Thread: Moving/installing heavy woodwork equipment

Your local hire centre should be able to help with one of the types of engine hoists that can be moved about on casters.

Last month I finally bought a table saw. The weight was only slightly less then your jointer. Mine was loaded on to my trailer by forklift. To offload it I just packed up a couple of car ramps (you know the type used for servicing cars etc) up to the trailer height and slid the thing off. It wasn't even that scary, just had to becarefull that the bottom didn't stick on the ramp and topple over. This was addressed by tieing off the top of the box with a truckies hitch and letting out controlled amount of rope.

If I had to do it again I would do the same thing but unpack as much as possible from the box before sliding it. I reckon I could have lightened it by 40kg that way.

I've recently bought a 20" thicknesser from Carba-Tec. I had them fork it on the truck & I just used a 1 ton chain block & webbing tie-downs to lift it off the back of the truck.

It weighed 926 lbs!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

I put a 150mm X 100mm hardwood beam above the shed bay in the roof trusses & a couple of uprights under the point where the beam was.
Back in the truck, hitch up the chain block to the crate, raise it a bit, drive the truck out & lower it to the floor.
Total time was 20 mins!

My combo jointer is 190 kg and 3 of us man-handled it off the trailer and walked it across the garage floor. Wasn't too bad. Same with the table saw, although we took the top off and then it was easy with only 2 of us.

Hey Gumby.......



NICE CAP YOU HAVE!!!!!

given to me by a friend.... ....keeps my head warm

Whitey,

I just got my carbatec 8 inch jointer last week. No problem. 2 of us (Carbatec owner and myself) got it off the ute and slid it onto 2 wooden mobile bases. The jointer bed is heavy. It is packed in a chipboard box that is inside a cardboard box. This whole box is attached to 4 lengths of square tubing. Getting it off the ute is 1 thing, but lifting it is another. My 2 sons then helped another mate and myself to lift it up onto the base and lining up the fixing holes was easy. Remember to put the rubber feet onto the base before doing this. I nearly missed this. One bit of advice here, download the Delta DJ-20 manual for assembly. It is much better and matches evry bolt and part. It is a better manual than the one provided. Oh, and all tools required is supplied. Just find it somewhere in the poly packaging. Once lifted onto the base, you will not move the machine. I am waiting for the new mobile base from carbatec that is able to handle this machine, as I need to push it into the garage corner.
So far the machine has proved a big plus. I have lots of beech to machine. The beds are pretty flat and the motor is fairly quiet. Hope you have lots of joy with yours.
Regards
Les

I have just bought a H&F metal lathe weighing in at 95kg which I had to put onto the stand single handed. The storeman put it in the trailer with a forklift, so when I got it home, I demolished the case from around the lathe, leaving it bolted to the crate base, rolled the trailer up to the stand and chocked it, then used a couple of car jacks to lift it a bit at a time onto wood blocks until it was level with the tray and then rolled it on waterpipe onto the stand. Took about an hour but eventually got there. A couple of big mates would have been handy, but they were all at work!!!
Cheers,
Graeme

I vote for the engine cranes!
$300 and you'll always have one... If you ever need to shift anything thats heavy from large pot plants to cabinets that you've assembled that you cant lift off your work table!
Did I mention they'll also lift car motors!

Originally Posted by Harry72

I vote for the engine cranes!$300 and you'll always have one... If you ever need to shift anything thats heavy from large pot plants to cabinets that you've assembled that you cant lift off your work table!

Did I mention they'll also lift car motors!

Thats what I have. When I began setting up my shop that's the first thing I bought. It's one of the few big heavy pieces coming with me to Aus. I've moved my whole shop on my own with one. Mine has an extendable boom - makes getting them in and out of the ute much easier. The lathe, planer and tablesaw were all over 800lbs each. They're well worth the price

Imagination + time + leverage = you can do anything

I moved my 1300lb 12" jointer out of the trailer and into the shop by myself. took a few hours though.
-Ryan

Well! Just shows how creative we all are...so many different solutions!

Thanks for the input guys, sounds like it's possible to lift this sort of weight the old fashioned way (brawn) so I'll give it a try, and if I fail I'll keep the others as a backup. The engine crane in particular sounds like it could be worth the investment...assuming I'll have a few heavier ones than this in future.

Thankyou!

G'day.

It costs about $44/day (or a weekend if you pick up Friday & bring back Monday] to hire an engine hoist. About $33/half day.

A half ton chain block costs about $33/day & less for a half day as does a pallet jack.

The engine hoist is the cheapest for lifting & then relocating but... if you have a brand new 18" jet bandsaw in the back of your ute, you won't pick it up with an engine hoist 'cos the crate is 2020mm & the back of the ute is 720mm for a total of 2690mm. (I'm waiting... )
The lifting point needs to be higher than 3.5M. Lucky for me, the mid point of my new shed is about 4M, so I could use a chain block to lift it a couple of inches & then drive the ute out from under it.
I was happy to put it down right there 'cos the shed STILL doesn't have power but I could have lowered it onto a pallet jack & moved it to a more suitable place in the shed. Once there, it can be walked off onto packing boards & then lowered down by rocking one way then the next removing packing boards or, it could be hoisted again using the chain block.

I have some pics in the camera but... the USB cable is AWOL.

Cliff,..........mate...........



FIND THE BLOODY CABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! & be quick about it!!!!!!

We're all waiting with baited breath!

You can't leave us hanging like that!