Need Help!- Moving a TM-1

[CJH]

I have a question about moving a CNC Mill. We had a rigger come into the shop today to look at all our equipment to be moved to our new facility. Currently we only have one CNC mill, the TM-1. Our shop has been in contact with our dealer to see what type of prep was needed to move the mill. They basically said that all we needed to do was lower the head into a block of wood and hit the E-stop. I was thinking that we would need the red brace that came with the mill to make sure the spindle and head were locked down correctly.

The rigger told me he has moved a few of these machines recently for other govt. contractors and said that it would be adviseable to have a Haas tech come into prep the machine. I'm looking for advice or opinions on what we should consider doing. Is this something (bracing the head with wood) we should try and do ourselves and have the rigger build a pallet for it like they plan to? Or have the techs come in and place the brace on the mill and make sure everything is in factory shape before moving? We are a little concerned that we may not do something right and have a big repair bill later on when we get mill moved and set back up. Oh and BTW it doesn't have a warranty anymore.

Any help on this would be appreciated since other than the install time, this is only time we have moved the mill.

CJH

[Geof]

It depends on lot on how far you are moving the machine.

The red shipping bracket is certainly the best way to immobilize everything and if the machine is going to be travelling on a truck for a long time then that is the way to go. If it is a case of just going down the road a few minutes away the 'rest the spindle on a block of wood' approach is okay, but a little bit hokey.

If you have vise(s) mounted to the table use my approach; put a short piece of bar stock in a tool holder in the spindle and then grip it in the vise. This is equivalent to the red bracket.

[HAILINHAAS]

not good advice of blocking it down using the spindle ... unless you want to damage the bearings in it. You'll brinell the race. See how much a shipping bracket from Haas cost?

[CJH]

Ok it's been a couple of months since I first asked this question about moving a TM-1. We found our shipping bracket for the mill, and some of the origonal hardware that came on the pallet. Does anyone know know where I may find some info on how the mill was palletized? I think I remember seeing a pdf that had the instructions about how evreything should be attached to the pallet but can't find the info.

[trevorhinze]

I am not sure if this is what you are looking for, but here is a link to the current pre-install manual, good luck.

http://www.haascnc.com/pdf/ES0332.pdf

[CJH]

Thanks the link does help a little. It's not quite what I was looking for, but since reposting to this thread I have done some digging and found more detailed info that we can use.

CJH