Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Odds and Ends

Need to spend some time in planning for mill as I got the message it's on the way.  Supposed to be here Friday, but how that really works is the freight company will call me on Friday and we'll arrange a time to meet them here.  I paid extra for liftgate service, which lowers the crate on a hydraulic lift to the sidewalk or street level, but I don't quite know what I need to get it up the driveway into the shop.  Pallet jack?  Is a cart adequate?  It only weighs 375 pounds, so I don't need extremely heavy duty tools.  Do they offer that service for some extra buckaleros? 

Is it just me, or is it really the case that there are no adults left in charge in the country?  These guys are worse than the faculty lounge crowd, they're more like the student council!  There are so many examples, I don't know where to start, but WTF happened to the secret service?  Didn't they used to be competent?   We have agents being sent home for being drunk from the Netherlands, from Miami  and there was that rather big incident with the Colombian hooker.  We have the president in close proximity with a guy with convictions for assault and battery, who was carrying an illegal firearm. And, of course, we have this story, which is sucking up most of the air.  (Holbert at Townhall.com)
The NIH is finding cultures of deadly diseases lying around in old boxes, and the CDC exposed employees to anthrax, so no worry about them letting ebola into the country. 

No, no, no.  Everything is fine.  They're smarter and better than us.  We just don't understand how lucky we are to have them.


9 comments:

  1. Is the surface up the driveway reasonably smooth? How about four or five pieces of pipe to use as rollers and then a come-a-long to pull it up? I think I saw that long ago for the Egyptians moving stones.

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  2. Anon - no, it's not. It's pavers. I think big wheels are better than little casters, but maybe just a garden cart like that one. Northern Tool has several rated to well more than the weight of the mill. That and a shop crane to get it out of the box and onto its stand.

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  3. Garden cart tip: get a larger one. Mine's 48" X 24", rated at 1K lbs, and the sides hinge down. I put a 3/4" plywood floor in it and replaced the side hinge pins with large hitch pins so it goes from "basket" to "flatbed" in seconds. Once you have one you'll never stop finding uses for it. If you, or a neighbor, have a decent riding mower, it's no trick at all to fab a replacement for the handle that allows towing.

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  4. Don't know if it'll work in your case, but when they delivered my gun safe, they rolled it on golf balls. They'dget several balls under the save, and lay a path with balls to get where they were going. Sorta like the pipe idea, but with free-wheel steering.

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  5. Eeeeeebola!
    Eeeeeebola!


    Lovely.
    Good luck with the move, that golf ball idea is pretty impressive.

    Don't be the guy I saw getting something large off a truck with a pallet jack...but the driveway was about 30 degrees sloped up and only person home was the trophy wife.

    Not sure what was being delivered, but it wasn't making a trip up the hill.

    Secret Code: not ipsehal.
    Truth. I'm not ipsehal, I don't even know them.

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  6. I like the golf balls idea, but I guess you need someone dedicated to picking up balls before they roll away and putting them in front of the thing.

    Pretty clever.

    Looks like I'm going with the garden cart. 1400 lb capacity. I'll put some 3/4" ply on the bed to make it flat. The vertical sides and ends are removable.

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  7. Get help. Get help. Get help.

    seriously, get help-

    not only do you have a serious addiction, but the lathe-to-be will be even heavier and you are gonna need to break in a few guys first on some lighter stuff like the mill.

    On a real note, I have been trapped, alone, under an immovable object- it takes about 5 minutes before one realizes why a trapped animal will chew off it's own leg....

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  8. Congratulations on the mill. I was only able to find 3 saved posts that even seemed vaguely related to moving machinery on your scale, here they are:

    http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/40683-Machinery-Moving-Gloat?p=536832

    http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/40959-DIY-machine-dolly-set?p=541513

    http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/41096-how-to-put-a-Bridgeport-onto-a-pallet-without-a-crane?p=543860

    A quick scan doesn't reveal much but perhaps they'll give you some ideas. If nothing else it's a lead on what forums might be worth posting a question in.

    Chapter 3 in the G0704 manual recommends using a fork lift and an assistant. Can you rent a forklift for the afternoon? Know any shops, factories, or warehouses near you that would loan you one? My state has a Jobs Line that will let you specify what skills you require for an hourly hire. Asking them if they own or can borrow a forklift might be another way to go. Check door and ceiling clearance, both for machine and with lift extended. Worked for a guy that once ran our tractor into the garage door on a Friday afternoon at quitting time, knocked the door completely off the track.

    My neighbor is extremely skilled with a Bobcat, has quite the touch. Guys that do landscaping or excavation might have 'em and send the driver with 'em. One more idea.

    Good luck & looking forward to hearing about your SAFE success.

    73, Jim

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  9. Thanks for all the concerns, guys, but don't make the problem too big. It's 375 pounds packaged. That's including the pallet and shipping carton. Too big for me to lift myself, but it's not a ton. To put it on the stand, it weighs about 250. Again, too big for me to lift, but not outrageous.

    The only part of the journey I'm concerned about is up my driveway into the shop. I bought a garden cart with removable sides - a little bigger than the one I linked to - and a shop crane that's intended for pulling engines out of cars (two ton rating). I think this shouldn't be too bad.

    EDITI accidentally didn't hit Publish on this and left the room. In the mean time, the mill came and is now in the garage. Still in its box. The crane has not been assembled, but is unpacked and ready to assemble. So far, so good.

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