Lathe Moving Dolly

[754]

Brian, why not just use it as a mobile tool station? Beside or near the machine while working, push out of way when finished. You can lay out tools and work in progress on the top.

[brian Rupnow]

754--My machine shop is 7 foot x 8 foot. I have a lathe, a mill, a belt sander, a shop vac and a drill sharpener in it. By the time I get in there too, there isn't enough room left for an umbrella stand.

[J Tiers]

Same size as mine..... I feel your pain

I have several toolboxes, a lathe, an arbor press, a 6 foot x 30" bench and the carbide grinder (wet grinder) in there. Mill and drill press have to live outside it, and all dry grinders have to live across the basement from there.

Yeah, it's tight, and I need to get another lathe and mill in there still

[darryl]

That's pretty cool Brian. I love innovation, seeing a vision of something come to life. Even if it is just a cart of some kind.

[mickeyf]

Understood that you have to get through the doorways, but that narrow cart is going to be nervous-making top heavy. I'm sure it will work, but do be careful please!

[J Tiers]

About that narrow cart..... One could put a couple foldable outriggers on it, so that it could not tip far. Foldable so they can be laid back against the side and get through doors. While in the doorway, especially if it is not a lot narrower than the doorway, the thing can't fall far anyway, so you do not lose much.

[Noitoen]

That's pretty cool Brian. I love innovation, seeing a vision of something come to life. Even if it is just a cart of some kind.

He did't follow the project though. The angle irons are bolted the wrong way

[Sparky_NY]

Understood that you have to get through the doorways, but that narrow cart is going to be nervous-making top heavy. I'm sure it will work, but do be careful please!

Totally agree. Extreme caution is in order. Lathes tipping sideways is the most common crash due to being extremely top heavy and having a narrow depth.

[Glug]

Well Hello Dolly!

I'm sure that will be fine and with two people you can inch it along carefully. You could ratchet strap the dolly to the base for the transfer, so there is complete stability.

[Black Forest]

I am such a dick that I can't even keep a girlfriend, let alone a wife.

-D

If you were really a dick you would have the girls lined up in front of your shop!

[Doozer]

If you were really a dick you would have the girls lined up in front of your shop!

Maybe I am approaching this wrong.
Women love a bad boy.
Maybe I need to pull their hair
and tell them to make me a sandwitch.

-Doozer

[metalmagpie]

Two big guys from Home Depot could move that thing for $100.

I applaud your initiative. But that cart is going to be very top-heavy, and the small casters can easily be stopped by a pebble. Sweep before rolling. And if it goes over, let it go. Smashing up a machine is much better than getting injured.

I concur with the suggestion to use a 600 lb hydraulic lift cart. All old guys should have one. It will roll through the narrowest door and match any height. Also, the casters lock securely so you can push a load onto or off of it without it rolling away.

Finally, you should start a local metalworking club. That's where you get helpers.

metalmagpie

[brian Rupnow]

The lathe is repaired and today I fetched it home (more later). This picture shows the lathe freshly unloaded from my truck and bolted to the dolly. It is still hooked to my cherrypicker hoist in this picture. The cart worked perfectly, and the lathe is back in it's home in the machine shop. I never did get my son to help. He works two jobs and couldn't come by until Thursday and I couldn't wait. Yes, it was top heavy, but I knew it would be. The dolly was very stable and when I pulled/pushed it from my main garage, thru my office and into my machine shop, it was a fairly simple move to slide it off the dolly onto the cabinets it mounts on.

[Mcgyver]

good job, no people or machines got hurt. What was wrong with it?

[brian Rupnow]

So--Here's the "rest of the story". One picture is of the gear cover that sets on the end of my lathe to protect my fingers from the gears. Notice the bent bracket at the lower right corner of it. That bent bracket pushes on a switch which disables the electrics on the lathe if the guard is removed. I haven't had that cover off the lathe in more than a year. Somehow---Perhaps metal fatigue? the bracket bent far enough that it no longer pushed on the button, and consequently the lathe stopped right in the middle of a cut. The switch it presses on is right below the gears and is virtually impossible to see unless you stand on your head to look for it. When I left the lathe in Concord at Busy Bee, I told them that my rpm indicator only worked intermittently and please either fix it or replace it, as well as please fix whatever is wrong that I have no power to the lathe. They replaced the rpm indicator, scratched their heads a bit and then found that bending the bracket by hand fixed things so it pushed the button and restored power to the lathe. I either didn't know, or else forgot that switch was even there.They charged two hours labor and the price of the new readout. My bill came to $129. So, they treated me quite honestly I think. They could have told me it needed a new motor and charged me another couple of hundred dollars but they didn't.