You're not alone! My Tormach came on a pallet:

In hindsight it would have been better to ask the delivery driver to drop off the back of the lorry on the opposite side to that shown. At some point during shipping a forklift driver had a wobbly:

Fortunately no damage done inside. It was a right royal PITA getting the mill out of the crate and off the pallet. We had to do a lot of sawing and then a 2 ton engine crane on it's longest extension (500kg) just reached:

Along with the mill I bought the Tormach lifting bar and chains. I figured that if I dropped the mill with some home bodged arrangement I'd be on my own regarding warranty. So better to use the official gear. Later the engine crane just had enough height to lift the mill onto my homemade stand:

I didn't buy the Tormach stand as it was a price too far, wouldn't fit in the space available and back in 2009 they only did 110V versions. Not much use in the UK.

Andrew

Edited By Andrew Johnston on 21/08/2018 10:43:12

Is that chain going into the T-slot? Doe sit have a long T to spread the load. Anyway interesting they confirm it is strong enough to take half the machine weight.

David: The engine crane isn't mine, it was borrowed from a friend. Afterwards I broke up the pallet and case and recycled the wood and nails. Getting it across the gravel was a PITA. We had to swing it between the legs of the engine crane put it down and then move the crane a few inches at a time. That's why it would have been better to have had it dropped off the other side of the lorry. In the first picture bottom right there are some large hot rolled steel flats propped up. They were used to roll an 18" shaper out of the garage so we could get the mill in. We certainly deserved a beer by the time we finished.

My mill is a Series II; it sounds like the electrics are different. The main feed in is designed for the US 220V outlets. I run it off the UK 240V system. Although I'm sure it doesn't need it the feed comes from an industrial 32A socket. To run the controller the machine has an isolated power input, nominally 110V. But I was told by Tormach it would be fine on 240V. It seems fine and runs the 240V coolant pump without a problem. I originally started with an old XP computer and Mach3. After I had some issues I changed to an early Tormach controller. When they changed to PathPilot a couple of years back I had to buy a new controller as mine was outdated. They said it might run PathPilot but wasn't guaranteed. And if you updated and it didn't work you were stuffed as you couldn't go back to Mach3. The isolated power imput is truly isolated as I run it off a different phase to the main power feed.

I bought the power drawbar a few years back, but I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't got around to fitting it yet.

Andrew

It would appear that there is very little thought given by makers/suppliers as to how these machines will be handled when they arrive at their new homes. They are not toys and need to be treated with respect while being moved.

Perhaps there is room here for a rethink. ?

You just need a mate with a small tractor ……..

Had the same problem as yours David, a 250kg milling in a crate on a pallet… To move it around I used a crowbar and these **LINK** they are rated 150kg each so in theory good for half a tonne, I did not use the supplied lever as it was too short to make enough force.

So then I could move it around, took it under a chainblock attached to a rafter and hauled it up… ok it's a different machine but the principle should be the same

Edited By ChrisB on 22/08/2018 12:35:20

Nigel, yes you are right, I wouldnt lift a heavy load with the Pulllift. I forgot to say that I used a block and tackle for the Hardinge. .