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| Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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Moving Heavy Shop Equipment without a Forklift!
I've been trying to work through a fairly challenging issue and
thought I'd open a question up to the group for discussion. Assume there is a rather large and very heavy piece of equipment, say... 6'h x 2'w x 3'd and 500lbs. The machine is made of steel, and there are plenty of places around the base that would make fine weld points (if necessary). Also assume the machine needs to rest on it's base to operate (can't just affix wheels to bottom), but it also needs to be able to be moved randomly around a shop by a single individual without a forklift. For grins, it's a 100lb. 5' tall female. How would you modify the machine for this requirement? Oh yeah, you have to do it with a budget of $100 or less (hopefully a lot less...) My first two thoughts are as follows: 1) Build a frame which fits around the base of the equipment out of 2" square tubing. Attach 4 heavy duty wheels to the bottom of each corner of the frame. Somehow weld this frame to the base of the equipment in a manner that allows the frame to swing upwards, allowing the machine to rest on it's base, but also allowing the use of a hand operated hydraulic jack (a small car jack perhaps?) to raise the equipment up to a point at which it is off the ground and the wheels are free to roll the machine. (Hope you could follow that.) I'm not quite sure how to best accomplish connecting the rolling frame to the machine base so it can be jacked up, so if anyone can help complete this idea it would be great. 2) This one breaks the $100 rule... but I'm just tossing out ideas. Have you ever seen the hand operated pallet movers they use at WalMart or other retail stores to move pallets around? Well, you'd have to get one of those, and then you could simply weld on a couple of channels underneath the base of the equipment and use that pallet mover to roll it around. I really, really don't like that idea, but had to throw it out there. Any other ideas are greatly appreciated. John |
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Steel plate + compressed air method?
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"John" wrote: (clip) How would you modify the machine for this requirement? Oh yeah, you have to do it with a budget of $100 or less (hopefully a lot less...)(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Get four hydraulic bottle jacks. Attach a wheel to the bottom of each. Connect the lifting rams to the machine at each corner. As you operate the jacks, the wheels go down so they support the weight, and it can roll. The jacks can rotate on their respective rams, so they have to be "aimed." |
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#4
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How about making or buying something like this?
http://www.grizzly.com/products/item...emnumber=G7315 "John" wrote in message ... I've been trying to work through a fairly challenging issue and thought I'd open a question up to the group for discussion. Assume there is a rather large and very heavy piece of equipment, say... 6'h x 2'w x 3'd and 500lbs. The machine is made of steel, and there are plenty of places around the base that would make fine weld points (if necessary). Also assume the machine needs to rest on it's base to operate (can't just affix wheels to bottom), but it also needs to be able to be moved randomly around a shop by a single individual without a forklift. For grins, it's a 100lb. 5' tall female. How would you modify the machine for this requirement? Oh yeah, you have to do it with a budget of $100 or less (hopefully a lot less...) My first two thoughts are as follows: 1) Build a frame which fits around the base of the equipment out of 2" square tubing. Attach 4 heavy duty wheels to the bottom of each corner of the frame. Somehow weld this frame to the base of the equipment in a manner that allows the frame to swing upwards, allowing the machine to rest on it's base, but also allowing the use of a hand operated hydraulic jack (a small car jack perhaps?) to raise the equipment up to a point at which it is off the ground and the wheels are free to roll the machine. (Hope you could follow that.) I'm not quite sure how to best accomplish connecting the rolling frame to the machine base so it can be jacked up, so if anyone can help complete this idea it would be great. 2) This one breaks the $100 rule... but I'm just tossing out ideas. Have you ever seen the hand operated pallet movers they use at WalMart or other retail stores to move pallets around? Well, you'd have to get one of those, and then you could simply weld on a couple of channels underneath the base of the equipment and use that pallet mover to roll it around. I really, really don't like that idea, but had to throw it out there. Any other ideas are greatly appreciated. John |
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Excellent suggestion.
