On 2007-10-13, Bill Schwab wrote:
Iggie,

You should be able to unload a 1,000 lbs lathe from a pickup using a
"shop crane", a.k.a. "engine hoist". You can make this even easier by
removing various parts from the lathe.

I have just such a crane, which I bought initially to handle my mill,
and now can't imagine how I ever got by w/o one

I cannot imagine living without one either.


It is not really a "big
deal". You have to be careful and make sure that the center of gravity
of the lathe is inside the perimeter of crane legs and everything is
properly prevented from moving. As a precaution, I always throw a
couple of bags of soil on the back of the crane when lifting heavy
stuff on a driveway.

Sandbags are a good idea.

I used topsoil, but it is the same thing. It never hurts and can
possibly save me from the consequences of unintentionally doing
something stupid.


I loaded a Clausing 8530 mill on my pickup using my crane. See

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/packing/clausing/


Let's see if I'm following. You started out by using the hoist to
remove the head. Then I guess you removed the table and knee either w/o
the crane or with it and then re-hoisted the head. No accusation - just
hoping I'm not missing the obvious. Were there any tricks to load
balancing the table and knee? Any tricks to attaching to them?

I do not actually remember. I know that I took it off my truck with
the head attached. I then cleaned it, used a little and resold on
eBay. ($850 bought me that mill and a Clausing lathe, I sold the lathe
for $500 and the mill for $1,800, the buyer paid me also big money to
crate the mill).

Did you hoist the base and column? Are there holes for that purpose? I
would not expect much trouble clearing a 4" palette. But then you
apparently cleared a 3 ft pickup bed. Were there any tricks to that?
You appear to even have done it with the palette thrown in there. How
did that work?

Worked OK.

I lifted it and then drove my truck underneath.

Then you hoisted the head, table and knee into position on top of the
truck. Again I start to wonder about height. Did you have trouble
getting the knee over its way? Then you added components and built a
box around it. Wood blocks under the knee to help support it are no
surprise.

I think that it was the rec.crafts.metalworking suggestion.

Any concerns about being so far back on the truck bed? Top-heaviness of
the box? What did you do to secure it to the bed?

Tiedowns.

If you don't mind saying, what was the goal, and/or destination? Was
the idea to remove it via forklift?

The goal was to deliver to terminal.

i