Moving Shop

Pete Keillor wrote:

Any of the U-Pack-It type moving companies will do. Have them drop a
trailer at your staging area, you rent a box truck with lift gate to get
your palletized stuff to the trailer, back box truck up to trailer,
throw down a piece of plywood and palette jack right across. A flatbed
wrecker can be used to load stuff like a forklift into the trailer. At
the far end do the same in reverse. Been there, done that and lived to
tell about it.

PS: A container is nice, but delivery and pickup is normally done with a
big tilt bed trailer and winch and is expecting the container to be
empty, i.e. 10,000# light, not loaded with another 20,000# of cargo.

Pete C. wrote:


There are side loading rigs that will pick up a loaded container,
keeping it pretty parallel to the ground.
Even if a tilt bed would pick one up loaded, not the hot setup when
loaded with machinery!


Jon

Jon Anderson wrote:

I've not seen any portable side load rigs that will handle real ISO
cargo containers, only the rigs for the tiny little "PODS" or similar.

As for tilting a loaded container, that isn't a problem if they are
packed properly. Those containers see plenty of tilting on the slow boat
from China and the cargo generally arrives intact. Well, except for the
few that get blown off the top of the stack in a good storm and end up
at the bottom of the ocean, but I bet the contents are still secure when
they settle on the bottom.

Pete C. wrote:


I've not seen one either, but as I'm looking into moving my shop to Oz,
I wondered how the heck to get a loaded container down to port. Guy that
sells containers locally came out to see my location, due to the narrow
and downhill nature. He can drop off and pick up an empty 20' container
no problem with his tilt bed. But he assures me there's a guy in
Sacramento that has a side loader that will pick it up with 20,000+
loaded, in addition to the weight of the container! That, I am going to
be -very- interested in watching! Here's one link I found to this type
of rig: http://www.cdkmobile.com/steelbro.htm


I don't even want to -think- about my shop ending up in Davy Jone's
Locker... But wonder, have you seen any sites on proper loading of
containers for international shipping?

Jon

Jon Anderson wrote:

Nice rig, I expect they are a bit difficult to find. Of course you can
always have a regular crane come out for an hour and load the container
onto a standard container chassis.


I've not seen any sites, but I can tell you how I would do it:

- Jack the container up on solid concrete blocks to gain access to the
bottom (18" or so).
- Lag bolt the machines onto very solid palettes (temporary).
- Lube up the machines with plenty of rustproofing grease.
- Wrap the machines tightly in stretch wrap (leave access to the bolt
points).
- Load the palettes into the container and position appropriately.
- One by one, remove each lag bolt, drill a 1/2" hole down all the way
through the hardwood floor of the container, install a long 1/2" bolt
through a 4" square x 1/4" thick washer plate up through the hole in the
container, through the palette and through the machine foot and secure
with a washer, nut, lock washer and backup nut.
- For tall items and all other non boltable stuff, secure to palettes,
lag bolt palettes to the container floor, secure additionally with 2"
ratchet cargo straps to the welded in D rings along the container walls.

On Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:37:59 -0500, the infamous "Pete C."


Cool. I wonder what those run, pricewise.



Yeah, for only $500 or so, unless crane owner/operators are having a
slow day, too.

--
If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the
thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power
to revoke at any moment.                -- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

Larry Jaques wrote:


Guy in West Sac gets $125/hr. A run to Grass Valley is 3 hours round
trip plus whatever time he spends here. I was thinking of storing the
container on a friend's property, moving to Oz, then arranging to have
it picked up and taken to port. Give that I'm looking at $500 to move it
5 miles to the friends, I think it'll be worth the effort to pack for
shipping and have it taking straight away from my driveway to port!
Or having the container placed at the friends and using a trailer to
move machines from the shop to the container. I don't imagine those rigs
are cheap, gotta move a lot of containers to make the payments!



A crane big enough to lift a loaded container sure won't work for my
situation. Power lines on one side of the driveway and 60Kv transmission
lines not far from the other side of the driveway...

