Moving NM200 and Lathe to basement

[azam1959]

Hi,
In about 2 months I will get delivery for NM200 and Lathe. Both of these machines will go from garage to first floor (4 steps) through 29.5in door and stairs to basement :-( Keeping them in garage is not an option at his point (get too cold during winter).

Mill will not go through 29.5 in door and I need to find folks who can disassemble electric cabinet and perhaps xy table (or may be column) from the mill. Beside furniture and piano movers are there any specialized movers for this type of work (for residential work)? What should I look in yellow pages?

I will hate to give disassembling task to movers unless I get some specialized folks. One of the option I have is to work with my son and remove electric cabinet from the mill. Can somebody tell me newer release NM200 mill depth without the electrical/control cabinet? If depth without electrical cabinet is 29.5 inch or less, moving will be much simpler. I am ready to take out basement door frame to make more room but then stairs will become the bottleneck. Moving the stairs is a major work and real boss will veto my plans so need to keep this under the radar screen.

I bought electric hoist, hand truck, shop crane etc. hoping that I will move the machines by myself but I do not see this happening.

Suggetions ....

[Frogblender]

I had my NM135 (375lbs) moved to the 2nd floor up stairs. I had a guy who specializes in moving vending machines do it. He had a dolly (the kind used for moving refrigerators and whatnot), except his dolly was adapted for stairs, and was electric (battery plus motor strapped to it). The motor does all the lifting, but the operator still needs enough muscle to be able to tilt the hundreds of pounds back and forth on every stair. Small asian women need not apply. The guy does this for a living, and only broke a mild sweat, but I helped, and I found it "harrowing".

Anyhoo, with the 375lbs of NM135, I could see the floor of my very old building visibly sag a little as the weight was rolled over.

For an NM200 (1500lbs??) you need to be worried about going through the stairs/floorboards. I'd consider completely dismantling it (alot of folks do this anyway, to ensure it's all nicely lubed/tightened/trammed/free of casting sand/etc) and moving the pieces one by one.

Personally, I'd consider just insulating the garage and declaring victory.

[azam1959]

Thanks.

1500 lbs do have stand (around 350lb) and shipping material. I did get saw (1000+ lbs) and planner (1000+lbs) in the basement. I do not see issue with the structure, it is the size which bother me. My health does not permit me to disassemble the machine otherwise I have no shortage of time, I would have loved to take this challenge.

I have a convertible and Garage is kind of occupied. I did thought about it though and it is Plan B, but I will really like to be able to go to basement anytime and work. If this cost me 1K or 2K so be it.

I had my NM135 (375lbs) moved to the 2nd floor up stairs. I had a guy who specializes in moving vending machines do it. He had a dolly (the kind used for moving refrigerators and whatnot), except his dolly was adapted for stairs, and was electric (battery plus motor strapped to it). The motor does all the lifting, but the operator still needs enough muscle to be able to tilt the hundreds of pounds back and forth on every stair. Small asian women need not apply. The guy does this for a living, and only broke a mild sweat, but I helped, and I found it "harrowing".

Anyhoo, with the 375lbs of NM135, I could see the floor of my very old building visibly sag a little as the weight was rolled over.

For an NM200 (1500lbs??) you need to be worried about going through the stairs/floorboards. I'd consider completely dismantling it (alot of folks do this anyway, to ensure it's all nicely lubed/tightened/trammed/free of casting sand/etc) and moving the pieces one by one.

Personally, I'd consider just insulating the garage and declaring victory.

[rpovey]

I recently received an NM145, I rented a forklift, and I'm not sure I could have gotten it into my garage without it (steep driveway).
If the electrical cabinet on the NM200 is like the one on the NM145, then it will swing to either side reducing the depth, someone with a an NM200 will have to comment.

Assuming you have someway to lift, it may be enough to get it off the chip pan, but that's a lot of weight to have to move down stairs. I can't get my engine lift above the NM145 to lift it when it's on it's stand.

[azam1959]

I am planning on getting the professional movers and I hope they know what they are doing about lifting and moving (I will look into getting insured movers).

Issue I have is can I trust movers to do any major disassembly (xy axis or column). If getting the cabinet out of way will reduce the depth to 29 or 29.5 inches, it will save lot of headache and risk to the movers and machine.

I also talked to Kahi about disassembly at their end (of course for money), but unfortunately they do not have this much flexibility for customize packing. Once I have boxes in the basement, I can make a gentry to move the heavy stuff from floor to stand etc (I am sure it is not as easy as I think, but divide and conquer:-))

I recently received an NM145, I rented a forklift, and I'm not sure I could have gotten it into my garage without it (steep driveway).
If the electrical cabinet on the NM200 is like the one on the NM145, then it will swing to either side reducing the depth, someone with a an NM200 will have to comment.

Assuming you have someway to lift, it may be enough to get it off the chip pan, but that's a lot of weight to have to move down stairs. I can't get my engine lift above the NM145 to lift it when it's on it's stand.