My thoughts up to this point were along the lines that the wheels would normally be in an UP position, and when you wanted to move the machine you'd have to bring them down, in essence raising the rest of the machine. From the photo of that Grizzly stand, it appears to have screw down mechanisms that raise up the machine when it isn't supposed to roll. Simplicity at it's finest. The only problem with this method is that the actual machine in question here is a Treadle hammer. And the slamming down would definitely destroy the tiny supports (or pound them right into the cement.) I suppose it might be possible to change things around so that the wheels are actually threaded to the outside and you screw them downward each time. This idea definitely is in line with the $100 rule. Though it would be nice to come up with something involving a bit less manual labor than screwing each of the wheels down by hand each time the machine needed to be moved... Thanks, John On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 05:49:39 GMT, "AL" wrote: How about making or buying something like this? http://www.grizzly.com/products/item...emnumber=G7315 "John" wrote in message .. . I've been trying to work through a fairly challenging issue and thought I'd open a question up to the group for discussion. Assume there is a rather large and very heavy piece of equipment, say... 6'h x 2'w x 3'd and 500lbs. The machine is made of steel, and there are plenty of places around the base that would make fine weld points (if necessary). Also assume the machine needs to rest on it's base to operate (can't just affix wheels to bottom), but it also needs to be able to be moved randomly around a shop by a single individual without a forklift. For grins, it's a 100lb. 5' tall female. How would you modify the machine for this requirement? Oh yeah, you have to do it with a budget of $100 or less (hopefully a lot less...) |
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On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 05:19:49 GMT, "Leo Lichtman"
wrote: "John" wrote: (clip) How would you modify the machine for this requirement? Oh yeah, you have to do it with a budget of $100 or less (hopefully a lot less...)(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Get four hydraulic bottle jacks. Attach a wheel to the bottom of each. Connect the lifting rams to the machine at each corner. As you operate the jacks, the wheels go down so they support the weight, and it can roll. The jacks can rotate on their respective rams, so they have to be "aimed." Yes, this is an interesting idea. The only problem I see is that you would have to operate 4 jacks each time you want to move it. The question in my mind is, how could you accomplish the same thing using only one jack? :-) Thanks, John |
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Another type of mobile base has the machine resting on two wheels and two
pads in the down position, and three wheels in the up position. The third wheel is positioned using a foot pedal. This is super easy to move because you use your body weight to lower the third wheel, and then lift up with your toe to raise the wheel. Kind of like this: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...arden&n=507846 If the link doesn't work, go to Amazon and search for "Delta mobile base". Some woodworking machines have two wheels in the back attached to the base of the machine (not a separate frame), and two pads in the front (also attached to the base). When you want to move it, you use a Johnson bar to lift the side with the two pads. "John" wrote in message ... Excellent suggestion. My thoughts up to this point were along the lines that the wheels would normally be in an UP position, and when you wanted to move the machine you'd have to bring them down, in essence raising the rest of the machine. From the photo of that Grizzly stand, it appears to have screw down mechanisms that raise up the machine when it isn't supposed to roll. Simplicity at it's finest. The only problem with this method is that the actual machine in question here is a Treadle hammer. And the slamming down would definitely destroy the tiny supports (or pound them right into the cement.) I suppose it might be possible to change things around so that the wheels are actually threaded to the outside and you screw them downward each time. This idea definitely is in line with the $100 rule. Though it would be nice to come up with something involving a bit less manual labor than screwing each of the wheels down by hand each time the machine needed to be moved... Thanks, John On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 05:49:39 GMT, "AL" wrote: How about making or buying something like this? http://www.grizzly.com/products/item...emnumber=G7315 "John" wrote in message .. . I've been trying to work through a fairly challenging issue and thought I'd open a question up to the group for discussion. Assume there is a rather large and very heavy piece of equipment, say... 6'h x 2'w x 3'd and 500lbs. The machine is made of steel, and there are plenty of places around the base that would make fine weld points (if necessary). Also assume the machine needs to rest on it's base to operate (can't just affix wheels to bottom), but it also needs to be able to be moved randomly around a shop by a single individual without a forklift. For grins, it's a 100lb. 5' tall female. How would you modify the machine for this requirement? Oh yeah, you have to do it with a budget of $100 or less (hopefully a lot less...) |
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On Sun, 02 Jan 2005 22:29:00 -0600, John wrote:
