DIY Machinery Moving

How I Moved 815 lbs of Machinery Into My Basement

After deciding to buy a lathe and mill, I was very concerned about how I would move them into my basement. The lathe weighs 375 lbs (170 kgs) and the mill/drill weighs 440 lbs (200 kgs), and they would have to be transported through the front door, over hardwood floors, then down a flight of stairs which includes a turn half way down. My two main goals were for nobody to get hurt, and not to damage the brand new machines.

My dad picked the machines up from Busy Bee in his Ford E150 cargo van, which they loaded using a forklift. Unloading them took a full, exhausting afternoon for my friend Michael, my dad, and I.

How the machines arrived at our house. They were better secured than this, I had removed most of the straps and bracing before the picture was taken.

I did some research online about DIY machinery moving. Lots of people use pretty sketchy techniques, which I wanted to avoid, and it seems that no two people move their machines the same way. I decided that my best option would be to disassemble the machines as much as possible, then strap the pieces to a moving dolly. I laid cardboard over the hardwood floors, and to get it down the stairs, we had two guys below and one above and lifted the dolly down, step by step.

I didn't take very many pictures of moving the lathe and mill/drill, but I remembered to take pictures when moving the band saw using the same technique, so sorry if the pictures seem confusing!

Part one of the moving effort involved unloading the machines from my dad's van. The mill/drill that I bought was actually the store showroom model, so it was assembled and without a crate. It was far too heavy to lift out in its fully assembled state, so we took the motor then the head off. The ceiling of the van wasn't high enough to just lift the head straight off, so we had to tilt it backwards as we lifted. It was a stressful effort that I couldn't have done alone. One off the mill, the head was light enough for one person to manage. We then strapped the base of the mill to our moving dolly, and all three of us carefully lowered it out of the truck.

The lathe was packed in a wooden crate when it was arrived, which made moving it much easier. Because there isn't as much to disassemble, the lathe was significantly heavier to move than the mill. First I removed the top part of the crate, leaving the lathe bolted to the bottom skid. This gave us lots to hold onto, and we managed to slide it out the back of the van and into the garage (much easier said than done). This completed day one of the moving effort.

The machines at the end of day one. (Click for larger image)

The column on the mill/drill has approximately 1" thick walls. This might give some idea of how solid (and heavy) the mill/drill base is.

We started the second part of the moving effort by strengthening the skid that the lathe was bolted to, by firing a few wood screws into it. We then lifted the whole thing onto the moving dolly, and strapped it down tight. It was then relatively easy to roll the dolly into the house, which I had lined with cardboard to protect the hardwood floors.

This is the same technique that I used to move all my machines

At the stairs, Michael and I took the bottom of the dolly and my dad took the top, and we "bumped" it down, stair by stair, until we reached the bottom. Once in the basement, the lathe was taken off the skid and lifted onto its bench, which was one of the hardest parts.

The band saw as it arrived in the basement

My dad's employee Fedele helped us move the base of the mill into the basement using the same technique, and we also needed his help lifting the base of the mill on to its stand, which was brutal. I later also used this technique to move my band saw, which was light and easy in comparison. Once the main pieces of the machines were downstairs, the other pieces of the machines, including the head and motor for the mill, the base for the band saw, etc were easily carried by Michael and/or myself into the basement.

Much easier to unload than the van

The biggest problem I've experienced with this moving method is that it doesn't help with lifting the machines out of the vehicle and onto their stand. In my case, I rounded up enough people to help lift, but if these machines had been any heavier it would have been a serious problem. Many people use shop cranes to help with lifting, which would probably make everything much easier and safer. Also, when I picked up my band saw, I brought it home in our utility trailer behind my little Hyundai and I found the trailer significantly easier to unload than the van. Not only does it not have a roof and walls to get in the way, but it is lower to the ground.

In retrospect, this method of moving has worked quite well for me. I managed to move all my machinery into our basement without a single injury to us or the machines, so you can't get much better than that. When it's time to move my next machine in, or move these out, I'll seriously consider buying a small shop crane, but until then I'm happy.

More Pages: The Lathe The Mill/Drill The Band Saw MIG Welder Choosing your first machine

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