C&P New style : Help needed with moving / dimensions

Image attached

Screen Shot 2014-09-16 at 3.00.20 pm.png

Should be doable.

If it is in a box, take it out of the box. Install two skids under the legs if not already present. Remove the flywheel and crank shaft. Remove the feed tables. Close the press and strap it to keep it closed. Put the press on a pallet jack. You can use the space between the feed table arms to pivot through the doorway by taking advantage of the pallet jack’s maneuverability.

Thanks Arie, I shall follow your advice!

Fingers crossed and hoping for the best :)

Quick question:
I was figuring out how to slot the pallet jack underneath the press (it already has 2 skids underneath the feet, lengthwise). I saw this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9ImJnxZGWU

The video shows how the press is moved with the palletjack slotted under the SIDE of the press.

However, for my case, I will need to slot the pallet jack from the FRONT / BACK of the press (going from the side would result in the press being too wide to fit in the direction I am moving)

Any ideas how I would be able to slot the pallet jack from the front?

The only way solution I can think of is to do 3 layers of skids. (Layer 1 is lengthwise, attached to the feet. Layer 2 is horizontal, and layer 3 lengthwise again)

Also, do you think a carjack (those that come along with car + sparetyre) would be enough to lift up on side of the press to slot in wood?

Thanks!

No I wouldn’t use a car jack. I ruined one of those trying the same thing. A floor jack is pretty cheap and much better. Spare lengths of lumber…2x4 and 4x4 are very useful. Another useful item is a johnson bar. Think long iron bar with a bent chisel point. You can lift a lot of weight with one of these and move it around fairly easily if not much at one time.

I’d use just the skids and two lengths of 4x4 (not attached). Put the press on sideways as shown in the video up to the doorway. Set it down on the 4x4s as close as you can to the position desired, adjust orientation of the pallet jack, lift and move the press into a better position. Repeat as necessary until the press is lined up to go through the door. Small, safe moves will get it where you want. Impatience and speed will get you hurt.

It helps to have assistants on both sides of the door. If necessary pass the pallet jack into the room and work from that side. But I don’t think you’ll have too much trouble.

I believe a closed press without the flywheel is actually shorter front to back than side to side.

BTW, I’d also take off the throwoff lever, just because it is relatively fragile.

Finally…say where you are located. Someone may be nearby and able to lend a hand.

A regular crowbar some wedges ,feets of pallet wood some iron pipes for moving purpose is all you need and comon sence tnats how the egyptians did it:-)

I had to remove my press from it’s former location from the front as well. I raised it slowly with a bottle jack front, then rear, and back again, just far enough to shim it up with 2 x 4 scrap.

Once it was high enough at both ends I bolted 6 x 6 crossbeams under the feet through the lag-bolt holes. The crossbeams were 4 feet long, so they’d stick out well past the press on both sides and act as stabilizers.

I then went back to slowly raising the press front and back until I could put three 4 x 4 runners front to back lag-bolted to the crossbeams. These were at the outside ends of the crossbeams and smack in the middle. This gave me space to fit the tines of a pallet jack under the pallet I’d now built under the press. It could then be simply and relatively safely moved.

As an aside not directly related to the question at hand, once the press was at my house, it had to be raised approximately a foot up onto a raised concrete platform. The pallet jack wouldn’t quite lift it far enough by itself, so we used jack stands to hold the press partway up, then put 2-thick 2 x 6 plates on the tines of the pallet jack (adding about 3 more inches of height) and raised the press the rest of the way up.

It was then held in place again with the jack stands, the pallet jack lowered a bit, and 1 inch iron pipes were put across the tines under the pallet and the jack raised again until the press was resting on the pipes. It could then be carefully rolled backward onto the platform and then maneuvered into place.

Once the press was in place the bottle jacks and 2 x 4 shims were used again to unbuild the pallet under the press and lower it into final position. The whole thing took be better part of a day but was quite effective.
—
Michael Hurley
Titivilus Press
Memphis, TN

Thanks for the all the advice! I think I know what I need to do.

For my press, I followed the recommendation of another printer who suggested making a substantial wooden skid for the press. Mine is made out of 3 layers of 1/2” plywood, each layer glued and screwed to the other layers and to doubled-up 2x4 skids. My plywood is roughly 32” x 48”, which is conveniently 1/3 of a sheet of plywood. Any hardware store (even the useless big-box ones) with a panel saw (most of them) can cut the plywood and 2x4s for you.

Getting the press on the skid in the first place is a bit complicated… Describing it even more so!

