Fitting a Mill into a 2 car garage

[heepofajeep]

I bought a Shizuoka mill, and then 2 weeks later purchased a new house-- so now I face the dilemma of moving a 4k lb mill into a small 2 car garage.

The mill, with the head on, is 7'4" tall. The main structural beam over the garage door opening is 7'. So I am missing at least 6" of space needed to move the mill. Does anyone have any thoughts on cutting into a structural beam w/o hurting the structural part?

The height of the garage itself is >8', so I will not have problems using the mill, but I have to get it there first.

Unless someone brings up a way to cut through the structural beam w/o hurting anything (which would be ideal as I do have access to a forklift), I am going to have to remove the head, and put it back on in the garage, but the question for that is: how do I mount a 500lb head 6+' in the air, when the ceiling height is only 8'?

[ZipSnipe]

Sounds like a challenge. You DO NOT WANT TO CUT into your header !!!!!! It can,t be tilted at an angle and moved in? I wish I had a link for the one guy who made an elaborate rolling stand for a big machine like yours and it would tilt back and roll. You could go through the side of you garage wall(tear it down and then put it back up) and just pay a mason or do it yourself(if its block) If its wood then you got it made. Good luck and don,t take no chances and visualize everything before attempting to move.

[Donkey Hotey]

I don't know which Shizuoka mill you have but all the pictures I found of them show a knee mill with a CNC control.

Can you take off just the spindle motor and/or the Z axis motor? Two guys should be able to lift the motor on and off once it's in the garage.

[Kiwi]

If you have a smooth level concrete floor you should be able to slide along the floor by dragging and/or pushing. That will leave you with 4 inches to find.

[mactec54]

Hi heepofajeep
Here is a way to do it make a frame out of wood to sit under the head and support
the whole head the frame will be mounted on the table of the mill unbolt the head move the head out from its mounting and lower the knee strap the head to the table so it
can not fall off then you can move the mill inside and put your head back on by
lifting the knee up

Have the knee so that you can lift the head more than you need for putting it back on