2) This one breaks the $100 rule... but I'm just tossing out ideas. Have you ever seen the hand operated pallet movers they use at WalMart or other retail stores to move pallets around? Well, you'd have to get one of those, and then you could simply weld on a couple of channels underneath the base of the equipment and use that pallet mover to roll it around. Thats actually pretty common. In fact, some machines are designed to do exactly that. The OmniTurn GT Jr. is a CNC lathe that is designed to be moved by pallet jack to various other machines for second ops and so forth. A basic 4x4 is tall enough to allow a pallet jack underneith and in my own shop, I have most of the smaller machines bolted to 4x4s so I can simply slip a pallet jack under it, pull the power cord and move it heither and yon. If the additional 3.5" height is too tall for the operator, simply make a step out of acouple pieces of scrap 2x4 and a piece of plywood to stand on. Gunner "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." - John Stewart Mill |
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John wrote in
: This idea definitely is in line with the $100 rule. Though it would be nice to come up with something involving a bit less manual labor than screwing each of the wheels down by hand each time the machine needed to be moved... Thanks, John John, Use the square frame idea, but put 2 wheels on one side, one threaded wheel on the other, and a pivot point in the middle. You crank the one wheel down, it pivots the other 2 wheels down, and raises the machine. Make a couple of flat extentions that the 2 wheel side frame contacts on the way down and a wedge that will swing out over the frame on the 2 wheel side, to prevent the machine from tipping on the pivot. You only need to raise the machine enough for it to move, I would think, depending on your floor, 1/4" would be plenty. -- Anthony You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make better idiots. Remove sp to reply via email |
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"John" skrev i en meddelelse ... 2) This one breaks the $100 rule... but I'm just tossing out ideas. Have you ever seen the hand operated pallet movers they use at WalMart or other retail stores to move pallets around? Well, you'd have to get one of those, and then you could simply weld on a couple of channels underneath the base of the equipment and use that pallet mover to roll it around. Have you considered just bolting the machine to a pallet and getting a pallet jack from Ebay..? Having a pallet jack will give you a little more general flexibility if you need to move other heavy items from time to time... Only problem you may encounter is if you dont have a solid floor /peter |
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In article , Gunner says...
Thats actually pretty common. In fact, some machines are designed to do exactly that. The OmniTurn GT Jr. is a CNC lathe that is designed to be moved by pallet jack to various other machines for second ops and so forth. A basic 4x4 is tall enough to allow a pallet jack underneith and in my own shop, I have most of the smaller machines bolted to 4x4s so I can simply slip a pallet jack under it, pull the power cord and move it heither and yon. This is the best. Pallet jacks are immensely handy and if you don't have one, get one on general principles. Cost of such does not count in the 100 dollar rule simply because you can use the pallet jack for other stuff. If the floor is so uneven that a pallet jack won't work, then no other approach using wheels would either. Jim -- ================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ================================================== |
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Anthony wrote:
Use the square frame idea, but put 2 wheels on one side, one threaded wheel on the other, and a pivot point in the middle. What he said, and to make it easier for small female you could provide a cordless drill to do the cranking. A gear reducer would be good but it probably pushes on your budget constraint unless you happen to have one lying about. -- Fred R ________________ Drop TROU to email. |
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#13
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What I did with my heavy welding table was to weld 2 wheels on 1 end they
are 1/4" above the floor.(They look like wheelie wheels on a dragster) On the other end I welded a crank type trailer jack with a wheel. About 4 cranks and its rolling.. Byron... "John" wrote in message ... I've been trying to work through a fairly challenging issue and thought I'd open a question up to the group for discussion. Assume there is a rather large and very heavy piece of equipment, say... 6'h x 2'w x 3'd and 500lbs. The machine is made of steel, and there are plenty of places around the base that would make fine weld points (if necessary). Also assume the machine needs to rest on it's base to operate (can't just affix wheels to bottom), but it also needs to be able to be moved randomly around a shop by a single individual without a forklift. For grins, it's a 100lb. 5' tall female. How would you modify the machine for this requirement? Oh yeah, you have to do it with a budget of $100 or less (hopefully a lot less...) My first two thoughts are as follows: 1) Build a frame which fits around the base of the equipment out of 2" square tubing. Attach 4 heavy duty wheels to the bottom of each corner of the frame. Somehow weld this frame to the base of the equipment in a manner that allows the frame to swing upwards, allowing the machine to rest on it's base, but also allowing the use of a hand operated hydraulic jack (a small car jack perhaps?) to raise the equipment up to a point at which it is off the ground and the wheels are free to roll the machine. (Hope you could follow that.) I'm not quite sure how to best accomplish connecting the rolling frame to the machine base so it can be jacked up, so if anyone can help complete this idea it would be great. 2) This one breaks the $100 rule... but I'm just tossing out ideas. Have you ever seen the hand operated pallet movers they use at WalMart or other retail stores to move pallets around? Well, you'd have to get one of those, and then you could simply weld on a couple of channels underneath the base of the equipment and use that pallet mover to roll it around. I really, really don't like that idea, but had to throw it out there. Any other ideas are greatly appreciated. John |
