Those of you with a long memory may recall that I aquired a Jones & Shipman 540 Grinder last year. After all the trouble getting it home it has sat at the back of the workshop on the pallat that it arrived on since then. Every now and then I've looked at it and schemed ways to get it off the pallat and where I wanted it in the workshop.
This afternoon I finally got it put where it should have been all those months ago. After all my grand plans and scheming all I used to do the job was a crowbar and a sledge hammer (the hammer was just to "tap" the wooden pallat from under it in case anyone thinks I've been abusing machines). It went quite well, apart from the minor mishap when I dropped it. Fortunately the safety chain that I'd attached, in case of just such an occurance, caught it -but a 3/4ton machine swinging around at about a 30 degree list is quite alarming. The safety chain was a 1/2 ton chain hoist, and although it wasn't strong enough to lift the machine I thought it would be enough to stop it falling over -which it did. Unfortunately the machine fell on the length of chain that raises and lowers the chain hoist, pinning it to the ground. Sods law in full effect! After releasing the chain and lowering the machine down I shuffled it into position. Took less than a couple of hours, don't know why it took me so long to get around to it. All I have to do now is convert it to single phase, and fix the original fault it had (that's how I got it so cheap).
Regards Kevin
PS my other half has just peered over my shoulder and wants me to mention that she helped me too -I needed some balast weight on my lifting gantry as it ended up being a very odd angled lift for the safety chain. I've promised not to tell any of her friends that I used her to counterbalance a 3/4ton machine