NTwoO
More skill with grinder than welder
- Messages
- 489
So, the lathe that is in this thread was transported past weekend. It was an interesting move with 1200km traveling on Saturday.
Up at 04h50 I made coffee and got going. After a stiff drive down to the tunnel, I got on the train of 09h20. That got me on UK soil round 09h00. After the tunnel I calibrated my cruise control to a UK plate lorry and drove down to astro_al's barn. The lathe was loaded with most of the heavy bits and bobs removed and placed in the car. Here the rig is loaded, tied down and ready to roll.
The lathe was positioned a little way back to help the ball pressure. Wooden blocks were placed between the head board and the lathe to prevent it sliding forward under braking (which was virtually never required).
After a lunch break on the way back at one of my mates, (driving into a town centre was not that nice...) I got going back to the tunnel. A short way after the lunch stop I did another check on the rig and saw that the board sagged a little. A piece of the pallet that was not carrying weight was removed
and used for support.
The rig was towed with great care and I managed to get the tunnel back one train early.
After a slow drive over French and Belgian "cobble stone" highways, I got home just past midnight. Sunday was invested in getting the lathe off the trailer. There was plenty of thinking going on on the way back on how one should do it. I settled on grabbing some concrete tiles from the neighbour. They've been lying in front of his house now for the good part of 5 years... I started by unhitching the trailer using a bottle jack (my kid is in the background with his John Deere overalls "helping"
.
The block was placed in front of the wheel after the photo and the other side also had a block.
I knocked together a simple frame to hoist the lathe with. The end was hoisted
And using a crow bar
And a strap,
I managed to push the back legs off the trailer
A similar technique was used to get the front of the lathe off the trailer.
The lathe has been lowered to 4 tiles at the end and 2 tiles plus pallet at the front. Everything was done by hand and by myself. Guess that is how the Egyptians built the pyramids. The lathe will end up living in this corner of chaos once it is cleaned up. It is not as bad as it looks. The little cupboard will go in the space to the left of the photo. The car parts in the front go back onto my car once the radiator that is in back order is mounted.
Towing the freight I was very worried about the high centre of gravity.
but on the road I saw this beauty that is most definitely a candidate to beat the rig.
The moving of the lathe into the garage and getting it back to former glory will be documented here. Thanks Al for an absolute beauty! The running surfaces and treads are virtually rust free. The bed has very little wear. The gear box is in absolute mint condition with no wear and with gears that look like new. The play in the drive line is to be blamed to play on the key of the drive pulley. That can be fixed quite easily.
Up at 04h50 I made coffee and got going. After a stiff drive down to the tunnel, I got on the train of 09h20. That got me on UK soil round 09h00. After the tunnel I calibrated my cruise control to a UK plate lorry and drove down to astro_al's barn. The lathe was loaded with most of the heavy bits and bobs removed and placed in the car. Here the rig is loaded, tied down and ready to roll.
The lathe was positioned a little way back to help the ball pressure. Wooden blocks were placed between the head board and the lathe to prevent it sliding forward under braking (which was virtually never required).
After a lunch break on the way back at one of my mates, (driving into a town centre was not that nice...) I got going back to the tunnel. A short way after the lunch stop I did another check on the rig and saw that the board sagged a little. A piece of the pallet that was not carrying weight was removed
and used for support.
The rig was towed with great care and I managed to get the tunnel back one train early.
After a slow drive over French and Belgian "cobble stone" highways, I got home just past midnight. Sunday was invested in getting the lathe off the trailer. There was plenty of thinking going on on the way back on how one should do it. I settled on grabbing some concrete tiles from the neighbour. They've been lying in front of his house now for the good part of 5 years... I started by unhitching the trailer using a bottle jack (my kid is in the background with his John Deere overalls "helping"
.The block was placed in front of the wheel after the photo and the other side also had a block.
I knocked together a simple frame to hoist the lathe with. The end was hoisted
And using a crow bar
And a strap,
I managed to push the back legs off the trailer
A similar technique was used to get the front of the lathe off the trailer.
The lathe has been lowered to 4 tiles at the end and 2 tiles plus pallet at the front. Everything was done by hand and by myself. Guess that is how the Egyptians built the pyramids. The lathe will end up living in this corner of chaos once it is cleaned up. It is not as bad as it looks. The little cupboard will go in the space to the left of the photo. The car parts in the front go back onto my car once the radiator that is in back order is mounted.
Towing the freight I was very worried about the high centre of gravity.
but on the road I saw this beauty that is most definitely a candidate to beat the rig.
The moving of the lathe into the garage and getting it back to former glory will be documented here. Thanks Al for an absolute beauty! The running surfaces and treads are virtually rust free. The bed has very little wear. The gear box is in absolute mint condition with no wear and with gears that look like new. The play in the drive line is to be blamed to play on the key of the drive pulley. That can be fixed quite easily.
