Lifting and moving

[klavelle72]

This one is from October, 2004. I had posted it on another forum, so you won't be familiar with some of the guys I'm referring to.

Some time ago, Don posted an ebay link to a big old drill press in
Kansas City, and when I went to seller's other items, I saw a big
old milling machine. I almost immediately decided to snipe it, but
our own Ioway Mike bid on it a couple days hence. I emailed him and
told him I had planned a snipe, but would not bid if he really
wanted it. He wrote back that I should bid, and that what he really
wanted was a Bridgeport. I want to start by thanking Mike.

After winning the auction for the grand sum of $26, I called the
seller "Andy" to arrange a pickup date. He said we needed to talk
about shipping since it was super heavy and would need to be rigged
out of the building. I proceeded to sweet talk him and tell him
that I'd moved over a dozen machines, felt very comfprtable doing
so, and would be glad to sign a waiver for both injury to myself and
damage to the machine, and he accepted. We both agreed on Sept 23
as a good date for pickup.

I prepared for the trip by getting a couple jacks together, a number
of wood shims and blocks, a couple timbers, and a 5ft prybar. I
also conned my lovely wife into going with me.

We arrived about noon at an old two storey brick building with a
small sign that said "Vista Manufacturing", and a couple guys
sitting out front eating lunch. After talking to them, we went
through a small office where we met an older machinist "Barney", who
told us Andy was out to lunch, but he'd show us the machine. He led
us a short way through a very tightly packed machine shop with all
sorts of machines sitting side by side. There were shears, lathes,
bandsaws, cnc machines, a little of everything with pathways through
all of it, and guys at work here and there. Then I saw it. It was
quite hefty, a good head taller than me, with a 5" thick solid base
and a table almost 5ft long. The top support bar (if that's what
it's called) was at least 3", maybe 4" diameter. There were little
levers and handwheels all over it. The door on the side was arched,
and had the words Becker Brainard No. 2 Universal, Hyde Park, MA pat
1903, others pending. Barney told me he was one of the only ones in
the shop who still used it, and that with the new cnc machine they
just got, they had almost stopped using it all together. He also
told me that he could make just about anything on it, and that it
was very versatile. He began showing me how all of the controls
were used, and told me he regretted that it was already unhooked
from power, because he wanted to run it for me. He showed me all
the oil ports, told me the bearings were babbitt, and good, but not
perfect. I kept waiting for him to take the vise and cutter off,
but he soon told me the vise was included, along with the vertical
head (the head says "All Angle", and has a seperate motor) and that
they had put some stuff in a box that they were sure belonged with
the mill. My lovely wife "Kris" and I immediately went back out to
retrieve the blocking, prybars, and pallet jack. Several of the
guys watched as I pried the machine off the floor and Kris slipped
the blocking under. We worked one side a little, then the other,
until we got it on 4"X4"s. We then slipped the pallet jack under
it, and with Kris' expert direction, steered it slowly between the
rows of machines without hitting anything. In order to get it our
the front door, we had to remove the motor. Right before we loaded
it, Barney asked to turn the handwheels one last time. I told him
he could visit it any time he was in the St. Louis area. From the
front door, they forklifted it onto the trailer without incident. I
had used a timber and two jacks under the rear of the trailer to
keep from picking up the van when the mill was placed on the back of
the trailer. I believe their weight estimate on 3500lbs is about
right. We then went to look at the box of stuff that came with the
mill. It was actually a pallet load of stuff. There were two boxes
full of stuff including at least a dozen cutters, and a bunch of
doodads and gizmos that I can't identify. There was also a shop made
holder with a bunch of gears inside the machine, and some tooling
down inside in a bunch of oil.

After getting it home, I tarped it for a week while I cleared a spot
for it. Using the pallet jack, some sheets of 3/4" plywood, 4"X4"s,
concrete blocks, and plenty of blocking under the trailer and ramps,
we rolled it onto the concrete pad under the porch by the walkout
basement where it now sets. The next step is to give it a good bath
and paint it orange and black. The orange is a requirement of my 3
year old son Logan, as he has claimed it as his machine.

[crzypete]

A number of us attended various parts of the large 4 day auction at the Philadelphia navy yard. Our booty from the trip was simply dwarfed in size and uniqueness by the rest of our surroundings. I mean how many auctions do you go to where there is an aircraft carrier parked behind the main building? And speaking of buildings, the auction took place in numerous ones all over the compound, and they were pretty damn great.

Although this predates my digital camera, I had the good insight to bring along a camera to the move-out a month later. I loaded the camera with a great film called Scala. It is a black and white slide film that just seemed perfect for the setting.

This is looking towards the head stock of these three rather large metal lathes. The capacity was 60" diameter, 65' long. I believe they had a top speed of 45 rpm.


Here is joël with the headstock


a medium sized forklift


the building with a nice boat behind


the boat


Another interior shot of another building

[crzypete]

I realized in returning to this thread from a reference, that the story behind this photo was never told.


This is a photo from the morning after.

I forget how the machines were found, but I know It was supposed to be a machine dealer who was going out of business or something. Problem was it was in jamestown, NY (think Ohio) and I was in the Hudson Valley (think 6 hours of driving) Not really a problem, except that dadude wanted to go as well (think Syracuse and not really along the way- add a couple of more hours.)

So I left as soon as the bank opened- needed cash, drove north, picked up dadude and his trailer. Drove west to view a whole bunch of bird-crap-encrusted machines. We got there in the afternoon, the story of what the machines were didn't seem to mesh, but no matter. We negotiated a deal and made our purchases- Timesaver for mr douglas, Powermatic 66 for guzziguy, Unisaw and racking for dadude, 30" wreck of a tannewitz for me.

By the time we loaded up it was pretty late. It was a long ride back pulling a heavy trailer. We pulled into Dadudes driveway at close to 3am.

The story doesn't end here. About two months later we both get contacted separately by the seller looking to collect the sales tax on the purchase. Neither one of us will go for this BS and express it to them with heated phone calls.

I guess this isn't the most interesting one, but it had a few moments to make it epic. We even found a great little mexican place in the middle of nowhere NY in the ride home. Also driving by the NY plant of Monarch machines- I think where they make CNC equipment.

It's definitely time to bring this thread back from the dead, how bout some more stories????

Pete