Btw, sorry again for the massive fubar on directions to my place. Trying
to cover too many bases at one time right lately, just a bit more
scattered than usual. Enjoyed chatting. And thank you for the shirt,
hope I offloaded enough stuff to make the shirt and side trip
worthwhile. I plan to wear that shirt next time I get called for jury
duty... <BG>


Jon

Jon Anderson wrote:

If you have a way to get things up to height to load in, you might be
able to get a container dropped off on a normal container trailer and
save the whole lifting the container thing for the big cranes at the
port. I can't imagine the cost of having the trailer chassis left for a
while would be that high. It would also give you easy access to the
underside of the container for bolting machines down.

Jon Anderson wrote:

First thing I would do is set down with a chunk of paper and pencil.
Then figure out what space you will actually need. Also don't use cheap
pallets if you want your tools to stay put. Make those out of 4X4s and
planking. Plan out the load so it's close to balanced as well. Once you
have a workable floor plan call for your container.

Rent an off road fork lift with enough capacity to lift the largest
item. Use it to lift the items out of the basement and position them on
the skids/pallets using slings/rigging. If you plan it and have the
equipment ready to move all of this can be done in a day easily.

Now have them bring you a container and leave it on the chassis. Load
everything up and secure it VERY WELL. Tie straps and chain is cheaper
than parts for many machines.

Once loaded they can take it to a terminal OR place it into storage on a
will call (get this all in writing and verified before they bring the
container) basis.  IF you have someone on the other end already you
could even ship it out now.

--
Steve W.

wrote:


Great advice, thanks.  Thanks to everybody for their input.  Regarding
getting a trailer capable of hauling the lot, I won't do that due to
distance, expense, and limitations of my 13 yr old 1/2 ton Suburban. I
just don't want to contemplate dragging a load that heavy 1500 miles.

I have quote requests in to gauge the cost of a container move.  I
probably have time to plan.  Our current home must sell first, and
that may take a while.  Meanwhile, I'll be getting ready.  This week I
intend to get the tool cabinets and start organizing my stuff into the
Vidmars.

I'll post progress and results when things get under way.

Pete Keillor

Pete Keillor wrote:

Remember that household stuff is lighter than shop stuff, so if you plan
well you can pack all the house stuff on top of the shop stuff. You can
readily bolt or weld in some supports for an upper level to stack
regular moving boxes, furniture, etc. Done properly, you need to keep
little separate beyond basic luggage with clothes for the flight to
catch up with the semi. You can even load your Suburban into the
container, and load the Suburban itself with the more fragile items.

On my 1,700 mile move, my Chev K3500 CC DRW pickup was loaded into the
53' semi, with my Deere riding mower in the bed of the pickup, my
glasses, dishes, etc. inside the pickup, and my forklift behind the
pickup with the forks under the truck. All this portion of the loading
was readily accomplished with a flatbed wrecker in short order.

Steve W. wrote:


For my situation, I'm laying out everything I will pack in 3D CAD. Just
have a wireframe box of the interior dims of the container along with
all the interior tie down points, but drawing exterior dims of major
machines and cabinets in solids. Trying to balance out the loading, but
I'm not even sure what I'm bringing yet, so that's a bit tough. Except
that I plan to put the heaviest stuff in the center as much as possible.
Have been advised that the cleaner my container looks when opened, the
less likely Australian Customs will want to do a full unload. I want to
make sure they can get clear to or at least near the back. Leaving an
aisle down the center could be an interesting challenge. The issue of
bolting machines through the floor makes great sense with respect to
keeping things in place. But if Customs decides to do a full unload,
that'll really run up the bill. Assuming everything can just be unloaded
with a fork truck, full unloads can cost close to a grand. If they had
to get underneath to unbolt pallets.....

I'd planned to try and crib things in place with wood, using the knee
for instance to push a sturdy wooden or tube steel frame up against the
ceiling (where I'd place timbers to spread the load) Maybe I can just
build some massive 4x4 box structures (think timber framing), bolt and
crib the machines securely to this. Wouldn't too difficult to really
secure this structure within the container using chains and wedges.

If not for the high cost of quality machines down there, I'd sell them
here and just take the tooling. Sure would make it easier. At least I
don't have to haul my machines out of a basement!

Part that sucks is not knowing if I'll be making this move by years end,
or years down the road. Depends on the economy and it's impact on my
work as well as whether or not I can get a decent job locally. Have a
friend trying to help get me into Northrup-Grumman. That would be a
dream job! Resume went in well over a month ago, could be months before
I hear anything at all. If they are interested, would be several more
months to get through background checks.

