My mill and deluxe stand showed up today and are sitting in their crates in the garage. I've got a week of vacation to check it out and move it to the basement, so there should be some "fun" in my near future.

The mill was ordered at the beginning of August and arrived at the warehouse around the middle of September. Delivery to my home was delayed to today at my request to coincide with the vacation. The delivery guy was very professional and got the whole thing off-loaded in about 15 minutes with no problem, though his lift gate was just barely large enough to accomodate the crate footprint. An inch or two the wrong way would have had it on my driveway .

Mike

I just got mine too, waiting to get it onto stand.

How are you going to do the rigging?

That's still up in the air, so to speak.

The move into a basement complicates things somewhat. The immediate need is to get it off the pallet in the garage and powered up so some alignment checks can be run before disassembling it for the move to the basement. I'm about to find if an engine hoist is up to that task.

I haven't decided on how much disassembly will be required to get the mill into the basement and will probably use a couple of rails and and an A-frame mounted electric winch to lower the heavy parts down the stairs as that method worked well for a 400-500 lb surface grinder base a year or so back. I can point you to pictures of the A-frame & winch if you are interested.

In the basement, I'll probably rig a 2-ton chain hoist to the ceiling joists so that the mill can be lifted onto the Tormach base and will probably need to rent or buy a pallet jack to get the mill and stand into position. Getting the pallet jack down the stairs should be fun too.

BTW, the Yahoo Tormach group has a few pictures of someone else's basement move.

Mike

Congrads, both of you guys on getting your new Tormachs, and I wish you well during the move of those heavy pups!!!

Like when you build a house, all of your friends disapear until your house is built ( or your 1150 lb. milled is moved and on it's stand).

Did you guys buy the Tormach stands or are you building them.

Be careful

Ron

Congratulations on the new arrival.

I also used a chain hoist (1 ton) attached to a ceiling joist to lift the mill onto my homemade stand, which has removable wheels. I would have bought a trolley jack but for the fact it would only get used once and I don't really have anywhere to store it. I designed the stand so that I can easily use an existing automotive trolley jack to fit and remove the wheels, one side at a time. I already had the wheels assemblies made up for moving my lathe around, so it was a no cost option.

With a normal ceiling height (ca. 2.4m in this neck of the woods) there's not alot of headroom to spare, so if you are buying lifting equipment specific for the job its worth doing some measuring and planning before you buy. I only just made it.

Regards
Phil

That's still up in the air, so to speak.

The move into a basement complicates things somewhat. The immediate need is to get it off the pallet in the garage and powered up so some alignment checks can be run before disassembling it for the move to the basement. I'm about to find if an engine hoist is up to that task.

I haven't decided on how much disassembly will be required to get the mill into the basement and will probably use a couple of rails and and an A-frame mounted electric winch to lower the heavy parts down the stairs as that method worked well for a 400-500 lb surface grinder base a year or so back. I can point you to pictures of the A-frame & winch if you are interested.

In the basement, I'll probably rig a 2-ton chain hoist to the ceiling joists so that the mill can be lifted onto the Tormach base and will probably need to rent or buy a pallet jack to get the mill and stand into position. Getting the pallet jack down the stairs should be fun too.

BTW, the Yahoo Tormach group has a few pictures of someone else's basement move.

Mike

Ron,

I bought the Tormach deluxe stand since time is short and I don't have any welding experience.

Mike

With a normal ceiling height (ca. 2.4m in this neck of the woods) there's not alot of headroom to spare, so if you are buying lifting equipment specific for the job its worth doing some measuring and planning before you buy. I only just made it.

I've got around 87" (2.2 m) to play with, maybe a bit more if I can squeeze a hoist mounting beam between two joists. Should be a "fun" project.

Mike

I went with the tormach stand after reading one of the other posts suggesting that it was very well made and a good value for the price.
I am very pleased with the fit and finish of the base.

I am going to go the route of a small fork lift truck, and set it up in the garage.

