Help................

You should be able to dismantle this into more managable lumps; am I right in thinking this is one of those mill/drill things with a round column? The first split would be to remove the head perhaps.

No s VMC is chunkier than that however if it anything like my myford VMC then the head comes off with a couple of bolts and the column/knee/table comes off the stand. So that is 3 smaller lumps to manage.

Bob

Hi Penfold

Nope - it's a knee mill - also, one of the reasons I'd rather hire someone cabable is that my health is not too good and they should have some suitable insurance in the event of any accidents occurring.......

penfold Wrote:

Hello Barry Years ago I had to do similar 1 Bridgeport, 1CNC Bridgeport 1, surface grinder, 1 cylindrical grinder . I had a pallet truck reasonable to hire and two 8ft x 4ft cheap 3/4" shuttering ply boards roll it on two of the boards move the back one to the front and just keep following up with the other board they didn't harm the grass at all as long as it's dry got the machines up the garden about

I haven't done much machinery moving, but I used to sometimes help my ex-landlord move pianos.

There are two types of piano movers - those who think that occasionally you have to go heavy (ie use a lot of strength, or even carry the piano) eg when there are lots of steps, and those who think you never have to. My ex-landlord is the second type - he's a wimpy guy, and so am I, but just the two of us have moved full size grand pianos up and down flights of stairs.

Can't give any direct advice, but it's amazing what you can do with a wheeled dolly, straps (locking and plain) and strap winches without having to be at all strong. It's all about balance, and moving by tilting rather than lifting. The most important thing however is to take your time and know exactly what everyone is going to do before you do it

- which is mostly balancing the piano, it's a bit like a motorcycle that's too heavy to lift upright if it ever falls over, so you make sure it never falls over.

It's also about not having to use strength - if it's too heavy to lift, it's too heavy to lift - so don't try and lift it, do something else instead to get it where you want it.

Two steps are not likely to be much of a problem, google piano moving and "cheating" for the technique.

If you can split the mill, a good sack truck may be all you need (but take some good strong straps along, and strap the bits to the sack truck when moving them). You may also need some planks eg to get it into the van.

If you do have to go heavy, usually at least three people are needed for a piano - two take the heavy end and one the light end (usually the heavy end is at the bottom when going up or down stairs, or pushing it up or down a ramp). The chap on the light end is in charge.

-- Peter Fairbrother

hanks for all the advice folks!

I've hired a professional machine removal guy who's willing to do the job at a very sensible price, not much more than I would have had to pay to hire all the paraphenalia......

Thanks again

Cheers Barry

Add a 'T' to hanks and it'll be somewhere nearly right...........

Here is a couple of pictures taken when I viewed the machine.

I'm guessing it's about 20 years old, but judging from the number of models (and superb quality!) this guy had made, it's well used, but in almost new condition.

I hope that it still looks like this in another 20 years.......

If anyone has this model, or one of it's clones, I'd appreciate any information available.

I believe that Warco, Chester and maybe Denford, all supplied these machines, also Grizzly and some of the other US machine suppliers.

Cheers Barry