Another moving question… challenge 19” cutter

Hi all - Here is another “any advice on moving this item” question. Why not draw from the collective experience!

I just purchased a Challenge 193HB 19” Hydraulic cutter (picture attached). Any advice from those who have or have moved one of these? The seller said it was about 300lbs, but it sure looks like it weighs a lot more than that and google isn’t helping with specs.

I was planning on moving it onto a trailer with a ramp just using a specialized large appliance/refrigerator dolly. The biggest challenge (no pun intended) seems to be finding a flat face to rest the dolly against and that the center of gravity looks a bit wonky.

I don’t really have access to a palette jack or lift gate. Any pieces of collective advice or wisdom?

Thanks all!
Daniel / Red Kite Press

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The problem with the appliance dolly is the narrow lip on which to rest the thing, and the very hard tires. If it’s less than 500 lbs you should be able to move it with a regular hand truck — I would use one with pneumatic tires as they roll over obstacles much more gracefully. Mine has a lip about 10 or so inches wide, plenty wide enough for the Challenge. I moved a Pearl #11 with one. Be sure to strap the cutter tightly to the hand truck., You may want a board on the hand truck lip to be sure the feet of the cutter are both securely on it. Should work. Such a hand truck is very handy for moving all kinds of things and well worth buying.

Bob

Thanks for the feedback Bob. I have exactly such a hand truck - they are awesome. I was worried it would be too much weight but you are right about that lip depth being small on the appliance dolly. Excellent point.

Thanks!

I moved one of those cutters once. It was really heavy, definitely more than 300 pounds. Probably 500 to 800 pounds.

That weight sounds more in line with what I was expecting. Thanks for the info. So how did you end up moving it? Did you use a dolly or something more heavy-duty?

Thanks!

An appliance dolly? Oh, your back will not like you much at all. Why not lift the end plates of the press enough to put some 2 x 4 or 4 x 4 runner front to rear and move the press on pipe rollers. You can use a come along to get it up into the trailer. The method is slower, but will give you better control of the move and reduct the risk of the load running away or being dropped.

The skid and roller technique is good for a lot of different machines and has the added benefit of keeping the machines center of gravity at its lowest and most stable point.

Happy moving!

I mostly agree with Mike. I can’t tell from the photo if the distance front to back is greater than the distance side to side. You could put runners as long as you wish either way.The Egyptian method of moving heavy stuff on pipe rollers is my preferred method. Slow and safe. I might move a 300# barrel of steel nails with a hand truck. I sure wouldn’t want to dance with a load more than that with a high center of gravity using a hand truck. If you are going to get the beast up into a trailer, think about what the trailer will do as the load comes up the ramp, and then again as it goes forward and crosses the tip point of the axel. Plenty of blocking. I have moved plenty heavy machines all by myself. Work smarter, not harder. Well thought out moves and slow and safe.

I moved that particular cutter it with a pallet jack and a forklift. It was palletized when I bought it.

Recently I used a trailer to move a much larger cutter, though (2500lb Challenge 305). I built a pallet under it using my J-bars to lift up one corner at a time.

Once outside, I attached a come-along to both rear corners of the trailer. Leaving it on the pallet jack, I attached a chain around the base of the machine, and two people pulled on the come-alongs while I stabilized it from behind.

It went right up the ramp, but the load equalized and shot the back-end of the trailer up into the air quite forcefully. We continued with the come-alongs and the trailer leveled out. Worked ok.

Thanks for all of the advice. The move is on Monday and I’ll keep everyone posted as to how it goes and the method used for future reference!

Cutter is now safe at home in the studio. For the record, 900lbs is a lot closer than 300lbs. We were able to move it with three big guys and the appliance dolly. We tried the pneumatic tire dolly first and it crushed the tires. After removing the big power box you see in the pic, we could get the small lip of the appliance dolly safely under the edge - then, with plenty of rest breaks made it out to the trailer. It took three big guys - one on each dolly handle pulling and one guy underneath pushing to get it over the 2inch ramp lip and into the trailer.

Thanks to all for the advice.

Daniel,
I saw thru several posts that you’ve made here that you have a C&P OldStyle 10x15. My girlfriend has bought a old family property with what I believe I’ve determined to be a C&P OldStyle 10x15 from 1901. Her uncle used it in his retirement in the last 10 years, but it has just been sitting collecting dust since then. I believe it is complete, as they had been using it. I do see boxes of letters and some larger pieces of pictures that obviously had been advertising, probably from the original user. Can you help give me a ballpark idea of the value of a complete press that will need cleaning up ? or perhaps where I might otherwise look to establish its value? We are in northern NY and live in Asheville,NC. Might you be interested in it or know someone who might be?