Moving heavy things.

[country gent]

Machine skates Im working on drilled the bodies and swivel plates for the pins welded pins in cleaned up faces and fitted today. Still have to cut in the flat bearing races between plates and bodies, and cut in the handle studs. There will also be a toe jack to work with them. Have most of its materials cut out now.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Nice. Time was, I could have used a couple of those......

DG

[country gent]

Measure it out today and if I think its needed I can add a 3rd axle and 4 more wheels on each skate.

[CastingFool]

I've used my daughter's roller skates on two separate occasions and they worked great and provided 2 great bonding opportunities for us. She was about 4 at the time. One was to move a 4x12 sheet of 1/2" drywall. The second was to reinstall an 8ft aluminum truck cap on my pickup. Too long a story to tell, but I know she was very happy and proud of herself especially after installing the truck cap

[M-Tecs]

I've used the style with bearings for wheels like you are building and the endless change track style rollers. The track style handle cracks in the floor or rough concrete way better. On smooth concrete they both work well.

This is my personal favorite. https://www.hilmanrollers.com/rollers

[country gent]

Ive used the track style and they were good but for my hobby shop these do what I need and not cost a couple thousand dollars.

If you grout in the saw cuts or cracks these are good. Or even a piece of sheet metal over them.

The ones I like the most are the air pads. But on most floors you need to lay sheet metal down to get a good seal. But almost friction-less movement.

[M-Tecs]

The nice thing about the air skids is they eliminate need to keep alignment of the roller type skids. Most of the places I've moved machines the floors weren't smooth/level enough to use them.

Most of the times the floors were such that even with the rubber levelers using 4 skids didn't work very well. Most of the times three worked way better than 4.

My shop is in the basement under the garage. I spec'ed a double French doors with an opening of 48" when we built the house. I never checked until recently. My 48" opening is actually 44". I am in the process of moving a DoAll D6-7 6" x 18" surface grinder into my shop. Easy disassembly gets me to 45". My 48" opening is actually 44". Fun, fun fun not so much.

I have used these and they work very well https://rolalift.com/ without the tip hazard of traditional skids.

I was going to build a set but I for this version on FaceBook Market Place for $200. https://www.vestil.com/product.php?FID=1055

[Shawlerbrook]

Used a couple of 2” pipes to move my tractor bucket in the garage.

[GhostHawk]

I had an old skateboard I found on cleanup week. Used it off and on to move heavy things for a decade. Deck finally rotted.
A half hours search on ebay found me a pair of new ones, plastic wrapped, all nice new hardware, 8$ ea. I jumped on it.

Have used both for a variety of things. Including moving a dead dishwasher, recliners, couch's, etc. I like to set whatever is riding on top with just the upward tilt of the deck showing in the rear. Then if needed a little foot pressure and you can instantly change direction of travel 45 degrees.

Probably would not work for heavy machinery, but they work great for everything else!

[Texas by God]

Back in the late 1970s I worked on the Eqiptment Moving Crew at Texas Instruments. We used some devices similar to yours(we called them scooters) to move and set up huge mills, lathes, and whatnot.
We also had some neat jacks- big and tiny- to help us.

[country gent]

Toe jacks and a few others beat pry bars all too.My machines range from 300 lbs up to 7500 lbs dont move them often but occasionally need to make more room.
Dad and I moved a few sheds and dead machinery on pipes. It works but is rough.

On a buddies bridgeport we had to pull the head and table to get it thru the door. Was close to having to pull the ram/swivel. The one Campbells plants tool room was in the
basement everything had to go down stairs. Mines are the same big equipment needs to be disassembled to manageable size parts to take down. Rigging and moving equipment is an art.

[M-Tecs]

. Rigging and moving equipment is an art.

On level smooth concrete rigging and moving is easy. If the concrete isn't smooth or level the riggers earn their money and at times not for the faint of heart. It gets even more fun when you need helicopters for large items outside or on building tops.

[country gent]

Last lift at Campbells was a chiller that was placed on the roof with a helicopter. They cleared the building while the lift was being done. Was interesting to watch they figured fuel consumption and had a narrow window when the lift was done they landed and filled the helicopter back up.

Good floors help but you still need some planning to locate tight spots pinch points and obstacles. This can be anything lights other machines, guard rails. Then you have to restrict redirect foot traffic of people in the area. In a factory this can get interesting.

[uscra112]

Used a couple of 2” pipes to move my tractor bucket in the garage.

Yah, I moved all my heavy stuff the Egyptian way . . . half a dozen 3 foot lengths of pipe and a Johnson bar. Cribbing as necessary to get over a step.

I was in the machine tool business for over a dozen years. BIG machines. Bullards, deVliegs, an Onsrud skin mill......... Yes, the pros use skates a lot, but then they're doing it every day. I'm not, now that I'm retired.

[country gent]

Was lucky at campbells they had 2 lift trucks ( forklift for heavy coils ratted at 25,000 lbs. ( coils were 20,000 - 22,000) most machines could be moved with these. But a couple still had to be moved on skates, pipes, or pads do to length width or balance points. The skates worked but were still a lot on muscle to move heavy machines.
We moved in a warner swasey 3a turret lathe ( this machine had a 8 1/2" spindle bore) and a 40" bed. was big and heavy. carried it in to the shop from the truck with the coil motor and set it on the skates from the motor. To 6 men to push it into place 30' from the set down point. The one machine we moved on air pads was as heavy maybe more we set it off the truck on the pads, balanced the air to the pads and 2 guys pushed it in place. This machine was set on a saturday when the plant was down so we had full air supply. Ive never seen machines glide as easy. We did have 6 sheets of sheet metal to leapfrog keeping a smooth surface. But the air pads are a big leak takes a lot of air to maintain. The other plus is you can change direction with just pushing no turning and aligning each skate.

When the crew brought in the big drill their skates were rollers they used 3 skates 2 in back and one centered under front. 2 guys moved it but they earned it. This machine is 7500 lbs. My heaviest machine. Some of the old horizontal, mills boring mills ,and shapers would tip 20,000 lbs.

One of the equipment dealers I use has a load cell on its gantry so when objects are unloaded or loaded they are weighed.

Im thinking of removing the stop for the handle on the jack so it can be inserted from either side. On the reverse pumping will be an up stroke but it may get us out of a tight area. There isnt room to make it rotating. It will leave the release on the one side only but it should be accessible.

Im still considering a third axle not so much for weight but to ease over rough areas better. There arent any cracks in my floor but there are saw cuts to deal with. The floor in my shop is 12" thick so its good and solid.

[uscra112]

Air pads are great until one passes over a crack in the concrete. Ask me how I know!