Thread: New mill advice needed on lifting

HI,
The way You describe it is the way I lifted My DM45 except I left the Handles on and I don't think I moved the Table. I used an Engine Crane as well.

Thanks Stewart
I just had a look at your post with the engine crane that is what I have done too
Thanks for your promt reply Col

Originally Posted by colbra

Hi All I am about to lift a HM 46 mill at 318 KG.
I am going to wind the table back to the dovetail column bring the head down to the table and put the sling around the back of the of the drive head where it attaches to the dovetail slide.
I cannot find anywhere in the manual that explains were to attaché and lift the machine could I get some advice please, if I am going the right way with things I am using a HF 1000kg engine crane and all handles are removed and cords rolled up that’s all I can think of thanks
Colbra

Thats what I did too. I also used as short as sling as I could so I had enough headroom to lift the Mill onto its stand. I found it balanced pretty well that way.
Just make sure it doesn't get a swing up when your moving it. Can be moved by one, but much safer with two people.

Sterob

Originally Posted by Sterob

Thats what I did too. I also used as short as sling as I could so I had enough headroom to lift the Mill onto its stand. I found it balanced pretty well that way.
Just make sure it doesn't get a swing up when your moving it. Can be moved by one, but much safer with two people.

Sterob

Thank for your reply Sterob all done and dusted worked out well
Colbra

Good that it all worked out OK.

When my Mill arrived the driver unloaded it using a sling in the same area you described.
I did see in a magazine that someone had cut a plate to fit behind the dovetail area and used a bolt, another plate and some washers to make a lifting point. It seemed to work OK but I prefer the sling method for simplicity. I'm in the process of building a gantry for my garage.

I just lifted my HM 48 by removing the 4 cover plates on the base and wrapping a sling around each leg. I made an X out of hardwood to pass the slings through to keep them from fouling on the mill. Sort of like a puppet setup. Hook chain to the end of the slings to a central point and I can move it around with my engine crane. If you go this path make sure you wrap the slings through themselves so they cinch down on themselves (can't slip) and slip a bolt through the ends of the Hardwood and chain so the mill will not pitch in any direction.
If you need a pic let me know as I have it still set up in my workshop.
I downloaded the grizzly manual for my mill as it's much much better than the chinglish one I got from HF.
They had explained that you remove the panels on the base and lift it with a forklift.
They had

A picture would be good to help others out with the same problem.
I was thinking earlier when reading this that questions about lifting come up pretty often so we should really have a thread on it.
Just a thought,
Maybe you could start a new thread called "Lifting machinery" and post your pictures there. Then others could post their photos and manual pictures etc up for all types of machinery. I think it would be a good thread for people new to all this, or people buying a machine they have never had before, and have no idea how to lift it.

Dave

Dave that's a great idea. It takes me days of background thought to decide on how to lift new bits of machinery safely. I will take some pics tomorrow and start a new thread on it. For the record I would not mind a pic of a sling around the dovetail...

Hi,
Even if people could dummy up just the sling on the machine to show how it was lifted would do. This would at least give other members a clear image of where the sling has to go to lift it safely.

Dave