New lathe pick up

[Dustin Lewis]

Hello all,

I have been using a small benchtop lathe for a few months and I got overzealous and bid on a couple of lathes on a surplus auction. Now I have to pick up a Yates American J-170 and an unknown model delta lathe from a school wood shop.

I know, I don’t need two but I bid on both expecting to maybe get lucky and win one and here we are.

My question is can I lay them down for transport or might that cause issues? Laying them down on small wheeled carts seems the safest way to move them without equipment and get them up a ramp onto the trailer without having them tip over and possibly turning me into flat Stanley.

Thanks,
Dustin

 

[hockenbery]

My question is can I lay them down for transport or might that cause issues?

My success in doing just that may not guarantee your success. Things can go wrong.
Probably be just fine.

My 20” woodfast made about eight 6 mile trips lying flat in the back of a pickup.

I put the tailstock and banjo in a box taped the belt cover so it couldn’t fly open made sure the motor door was closed up tight.
Double checked the motor mount lock. Roll up power cords tape them to something.

Basically remove anything you can, lock anything that locks, Tie or tape anything that can move.

One thing I found that worked well for light lathes like the woodfast is tipping them up toward the headstock and sliding a furniture dolly under the handwheel. Takes two people but the one holding the furniture dolley doesn’t need much strength.
The furniture dolly gets it to the truck easily. Two people can flip it into the truck bed.
A hydraulic table and a strap can raise the end making it easy one person to slide it k ton the truck bed.
Be sure to tie it in place in the ruck bed.

 

[Dustin Lewis]

Thank you for the response Hockenbery.

I also plan to try to remove as much weight as possible before any moving is done to hopefully make life a little easier for me and my back.

 

[Dean Center]

One option for transport is to flip the lathe legs and bed upside down and secure. Another is to take the legs off, put the bed into the bed of the truck, then put the headstock, banjo and tailstock back on the bed and lock down. That's how many of them shipped originally, attached to a pallet or something. Some of those older lathes came mounted on a cabinet with the motor and belts inside the cabinet under the headstock, which might a different approach, perhaps laying it down on the side opposite the turner.

It's not exactly ideal open air transport weather in NY state at this time of year. I'd consider one of those $19 Uhaul local truck rentals, so you can have everything out of the weather.

 

[John K Jordan]

I think the best way to move it depends on the weight, how it's built, how much of it comes apart easily, and how many strong people you have. AND the terrain and access at both the pickup and destination places.

Laying an assembled lathe down for transportation might depend on how it's made. Shouldn't hurt it but may need wood blocking to protect any protruding levers or controls. If the Yates is like this it might be hard to disassemble:

YATES-AMERICAN J-170 12" Variable Speed Wood Lathe Operator & Parts Manual 0762 | eBay

It also contains exploded view diagrams of all the parts for the lathe. I have collected this information for many years and have found the information they contain to be priceless in using and setting up the machines properly.

www.ebay.com

I don't know anything about the two lathes you mentioned - I hope you were able to inspect and see them run first. I've seen some old lathes that were so abused and worn out they not useful without a lot of work. Maybe you will be fortunate! A lathe larger than what you have now could be a big help.

We've moved two lathes recently. One an old Rockwell/Delta with a reeves drive. Since the motor was in a lower part of the headstock-end cabinet, it wouldn't come apart easily so we set it on its legs upright on a trailer with the help a tractor to get it down a hill and strapped it down tightly. Three people unloaded it by hand and move it into it's new home.

The other was a Jet 1642 - by removing everything and taking off the legs I was able to get it out of the shop and onto a low trailer by myself, using only a couple of furniture dollys. Laid all pieces on the trailer bed and strapped them down to prevent sliding. I have a low tilt-trailer that's perfect for these things

I once moved a heavy PM3520b with bed extension. Got some help taking it apart and loading it into a covered U-Haul trailer, moved it 500 miles to my shop, and was able to unload and set it up by myself with the help of a couple of furniture dollys, a heavy-duty hand truck, and a hydraulic floor jack to help with lifting the bed for leg assembly.

JKJ

 

[Dustin Lewis]

John,

You hit the nail on the head with what lathe it is. The location has a loading dock but I was going to use a friend's truck and dump trailer to pick them up. The dump trailer bed is about 24"s off the ground and a loading dock is at 4 feet or slightly higher. My options are to run a motorcycle loading ramp from the loading dock down to the trailer or see if I can get the lathe on ground level and basically back them up to the trailer and tip them over backwards onto furniture dollies on the trailer bed.

I took a chance on equipment that was "working when removed from service" according to the listing because they were cheap. Might be time to stop being cheap and pony up the cash to rent a box truck to make loading easier.

 

[Dean Center]

Neither of these are massively heavy lathes. If you've got 2 people, you should be OK.

 

[robo hippy]

Well, when I was younger, I could have hoisted it up on my shoulder and run around the block a couple of times.... I ain't young any more, no matter what my head says. Ask your friends and/or club. Most are willing to help. Having too many is not a problem. If you use the motorcycle ramp, make sure it is weight rated for the load. I did get a couple of the rolling dollies and put 3/4 plywood on top, which made it more than heavy duty enough to move in my Vicmark 240.

robo hippy

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

At 500 plus pounds this one will be top heavy. Just watch out for that and if it starts over get out of the way. BTDT

 

[Dustin Lewis]

Thanks for the helpful comments. The motorcycle ramp is rated for 1000 pounds so I should be good. I have already told my buddy that is helping not to try to catch anything. No lathe is worth inuring someone seriously.

Dustin