For all of my lifts, I never lift more than 3/4” per lift. I have a stack of 1’ x 1’ x 3/4” plywood squares and a big steel prybar. I work one corner at a time - lift 3/4” with the bar, slide in a shim. Next corner, lift 3/4” next shim. By the time I get back to the corner I started with, the press is 3/4” higher in the air than it was before. Wash-rinse-repeat, and you can lift the press as high as you want.

For my press, I lifted it up on shims enough to slide some 1.5” x 3” x 4’ steel channel under the press, flat side up. I then used my crow bar on the channel, and started putting shims under the ends of the channel until my press was high enough to slide a skid under (the steel channel giving me the required clearance). Lowered the channel onto the skid, lifted the press to clear of the channel, pulled the channel, lowered the press directly onto the skid. Phew.

Now I can use a pallet jack to move it around. I don’t want to discount the usefulness of pipe rollers, but given the choice between pipe rollers and a pallet jack, I’m going with the pallet jack.

10x15movein.jpg

Oh, and on the subject of rotating the press: To get mine into final position, I had to rotate it 90 degrees once it had been raised onto the platform. I accomplished this by angling the pipes the direction I wanted the press to rotate as I laid them under. By angling and pushing, I was able to rotate everything around just fine. I did have more space to maneuver than just a hall and doorway, but the technique may well work for you, too.
—
Michael Hurley
Titivilus Press
Memphis, TN

Keelan, I agree that a pallet jack is much faster, but there are benefits to rolling the press on pipes.

First off, it’s much more stable. Pallet jacks tend to wobble side-to-side quite badly. When you have something that’s already top-heavy and fragile to boot, wobble is definitely not your friend.

Second, Pipes have a built-in braking method. Once the press rolls off one of the pipes it’ll plant itself, even if you’re not touching it. It can be much harder to stop the pallet jack if it gets away from you and you can’t grab the handle anymore.

Lastly, 1” black iron pipe from House Despot or the like is dirt cheap. If you’ve already got (or got access to) a pallet jack, that’s all well and good, but buying one is a substantial investment.
—
Michael Hurley
Titivilus Press
Memphis, TN

Thanks everyone for the comments. My press is now in a garage, and I got myself a bottle jack.

The press I have is a C&P 10x15, and I have a standard 3 ton bottle jack.

The problem now, is that the bottle jack fits under the front of the C&P, but it is too tall to fit under the back of the press (see attached image. The bar right above part 96 is too low!).

Appreciate if any one has other ideas apart from trying to find a jack that fits?

I was thinking of RAISING the bottle jack, and applying pressure at another part of the rear of the machine… But I’m not sure how safe this would be (not sure if other parts of the frame are 100% load bearing).

Thanks!

Screen Shot 2014-10-13 at 9.19.31 pm.png

If I remember correctly, we used a length of 2x4 to span from the top of the bottle jack up to the back shaft (part 69), just beside the throw-off saddle (part 70). It was our thought that raising the press would be more stable if the lift points were closer to the center of gravity of the press. It was probably the least safe of the things we did to move the press, but we were very careful, used a short level to make sure the jack and 2x4 were straight and vertical, and went very slowly. In front, we used a similar technique to move the lift point up to the rocker lock shaft (part 98). I should note that all this I’ve described here and in earlier comments to this thread were to move an 8 x 12 NS, so it was a bit smaller and lighter than your 10 x 15.
—
Michael Hurley
Titivilus Press
Memphis, TN

Thanks Michael! Your method has opened up my imagination to other alternatives. I’ll figure something out :)

Probably too late but *Hey Ho* how about something as simple as an Engineers, Toe jack, originally mechanical, now Hydraulic = Big stable footprint, the “Toe” goes right down to the floor, (before commencing jacking up), + the Toe can be cranked up mechanically via a Ladder rack before the Hydraulics are required.!
30/40/50, years since Full size H/berg cylinders were being lifted onto machinery skates with 4 Toe jacks, OR lifted and transported out of and through factories with variable height and width Rolling Gantries, equipped with almost limitless capacity, Chain Hoists mounted on the top, R.S.J. cross member.
Probably available from your local Tool Hire outlet, and probably cheaper than the Heath Robinson alternatives.???

Thank you all :) Managed to get the press loaded onto a new pallet and squeezed into my office :)

Glad to hear it! Nothing broken? No damaged walls or floors or people? Then you did it right!
—
Michael Hurley
Titivilus Press
Memphis, TN