Advice needed for lifting Vertical Mill

As Gunner is so fond of reminding us, Google is your friend:

- - Rex Burkheimer WM Automotive Fort Worth TX

Joe Brown wrote:

Now you get to buy a pair of big nylon tow straps and some load-rated shackles. You'll also need a come along for use with an overhead support, or a shop crane with a long boom. The straps can be wrapped around the head and allow you to lift the machine from above its center of gravity. Good luck and be careful!

Joe, I will tell you how I moved my mill several years ago. I took a piece of flat bar 3/8 by 2 I think and cut the length 2 or 3 inches longer that the diameter of the column. I then drilled a small hole on one corner (I'll explain later) and another hole in the center top. I connected a chain schackle to the center hole and hooked a chain to the schackle. I then tied a piece of wire (or string) to the small hole on the end and lowered the bar/chain assembly down the column. At this point, the bar was parrallel to the column. When it got below the bottom of the column I held the chain and let go of the wire. The bar was then perpendicular to the column. I pulled the chain tight making sure the bar was centered under the column, and hooked the chain to my engine hoist. After moving the mill to where I needed it, it was just a simple matter to loosen the chain and pull the bar out with the wire. I moved the mill several times this way. If anybody out there sees a problem with this method, please respond. I am always open to helpful criticism.

Forgot to add, congrats on your new mill/drill. And, as Tim mentioned, be careful no matter which method you use. They are small, but still heavy enough to do a lot of damage if it gets away from you. Bill.

That's about 200 lbs lighter than the one I moved. Take the cap off the top of the column. Then crank the head all the way up. Lift off with 2 reasonably strong people. Move the head and base separately using 2 people. When you get where your going put the base on the stand

Worked for me. Wayne D.

Our shop moved our 2800+ lb Excello (bridgeport clone) by using four hydraulic floor jacks (2.5 ton rating, the kind used for lifting up cars to change the oil, etc.) under the four corners of the pallet the machine came on. To remove the pallet, we use the same jacks, this time on either end of a long straight wood 2x4 under the knee and a long pipe through a 2" hole in both sides of the casting. This is a large floor-type knee mill, though, and it doesn't seem as though your mill has either a knee or a large casting. Most large machines, including ours (if we had had the facilities to use it) have a large threaded hole in the top of the ram to secure an eyebolt. I would look under the belt cover. Failing this, the best place would be a sling placed under the table between the table and the casting. This is likely to want to tip backwards, though. I would not move anything this heavy hanging by the crane, though. I would lower the machine onto a heavy duty furniture dolly to move the machine to it's final location, then lift it off with the crane.

Hello, thanks for your timely reply to my post. I was peering down the centre of the column using a torch........

Joe, you really need to be careful using a torch to see down into the column. These things WILL explode. Bill.

how I crated a clausing 8530 mill

Ho Ho!!!

I said I would update my progress on lifting the mill onto the stand, so here goes. I was not confident that the main column was solidly fixed to the base so the front was lifted (by hand) and a 1 ton capacity strop fed under and taken up round the top of the belt cover into a shackle. Another strop was fed under the head between the main clumn and motor, and this was also terminated at the shackle. A lift was done tentatively with the floor crane, and lowered again for adjustment, so that most of the weight was being carried by the strop under the base.Then lifted again off the packing case bottom and onto a small trolley, which was pushed into the workshop and located beside the stand (with the strops still in position). The floor crane was brought in and positioned, the final lift from the trolley was made and the crane moved to loate the mill directly over the base. Having lowered onto the base and the 4 fixing bollts dropped through, the front was then lifted manually and the strop removed - Success!! I was dissappointed later when commisioning the mill to discover that the quill would only lower by 30mm and not the 100mm specified. Also, the motor would only turn when the ON switch was held down. A call to Axminster yesterday resulted in me partially dismantling the quill lowering mechanism to remove swarf from the quill rack (and give it a good greasing). The other adjustment was to the microswitch detent cam under the belt cover. Many thanks go to Keith Thompson of Axminster for his 'spot on' diagnosis. I now have a fully operational mill.