Winston wrote:

Pete C. wrote:

Winston wrote:

Pete C. wrote:

(...)

Removing the head and ram assembly reduces the COG a lot which is
also helpful and pretty easy to do with an engine hoist.

I removed& replaced the head on my Jet JVM-836
without an engine hoist. I placed wood cribbing
under the head and ran the table up to take the
load off the ram.

Fasteners out and lower the table with the head
on it. Installation was also drama - free.

Easy peasy.

I ASSume that I could dead - lift the ram off the
column without assistance, if that became necessary.

--Winston

Oh, I see you're talking about just the head, I'm talking about removing
the entire head and ram assembly at the point where the four bolts
attach it all to the base. That drops the COG a lot, just removing the
head would have little effect.

I'll bet that strapping the head to the table and
lowering it all the way would lower the COG appreciably,
especially if one rotated the head parallel to the
table first.

Not in my experience. The ram, ram turret and head adapter are a lot of
weight up high, the head is a small portion of the total. It's so easy
to remove the entire section, just 4 bolts, why not?


I did the first part of that operation and found it
to be quick and easy. I agree that a largish
cherry picker would come in very handy to remove
the ram.

The head, ram and ram turret all balance fairly nicely for a single pick
with an engine hoist, and it's just four bolts to remove the whole mess.
With that assembly bolted to the palette along side the base and table
assembly the COG of the palette is quite low and it's safe to handle at
angles like on a tilt-bed wrecker. I just did this a few months ago with
Iggy's old manual mill, and I've done it several times with my old
manual mill.