Plan for the worst, hope for the best....

Jon

Jon Anderson wrote:

Bolt all the heavy machines in a line down the middle of the container,
with easily removable packages down the sides. Then it is easy to remove
the small stuff and have full access around the bolted down machines to
inspect. I can't imagine they'd want to unbolt the machines if they have
full access to inspect all around them. Of course sanity may have no
bearing on things.


I certainly wouldn't want to do any cribbing which could apply damaging
loads to things like my mills lead screws and nuts. Your design will add
a lot of weight and complexity vs. simple bolting. It will also not look
at all neat to any customs folks looking in the container. Stretch
wrapped cosmolined machines bolted to the floor will look vastly neater.


Not entirely sure why you'd be moving down there, most of their folks
move up here it seems. Either way, advance planning is always a
challenge.

Pete C. wrote:


My wife is Australian and lives in NSW. Not moving for economic gain, in
fact I'll likely end up with a simpler and less materialistic lifestyle,
which is fine with me. Skilled tradespeople are still very much in
demand and there appears to be a number of jobs available to me. Heading
down end of next month to check out these possible jobs. Taking my shop
as I might actually open a commercial operation there, or just have a
hell of a nice hobby shop and tinker with restoring old engines, etc.
Moving it all will be expensive, but probably half the cost of buying
replacement machines down there.

And yeah, planning is a challenge. I'm still at the stage where every
answer leads to 2 or more additional questions...


Jon

How expensive is buying a used container? I just passed a yard on the
bay side of the I880 in Oakland that had a sign announcing containers
for sale. I'm thinking of buying one. Owning a container would remove
time constraints, allowing you to line up cranes, fork lifts, trucks
on a slower time schedule which would allow make your moves when
things are slow for the various trades involved.
Then you could sell the container to recoup some of your losses or
just keep it for storage.

How expensive is buying a used container? I just passed a yard on the
bay side of the I880 in Oakland that had a sign announcing containers
for sale. I'm thinking of buying one. Owning a container would remove
time constraints, allowing you to line up cranes, fork lifts, trucks
on a slower time schedule which would allow make your moves when
things are slow for the various trades involved.
Then you could sell the container to recoup some of your losses or
just keep it for storage.

-----------------------------

used containers are $1200 to $3000 each

On Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:50:13 -0700 (PDT), Cynthia McGraw


40' containers, in good condition, can be had here in California for
$1000-2000

Cash might be a bit better.


 Whenever a Liberal utters the term "Common Sense approach"....grab your
 wallet, your ass, and your guns because the sombitch is about to do
 something damned nasty to all three of them.

On Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:03:05 -0700, the infamous Gunner Asch


20 and 40 footers are $4k here in SoOR, $3k in Portland, where most
originate.  It's disgusting.

Hell, you can buy $2k worth of Chiwanese goods and have 'em delivered

---
So far Mr. Obama has used his personally exciting presidency for initiatives
that are spending public money on a scale not seen since ancient Egypt.
                                                        -- Daniel Henninger
WSJ Online, 4 June 2009
"Obama's America: Too Fat to Fail
The age of the induced industrial coma."

On Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:34:13 -0800, the infamous Jon Anderson


Plus the fact that getting a large crane out to your house would be a
major pain in the ass IF it could be done.  



Grass Valley has the weirdest set of streets I've seen yet. I thought
Vista, CA had winding streets, but yours are all narrow and _endless_.
Then when you didn't tell me to look for a white painted 4x4, the sole
indicator of your street, and directly across from was a REAL street
sign, it became a real tough find.  I'm glad I stopped there to turn
around and call you when I stumbled across it.



Same here. It's always great to meet the person behind the posts.



Yes, it did.  I picked up a bowling ball and will make it into a
gimbal mount for the reflector telescope.  How is the large mirror
polished?  Dismount and clean, then remount?  I added the books to my
4 stacks of "To be read" books I'm working on currently.



Bwahahahaha!

Note to group: He got a
"Lawyers and Hookers: For a fee, they will assume any position"
tee.  (shameless promotion below)
http://www.diversify.com/st4.html

--
If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the
thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power
to revoke at any moment.                -- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus