Advice on lifting and moving lathe please

Hi all,

Hope someone can give some advice.

Im moving home soon and need to lift my little Boxford into the back of a van.

For this I'm planning on using and engine crane and a hoist leveller to help with the difference in weight at one end. There will be 3 of us doing this.

I tried to find ways of doing it but everything is in the way when I think of using straps - the motor, the gearbox, the lead screw, etc..

So I was planning on using the blocks in the middle of the bed, get the leveller chains through it, like on the photos, then connect the angled brackets with 1/2" threaded rod, about 6" long to keep them apart the same width as each block.

My question is, would lifting by these blocks risk damaging the bed? It's all pretty solid, but thought of asking the experts.... I think the lathe weights about 400kg

Thank you

Edited By JP Santos on 05/02/2023 15:27:38

If you can cope with leaving it attached to the cabinet, there are a pair of holes at each end, just below the top, to take some stout steel bars specifically intended for lifting the whole thing.

Having said that, three of us manhandled my Boxford into the back of a Landrover after removing the motor and tailstock, one at the light end, two at the headstock.

But I think your idea should work as well if you can get it balanced.

Rob

The manual for my 300Kg Taiwanese lathe shows it being lifted by a clamp, part way along the bed, presumably using the position of the Saddle and Tailstock to achieve a balance.

It actually was lifted into place with a long sling under the headstock and tailstock ends so that the crane hook was roughly half way along the bed. Again the Saddle and Tailstock were placed to give a good balnce,

Howard

If you are lifting it with an engine hoist, without taking it apart, a well known Boxford dealer showed me his method. A strop around the web between the ways immediately in front of the chuck and lift the whole thing as a single unit. Later Boxfords had a threaded hole in the web to take a lifting eye. It will still be heavier at the headstock end but if you remove the chuck and slide the carraige as far right as it will go, it will be nearly balenced.

Thanks for the tips so far, let me try answer them all.

Just been in the garage and mine doesn't have any holes on the cabinet near the top. I did see a photo like that online, with the solid bars across, but can't do that on mine.

Also no threaded hole to put a lifting eye.

I have a spare saddle, so I could at least strap that extra one to the lighter end to help counter balance even more.

I did read online about putting the saddle as far right as it can go, that's why it's already on that position on the photos.

My worry was really if lifting on those blocks would damage it.

I reckon we can do it, we are used to lift big block V8 chevy engines attached to gearbox into American cars.

I've had to move several Boxfords over the years. I've always stripped them into big lumps that can be manoeuvred by hand. (Just about).

Take the chuck, tailstock, toolpost and saddle off. Disconnect the belt and split the bed from the cabinet. You can go further and split the bed and headstock if you want but its not essential IMO.

It doesn't take nearly as long as you might think and putting it all back together is no big deal. It's much safer to transport it this way as its no longer top heavy, in fact you can put some of the parts in the bottom of the cabinet to stabilise it.

Use strops,not chains,it you lift on the cast cross braces chains would be ok but as the motor adds weight to the rear of the lathe so there is a good chance that the lathe will tilt ,and a chain around the cross braces could rub or damage the machined edges of the bed,for machines of up to say 3 tons proffessional movers use strops, Larger modern machines tend to have lifting rings built in at the top of the machine,and then the crane will lift a ring and up to 4 chains with hooks, most modern machines that I have had some involvement with have large relatively flimsey covers and cannot be lifted with a strop around them. I doubt if your Boxford weighs 400 kilos i would have thought a lot less.Lifting on the bed castngs will not harm the lathe,as others have stated some lathes just have a tapped hole in the bed,My Colchester Triumph at around two tons could be lifted on one Tapped hole of around 1 inch UNC, just make sure the eye is stamped up with max weight,there are a lot of eyes around not marked and a bit suspect,

You can put the strop through the bed close to the headstock and around a bit of 2x3 wood under the bed. Simple. Importantly then put a thin rope though the spindle, around the strop, and back through again to pull the strop close to the headstock otherwise it can sip down the bed. This also ensured the pivot point when lifting a bare lathe without a cabinet is above the CofG.
Last time I stripped a Boxford I weighted the bed alone and it was 60lb and i wrote it on it. Unfortunately that's the only marking left but I think the all up is more like 400lb than kg including cabinet.

ahhh you probably right! i read somewhere 400...so it was likely 400lbs, around 180kg then.
that's a good tip using the thinner rope to keep it close to the tailstock.

I did think that, with the move, the chains hitting the edges, I was planning on putting planks of wood either side to protect the edges, that should be ok?

When Myford delivered my S7 it arrived on a truck with a little crane on the back. The guy set the lathe on my drive and fixed heavy duty castors on to the cabinet at the light end. Then he lifted the H/S end slightly trundled it through the door and to the workshop, and over to where it was due to go. After a short rest he lifted it again while I put a couple of blocks underneath the cabinet, lowered the lathe on to the blocks, removed the castors, slight lift again while I removed the blocks, all done! You could reverse the process to get it out?

My Boxfords (5 I think) were all moved as Hollowpoint say and I could do it almost alone.

The bolts between headstock and bed are very difficult to get at and it is not nessecary if You are three, and then leave the gearbox in place as well .Easy ,clean and safe

I have just purchased a Colchester Bantam 1600 and sold a Boxford ME10. Both had to be moved from my garage to my workshop over a gravel garden path and up an 16" retaining wall. I took the boxford of it's makers cabinet and used a engine crane and a large flat bed bogey to get it moved. As I did not want to split the Bantam I purchased 3 sheets of 18mm OBS and got the help from the local greens keeper and his small tractor with a lift the Bantam up the 16" wall onto the OBS sheets. I fitted both lathes onto castors and the job went very well. The ME10 when to a new owner and the Bantam is installed into my workshop. Planning the job and getting materials prior to attempting the the move is essential.

Since purchase in '77,my ME10 has been in 3 home-workshops, one involving a flight of steps into a cellar. All of the moves have been by myself, helped by SWMBO. No hoists or cranes. For the cellar, the headstock was removed, but I've never removed the carriage. The metal bench has been moved separately of course.

Edited By Clive Brown 1 on 05/02/2023 20:05:45

I'm lucky in the sense of where to move from and to..

It's coming out of my single garage..so straight flat to the driveway and into the new garage, again all flat...

Thankfully no steps or awkward corners to negotiate.

Should be a pretty simple move but was worried if lifting by those blocks would damage it.

I really don't want to take anything apart, so to make it a more straight forward move..

Where I last worked we used strops to lift 40te concrete waste containers, mind they were very wide strops. Preferred to chains because they didn't damage the concrete

The Taiwanese lathe manual shows the lifting eye screwed into a fitting clamped to bed in a similar way to that which clamps the tailstock.

In practice, it was craned into place on the bench using a 1 ton strop (Way overkill for a 300 Kg machine; but better safe than sorry ) We took care that bthe strop did not bend the leadscew or powewr feed shafts.

From time to time, the discount supermarkets sell trolleys rated at 250 Kg, so with a pry bar and a little jackinbg and packing, most machines can be lifted onto two such trolleys (or go to Machine Mart, Cromwell Tool;s, or Sealy, or one of tgheir agents to see what thay ey offer. )

Stout boards and rollers can provide quite useable alternatives,

I in all cases. beqare of gradiebts and a run away or toppling over!. An offs et motor can make a lathe very unwieldy and unsafe.

Howard

Given the choice to do so this would definitely be my strong preference.

I didn't really have a choice when it came to lifting my TOS as it's all one huge casting, but hopefully the photo demonstrates that it a convenient and secure way to lift.

Having seen it by done on a DSG 17"×180" (using a spreader bar and a 20T rail crane) I can attest it works even for seriously big lathes, you just need a thicker bar.

Edited By Jelly on 07/02/2023 17:25:09

I bought a similar Boxford's some years ago and by myself took it apart and brought it home in the back of a VW Polo. So they are quite manageable when dismantled with the bed being the heaviest bit and the base cabinet being the most awkward to shift. Since your machine isn't an under drive type the job of getting the motor and countershaft system separated is not so daunting. I think it took me about an hour to take apart and get it into the car. However I was much younger then.

CS