Tying down a lathe

No damage, but you want to use two, not one at each end.

I agree. I will use two on each end just as a guard against my screwups. These are 2" Ancra ratcheting tiedowns.

Put the strap between the headstock and the chuck.

Unless you are using chain, or a hydraulicly tightened cable hold down system, you are not going to hurt anything.

If that makes you cringe, put the strap between the gear change levers on top of the headstock

Oh...and remove the tailstock and put it in the back of your truck, and put a bit of cardboard over the ways to protect your strap.

I saw another tailstock on the freeway last week. 2nd one Ive seen in about 10 yrs. Quick glimpse looked like about a Logan 11

Traffic was too heavy to stop for it...shrug

Gunner

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality", John F. Kennedy.

13x36? That is a whopping big trailer!

Sorry, the devil made me do it

Errol Groff

I have an image a guy running into traffic like a frogger video game.

I lost a dozen customer parts off the back of my cycle once at the 70/79 junction on a friday afternoon.

Very scary retrieval.

First picture.

Note we screwed some boards around base to crib it.

Wes

Thats going to be a lovely machine to use when you have finished it - I am in awe of your expertise, I wouldn't know where to start a project like that. Liked the 2 v-blocks in the vise to clamp a round thing - that goes into the memory book.

Andrew VK3BFA.

with very heavy loads in a trailer make sure you dont aft load the trailer. above about 30 miles per hour an incredible sway can setup that is impossible to control.

use webbing belts to prevent point loads and your lathe should be ok.

Stealth Pilot

It is not that heavy in relation to truck or trailer, but yes, I will put it relatively in front to have sufficient tongue weight.

Be reminded that most machine tools are *VERY* top heavy. It is important to not only secure the top of the lathe or whatever but also restrain the base such that it can't move sideways and drop the machine. Blocks or cribbing between the base and sides of the trailer may be easier than tiedowns. Nothing worse than hearing a huge crash and finding that while the machine is still safely tied in the trailer, it is now laying on its side with trays bent, handles/levers broken off etc.

This one wouldnt fit in my trailer when I moved it in and set it up.

Keeping it running is fun too. Particularly taking off the chuck.. with a fork lift

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality", John F. Kennedy.

Ah heck, don't be a wimp! Just spin 'er off and catch it with your free hand. Lay a shop rag across the ways first, of course.

Is that an Axelson lathe?

i

crisis maintain their neutrality",

I'm looking forwards to that day. Don't be in too much awe, outside of some college clases I took 18 years ago, I wasn't trained to be machining things. I've just been paying attention for the last 6 years when I went from working in IT to maintenance in facility the uses CNC to make major components of product.

I've just been paying attention, asking questions, and learning. Since you seemed to have picked this for your trade, I am sure I will soon be an awe of your expertise.

Wes

who's the old geezer in the photos?

he does a passable impression of me :-)

Stealth Pilot

seemed to have

Thank you for the kind words Wes - but I will NEVER be a skilled tradesman, I am too old (at 55) to get an apprenticeship, and I don't get enough machine time to get the speed and competence I would like. The school is VERY tolerant of me, as are the Kiddies - but the group I started with, on the same level, is now light years ahead of me because its their trade, they spend their working days using the tools and techniques I learn about. BUT I do hope to be a reasonable competent hobbyist in time - as you say, look, listen learn - and its seeing peoples projects and techniques that gives me the "Oh, thats how you do THAT light bulb moments" . And I will keep on going to trade school for as long as I am able, or until the gasoline runs out

- whichever comes first!

Andrew VK3BFA,

Hey, I never got very serious about metal working until 6 years ago when my world changed job wise and I found myself repairing machines in a metalworking facility.

I'm 50 1/2 and except for being able to see a number of processes at work, I'm looking at the same places you are and I'm having light bulb moments all the time from reading posts and viewing web pages.

I bet you become that competent hobbyist that many employers would love to have sooner than you think. The definition of amateur is rather interesting. It is someone that pursues some field and studies it because they love it. Loving what you do is an edge when it comes to learning and growning.

Wes

Smith-Lehman

One of their small ones.

See why I blink, when I read about those big lathes and how tough they are to move around by some of the posters here?

I moved that one, and ALL the machines in the "project" album, about

10 miles.

I did it with 1 finger too.

I called a good rigging company.

Though I did have to move a few into exact placement, using forklifts, prybars and jacks.

Gunner

Some old derilect they found to pose for the pictures.. They gave him a 2 liter bottle fo Diet Mt. Dew and a can of Monster and he was happy...