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A friend of mine has a nice 4'X8' 1/2" steel welding table. What he did was
to weld 4 square sockets to the legs and then fabricated castor brackets that would fit in the sockets that would hold the base above the floor level about 1/2" when installed. On each end of the table he welded a bracket with a little cam that he can push down and lift the end of the table high enough to install the casters into the square sockets. The cam was simple. He just had some 2" round steel that he drilled an offset hole into and then welded on a bar for the handle. He also put the square sockets on his acorn table and can rig them on anything else he needs to move. This way he only needs one set of wheels and never has to futz with dollies or anything. I suppose if you had a cast base and welding would be difficult, you could set the machine in a frame and accomplish the same thing. Using this idea you could also make leveling feet to slide in the sockets also. -- Roger Shoaf About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then they come up with this striped stuff. "John" wrote in message ... I've been trying to work through a fairly challenging issue and thought I'd open a question up to the group for discussion. Assume there is a rather large and very heavy piece of equipment, say... 6'h x 2'w x 3'd and 500lbs. The machine is made of steel, and there are plenty of places around the base that would make fine weld points (if necessary). Also assume the machine needs to rest on it's base to operate (can't just affix wheels to bottom), but it also needs to be able to be moved randomly around a shop by a single individual without a forklift. For grins, it's a 100lb. 5' tall female. How would you modify the machine for this requirement? Oh yeah, you have to do it with a budget of $100 or less (hopefully a lot less...) My first two thoughts are as follows: 1) Build a frame which fits around the base of the equipment out of 2" square tubing. Attach 4 heavy duty wheels to the bottom of each corner of the frame. Somehow weld this frame to the base of the equipment in a manner that allows the frame to swing upwards, allowing the machine to rest on it's base, but also allowing the use of a hand operated hydraulic jack (a small car jack perhaps?) to raise the equipment up to a point at which it is off the ground and the wheels are free to roll the machine. (Hope you could follow that.) I'm not quite sure how to best accomplish connecting the rolling frame to the machine base so it can be jacked up, so if anyone can help complete this idea it would be great. 2) This one breaks the $100 rule... but I'm just tossing out ideas. Have you ever seen the hand operated pallet movers they use at WalMart or other retail stores to move pallets around? Well, you'd have to get one of those, and then you could simply weld on a couple of channels underneath the base of the equipment and use that pallet mover to roll it around. I really, really don't like that idea, but had to throw it out there. Any other ideas are greatly appreciated. John |
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Our garage workshop (24' x 24') has grown too small for the tools ... Does that sound familiar? _Everything_ is mobile... All the smaller stuff is on casters or castered work tables - the table saw, drill presses, grinders, wood cutting bandsaw and the panel saw... The welding table has large locking casters and lives under some shelving when it's not in use. The tig machine is mounted on skids on the top of the Lincoln roundtop - that's probably the only tool that is really 'surplus' since the tig also does stick but we're reluctant to part with 'Old Red' just in case we ever need the 300 amps it claims to put out someday... Plasma cutter is on a wheeled dolly and lives under some shelving units when not in use. The metal cutting bandsaw came with casters under 1 end and moves like a wheelbarrow. The air compressor is under one end of the workbench, the miller mig machine (which came with casters) lives under the other end of the workbench. Had to get the shorter (35 pound) CO2 cylinder so it would fit. The workbench is actually two 8' wall mounted sections with the radial arm saw in the middle - you can swing away the saw on its pivot and have almost 20 linear feet of bench space. We purchase a pallet jack from HF on sale for $199. It lives under the ironworker and when we use the machine we just roll it out into the center of the open space. The mill and lathe are kinda delicate in the leveling department, so they're 'back to back' in a corner and rarely moved - but the pallet jack is the tool of choice when adjustments are made... Some 'seldom used' woodworking tools like the wood planer, belt sander and miscellaneous are stored in an outbuilding until the shop grows larger... ya, sure! Look in the Yellow Pages and find a good caster company - there are wheels suitable for almost anything! Carla |
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"Fred R" "spam wrote in message ... What he said, and to make it easier for small female you could provide a cordless drill to do the cranking. In my experience, females tend to be self cranking.... -- Roger Shoaf About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then they come up with this striped stuff. |
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Another great suggestion... thanks. This type of solution would work
