"Pete Keillor" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 3 Dec 2005 09:37:41 -0600, "Mike Henry"
wrote:


"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
. ..
On 1 Dec 2005 10:12:14 -0800, "Walt" wrote:

I have a Rockwell vertical (knee) milling machine that I need to move
to a shop that doesn't have a driveway and is at the top of a small
incline (grass lawn). I have read somewhere that the shipping weight
of this machine was 800 pounds so it's not real heavy. I would like to
take it apart to make it easier to move. (I'm an amateur and not
familiar with dissassembly of milling machines). I have a photocopy of
the manual which does have an exploded diagram but isn't very useful
otherwise. Anyone here that had/has one of these machines and knows
how to dissassemble it?

Walt


I move my 8540 pretty regularly with a refridgerator dolly. The two
wheeled gizmo with a restraining strap pulled up tight.

One or two additional tie-down straps, the kind with little ratchets, can
sometimes be a real help for such things to keep the tool securely lashed
to
the dolly. I find the built-in strap can loosen at the worst times.
Almost
all of my major tools have been moved to the basement with a good quality
dolly, usually partially disassembled. The exception was the base and
column for an 8540. My wife and I got it half way down the stairs before
it
got away from her and tried to run me over. It made it two steps before
getting lodged on the steel toe of my work boots. We used a 400/800 lb HF
hoist to get it the rest of the way down.

Mike

My boys helped me move stuff into the basement on a dolly. I wouldn't
let anybody below the load. We tied on to the dolly with a 1/2" nylon
rope, the boys belayed the dolly, and I guided it from above.

Hoisting 101: never place yourself or anyone else underneath or in
the path of the load.

Yeppers - I'd make a good poster boy for that rule! Aside from the stupid
idea of putting myself below the load, the main problem was the rubber belts
on the dolly that are located near the wheels and the load slide over the
lip of a stair step. They slide real good with a heavy load!

Fortunately, no harm was done to tool or body other than a slightly twisted
knee.

Mike