Moving a Bridgeport Mill with my TN (pics)

[NightshiftHD]

Yes, I've studied that guys (very creative) method of moving and lowering his BP into his basement. My job would look "easy" to him! Like I said before, I can easily disassemble and move the pieces over to the top of the stairs. And getting all the pieces down the stairs on 2x10 boards screwed to the stairs will be no problem for me to do by myself. The biggest thing I'm concerned about is getting the base started down the "slide". I will try to remember to post some pictures as I do it for others to see. Bill

 

[sandman2234]

I would look for a place to put a comealong anchor that will hold in excess of a ton of weight. For a lighter machine, and depending on the angle of your staircase, a well anchored wall might hold a portion of that weight, but would need reinforcement from another point further back. Look for places to put anchor bolts that won't be noticed when removed, and inflict the wrap of SWMBO. Using a timber/steel beam across the door opening, lagged bolted to the floor, with allthread ran to the wall across the room, with plates on the other side might be a way to hold it. Variations such as a flat plate with an eyebolt incase you can't get "over" a piece of angle, or other things like that.
A rolling cart built at an angle to keep the mill upright that comes up flat at the top of the stairs might be a way to ease the lowering, provided you have the headroom to take it down. That would allow you to keep the mill upright.Brakes on the wheels might help, but I wouldn't trust them to stop the mill, just as a backup.Being able to lower it to flat after reaching the bottom of the stairs would be a plus...
Consider everybody's ideas, and decide which might work for you, and let us take another swing at it to help figure out the weak points of how you decide to do it.
Nothing worse than dropping your mill and having to listen to how much it costs to replace that wall/floor you damaged in your WIFE'S HOUSE!!!(she wouldn't let you forget it)
David from jax

Oh by the way, those parts in my profile(avatar) belong to a milling machine...

 

[NightshiftHD]

David and others, I appreciate your help and advise as I tackle this. To help orientate you with my situation, I've taken a few pictures of the stairway from the garage to the basement. The stairwell is 37" wide, so lots of room with a standard 32" exterior door at the bottom. I will (obviously) move the stuff at the top of the stairs (pressure washer, shop crane and compressor) to clear the path. I don't know if the little 36" wall to the left of the garage door is strong enough to anchor my 2 ton cable winch which I plan to use to control the downslide of the base. I plan to screw a couple 2x12's to the stairs to create a slide for the base. All other pieces of the mill are lighter than the base (1,000 lbs) so I know I can get them downstair ok.

Here's the mill before disassembly in the garage, and then the stairs. Appreciate your ideas. Bill

 

[ChuckinNH]

I would give some thought to building a cradle for the base of your Bridgeport out of 2X material so that it could be lowered down the stairs on it's side. It wouldn't have to be fancy, but I would be a lot more comfortable with that much weight more evenly distributed, and closer to the floor than it would be standing. Built with some thought it might even make it easier to get it moved into position for lowering. I.E. you could roll it to the head of the stairs on rollers, etc.

 

[ultrarunner]

Do you have 3-phase power or will you use a converter?

I have mine set-up with a home made rotary 3-phase converter...

 

[NightshiftHD]

Do you have 3-phase power or will you use a converter?

It's a 2hp, vari-speed 3 phase motor and I have a couple VFDs (ABB and AB) that I can use to power it from single phase.

 

[NightshiftHD]

I would give some thought to building a cradle for the base of your Bridgeport out of 2X material so that it could be lowered down the stairs on it's side. It wouldn't have to be fancy, but I would be a lot more comfortable with that much weight more evenly distributed, and closer to the floor than it would be standing. Built with some thought it might even make it easier to get it moved into position for lowering. I.E. you could roll it to the head of the stairs on rollers, etc.

Chuck, I like your idea there. I had already decided I was not going to try and lower the base down the stairs in an upright position ... there is no point in making the centre of gravity any higher than it needs to be ... and the lower the better. I'm not sure I need to make a 2x4 base to slide it down on, as I'm guessing there is enough weight that it will slide quite readily when laying on it's side, and hence the need to control the slide with my cable winch. The tricky part will be the transition from a vertical position on my shop crane to an angled position as it lays down on the 2x12 slides on the stairs.

 

[drivadesl]

Nightshift, do you know what model ABB VFD you have? My neighbor just dropped a major present to me, an ABB Model CS350, what a score. He asked me for a log to use as a base for his anvil, and noticed the mill sitting there. After I dropped off the log, he handed over an unopened factory box with the VFD. One of his customers didn't use it so.....I'll be making good use of it. I'll have to rewire the motor from 460 to 230 to make it work. When moving my mill I made good use of a Johnson bar. These are kind of a 6' pry bar on wheels. If you don't have one, it could be pretty hand helping you jimmy the mill down that first step from your garage. BTW, don't you just love doing this stuff

 

[NightshiftHD]

