Moving heavy machines

On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:39:46 -0500, the infamous Randy scrawled the following:

Aww, too bad you didn't talk to Leigh at Mar Machine. eBay 370102972015, 3 skates for $200. He might have made a deal for you.

That's something I would have either made myself or rented, but I'm chea^H^H^H^Hfrugal as all getout.

-- Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints.

Randy, The big boys use compressed air pallets. They are amazing to watch move very heavy machines around a warehouse on these things. It does take a reasonable smooth flat concrete floor, but they move by fingertip pressure only. If I ever move again, I will make an air pallet for every machine and permanently mount the machines to the pallets. Steve

---------- Try cutting off the compressed air.....

Unka' George [George McDuffee]

------------------------------------------- He that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils: for Time is the greatest innovator: and if Time, of course, alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end?

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman. Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).

Elegant solution!!

But I think Gunner would prefer to combat the accrued momentum of a 6,000 # machine with his own fairly substantial inertia, if his posts are even a hint of an indication....

On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:32:21 -0600, the infamous F. George McDuffee scrawled the following:

And if they're moving very fast, watch them topple over. The base stops faster than the top. Oops!

-- Change is the process by which the future invades our lives. -- Alvin Toffler

Well, turning off the air to the pallet will stop the BOTTOM of the machine being moved real fast. However, the message won't get to the TOP of the machine being moved for quite some time...

Wonderful things like Center of Mass and Inertia take over...

"Tim-berrr!" Cause anything even remotely tall and tippy is going over, and you don't want to be between it and the floor.

-->--

Done with the workbench? Just scoot it out of the way!

--Winston

No prices on the web site.

Thank You, Randy

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no swivel top, no way to steer. with 4 wheels at the corners it would be much harder to steer than the tank track design.

I'll still say I got a good deal. Renting would have been cheaper, but I know I'll use them several more times.

Thank You, Randy

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On Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:50:08 -0500, the infamous Randy scrawled the following:

True, but there is a much taller profile on your model, so the machine has to be lifted higher. That's never fun.

Got a welder? Weld on slotted tabs and use a similar steering pole or weld on a length of pipe to the lead skate and pin it to a steering pole. I thrive on buying inexpensive tools and modifying them to suit my exact needs.

I'd imagine that the steering would be just as hard with either. Also, that's not a tank track design, as the wheels move individually, not together. It's more like solid, full-width rollers vs separate, narrower rollers.

And for your own purchases, you're the only guy who counts. ;)

-- Change is the process by which the future invades our lives. -- Alvin Toffler

No Bridgeport, or any other reasonably stable machine (no OBI presses, etc.) will build up enough momentum to cause a problem. Unless you're moving downhill of course. ;)

dennis in nca

I missed the Staff meeting, but the Memos showed that Bruce L. Bergman wrote on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:10:51

-0700 in rec.crafts.metalworking :

Or anything solid. As has been so eloquently put "Shit flattens."

tschus pyotr

-- pyotr filipivich "I had just been through hell and must have looked like death warmed over walking into the saloon, because when I asked the bartender whether they served zombies he said, ?Sure, what'll you have?'" from I Hear America Swinging by Peter DeVries

I missed the Staff meeting, but the Memos showed that rigger wrote on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:17:09 -0700 (PDT) in rec.crafts.metalworking :

Momentum is momentum. Speed is only one component, mass is the other. And when you have a lot of mass, little slopes suddenly become Huge Downgrades. Or upgrades for that matter. I think I did permanent damage trying to move material from one bay to another. It was only about a three inch rise, but when you're pushing two tons 'by hand', that becomes a mighty tall hill.

tschus pyotr

-- pyotr filipivich "I had just been through hell and must have looked like death warmed over walking into the saloon, because when I asked the bartender whether they served zombies he said, ?Sure, what'll you have?'" from I Hear America Swinging by Peter DeVries

Wrap a rubberized fabric sheet (pierced with very small holes ...) around a flat plate with an inlet pipe on top sized for a vacuum cleaner hose . Hook the other end of the hole to the blow outlet of your shop vac . Bigger the plate/sheet , bigger the load . Escaping air will form an "air bearing" between the sheet and the floor . Had a device that used two long skinny plates for moving appliances when I was a vinyl flooring installer , you can literally slow dance with a refrigerator . Google "airsled" for a look at these .