Machinery skates with a Bridgeport on top loading up a ramp onto a trailer. I hate to be the party pooper but you are right to think this is a mite iffy.

Know any farmers? With a nice chunky front loader on a big green tractor? One each end of your journey maybe?Much more re-assuring.

Otherwise there are specialist machinery movers – if you would like to indicate approx locations for start and finish of this adventure perhaps the combined knowledge of the forum can identify suitable alternatives to Mr LandyLift.

Any floor that skates will rol over, will be just as suitable for pipe rollers and much less risky. I wouldn't bother much with a roller pry bar either, a normal prybar will be plenty god enough and you don't even need a full sized one. Just take plenty of packing/cribbing.

Is the V2000 really that much heavier than a Bridgy?

Carl

Don't even think about a pallet truck.

As you surmise the close coupled pair of swivelling wheels at the handle end make things very unstable at the slightest provocation. I've seen a Bridgeport overturn off a pallet truck when a turn was attempted on less than perfect ground. Very impressive bang. The mill appeared to survive but i didn't give it a close inspection and it was on its way to auction anyway.

A pallet truck is possibly acceptable on a smooth, flat surface with wide sweeping turns but nowhere else.

When I moved mine I bolted sturdy timber H sections under the ends of the table and adjusted things so they just skimmed the ground. Inch or less clearance. So if things started to tilt the machine couldn't go very far and would sit at a stable, small, tilt whilst figuring out what to do next. Turned out to be a good idea when mine, not unexpectedly, tilted towards the lawn where the path made a right angle off camber turn. Having already laid a sheet of plywood "just in case" supporting things level whilst inching round the rest of the turn was simple pry bar exercise. The plywood suffered.

I shifted mine on a self made, super heavy duty dolly having a frame of 2 1/2" x 1" alloy bar with 4 heavy duty castors having 2 1/2" diameter by 2 1/2" wide wheels. Probably good for 3 tons or more. The small diameter wheels kept everything reassuringly low to the ground.

I took the head and ram off separately before moving which made a big difference. By far the easiest way to deal with the head is to arrange an R8 arbour on a stout foot that can be bolted to the table. Fit the arbor into the spindle then bolt the foot to the bed. After removing the bolts use the Y feed on the table to draw it off. Bring the table down to a sensible height and lift off. Reverse procedure to replace head when the mill is where it needs to go.

If you don't have a hefty dolly I've found that laying steel rod or stout, small diameter, pipe down rail fashion and sliding the machine along works much better than pipe rollers or skates. Especially if the surface isn't particularly good.

Clive

Sorry Carl, no pictures. 20 odd years back was the pre-smartphone camera era!

The H went on sideways with the cross bar vertical. I made the cross bar about the same width as the table, maybe a touch wider. Two struts joined with some off-cut OSB left over from building the workshop. Sidebars were maybe double or a bit more table width with the upper one suitably packed out to avoid the screw. Another piece of timber across the top of the table and two long bolts or all-thread and nuts ran through suitable holes to clamp the frame in position.

I imagine I used 2 x 2 timber, more left-overs from workshop build, possibly 2 x 3 for top clamp and bottom foot. Very much designed by eye and what I had lying around. No need for super strength as the idea is to stop the tilt before it build up enough to put any real load on things.

Jacking the table down so the H frames touched the trailer floor also stopped it rocking in transit so the straps had an easier life.

The mate who helped me with the move reckoned I was over-engineering as usual but I was much happier knowing the machine wasn't going walkabout.

Clive

How high off the ground is the lifting point? Most engine cranes do not have the height to lift a mill onto a trailer. I have a two tonne crane and it took a bit of mucking about to get the slinging and lift chain on the crane short enough to allow us to lift a Viceroy lathe onto a trailer (pushing the trailer under the crane once the lathe was lifted). Remember to hitch the trailer up before loading it.

Be careful as well because stripping bits of the mill to reduce the weight will change the centre of gravity and you may end up with the lifting point not being at the correct point for the lift being made.

Martin

If your going to move it as one single piece, then first lower the knee, slack the 4 head bolts off and rotate the head 180 degrees. On most or maybe all BP type mills, those tilt and nod gears are a bit fragile, take as much of the weight with your off hand to support the head as it's rotated around to lessen the load on that gearing. Place a wide wooden board or piece of plywood between the table top and the end of the motor that's now facing down. Raise the knee to just take some of the motor and head weight. Then set the knee locks. That lowers the center of gravity as much as possible and its how afaik all the new one's are shipped from whatever manufacturer is building them. Mine was shipped exactly like that.

Once anything is picked up with a pallet jack, the pallet can't slide off the forks. The jack starts out lowered to the bottom of it's lift range, the forks and front wheels get shoved all the way through the opening in the pallet and then the whole thing is lifted. The weight and the front wheels prevent the pallet from ever sliding off the forks.

Yes your right Fulmen, BP type mills for the obvious reasons are a bit unstable due to the weight up high. Even with the head and motor rotated, I'd still use lag screws or bolts through the 4 holes in the base and the pallet to adequately fasten the machine to the pallet. Even with that I'd still move it slow and careful. I spent my career moving heavy objects from time to time with some up to 50 tons. Failed moves resulting in damage I saw from others were in general caused by trying to go too fast or not thinking the job through well enough. And the less experience you have the more time and thought is required. No one remembers later how fast you got it done, but you will remember the damage or even worse, any injuries.