Nightshift, do you know what model ABB VFD you have? My neighbor just dropped a major present to me, an ABB Model CS350, what a score. He asked me for a log to use as a base for his anvil, and noticed the mill sitting there. After I dropped off the log, he handed over an unopened factory box with the VFD. One of his customers didn't use it so.....I'll be making good use of it. I'll have to rewire the motor from 460 to 230 to make it work. When moving my mill I made good use of a Johnson bar. These are kind of a 6' pry bar on wheels. If you don't have one, it could be pretty hand helping you jimmy the mill down that first step from your garage. BTW, don't you just love doing this stuff

Mine sounds the same as yours ... it's an ACS350 designed for 220v single phase input with 200-240v 3 phase output for 2 HP motors. So it's the perfect VFD for my 2HP 3 phase 220v motor on the mill. I got it brand new off a seller on eBay who had them left over from a job ... maybe the same guy? Bill

 

[drivadesl]

Wouldn't surprise me if it was. Do you mind me asking what you paid for it? I was getting ready to spend a couple of three bills on one of these.

 

[Workstead]

NightshiftHD,

Another way to get it into the cellar might be to remove the stairs altogether.

If the floor goes all the way to the wall under the stairs, and if it isn't a major deconstruction job to remove the treads to get to the stringers, you would have a straight drop to the floor where you could have a dolly waiting.

Clem

 

[NightshiftHD]

Wouldn't surprise me if it was. Do you mind me asking what you paid for it? I was getting ready to spend a couple of three bills on one of these.

Paid US$140 for it, plus about $20 in shipping. Guy I bought it from was Tim ... very nice fellow to deal with. Bill

 

[NightshiftHD]

NightshiftHD,

Another way to get it into the cellar might be to remove the stairs altogether.

If the floor goes all the way to the wall under the stairs, and if it isn't a major deconstruction job to remove the treads to get to the stringers, you would have a straight drop to the floor where you could have a dolly waiting.

Clem

Clem, thanks for the idea. I thought of that also, but in looking at the stairs, the treads are nailed to the stringers ... I was hoping they were screwed. I've only got myself to thank for that as I was the one that built them I remember lagging the stringers to the concrete walls on each side and then adding the risers and finally the treads. In hindsight, if I would have screwed the risers and treads instead of nailing, it would be an excellent way to lower (or raise) stuff in and out. I also considered tearing out the storage area I built over the stairs and just putting up a (removable) railing on the garage floor along the stairwell so I could rig up some kind of overhead beam with chainfalls on a tripod. But I don't really want to lose that storage area.

Now that you've got me thinking again about removing the strair treads/risers, I may consider this more seriously. If I smash out the bottom 2 or 3 treads to give me enough room to swing a big hammer under the remaining ones, I should be able to remove them and later screw them back down. There is a 12" I-beam that runs across the middle of the garage to support the bricks above on the 2nd floor which is currently covered in with drywall. That 6" square beige post on the left side of the stairs at the top supports it for reference. I may knock the drywall off that section of the I-beam so I can hang my chainfalls there as it's about 2' in from the front edge of the stairwell hole. And yes ... the entire hole has a concrete floor under it as well as poured concrete walls. I had them build this stairwell when I was building my house. I am beginning to think this might be the best (safest) solution to my challenge. Bill

 

[bones1]

How about nailing down 2x10's on your stairs, lying the mill down at the top of the ramp you just made,take engine crane downstairs, open your garage door and position a truck or tractor with a winch backed up to your garage and winch it down the steps with a long cable and use crane to upright it in the basement etc. Thats how I would do it. Let the winch on the tractor/truck hold it from sliding . Good Luck.

 

[Workstead]

...
Now that you've got me thinking again about removing the strair reads/risers, I may consider this more seriously. If I smash out the bottom 2 or 3 treads to give me enough room to swing a big hammer under the remaining ones, I should be able to remove them and later screw them back down.... Bill

Bill,

I have a nail puller that is kind of like pliers that you wack into the board and the "pinchers" are driven under the head of the nail. Then you pull back on it and the nail is levered out. That way you access from the top and you won't damage the boards too much. A carpenter friend may have one you could borrow.

Isn't hind sight wonderful thinking what could have been done back then?

Maybe you could put in a little elevator now so when you are old you won't have to go up and down stairs. The kids would love that! And you could easily move heavy machines up and down to/from the shop.

Clem

 

[sandman2234]

If he nailed two by tens or similar to the steps, and built a wedge/angle shaped cart so that the top was flat/horizontal and the bottom where the rollers were running on the two by tens was at the angle of the staircase, he wouldn't need to lay the mill down on it's side which could be a problem if he accidently dropped it during the layover. If your concerned about it being top heavy, bolt it to the cart from under the top. I would think 8 shopping cart wheels would hold the weight, and the two by tens would be plenty wide enough for that tracking. Use a car/tractor/truck or comalong to lower the cart via a cable or chain (hooked to the cart, not attached to the mill). If the cable isn't pulling straight on the cart, use a anchor or pivot point to deflect it to allow it to pull straight so the cart goes down the staircase at least semi straight. Bumpers on the edges of the cart might protect the walls from damage and keep the cart on the straight and narrow. A search for a stairlift or cargo lift might explain this a little bit better.
David from jax