lifting a lathe

[chrisg3103]

just bought one of these - http://www.lathes.co.uk/viceroy/page6.html and need to get it into the back of a transit using an engine crane. just wondering if there is anyone on here of any kind of experiance of lathe lifting! (never know) it seems far too atached to the cabinet to do it seperate so the only way i can see is by lifting the whole thing by the bed, is it just me or does this seem a bit iffy? its a huge lump of metal and you would think it could take the strain but its also precision ground and just seems a bit abusive. any thoughts?

 

[ben8vgte]

Yes i've done that with my old empire lathe 6 foot long bed, although i did take the headstock off and the cast iron stands it was bolted too. I scrapped it a couple of months ago 920kgs

 

[wyn]

The lathe i have, i moved around with 2 straps around the bed. Just have to watch it doesn't bend the leadscrew with the straps.

 

[Wedg1e]

Hmm, don't like the idea of lifting it by the bed (even cast iron can bend). Can you put it on a pallet and run slings through the pallet instead?
Boxford cunningly punched 4 holes through their cabinets so you can thread two lengths of 1" bar through and do a 4-man stretcher lift: Denford had some history with Boxford so might be worth looking to see if they did similar!

Nice piece of kit, by the way, and uncharacteristic ranting on the part of Tony over at lathes.co.uk regarding beaurocracy gone mad!

 

[hareng]

In the stand there may be two sets of through round holes approx 1" or larger diameter, attach to these and lift.
The bed will have been precision levelled individual to that machine like so many other British machines up to that time.

Plan on 3/4 tonne.
Trouble is being able to lift the height you need and extended beam needs to be close to the top of lathe.
Hired a Hiab for mine who also delivered, unloaded and took a scrap car away.
Really struggled with engine hoist with mill dropping it on to cast iron stand.

Lovely lathe by the way 280 Synchro is it? bit smaller than mine.

 

[Pete.]

Exact same lathe I just bought. Was it the one that went on eBay last night?

 

[AshLawler]

Follow the basic heavy-object rules: never lift what you can drag, never drag what you can roll.
Can you build a long, sturdy ramp and use improvised rollers (or a good coating of grease!) and a chainblock to pull the lathe up into the van instead of craning it?

 

[zzr1200]

Have you considered using a plant trailer. Much easier access and you only need to lift it enough to just clear the floor or slide it on. It all gets a bit tight in the back of a van at times..

 

[chrisg3103]

i shall have a good look for the cunning lifting holes then, learn something new everyday.
indeed it was the one on ebay, 280vs - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....180315951321&_sacat=See-All-Categories&_fvi=1. just won it withing £5 of my budget not in top nick but can be easily fixed.

am a bit concerned with the height of the floor and the reach of the crane, ill be hiring a van as it is and dont have a car with a tow bar. trailer would have been cheaper and easier! i know a guy with a trailer, can you hire tow cars? must have a look at that.
dont think the lathe will be much over a ton, for a start it dosnt have a gearbox never used CVT in a lathe before. have a 2 ton crane so hopefully it wil be up to the job providing i can get access

 

[snowcat]

pretty standard way of lifting them is to sling em around either the bed or, at the tail stock and chuck, these are extremely Strong points, don't sling em underneath for two reasons, there top heavy, and are liable to tip, and secondly its the weakest point only tin work....

personally tho I wouldn't go near it with one of those engine hoists, I think you would be far better off rolling it, and jacking, (two of us bared a 3ton steam boiler around 100yards nahhh bother this way) if you can beg borrow scrounge an flat bed trailer with ramps then all this would be much easier, vans have nasty places to trap both people and places for machines to jam against.....

Iv shifted a good few machines in the past upto 7 tons, fortunately always with the aid of a fork truck.....

 

[chrisg3103]

i do have this -

but would realy be putting my bit of engineering rope and 1 ton chain block to the test not to mention the castors would probably explode

does break down though, legs have tube welded internaly to slot into the top bar with M10 bolts through each one

 

[general--lee]

i just brought a 4ft edwards folder guy lifted in back of my transit with a forklit and i though i would use crane to get it out but i couldnt, it wouldntr go in far enough to lit enough to pull out , although transit is standard roof prolly didnt help,
i got the company next to me to lift it out with there forklift but i did use crane to get off pallet and move around workshop but im guessign a lathe prolly heavier ?

