Once the magic smoke comes out, things don't work any more.
John Kasunich
jmkasunich@fastmail.fm
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Sat, 19 Jul 2008
Surface grinder into the basement
One unfortunate fact about where I live is that my shop isn't limited by what machinery I can afford - it is limited by what machinery I can find room for. My garage is detached and unheated, and in Cleveland's climate, that means I have to fight rust, especially in the spring. My Van Norman #12 mill is out there, but I'm not willing to put any other machines in the garage. So any new tools not only have to be small enough to fit in my rather cramped basement, but they also have to be light enough to move down the steps.
Today was the "Saturday Sidewalk Sale" at HGR Surplus (they're only open one Saturday a month). After spending a few minutes looking at a reasonably affordable and very nice Mitsui surface grinder, sanity kicked in and I walked away - it probably weighed over a ton. But a little later I found a nice benchtop 6x12 grinder. "Targa" brand, made in Tiawan (a bit better than made in China), it seems to be identical to this Enco one - 3/4HP, single phase 120V motor, 451 lbs. But it was a LOT cheaper at HGR - I paid about one-tenth the Enco price.
HGR's forklift easily loaded it into my truck, but the hard work started when I got home. Before I even unloaded it I started taking it apart to reduce weight. The table lifts right off - 65 pounds. The "saddle" (dunno what the proper term is) slid off after I unscrewed it all the way to the front and loosened the gibs - 74 lbs. Four socket head capscrews and some disconnected wires let me remove the motor/spindle assembly - 48 pounds. And finally, screwing the vertical slide all the way up and loosening the gib allowed it to be removed - 33 lbs. The remaining base casting is about 225 lbs - still too much to move by brute force.
Step 1 was sliding it from the truck tailgate onto a rolling cart. That wasn't too hard - the cart is only a few inches higher than the tailgate, and the machine was on a small pallet.
Step 2 was getting it onto the back porch. The cart is about level with the porch, so I moved it to the foot of the porch steps and spanned the gap between cart and top porch step with a seven foot piece of 2x8. I carefully slid the machine along the 2x8 until it was setting safely on the porch.
Step 3 was getting it into the kitchen. I left it on the 2x8 - it made a handy lever. By pushing the casting to one end of the board, I could lift the other end, and stick a moving dolly under the middle. Then I slid the casting back to the middle over the dolly. The 2x8 very nicely bridged the threshold of the sliding glass door, and a bit of sliding and levering was all it took to get the casting in the house with the dolly once again under it. (See first picture below.)
Step 4 is the biggie - getting it down the steps. There is a bathroom directly across from the top of the steps, and I braced a piece of 2x6 across the inside of the bathroom doorway. That served as an anchor for a block-and-tackle that allowed me to ease the casting down the steps, still sitting on the long 2x8. The rigging allowed me to have total control of the casting during what would otherwise have been some very hairy moments. The second picture below shows it just about to go "over the edge", as the 2x8 tilts from level on the floor, to sliding on the steps. The third photo shows it about half way down - note the superviser at the top of the stairs, making sure I'm doing it right.
Step 5 was getting it from the basement floor up onto the bench. I used a few deck screws to fasten a short piece of 2x8 across three joists. Then I wedged uprights on both ends, so the screws and joists wouldn't need to carry the weight. Rigged the block and tackle again, this time to lift the casting straight up. The next-to-last photo below shows it half-way up, and the last photo shows it sitting on the bench.
Tomorrow I'll bring in the rest of the pieces, clean everything, and put it back together. It still needs a magnetic chuck, but Small Tools Inc. has some used ones in the $100-125 price range that look promising.
(posted: 19 Jul 2008 23:21) (permalink)