better because the base of the treadle hammer could rest on the ground, allowing the full force of the blows to dissipate across a wider area. The question would be how much weight is required to raise the machine manually given that the bulk of the weight of a treadle hammer is in the front. (In my case 125# hammer hovers over about a 75# anvil.) I also like Fred' idea from later in the thread of using a power drill or some other device for screwing the wheel down. Likewise with Byron's idea of a trailer lift type screw down. All of these thoughts also give me one other idea. It's a bit difficult to explain so I sketched a little diagram (attached). The good news is that the treadle hammer I'm going to build this for will accommodate things basically running across the center of the base... 1) Take 2" square tubular steel bars and mount wheels on them. 2) Make hinges and attach them to the base at the front and back. 3) Attach a jack of some kind to hinge points on top of the bars which will serve to spread them apart and rotate the wheels down into position. This seems like it would be pretty simple to do. Thoughts? Also, what could I use as the jack? Would a small hydraulic jack work sideways like that? If not, I suppose a screw type trailer jack might work? John On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 06:57:31 GMT, "AL" wrote: Another type of mobile base has the machine resting on two wheels and two pads in the down position, and three wheels in the up position. The third wheel is positioned using a foot pedal. This is super easy to move because you use your body weight to lower the third wheel, and then lift up with your toe to raise the wheel. Kind of like this: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...arden&n=507846 If the link doesn't work, go to Amazon and search for "Delta mobile base". Some woodworking machines have two wheels in the back attached to the base of the machine (not a separate frame), and two pads in the front (also attached to the base). When you want to move it, you use a Johnson bar to lift the side with the two pads. |
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2 thoughts, both derived from race car practices:
1 - Slip-in jack pads to use with the pallet jack. Just off the floor, you drill 2 holes on each side of of the machine. Through these holes you slide a length of steel pipe sized so it sticks out on either side. Roll your pallet rack so it straddles the machine and slips under the pipe ends. Top of hole should be even with the bottom of some structural part of the machine. For example, if there is a bottom shelf, with a skirt below that, you drill trough the skirt such that the pipe will bear against the shelf. Otherwise, choose hole locations based on structural strength. Also, the CG of the machine needs to be between the pipe holes. 2 - Air jacks, with casters attached. You've seen race cars roll into the pit, someone pops an air hose to a fitting on the body, and the whole car jumps up about 4 inches. Adapt that to the machine base. You could also combine 1 and 2 and use it with other machines. John wrote: I've been trying to work through a fairly challenging issue and thought I'd open a question up to the group for discussion. Assume there is a rather large and very heavy piece of equipment, say... 6'h x 2'w x 3'd and 500lbs. The machine is made of steel, and there are plenty of places around the base that would make fine weld points (if necessary). Also assume the machine needs to rest on it's base to operate (can't just affix wheels to bottom), but it also needs to be able to be moved randomly around a shop by a single individual without a forklift. For grins, it's a 100lb. 5' tall female. How would you modify the machine for this requirement? Oh yeah, you have to do it with a budget of $100 or less (hopefully a lot less...) My first two thoughts are as follows: 1) Build a frame which fits around the base of the equipment out of 2" square tubing. Attach 4 heavy duty wheels to the bottom of each corner of the frame. Somehow weld this frame to the base of the equipment in a manner that allows the frame to swing upwards, allowing the machine to rest on it's base, but also allowing the use of a hand operated hydraulic jack (a small car jack perhaps?) to raise the equipment up to a point at which it is off the ground and the wheels are free to roll the machine. (Hope you could follow that.) I'm not quite sure how to best accomplish connecting the rolling frame to the machine base so it can be jacked up, so if anyone can help complete this idea it would be great. 2) This one breaks the $100 rule... but I'm just tossing out ideas. Have you ever seen the hand operated pallet movers they use at WalMart or other retail stores to move pallets around? Well, you'd have to get one of those, and then you could simply weld on a couple of channels underneath the base of the equipment and use that pallet mover to roll it around. I really, really don't like that idea, but had to throw it out there. Any other ideas are greatly appreciated. John |
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"bigiron" wrote in message
oups.com... | Steel plate + compressed air method? | I second this motion. Where I work there are a couple tools that when unloaded are (guessing) 15 tons apiece. Loaded, each carries well over 30 tons for a total load of about 90 tons on the floor. They use compressed air and a number of smaller plates underneath with little rubber skirts. Takes a couple 2" air lines and two forklifts to pull them along, but they do nicely. It goes without saying that it does use up lots of air, and are noisy as hell on the polished and epoxy floor, but it solves the problem. One PSI on a five foot square plate theoretically will pick up 3600 pounds, and at 60 psi 108 tons. Leakage of course will burn up most of that, so if your tool fits on a five square foot plate your shop compressor will be able to move it. There's a learning curve with flex, air flow control, skirts, and so forth, but that's part of the fun of it, isn't it? As far as the $100 rule, that all depends on what tools you already have, the condition of your floor, and the rating on your compressor, but if you have this particular tool, you likely have a good compressor. Oh, and it sweeps the floor of whatever you failed to pick up! |
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OK, so where is a good online source for casters?
