milling machine?

[Nathan the Machinist]

Why is the garage door halfway up the wall ?

Hover craft?

 

[Don Hanson III]

Fork lifts are handy...

 

[William Schrade]

So are cranes.

 

[Justin.Mercier]

When I bought my powerhammer, i also bought a gantry crane so that I could stand it up after getting it in the door, and then move it in the shop onto the foundation after it was done. Worth every penny, even though it now takes up a bit of room at the back of the garage where it straddles my lathe and drill press.

Speaking of the lathe and drill press...
These fairly sizable machines were moved with nothing but pipes and pry bars. The lathe weighs about 1700lbs and the drill press is around 600

 

[Salem Straub]

Since we are showing ways of moving machines, here's my mill being backhoed into my shop- not a bad way. A big tractor can work OK too, and I got the mill out again with the aid of a forklift, the best of all.

I then pallet jacked it to where I wanted it, no sweat. Works great. To get it off of a pallet, you can destroy the pallet out fro under and crib/rock the machine down with a bar, or use an engine hoist with blocks if necessary to get it off or onto a pallet.

I've done those things with my hammer too-

My big drill press and lathe work fine with just an engine hoist.

Moving into my new shop, I rolled my mill on 3/4" sch. 40 pipe. The bigger you go with pipe rollers,, the farther a machine can fall off of one. 3/4" works nicely. 2 rollers rather than three works better than you might think, and having a big pinch bar on hand is just about a must.

All that to say, I firmly advocate getting the heaviest old american iron you can for shop machines. They are so much better and cheaper than smaller, newer foreign machines.

 

[Justin.Mercier]

All that to say, I firmly advocate getting the heaviest old american iron you can for shop machines. They are so much better and cheaper than smaller, newer foreign machines.

That said there is something to be said for some of the smaller machines too from that age. By removing the carraige, head and tail stock, and feet, one person can manhandle around this Rivett lathe that I just got setup. It will do more than my big Prentice brother's lathe, just not of such a large size capacity, and is of a much more reasonable size too. Not many milling machines of the small sort made in that day and age though.

 

[Augus7us]

*snicker*

...to the little girls bemoaning moving heavy things...

Lol Nathan you jerk, I could deliver a puny 1 horse mill while racing the baja 1000 with that thing I would love to own one of those!

I've done a bit of research on rigging and transporting because by far the biggest problem I've had is picking up multiple tools like this from far away. I can rent a forklift and move it and my tools at my leisure at my shop or to a new shop, but when I buy from a shop that is an hour or two away and sunbelt wants 200$ to deliver a forklift there and then another 200$ to my shop plus 200$ for the day to rent it I said screw it and went with movers. For those that aren't aware you really can't haul much more than a trailer and a forklift due to the weight. Even if your truck will haul it and tools I think you would be over weight on the road and the law requires a cdl. If you have a trailer and buy from a place that can load it for you that makes things a little easier!

Engine hoists are great if you have a bigger one and you are on pavement. That is the way I would do it, though the method the count mentioned works well also. Just do your due diligence and make sure you know what you are getting into and have the proper tools. And definitely heed Nathan's warning about proper rigging! We're ok if you drop the mill on your head, just don't drop it on ours while driving down the road

I've tried to come up with the most economical way to do this and hit up the big machinist forum thinking someone came up with a slick method. This plus a trailer was the best they had to offer me...

 

[pauldavid]

Good afternoon
Right now I'm current looking into getting a milling machine and was wondering if any one had any advise on what I should get. At the moment I'm looking at using it for milling guards and some surface milling. So far I haven't found anything local so I'm looking at new. My current searches have me looking into the grizzly G0759 but I'm having a hard time thinking 1900 after shipping is the right price for what I want to do with it. Any advise would be appreciated
Thank you

Evan I have a Shop Fox M1036 micro mill and it's perfect for cutting slots in guards. Works well for me. on a budget but I can cut slots in just a few minutes. Cost is right around $400. Northern Tool has them.
Pauldavid

 

[ricky_arthur]

Well, I just bought a grizzly 8689 off the classifieds. Wasn't the model I was going to get, but the price was right. Mill, auto feed set up, some tooling and vice for 400.00$ Figure I can learn on this one and up grade someday if it isnt what I need. See what this thread did to me.

 

[Matthew Gregory]

...if you'd get rid of that STOOPID clown car you'd have more than enough space, Justin.




I got a great deal on a teeny little Rusnok bench mill. Works like a champ. Could I justify a larger mill? Absolutely. Have I seen a lot of Big American Iron being given away? Yeah, some. I've also seen machines that were ridden hard and put away wet, needing lots of service, or three phase, or missing bits, etc.
if you have more time, perhaps that's the right way to go. Me? I don't want to fix shit anymore. I want machines that work, so I can work.

I can't fit a Bridgeport anywhere, and I'm not building an outbuilding to house stuff. Yet.
I rarely need to mill something that my little Rusnok can't handle.
It fits in my shop.
It's cute as hell.

Do what you can, but don't rule stuff out just because it doesn't fit the descriptive needs of others. Worst case scenario, there's always someone behind you that's thinking the same way you were when you bought what you end up buying.