JDs BP J-Head CNC Conversion Blog

[jdelaney44]

So, after pricing out having my Bridgeport moved to a shop I recently rented and getting back prices from $500.00 - $2,000.00, decided to give it a go with rented equipment. I also had some time constraints with my travel schedule so getting this done on a Sunday was worth some extra $$.

Sorry no pictures of this yet and none of the actual move day. :-(

Anyway here's the gear:

5,000 lb capacity warehouse forklift
JLG "Triple L" hydraulic trailer (for the forklift)
Stake side F-Superduty Ford truck
A very understanding Wife
My best working partner ever, dear old Dad

All rented from United Rentals.

In retrospect the JLG trailer could have been replaced by normal tilt bed equipment trailer.

Plan A was to drive the lift and the machine onto the trailer and tow the whole shootin' match across town. The JLG trailer had a capacity of 10,000 lbs. The forklift weighed 9,200. The machine is close to 3,000 with the CNC gear on it. No go.

The JLG trailer's bed drops flat on the ground. No tilt and a small ramp on the end. Very nice rig.

Plan B was to use the forklift as a crane to hoist it on to the back of the truck. That's what we went with.

Note, I was way to chicken to try lifting the machine from under with the forklift. It seems too top heavy for this. Maybe with a bigger lift.

The first challenge was getting the Bridgeport out of the garage. There was some big show at Disneyland (really) and all the lifts in the area were is short supply. So the short ones I could drive into the garage were all rented out.

I was able to get my hands on some skates at Wright Industrial Hardware over in Costa Mesa. Actually my wife was good enough to go get them for me since I was out of town. I'll post pics of those later.

She also tried helping me use a pry bar to work the machine up on blocks to get the skates under it. We got it up, but stopped and let it back down. Not especially stable or safe. Getting it on the skates was looking to be a dicey proposition. This was a week or two earlier when I moved some other gear with the same trailer as kind of a test run.

So after thinking about this and looking at the Bridgeport I decided to try using a floor jack to lift up the machine. But how?

On the front, my Y axis drive goes straight down. The bottom of the drive housing is low enough to where I can get the floor jack under it and lift the machine. I was a little worried about putting 1500 lbs. of load on it.

So I ran the table out until the Kurt vice was over the Y drive housing, braced the drive housing with wood between the Kurt vice and the top of the drive.

On the back decided to make a strut from the utility mount on the back of the ram to within 5 - 6 inches of the floor. Enough room for the jack. I had some thing wall 2x2 square tube from another project and some square 1/2 plates from my scrap pile.

I drilled a 1/2 inch hole in one plate to align with the hole in the utility mount. Then a 1/2 bolt was welded into the hole. This bolt was used to secure the strut to the utility mount point.

Then the plates were welded onto the ends of the tube. Got lucky on the tube length and did not have to cut it. Good thing since the band saw went with the first load to the shop.

So once the strut was made up and bolted on it was a simple matter of jacking up the machine. We jacked it up on one end about 2 inches at a time, blocked it, and jacked the other side. Did that twice on each end.

Then we put the skates under it and lowered it onto the skates. It's still on the skates so I can probably get a picture of that.

We used a ratchet cargo strap around the machine and under the skates to help keep them in place. This worked real nice when we picked up the machine.

Once on the skates we rolled it out of the garage by using some 18 ga. sheet metal strips for runners. The skate wheels are sealed bearing units and they get stuck really easily. It required a good shove, but we got it out. Had to help it with the jack at the slab joint between the driveway and the garage slabs.

Once out of the garage we could get the lift up to it. We took several measurements to make sure we had enough mast height on the lift to get the Bridgeport up on the truck. Oh my wife calls it Rosie.

The forks were put together in the center of the fork carriage. Mast up, carefully drive the lift into Rosie as close as possible to reduce the moment arm of Rosie's 3000 pounds.

Then two nylon tow straps were wrapped around the ram and the table and then the forks. Most of the load ended up on the ram strap. The table strap acted to stabilize the machine.

Did a very slow pick. Drove it to the stake side. Lifted it up, set it down on blocks to keep it off the skates, backed up the lift about 20 inches, picked it again and drove it further to the center of the truck. Done, on the truck.

Strapped it down, loaded the lift back on the trailer, headed to the shop. Reversed the process to unload and returned the truck, trailer, and lift to United. Done and dusted.

At present Rosie is sitting on her skates waiting to be placed in her final home.

Cost ~ $600.00 all tolled including the skates, straps and fuel. I could have had it done for that, but now I have the means to move her around the shop. I also have the confidence to move her again if need be. Next time it'll be faster and a little cheaper with the tilt trailer.

I can see where a beater used forklift can pay for itself quick.

Later,
John