole, then strap down with a minimum of 4 8-ton ratchet straps (yes, on the rollers but chocked with hardwood wedges), had no problems so far, but I stop every few miles and check the strap tension and definitely avoid emergency stops! The lathe has a full cast-iron cabinet base (with motor and gearbox in, plus a cast-in coolant tank) about 3/4" thick and open underneath, perfect for rolling it on, but if yours has "feet" you could achieve the same by bolting on a pair of skids, 4x4? timber or 4x4 box steel, and using that to make a "level" base to roll on. The critical thing to avoid, as above, is it tipping as the centre of gravity's so high on most lathes that once it starts you WON'T stop it, and you'll want to be a long, long way away if it does...

Getting it on the rollers (4-foot offcuts of scaffold poles, thanks Gary the scaffolder!) is long-winded, the Hebrew Slave* method of levering (pair of 4-foot prybars), wedging/packing, repeating again and again until the rollers go under, then feeding rollers in as you winch it along.

IMPORTANT: I was taught NEVER to use bar as rollers, always tube, as you can move the tube with a gloved finger inside with little risk, trying to hold the outside of a solid bar will get your glove caught and then your finger slowly flattened...

* Credit where it's due, most call it the "Egyptian method", but the bosses didn't do the work!

[stevec]

definitely avoid emergency stops!

Dave, I now understand your name. Can you recommend an alternate maneuver? Most of the emergency stops I have made were brought about by an influence beyond my control.

If an unavoidable emergency stop presents itself to me I hope I'm not driving a little landcruiser towing a brakeless trailer with 4500 lbs on it.

[Mr Ron]

I would hire a professional machinery mover; not some guy who happens to have a backhoe or forklift. Those guys are not savvy with precision machines and don't care how they do it. They are the first to put a sling around the machine and bend something. If you must move it yourself, place 6x6's under the machine to stabilize it. You will need some human help, but choose that person (fewer is better) who has some experience with moving heavy loads. There's nothing worse than an uncoordinated bunch of people, each with his own idea of how it should be done; just one or two trusted individuals is all you need. Don't rush; take all the time you need.

[Hopefuldave]

definitely avoid emergency stops!

Dave, I now understand your name. Can you recommend an alternate maneuver? Most of the emergency stops I have made were brought about by an influence beyond my control.

If an unavoidable emergency stop presents itself to me I hope I'm not driving a little landcruiser towing a brakeless trailer with 4500 lbs on it.

Drive slowly, think and look ahead, motorcycle outrider looking scary...

No trailer carrying over 500kg (about 1100 pounds) is allowed on UK roads unless it's braked, and the Landcruiser (4-litre v8 turbo diesel, lovely!) is rated at 3&1/2 tons (7500 pounds) laden trailer weight, so it's within its parameters, tows 3 tons (trailer and lathe) like it's not there!

Funnily enough, UK drivers are scared of big black 4x4s, unlike the US they're about the biggest things on the road, bar articulated trucks!

[stevec]

Dave, my apologies, I must have been thinking of "Land Rover" and, If the truth will out I was trying for some humour in the "hopeful" part of your moniker.

[larry_g]

When moving my equipment I used one of these, http://www.jlg.com/en/equipment/drop-de ... atbed/1014 rented from a local place. Just as above said mount the lathe on a skid and drag it on. The nice thing was I could roll tool boxes, and rolling tables on with no effort. So if you can't lift onto the trailer, drop the trailer down.

lg
no neat sig line

[Glenn Brooks]

c) If you lift the lathe with a forklift does it need to be secured on a pallet?

Wrapping straps around the bed is not a good idea as you can possibly bend the leadscrew and/or feed rod.

Actually, this is exactly how Standard Modern recommended moving their 1800# 'Utilathe' . I recently bought one of these big boys up in Canada and transported back to my home shop. We loaded it up by slinging the lathe with two straps, one under each end of the bed and lifting with a forklift up onto the rental truck. standard actually shows lifting points on the ways in their operators manual.

Perhaps,other manufacturers do it differently, but this worked very well for me...

[EOsteam]

I promised a followup on the movement of the lathe from Montana to Oregon.
A machinist in Montana helped me move the lathe from it's location in the garage to the rented trailer and helped strap it down so it wouldn't move even with a sudden stop.
We moved the lathe out of the garage using Hillman rollers.

We picked the lathe up with a forklift and some 10,000 lb. rated woven straps.
There are 2" round bars of steel inserted through holes cast into the base of the lathe. These were the "pick up" points recommended by the factory.

We then added the orange straps to prevent the lathe from tipping.

The forklift had just enough reach to place the lathe in the center of the trailer.

Continue to the next post to see the Oregon side of the move.