[MichaelHenry]

Look for "machinery movers" or "riggers" in the yellow pages if you want pros that are used to moving heavy machinery, but they will not be cheap. I'd guess $50 to $100 per hour per man and you'd pay travel time, too. That can get expensive in a hurry.

My wife and I moved a Tormach PCNC 1100 to our basement and that weighs about the same as the NM200. See the links on this page:

Tormach PCNC 1100 CNC Mill

to see how we approached it.

Mike

[azam1959]

Mike,

Nice to hear from you. I did see your web site number of times and also corresponded to you before committing myself to NM200. When I was talking to Tormach, they also pointed me to your web site :-)

I did look for riggers and machine movers but most of them work on the commercial side. May be I need to increase the radius of my search. I am in the middle of Philadelphia and NYC, may be I will get lucky to get somebody in the city. May be I can trust machine movers or riggers to do some basic disassemble without harming the machine

As for money, of course I do not want to spend but I think this is valid expense.

Thanks

Look for "machinery movers" or "riggers" in the yellow pages if you want pros that are used to moving heavy machinery, but they will not be cheap. I'd guess $50 to $100 per hour per man and you'd pay travel time, too. That can get expensive in a hurry.

My wife and I moved a Tormach PCNC 1100 to our basement and that weighs about the same as the NM200. See the links on this page:

Tormach PCNC 1100 CNC Mill

to see how we approached it.

Mike

[metalfixer]

I put a Bridgeport vertical mill in my basement I rented a small 3 wheel electric forklift with a small boom attachment. I removed the steps and landing, and then bolted them back in. I only had to remove the table from the mill, and moved it using 1" pipe rollers in the basement. I really appreciate my wife, she is a real saint for putting up with some of the things I do.
Larry

[azam1959]

Larry,
Can you post a link to the type of forklift you used?

When you say you removed the steps and landing, do you mean basement steps !!! Real boss will never allow this unless I hire a contractor.

Again, I am looking for idea on who/how I can hire to move the machines safely. It is given that I can even bend and take few screws off and move the xy table. I do have rods going from top to bottom in my spine and have very very very fragile back.

Please don't ask me why I am getting into cnc :-)

I put a Bridgeport vertical mill in my basement I rented a small 3 wheel electric forklift with a small boom attachment. I removed the steps and landing, and then bolted them back in. I only had to remove the table from the mill, and moved it using 1" pipe rollers in the basement. I really appreciate my wife, she is a real saint for putting up with some of the things I do.
Larry

[ihavenofish]

the nm200 base is over 36" deep. the table is 40" wide.

so you have 2 options.

1 is to remove the column and flip the base sideways to get through the door.

2 is to remove the table.

given the wireing complexity and that you need help doing it, id remove the table myself.

this means you will have 3 parts to take down the stairs.
- the stand.
- the table with ball screw and motor.
- the machine base/column/head with cabinet attached.

as mentioned the cabinet can be swung around to clear the doors, but i think its under 24" wide anyway.

when you put it back together, all you need to do is put the machine on the base, slide the table on part way, attach the ball screw to the saddle, and slide it on the rest of the way, finally tighteing the gib and motor and ball screw to the table.


one other option exists of course, and it common for industrial spaces. remove the door. its often cheaper and easier to pop the door of, and patch some dryway than try to disassemble a complex machine. this would only work for you though if the hallways / stairway was more than 40" wide.

[azam1959]

ihavenofish (one of these days I will know you name),

Thank you very much.

I would have taken the door frame in a minute but issue is stairs. Stairs has nice wood railing etc etc means boss will not allow to do anything to the steps. Soon I will have to put in the lift chair and we may need to widen the structure but this story is for some other time.

Khai also mentioned about taking the table out. He mentioned that there are few screws and pins. Can you point me to right direction where I can get the instructions or see pictures of how to take the table off. I think I will follow this route, but I will have to rely on mover to take the table out and give them detail direction/instructions instead of relying on their intuition.

Sorry, I am big dumbo and not seeing any milling machine in person ever does not help either. Your message is very clear and do explain the constraint I have with base and table width.

Thanks again my friend.

the nm200 base is over 36" deep. the table is 40" wide.

so you have 2 options.

1 is to remove the column and flip the base sideways to get through the door.

2 is to remove the table.

given the wireing complexity and that you need help doing it, id remove the table myself.

this means you will have 3 parts to take down the stairs.
- the stand.
- the table with ball screw and motor.
- the machine base/column/head with cabinet attached.

as mentioned the cabinet can be swung around to clear the doors, but i think its under 24" wide anyway.

when you put it back together, all you need to do is put the machine on the base, slide the table on part way, attach the ball screw to the saddle, and slide it on the rest of the way, finally tighteing the gib and motor and ball screw to the table.


one other option exists of course, and it common for industrial spaces. remove the door. its often cheaper and easier to pop the door of, and patch some dryway than try to disassemble a complex machine. this would only work for you though if the hallways / stairway was more than 40" wide.

[mactec54]

azam1959

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/novako...eries_2_a.html

Here is a forum that shows you what you will be getting, from this it is easy to see what you will have to do