Gallery, Projects and General > Project Logs
Moving a Bridgeport into the Basement
Bernd:
The guy's that picked it up said that it tipped the scales at about 2,000lbs. That's also the number I keep hearing on other fora.
Ya, just a bit of cleaning. :P
Bernd
Divided he ad:
Bernd.... Looks like you have a lot of bits to put back together :jaw: I hope you have the right kind of mind....
Either that of a good set of photo's!!! ;)
I will one day own a machine of that size, but I assure you it will not be going into a basement!!! That looks like too much work!
Keep us posted ;D
Ralph.
Bernd:
Ralph,
I worked for about 18 years on the assembly floor at the place I called work for 30 years. I could take it all apart and put it back together without a problem. This is the kind of things I like to do.
WORK!? ??? :-\ Naw, it's a labor of love. Plus I've always wanted to see if I could do something like this. If I would have to do this every day, then it would be work. :P
Bernd:
I'm getting close to having the whole machine in the basement. I removed the knee today and a long with the table moved both to the basement. I'm not going to bore you with pics of it going down the stairs. I did the same as for the ram. So here's today's progress report.
I used the chain fall this time. Made much easier work of removing the knee.
Didn't quite get the center point, but it's finally off.
Once the knee was off and I cleaned out some of the chips, it and the table were moved to the basement. I put both loads on the 8ft long 2 X 4's to facilitate moving them easier in the basement.
I switched the 4 X 4 posts under the base 90 degrees. I have a slight problem of getting the end up the 4" high step. No problem. Next pic will show what I did.
I just jacked it up on one end, put the 4 X 4 rails under it and lowered it on to a roller. The base is staged for tomorrows move.
So far it's been a fun project. Tomorrow the heaviest part will be moved. I hope the stairs will be able to carry the weight. I guess you'll have to check in on Sunday to find out.
Regards,
Bernd
Bernd:
This will be the last installment of getting my Bridgeport home and moving it "in pieces" into the basement.
Here comes B1P1 down the stairs. Looks like a robot, almost.
All lined up and ready to tip the base forward.
'Thar she goes'. Sure hope I've got everything hooked up.
About half way down and she started to turn on me. If the skid went over the side I'd never get back on track. I did get her straightened out. I also had to take the 4" riser off or it won't have fit under that overhead beam.
She turned on me again near the bottom. It looks like the panel box is scraping the side wall but it's not.
Got here all straightened out and up on the first roller.
This is how you get something heavy over the door sill. Make sure it's higher that the sill and simply put the rollers on the other side.
And here we are finally through the door.
Now that I have all of the machine in the basement. I don't want to use the pipe rollers to move the heavy parts around, table, cross slide, knee, etc. I made a "skate" using some spare casters my brother gave me. It's just a couple of 2 X 8's with two cross members screwed on.
Add 4 casters and your done. Make sure the casters can carry the weight though.
And here's the finished product to carry the table.
I made one for the knee also. Here's what you'd wind up with if you constantly wanted to move this heavy item. Not much fun.
Here's the five separate parts of the mill. To the bottom left is the knee with the "skate" under it to make moving it around much easier.
One last look at all the parts. Only thing missing is the cross slide.
Well that's it for now. I hope you guys' liked seeing how I got a Bridgeport home, disassembled it and moved it down into the basement. For those of you who don't have a tractor, an engine hoist or "A" frame with chain fall would have been able to do it also. I would have used a winch to lower the parts down the ramp. Some times it doesn't take brute force to move things. Remember this is not a tutorial on how to move a Bridgeport into the basement. It just shows how I did it. If you can glean any ideas for your own move great. But remember this forum and I are not responsible if you try something like this and get hurt, hurt someone else or damage property. If your afraid to try something like this then get professional help.
Next will be the re-assembly of the mill and a fix I need to make. It'll be a while until this happens.
Regards,
Bernd
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