Time to make room
The last machine I bought, K&T, was much bigger then I thought is was. The other problem is it is a 7800# machine is not easy to move. Prybars a some pipes just do not work, so I made three skates and a toe jack.
The Skates worked great! Once the 7800# was on the skates I could roll it easily with one hand. To rotate the K&T, I had to be careful. The skates want to go strait and will slide out from under the K&T. The sliding is also a plus. It is easy to rotate it by tapping it with a hammer. |
The skates are made from 8" C channel and some 1.5OD thick wall pipe, bearings, and some long grade 8 bolts. The inside of C channel is tapered. For wedges I cut one inch of the C Channel and then cut off the leg, flipped it and welded it to the inside to match the angle. This gives a 90deg to the inside for the bearing side to run on. The ends I added rods. This is to keep things out from under the rollers and to aid in the rotation. It might also help to stop the side from folding. I was just making it as strong as I could. The pipe is cut to hold the bearings on each end and pressed into the ends. The three pieces of C Channel are about a foot long and smooth on top.
The toe jacks had some failures. I built three different jacks and even the one that worked I NOT proud of. The best I can offer is I used a 8 inch square pipe and welded one inch strips on the side to ride on. These are like tracks to keep it right. Due to the off set, it caused it rotate. This rotation allow the jack to travel about 4 inches up before it has problems. This is enough to get a block under it and use the full height of the jack.
Moving the Bridgeport I used four pipes, one inch OD. You can move it with two pipes by rocking it on one to set it on the other. Its like a teeter tooter game and works well on flat concert.
Surface Grinder move, I used a engine hoist. Had a scary minute as the engine hoist rocked over.
All the tools are now on 3 or 4 inch metal pucks. I did this to level all the tools. I am not sure if I am going to happy with this. I have dropped a lot of parts and the normal is it rolled under the mill.
The toe jacks had some failures. I built three different jacks and even the one that worked I NOT proud of. The best I can offer is I used a 8 inch square pipe and welded one inch strips on the side to ride on. These are like tracks to keep it right. Due to the off set, it caused it rotate. This rotation allow the jack to travel about 4 inches up before it has problems. This is enough to get a block under it and use the full height of the jack.
Moving the Bridgeport I used four pipes, one inch OD. You can move it with two pipes by rocking it on one to set it on the other. Its like a teeter tooter game and works well on flat concert.
Surface Grinder move, I used a engine hoist. Had a scary minute as the engine hoist rocked over.
All the tools are now on 3 or 4 inch metal pucks. I did this to level all the tools. I am not sure if I am going to happy with this. I have dropped a lot of parts and the normal is it rolled under the mill.