Lathe Moving Dolly

[Brian Rupnow]

So--As I said, I will build a lathe transporting dolly with materials I have on hand. Small casters are from a moving crane I built about 25 years ago, then cut up and salvaged the material. Main body is 2" x 10" spruce, angles are old bedframe angles, and the two larger wheels and axle are off my handcart (borrowed) for the occasion. The red rectangle is the footprint of the lathe. The top of the dolly will be 3/4" higher than the cabinets that the lathe sets on. Lathe will be bolted to that top plank during transport. Steerable casters are 2 1/2" diameter. Larger wheels are 9 1/2" diameter pneumatic. Headstock end of lathe, which is by far the heaviest will set over these 9 1/2" wheels. I would have made the entire dolly much shorter and closer to the ground for stability, but my cherrypicker hoist will not fit into my machine shop. I have a secret weapon to help me with the move---a 180 pound son who works here in Barrie. After the move has been accomplished I will dismantle this dolly and band everything together and store it in case it is needed again some time. Thank you to everyone who responded to my post.----Brian

[Brian Rupnow]

And now you know how I spent my day. Everything was material which I had on hand. I haven't heard back from the lathe repair people yet, but whenever they get it fixed I will be able to move the lathe back into my machine shop, with the help of my son.  That beats the heck out of the $500 I paid "professional machinery movers" the first time the lathe moved from my garage to my machine shop.

[crueby]

Nicely done. And you also have a portable bar for your next party. And a really tall skateboard...

[Elam Works]

Is it scalable?

-Doug

[Jo]

I like that, no worries about it toppling over if it hits the odd bump

Jo

[Vixen]

Never seen a lathe with a tow hitch before. 

Mike

[tghs]

I think you need to keep that dolly chain up,, I'm somehow seeing shop elves, a local dog harnessed up and a late night beer run,, most likely with very bad results 

[Mcgyver]

He also has a video on building a toe jack but no plans. Still looking for plans.

I've been working on a web site  (far from complete) but its live and I added the toe jack I made as hopefully a few stills will be useful (as the rest of world wants to gravitate to 20 min videos ).  I didn't have drawings, just copied a friends....needs to be done to suit the jack anyway.  I hope it helps

http://www.metallum.shop/projects-2/ click or scroll to madman Mikes toejack

[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.

[steamer]

Nicely done Brian.   you look really healthy too.  Congrats!

Dave

[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.

[crueby]

Its those little bits on machinery that can be tricky - glad you have it all sorted out and moved back in safely, and worth it to get the readout replaced. 

[Hugh Currin]

Brian:

Good to see you have the lathe fixed and back in place. Sounds to me like a reasonable price, maybe $50/hr, which is a bargain these days.

Mcgyver:

I couldn't find any plans for a toe jack. And after looking at the stress analysis I can see why. I'll have to clean up my hen scratchings for reference later, but unless I've really gone astray the loads are quite high. I put together a design but won't put them out for general use, the liability to too high. But I picked up the steel today to build one. They do look handy for moving machines. Thanks for the link, it looks like you do have some machines to move around. :-)

I've been working on a web site  (far from complete) but its live and I added the toe jack I made as hopefully a few stills will be useful (as the rest of world wants to gravitate to 20 min videos ).  I didn't have drawings, just copied a friends....needs to be done to suit the jack anyway.

[Brian Rupnow]

Everything was going back together perfectly, until I discovered I had lost my nuts!! Maybe a note of explanation is required--the lathe is held to the splash pan and the cabinets below it by six M12 bolts, and the nuts go on the inside of the cabinets. I distinctly remember putting the nuts and a couple of handles "somewhere", but damned if I could remember where. After searching for 20 minutes, I did what I always do in a situation like this.---I called my wife. Now I realize that this conversation could go off on a tangent here, but when I can't find things, my wife usually can. She searched for 10 minutes, and then as I walked by some engine display shelves in my office I spied a Tetley Tea container she gave me a couple of weeks ago to "keep little parts in". I picked it up, took off the lid, and sure enough---There were my nuts.  Just her being in the same room as I am seems to help find things. Now, with my nuts happily found, I am too tired to do anymore tonight. I have to go tomorrow morning and pick up a grandchild for a visit with us. (We have to visit them in rotation because of this horrible Covid stuff.) After I have visited 9 year old Brennen for a while and made a run to the dump with a cubic yard of swarf, I will finish putting things back together and proceed where I left off on my Stephensons Rocket.

[Mcgyver]

after looking at the stress analysis I can see why.

I didn't model it but it would be interesting to see what the stresses are.  I picked up a bunch off cuts and started welding.  It has no trouble lifting the heavy end of the 5100lb DSG, the heaviest I have.   We make lots of lifting devices at work and I wouldn't dream making one in a commercial setting without adhering to stamped drawings, but I am less worried at home.  No body part ever goes under a lift and its only a few inches (we stand behind our cranes, but never under them ).  It puts a fair sideways load on the cylinder but the seals have held up.