Carla Fong wrote: Our garage workshop (24' x 24') has grown too small for the tools ... Does that sound familiar? _Everything_ is mobile... All the smaller stuff is on casters or castered work tables - the table saw, drill presses, grinders, wood cutting bandsaw and the panel saw... The welding table has large locking casters and lives under some shelving when it's not in use. The tig machine is mounted on skids on the top of the Lincoln roundtop - that's probably the only tool that is really 'surplus' since the tig also does stick but we're reluctant to part with 'Old Red' just in case we ever need the 300 amps it claims to put out someday... Plasma cutter is on a wheeled dolly and lives under some shelving units when not in use. The metal cutting bandsaw came with casters under 1 end and moves like a wheelbarrow. The air compressor is under one end of the workbench, the miller mig machine (which came with casters) lives under the other end of the workbench. Had to get the shorter (35 pound) CO2 cylinder so it would fit. The workbench is actually two 8' wall mounted sections with the radial arm saw in the middle - you can swing away the saw on its pivot and have almost 20 linear feet of bench space. We purchase a pallet jack from HF on sale for $199. It lives under the ironworker and when we use the machine we just roll it out into the center of the open space. The mill and lathe are kinda delicate in the leveling department, so they're 'back to back' in a corner and rarely moved - but the pallet jack is the tool of choice when adjustments are made... Some 'seldom used' woodworking tools like the wood planer, belt sander and miscellaneous are stored in an outbuilding until the shop grows larger... ya, sure! Look in the Yellow Pages and find a good caster company - there are wheels suitable for almost anything! Carla |
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"AL" writes:
Assume there is a rather large and very heavy piece of equipment, say... 6'h x 2'w x 3'd and 500lbs. The machine is made of steel, and there are plenty of places around the base that would make fine weld points (if necessary). Also assume the machine needs to rest on it's base to operate (can't just affix wheels to bottom), but it also needs to be able to be moved randomly around a shop by a single individual without a forklift. For grins, it's a 100lb. 5' tall female. Having spent a large part of my life as a construction Boilermaker, welder and blacksmith... I once rigged up a 400lb anvil with about a 100lb riveted base like this: I welded up a trap for 1 5/16" hard nuts (with some reinforcement by 1/4 inch steel wing plates, to the corners of the anvil base. I used fine thread and axle grease to make it lift easier, but I had access to plenty of heavy and large bolts/nuts at the time. My trap was arranged so that the nut was loose but sandwiched in with one side open for inserting a wrench. And of course a hole passing thru for the bolt. These nuts were about 5/6 inches from the floor. I used long bolts. Probably about 10in or so. Ran the bolts thru a ways then welded heavy duty wheels (steel crazy wheels) to the bolts. By cranking the nuts up or down I could set the anvil and base down on the floor or lift it up and easily roll it. I never needed more than a 12in cresent to crank the nuts. And the only reason an 8 or 10 inch wasn't enough is that they won't open wide enough. Something 8/10 inches long would have provided enough leverage. This biggest shortcoming I guess was that this contraption probably took about 7/10 minutes to get airborne with a couple inches clearance. I doubt if soft nuts/bolts would work as well, or at least not for as long. |
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#22
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True, but many do resist putting their hands on cranks. innocent grin
-- Fred R ________________ Drop TROU to email. |
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#23
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"Roger Shoaf" wrote in
: In my experience, females tend to be self cranking.... I think that should be 'cranky' -- Anthony You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make better idiots. Remove sp to reply via email |
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#24
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"John" wrote in message ... I've been trying to work through a fairly challenging issue and thought I'd open a question up to the group for discussion. Assume there is a rather large and very heavy piece of equipment, say... 6'h x 2'w x 3'd and 500lbs. The machine is made of steel, and there are plenty of places around the base that would make fine weld points (if necessary). Also assume the machine needs to rest on it's base to operate (can't just affix wheels to bottom), but it also needs to be able to be moved randomly around a shop by a single individual without a forklift. For grins, it's a 100lb. 5' tall female. 500 lbs is not heavy. You could probably use a modified unisaw type base, like the ones Delta sells. If a pallet lift is really required they are occasionally available for about $25. |
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#25
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Try McMaster Carr. If they don't have a caster to serve your purpose I
