Take down lathe ?

[V 45]

I'm trying to do some thinking ahead. If I were to purchase a lathe that's too big for my basement steps...it will be ! Can it be taken apart and reassembled in the basement without to much trouble and loos of accuracy in the lathe? I'd like to have a South Bend heavy 10. Losing accuracy is the biggest fear I have. So removing the head and tail stocks, remove the bed, take motor out of stand....how hard could it be ?? That's the question...thanks again.

P.S. I do have a couple friends that pick things up and put them down

 

[10K Pete]

The nice thing about South Bends, and others I'm sure, is that the headstock
is located by the vees on the bed. So once the machine is properly built, either new or re-built, the alignments are done.

So you can take it all apart, move it, and put it back together without losing
the alignments. Provided of course that you are diligent with cleaning, etc.

Many heavy 10s, and larger, have been moved into basements.

Pete

 

[V 45]

Thanks Pete ! That's good to know as my steps wouldn't be able to take all the weight at once.

 

[barnesrickw]

There is also a video online of the proper set-up of a South Bend lathe specifically. If I run across the link, I'll share.

 

[kiwi2]

Hi,
If you are going to strip the lathe it would pay to check the bed wear and get it reground if necessary. This may save a second trip out of the basement.
Regards,
Alan C.

 

[V 45]

After posting this question I found a video of Tubal Cain doing a heavy 10 lathe. Very helpful.
Thanks again

 

[hanermo3]

Its not hard to align a lathe.
Learning .. some work, some tools, some time.
After that .. a few minutes work- less than half an hour.

You can easily add steps/pins/buttons to have it 99% right or better by easy-assy, onto registration surfaces.

SB heavy ten is really lightweight, relatively.
Typical floor loads are 5-10x higher before failure.

A much heavier (450 kg lathe) is less than half typical max floor loads (1000 kg/sq m).
Spreading the load on stairs (slide on plywood) should allow much heavier assys, easily.

 

[Wizard69]

Here is my 2 cents!

If you move any machine tool you need to properly set it up and inspect it for accuracy anyways. It is just good practice so tearing a machine apart only adds a little extra to that process. This does require suitable test equipment, arbors and the like.

The suggestion above to regrind is a good one, however you can't just regrind in most cases. If you regrind the ways you really should fit the saddles and head stock again. So you need to think carefully about this. If the machine is in need of a rebuild you certainly want this done before moving it into the cellar.

Having a shop in a cellar is a bit of a pain, this is where my shop is currently. As such I've moved some big stuff in there (relatively) such as a 9x20 and a big Jet bandsaw. Each was torn apart to some extent to be moved into the cellar. Going down was easy, I hate to even think what will be required to get stuff out of the cellar. In any event the inclined plane is your friend! I prefer 2 X xx lumber ideally long enough to avoid joints to keep things from hanging up will sliding down the ramp. I also make a point to have a landing cushion in case things happen to fast. This can be many many sheets of heavy cardboard supplemented with thin plywood. When you are sliding several hundred pounds of iron around don't expect to change speeds quickly, slow is your second friend.

Another issue that might be a problem is the concrete floor in your cellar. Many basement floors are extremely thin, at least in my old house they are. Just something to watch out for.

Best of luck with the move.

 

[Wizard69]

I forgot a couple of things. In a pass life I was involved in moving lots of machinery there are a few reasons to partially disassemble a machine tool.

Manageable weight is of course the big one.

Another is to avoid protrusions that can snag, operating handles, cranks and levers are often a problem. Breaking a crank is bad enough but what usually happens is that something it is attached to gets bent. In other words slings, ropes and so forth that may come close to things that can be snagged should have those things removed.

Another problem is balance, for example removing the motor from my lathe made it much easier to handle. Life is much easier when you don't have to struggle with balancing something while moving it.