Moving tooling

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Kay_B
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Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:28 am

Re: Moving tooling

Post by Kay_B »

For moving heavy equipment, it is best to drive a lift and use sturdy pallets. Although the pallets can not withstand the entire load.
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liveaboard
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Re: Moving tooling

Post by liveaboard »

I think Rich has the best idea; make boxes to suit.
They'll fit, they'll stack, and they might cost a bit of time and money but you'll probably come out ahead in the end.
Inspector
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Re: Moving tooling

Post by Inspector »

When my father (retired cabinet maker) had to move he made a dozen or so boxes for his books and magazines from plywood and solid strips in the corners. He incorporated handles on the ends. They were about the size of milk crates. They stacked and interlocked but had no lids. I used them when I needed to move for the heavy stuff I had. It didn't matter that there were not covered as they were going into a sea can that I loaded/unloaded. I also got a good number of boxes from Uline, a shipping and warehouse supplier. Double walled, 12x12 and 14x14 along with rolls of packing tape and used them for the things that were not quite as heavy. Nice thing about boxes that are all the same is they stack nicely and can be carried easily by one person. At best they got Shop, Garage etc written on them rather than being itemized due to a lack of time.

Happy moving
Pete
Kay_B
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:28 am

Re: Moving tooling

Post by Kay_B »

Inspector wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:57 am When my father (retired cabinet maker) had to move he made a dozen or so boxes for his books and magazines from plywood and solid strips in the corners. He incorporated handles on the ends. They were about the size of milk crates. They stacked and interlocked but had no lids. I used them when I needed to move for the heavy stuff I had. It didn't matter that there were not covered as they were going into a sea can that I loaded/unloaded. I also got a good number of boxes from Uline, a shipping and warehouse supplier. Double walled, 12x12 and 14x14 along with rolls of packing tape and used them for the things that were not quite as heavy. Nice thing about boxes that are all the same is they stack nicely and can be carried easily by one person. At best they got Shop, Garage etc written on them rather than being itemized due to a lack of time.

Happy moving
Pete
I agree. It is most convenient to pack things in identical boxes, but organize them according to what rooms they are from or what purpose, or what type of material (for example, it is better to mark glass separately).
hanermo
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Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 5:47 am

Re: Moving tooling

Post by hanermo »

Great thread !
Agree with most.

Need to move my shop and house soon --
with a lot of big and heavy pieces.
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BadDog
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Re: Moving tooling

Post by BadDog »

Something of a tangent on this thread is the reality of moving those heavy boxes, as well as machines, tool boxes and so on around the shop, inside a trailer, or storage facility. My last shop move I was fortunate enough to have a friend with a fork lift to help, but I wanted the ability to move things on my own at convenient times. In the beginning, I tried to do the "everything on wheels", but that gets tedious and has it's own down sides.

In the end I found/bought a wide fork pallet jack. The gap is wide enough you can drive a normal pallet jack between the forks, which will easily fit around a full size mill base, tool box, surface grinder, or pretty much anything else to big or heavy to move on a regular hand dolly. I use a pair of 1/2" x 4" angle irons bridging between the forks to go under the edge of things. Which means I only need to lift (pry bar) things up with 1/2" gap to slip them under, and use the jack to lift. Nice and low, easy to maneuver, lifts from the bottom, and relatively easy to store (as opposed to fork lift anyway). Using it, I can rearrange pretty much anything in my shop except the big lathe safely and easily on my own, and I don't need casters on everything. In fact, as becomes convenient, I've been removing those expensive heavy casters from some of my tool boxes in favor of the pallet jack.

I got the original idea from a guy who used to make extra money in the area moving small shop machines. I believe our own Marty originally built that wide pallet jack by widening a standard size, but I found a name brand OEM that needed a rebuild for less than a HF jack, and with a ~$50(?) rebuild, I avoided the modifications all together. In that original jack, I believe there was a "tongue" welded to the main cross bar to provide the rear lifting toe, which leaves only the need for the load wheel side cross bar needed to lift most things. I made a full width back support because some machines prove problematic lifting from a central point, and I wanted to lift whatever came along.

All that said, such a machine would work great for moving those super heavy boxes of chucks, vices, rotabs, etc. Doesn't help if you want to stack them, but it's likely those that need such a device to move are going to form the base of stacks anyway. And building for a fork tool like that reduces the height and structural requirement for a normal pallet jack going under.
Russ
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