would be shocked. http://www.mcmaster.com/ -- Roger Shoaf About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then they come up with this striped stuff. "Rex B" wrote in message ... OK, so where is a good online source for casters? Carla Fong wrote: Our garage workshop (24' x 24') has grown too small for the tools ... Does that sound familiar? _Everything_ is mobile... All the smaller stuff is on casters or castered work tables - the table saw, drill presses, grinders, wood cutting bandsaw and the panel saw... The welding table has large locking casters and lives under some shelving when it's not in use. The tig machine is mounted on skids on the top of the Lincoln roundtop - that's probably the only tool that is really 'surplus' since the tig also does stick but we're reluctant to part with 'Old Red' just in case we ever need the 300 amps it claims to put out someday... Plasma cutter is on a wheeled dolly and lives under some shelving units when not in use. The metal cutting bandsaw came with casters under 1 end and moves like a wheelbarrow. The air compressor is under one end of the workbench, the miller mig machine (which came with casters) lives under the other end of the workbench. Had to get the shorter (35 pound) CO2 cylinder so it would fit. The workbench is actually two 8' wall mounted sections with the radial arm saw in the middle - you can swing away the saw on its pivot and have almost 20 linear feet of bench space. We purchase a pallet jack from HF on sale for $199. It lives under the ironworker and when we use the machine we just roll it out into the center of the open space. The mill and lathe are kinda delicate in the leveling department, so they're 'back to back' in a corner and rarely moved - but the pallet jack is the tool of choice when adjustments are made... Some 'seldom used' woodworking tools like the wood planer, belt sander and miscellaneous are stored in an outbuilding until the shop grows larger... ya, sure! Look in the Yellow Pages and find a good caster company - there are wheels suitable for almost anything! Carla |
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#26
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On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 13:09:46 -0600, Rex B calmly
ranted: OK, so where is a good online source for casters? www.harborfreight.com and www.casters.com , of course. ----------------------------------------------------------------- When I die, I'm leaving my body to science fiction. --Steven Wright ---------------------------- http://diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development |
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#27
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Well, some respondents lost track of the title, "...without a
forklift." I have the following questions: 1) What is the shop floor? 2) How often does the machine need to be moved? 3) How accurately does it have to be positioned? 4) Is it to be moved along a single straight line, or along a complicated path? I had to move a 700# treadle hammer across a strong but somewhat irregular cement floor. I did it by putting 1/4" rods under the "front" edge and rolling the thing. This worked exceedlingly well, but bould not be the method of choice in many cases. This could be made a more controllable means of moving a machine if a Johnson bar were used to lift one edge and steer. A 100# woman might need a come-along, or some such thing, to provide the pull to move the thing. Be careful. Some machines may be top-heavy and could fall over. Bruce |
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#28
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#29
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d blocking and a carpenters wrecking bar (one handed), when I was finished he asked how much he owed me and I informed him that all I wanted was the skid, which I still use as an outdoor workbench supported on a pair of sawhorses. Gerry :-)} London, Canada hey, iv'e got a bunch of stuff I need moved and quite a few skids.... |
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#31
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John wrote:
[Image] Two problems; actuators that push, and the leverage of turning corners. Linkage in compression has to be three to four times as massive as linkage in tension because of the bending force. Just how much does this machine weigh? Not just the hammer, but the entire structure. Maybe you'd be better off using a cam to push directly down on the wheel mount in a sliding 'bushing', and rotating the cam with a foot pedal and a long arm. If you have a smooth shop floor, you only need to lift the machine about an inch to get it on the wheels. A piece of 3" round with the axle hole drilled off center makes a cam. If you're not beefy enough, you can still use the jack to apply twist to the axle with a lever that bears on the ram. Something to think about, it's certainly in the 'scrapyard' catagory. Charly |
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#32
