Horizontal mill?

[roofman]

Any ideas for getting the mill off a pallet? I'm thinking either make up a platform about an inch lower than the pallet and pivot/shimmy the mill down onto it, then from there onto a lower one, and then onto some rollers to get it into position. Either that or make a strong long wooden ramp with some steel bar on the surface and slide it down onto the floor.

burn the pallet and it will lower itself

 

[Maker]

Check out that lathe I sent you the link for just your price range . wont loose any money on it IMHO if its soon out grows itself.

Anyway I would do the wooden ramp possibly but I have shimmied stuff to something the same height then pull back on the top of the mill ...........freeing the pallet.

Pull the pallet out and replace with something slightly lower.....only you know how low you can go in one step with the mill falling over. Keep doing this and go lower each time....probably wont take many steps.

Now that I like. We've got loads of paving slabs destined for the tip, I could stack them up and shimmy it onto them, then pull the pallet out and replace it with a lower stack of slabs, then take one off the first pile again. Easier said than done.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Borrow a pallet truck to move it to it's resting place. Then leave it on the pallet!
Or, build up the workshop floor to be level with the height of the pallet?

 

[Bill Edwards]

I suppose a man sized hammer could smash the pallet up - knocking out the blocks that hold the top to the bottom. But the middle one would probably be right under the machine, and you'd still have to mess about moving the machine about to get all the slats out.

 

[Maker]

It can be rocked pretty badly on the pallet, I'd rather not have it under power and on the pallet for any length of time. Also, the pallet takes up a lot of room in such a small space. I also want to spin it around and there's little room for a pallet truck to do that.

I had considered smashing up the pallet but at some point, one half will collapse and the machine might be left sitting at a precarious angle, provided it doesn't fall right over. A man sized hammer can move the whole pallet but the mill stays where it is, relative to the floor.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Well perhaps it's just time to man up, grab hold of it and do a straight lift?

And no, I'm not going to come and demonstrate how myself...

 

[Maker]

Well perhaps it's just time to man up, grab hold of it and do a straight lift?

And no, I'm not going to come and demonstrate how myself...

I better do a Popeye and eat a can of spinach first then.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Eat anything you want.

But if you find something that gives you the strength to lift a milling machine like that, please let me have the secret!

 

[brightspark]

a mountain out of a mole hill .tilt it over and stuff a couple of 5 foot scaffold planks underneath it pull it on and shuffle it along and down job done i got my heavy pillar drill of the bench using a plank on me own just slid it down and got it back up as well

 

[shedfull]

Any chance of a picture of where the mill is sitting now, showing the available space around the machine?

I'm thinking you could borrow an engine crane off someone or hire it if desperate, if you have head room two acrow props and a piece of rsj, a block and tacke, lift and seperate

 

[Maker]

I can get some 2"X6" instead of scaffold boards, I think I'll do that.

 

[Bill Edwards]

A man sized hammer can move the whole pallet but the mill stays where it is, relative to the floor.

To get it off, how about just knocking the pallet in the way you describe until it's out from under the machine?
Just put a block under one side as the pallet leaves to avoid it tilting too much, and again at the other side to avoid a drop to the floor, then a good bar should see you get the blocks out. Or put rollers in first to move it into position.

 

[Maker]

To get it off, how about just knocking the pallet in the way you describe until it's out from under the machine?
Just put a block under one side as the pallet leaves to avoid it tilting too much, and again at the other side to avoid a drop to the floor, then a good bar should see you get the blocks out. Or put rollers in first to move it into position.

That could work, although it takes about 5 mins to move an inch.

 

[DanielW]

Feck me this is a mill.....the egyptians built pyramids with stone blocks weighing more than the mill.

 

[Maker]

Any chance of a picture of where the mill is sitting now, showing the available space around the machine?

There's pictures on page 13, I'll take a better one tomorrow.

 

[Maker]

Feck me this is a mill.....the egyptians built pyramids with stone blocks weighing more than the mill.

The Egyptians had tens of thousands of slaves to do it for them.

 

[DanielW]

The Egyptians had tens of thousands of slaves to do it for them.

this is true but the mill was put together by man....could you not dissasemble it to the point it can be moved easily in sections and rebuilt on a steel box section frame.

 

[shedfull]

Pinched this off another site

Put it on rollers, roll 10% of the machine off the pallet and put blocking under it..

Continue to do this until the machine is sort of balanced on the pallet and blocking.

Use a hammer to drive the pallet further away and put more blocking under the machine.

Once most of the machine is on the blocking the pallet can be removed.

The blocking can be removed and replaced by 4 piles of plywood or hardwood squares under each corner, with each layer 3/4" thick.

Use a pry bar to lift each corner enough to remove one layer, continue going around the corners until you have no layers left.

just an idea

 

[Maker]

That'd work, we've got loads of 18mm MDF I could use.

 

[shedfull]

I use one of these body kit jacks to lift all my lathes, mill etc etc

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/3110...1=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

The spreader wont lift my mill but the same spreader on a 10 ton pump I was given will, just lifts front or back up an inch to get a roller in.

The little ram can be made into a toe jack and that easily lifts everything I've got.