I had one rigging quote of $800 for what will be a 30 min job max, so even with the rental costs of equipment i will be $500 ahead of the game.

i couldn't even concieve of getting it into my basement i have only one staircase and its spiral!

Hi Mike,

My 1 ton hoist had a minimum length of 300mm, hook to hook, and the lifting eye on the machine was 1900mm when sitting on the satnd. You also have to allow for the strops and the fact that they stretch when you lift. Also it is not easy to get the mill to lift exactly square.

Good Luck
Phil

I've got around 87" (2.2 m) to play with, maybe a bit more if I can squeeze a hoist mounting beam between two joists. Should be a "fun" project.

Mike

A fork lift would be nice, but it would be a thrilling ride down the stairs <g>.

Phil - sounds like I might have a problem with clearance in the basement. Time will tell.

Mike

Wheres the pics? Love pics?

Zip,

I've been taking pictures as I go and hope to have them along with a narrative up on a web site by the end of the week.

In the meantime, here's a pic of the mill and pallet up on blocks so that an engine hoist can be used to lift it.

The setup is just to test clearance of the hoist extensions under the pallet - I'll use a sling for the real thing.

Mike

oops, see following post

I had one rigging quote of $800 for what will be a 30 min job max,

$800 rigging, drwc? Ouch... I'll be paying $100/hr with 3 hour minimum for a guy to come over from the next town (30 minutes away) with a small wheel crane to lift my Tormach when it comes. But he is very experienced in moving machinery in garages and shops so the peace of mind will be worth the cost vs. buying a questionable $200 HF engine hoist (every time I think of that I remember seeing the big pile of their defective toy floor jacks behind the counter the last time I was in the "local" HF store, and extrapolating that to the full-size machinery...)

Randy

Mike, what's your serial number?

Randy

A spiral staircase would present interesting challenges!

I'd be glad to pay $300 to get someone reliable to move mine but doubt that I can find someone that cheap to do a residential job. I've gotten quotes of $800 to $1600 for tools that weigh less. If I'd known what hom machining would mean 10 years ago when I started out I would have had a pit dug in the garage with a passageway to the basement and installed a gantry crane in the garage. That wouldn't have saved any money but it sure would have made jobs like this easier.

Phototrains - don't remember the S/N now but AIR, it was finished in July, and ordered the 1st week in August.

Do you have an estimated delivery date on yours?

Mike

Mike, I placed the deposit about two weeks ago, and the shipping date will be sometime this month. That's all I know for now. This past weekend I added a 240V and a GFCI 120V breaker to the box in my garage, installed conduit and pulled wires for the two dedicated outlets for the Tormach. Now I'm rearranging the whole garage ("garage" should be in quotes because in the 7 years we've owned the new house there has never been a vehicle parked in it...) to make room for the Tormach, which will occupy the rear wall between the laundry room door and the water heater.

I don't envy you your basement move, Mike (though I would love to have a basement!) I do know about the escalation though--I'm moving up from a Sherline mill and a Techno-Isel gantry table with Sherline milling head.

Randy

Got the beast on the stand today myself with a rented lift truck, $200 total including drop off and delivery! Was easy, with the lift truck took me 15min !
Ryder equipment rentals here in Canada. I highly recommend this method.

I was also able to compleately assemble, then position mill and stand precisely

Now for some chips

ProtoTrains,

It seems like Tormach is averaging around 6 weeks from order to delivery so you probably have a few weeks to go, though I've heard that they were trying to build up some inventory so maybe you'll get lucky.

Mike

Hi,

I have the same engine lift fthough from Northern Tool
I bought it the day I needed to get my 12X48 Grizzly lathe out
of the moving truck when I moved. That thing weighs about 1000 pounds.
Also had to lift a Mill/Drill.
All are down in the basement now, I got lucky mine is a daylight basement
with a 8 foot garage door.

That sure is a nice mill, looks like its worth the $$$$