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John wrote: I've been trying to work through a fairly challenging issue and thought I'd open a question up to the group for discussion. Assume there is a rather large and very heavy piece of equipment, say... 6'h x 2'w x 3'd and 500lbs. The machine is made of steel, and there are plenty of places around the base that would make fine weld points (if necessary). Also assume the machine needs to rest on it's base to operate (can't just affix wheels to bottom), but it also needs to be able to be moved randomly around a shop by a single individual without a forklift. For grins, it's a 100lb. 5' tall female. How would you modify the machine for this requirement? Oh yeah, you have to do it with a budget of $100 or less (hopefully a lot less...) Any other ideas are greatly appreciated. I generally move stuff around the shop with 2x4 scraps, a crowbar and some black iron pipe for rollers. You need to pry or jack the machine up enough to get a few rollers under it. You can steer the machine by pointing the rollers. You can push some suprisingly heavy equipment like this, or use the long pry bar to move it. This is a little hard to describe in words, but you could also make some "dog-bone" or "I" shaped rollers that the machine can fit into. The four corners of the "I" have rollers and the inside of one of the "I" shapes (where the arrow points to: I-) has a angle iron "shelf" about one or two inches off the floor that the machine is lifted onto. To lift the machine, use a spud bar/pry bar that the dog bone can roll over. You might need to weld some tabe along the pivot point so the bar doesn't twist or fall over with the machine on it. If you have some scrap and a welder you could do it for under $100. Even if you didn't you could still probably do it for about $100, counting the rollers. 500 lbs isn't that heavy so you could easily use cheapie Harbor Freight casters and rollers rated to 100 pounds or so. Maybe $80 to get it to rill, a couple of 2x4s to make the "I" frame, some one or two inch angle iron, and you'd pretty much be there. I think I'd want to run a bead of weld along the outer edge of the "shelf" to help keep the machine from slipping off. One other idea, could you just build a case out of plywood with some castor rollers bolted onto the bottom? Is it really that big of a deal if it's not on the ground"? |
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#33
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wrote in message oups.com... John wrote: I've been trying to work through a fairly challenging issue and thought I'd open a question up to the group for discussion. Assume there is a rather large and very heavy piece of equipment, say... 6'h x 2'w x 3'd and 500lbs. The machine is made of steel, and there are plenty of places around the base that would make fine weld points (if necessary). Also assume the machine needs to rest on it's base to operate (can't just affix wheels to bottom), but it also needs to be able to be moved randomly around a shop by a single individual without a forklift. For grins, it's a 100lb. 5' tall female. How would you modify the machine for this requirement? Oh yeah, you have to do it with a budget of $100 or less (hopefully a lot less...) Any other ideas are greatly appreciated. When you brought the human into the equation, you entered a weak undefinable variable. I, myself, am a competent rigger. Offshore Petroleum Institute Certified. Passed various union programs. Lots of real life experience. If you had only ONE person doing this all the time, a system/procedure could be established, and that person would be familiar with the system/procedure, and its variables and nuances. It would be impossible to put something in place that every person could do without repetetive experiences. Moving a 500# piece of equipment is no small thing. I recently had to move two 8' spas about thirty feet. On the first, I had five helpers. On the second, I moved it myself. It was easier than trying to communicate everything and watch out for people who didn't have a clue. I had a floor jack and four four wheeled furniture dollies. I used PVC pipe as rollers when I got it to the new cinderblock base. Point is, a person who knows how to do things like this has no problems. A person who doesn't can easily lose fingers. Steve |
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#34
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If you already have the air compressor, then air bearings will
definately work on a smooth level floor. At work they use air bearings to move heavy things around. They do use about five people, but the ratio of weight to people is about ten tons per person. Dan Doug Warner wrote: John wrote: I've been trying to work through a fairly challenging issue and thought I'd open a question up to the group for discussion. Assume there is a rather large and very heavy piece of equipment, say... 6'h x 2'w x 3'd and 500lbs. The machine is made of steel, and there are plenty of places around the base that would make fine weld points (if necessary). Also assume the machine needs to rest on it's base to operate (can't just affix wheels to bottom), but it also needs to be able to be moved randomly around a shop by a single individual without a forklift. For grins, it's a 100lb. 5' tall female. Have a smooth floor and compressed air? Mount the machine on an air bearing platform: http://www.hovair.com/Air-Bearings/c...ng-systems.htm To reply, please remove one letter from each side of "@" Spammers are VERMIN. Please kill them all. |
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