John,

Seems like an awful lot of money for something most of us probably do
ourselves. $400 or $500 will buy you a lot of tooling. If you're
clever enough to run a lathe, you're clever enough to get the thing
off the truck and into your shop.

Precisely what we're figuring out how to do.



Find a local farmer with a loader.

I'm nervous enough about trying to coordinate a trucking company and a
rental service. Leaning on people with other priorities is unlikely to
work, even if I knew a farmer. Besides, with our drought conditions,
farmers are probably in a really bad mood. Though I suppose that could
make them eager to pick up some extra cash.



Roll it off onto cribbing and
lower it a block at a time. Slide it down a ramp. Have it delivered
to a local terminal and then load it onto a truck or trailer of your
own, as the delivery driver probably won't want to stand around all
day while you get it off his truck. Just be aware that lathes are
topheavy - make sure it is securely bolted to a pallet or timber frame
wide enough to keep it from tipping.

The terminal idea is a good one. One possibility is to have the lathe
delivered to work (aka home of the Gators) and get it into my pickup
from there. So far, I know of a scissor lift, but it is on the other
end of the hospital from the loading dock. Crossing the building with
1000 lb of cast iron is not a way to make friends, and there would be
other logistic problems. If there is a scissor lift at the dock, it
might work. Naturally, I would clear it in advance.


Interesting that you can rent a 10,000 pound forklift for a day and
have it delivered and picked up for less than the moving company wants
just to deliver a 1,000 pound lathe, no?

A forklift is (or should be) overkill for a lathe. I am also viewing
this, to some extent, as a rehearsal for receiving a mill. I handled
the mill-drill, but with not too much margin thanks to a sloping
driveway and other seemingly small details.

Bill