 

[Pete.]

i shall have a good look for the cunning lifting holes then, learn something new everyday.
indeed it was the one on ebay, 280vs - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....180315951321&_sacat=See-All-Categories&_fvi=1. just won it withing £5 of my budget not in top nick but can be easily fixed.

am a bit concerned with the height of the floor and the reach of the crane, ill be hiring a van as it is and dont have a car with a tow bar. trailer would have been cheaper and easier! i know a guy with a trailer, can you hire tow cars? must have a look at that.
dont think the lathe will be much over a ton, for a start it dosnt have a gearbox never used CVT in a lathe before. have a 2 ton crane so hopefully it wil be up to the job providing i can get access

They aren't nearly a ton more like half a ton, not as big as they look in the pic. I had that at £490 with 7 seconds to go so you were lucky indeed as my budget was £550. If I'd known you were after it I wouldn't have bid against you - I had already PM'd General Lee to make sure he wasn't after it.

 

[chrisg3103]

phew, nearly paped myself when my mouse died! stupid optical thing must of hit a bit of muck and started flashing. about 2 seconds to go and frantic clicking and thumping it worked. tense stuff this ebay! lost out on a cougar 5 cylinder because of that a while ago
very chivalrous this forum, most of the time if i see something nice i keep quiet incase i tip off other potential bidders still, if all goes to plan it might just pay itself off after a while

just found this - http://www.anf.nildram.co.uk/workshop/m300/m300_moving.html pretty much the same situation im in! why didnt i think of a small flatbed also found a denford forum with lots of old denford fitters and what not, see if they know of these lifting holes or any eye bot holes

 

[beetlejac]

l got a wee harrison lathe a couple of years back and l got a hi-ab to uplift it,it cost more for that than the lathe itself then l went and got a bridgeport mill,thinking about it now l don't know what l was thinking,l have a VW type 2 pickup and l got the fella to load it on the back,the tyers were rubbing off the wheel archs,hahaha l had to drive 20 mile at about 15 m/p/h crawling round bends and over speed bumps stopping all the time to see it was straped down ok after about 3 hours later l got it home and got a fella up the road with a fork lift to take it off,l'm shocked l went through with this,hahaha l should have written a risc assessment out before l did anything hahaha.
If the coppers had seen me l would have been jailed hahaha.

 

[Pete.]

That Harrison looks a lot more bulky than the Viscount. Hard to tell just from pics though.

 

[beetlejac]

It was a L5 harrison l got,and it looks a little bigger than that harrison in the pic.

 

[Marky]

chris ...... probably A little off topic but good luck in lifting!!! but the best way to move it on the ground is with rollers or metal bar underneath , also when you have the lathe in position get it on a flat surface and calibrated as good as possible ;-]

Im a turner to trade and havent touched a lathe in 3/4 years and i miss having acsess to them ...... very handy an very addictive .

good luck with it mate

 

[hareng]

The Harrisions use aluminium castings/parts for the headstocks covers etc L5, 11", 140, M250, M300 and so on, so if 280 is all steel it may weigh similar.
140 weigh in under 3/4 tonne the M300 predecessor.

My workshop is like that M300 install 7ft 6" wide but use splash back. Everything is built around it and the bigger miller.
Gladly paid £100 Hiab 15 tonner? high side with driver to pick up Harrison and deliver 18 mile away, picked up a scrap XR4X4 and dropped it inside, off he went with some other junk to sell.

Wanted an M300 but had to settle for what i could get at the time, panic lost revenue. Dont like the lack of clutch though just a foot brake and spindle start.
Need bigger now nice Triumph 50" bed and an additional smaller lathe like an Emco5 cnc.

 

[piman]

Hello Chris,

I moved my Colchester student when I moved house, with a one tonne engine hoist. I did split it taking it off the cabinet, basically to get enough height to get it out of the garage into a van. Fortunately I had a fork lift truck at the other end.

I slung it round the headstock and wound the carriage back to balance it.

Alec