Hello all,
My wife and I are likely moving to a new home and that home will afford me a substantially larger shop footprint in the basement. That’s the good news.
The flip side is that access to the basement is either via an internal narrow staircase or a standard width (~30″) bulkhead from the backyard, down about a have dozen steps.
I currently have 3hp Sawstop, 14” Grizzly bandsaw, Powermatic 3520c lathe (750 lbs), 6” Delta Jointer and 12” Parks planer (~300 lbs).
So, what recommendations/advice do you have regarding getting the very heavy equipment down into the basement via the
bulkhead? Yes, I can take the tools down in pieces, but even doing that there are pieces like the main table saw cabinet that are still quite heavy and bulky.
I was thinking about laying plywood on the steps, but can’t see a way to keep the tools from hurtling down the ramp and I don’t have big body-builder friends. So how do I lower them down safely and unharmed?
Any and all advice is gratefully accepted,
Erick
Replies
I did a similar move years ago. Disassemble the tools as much as you can an have the movers take care of them. If you are not using movers, consider hiring some just for your shop. I also outlined the new floor with tape, so they knew where to put everything. Congrats on the new shop!
Congratulations on expanding your shop footprint. Local movers have people with strength, equipment, expertise and experience moving heavy items into tight spaces. They would be my first choice. Breaking heavy equipment into more manageable pieces, weight-wise and size-wise before you or the movers make the attempt would be helpful. You could move some them yourself and leave the more troublesome pieces for the movers. Reassembly would give you a chance to make sure your tools are well adjusted in their new home. Consider mobilizing the tools, it will make it easier to position them to your liking.
Similar situation here. I've found that weight is a factor, but moreso some machines are just awkward to move because of the lack of places to get purchase or weight distribution.
In my experience:
- table saw: take off the wings and rails. Main saw section isn't too bad. It's relatively balanced and there are good places to hold.
- jointer: take jointer off the base. Leave wings on and carry with two people or take wings off and carry solo. This one isn't bad.
- band saw: awkward as all get out. Good luck.
- planer: cinch two long 2x4s down between the cutterhead and table and use those as carry handles.
- lathe: never moved one. It sounds heavy. Good luck :-)
First off, it is clear that you will need help. Not having it is dangerous.
The hardest one is the lathe. I've moved a Powermatic #90 (also heavy) into our shop, without the stair problem. Remove the tailstock and toolrest (and the headstock if easy) and remove the legs from the bed. Top-heavy machines are dangerous! You can use plywood or 2x construction lumber for the skid. For the lathe bed, you could make a longer ramp that actually goes into the basement, as long as you leave enough clearance for the lathe to go thru the opening. This would get you a less steep ramp, and further into the basement. I used wooden rollers to move the bed once on the flat floor. You can use 2x blocks and a lever to block the bed up slowly until you can get the legs back on. I would lean toward 2x8 blocks, each screwed to the previous one, and possibly braced between the two stacks to keep everything stable. Or a lot of muscle might be able to get it in the air directly.
Table saw: take off the wings, bars, fence. Generally, the top is also easily removable, with only 4 bolts to remove. You will need to readjust the top when you reattach it to make the miter slots parallel to the blade. If the motor is easily removable, take it out also. At that point, 2 or 4 people can carry it down the stairs.
Jointer: dismantle as much as needed. Carry it down.
I concur with the idea of 2 2x4s in the planer. Four people can then carry it down the stairs.
Bandsaw: remove the wheels, guards, and possibly the motor. If it is like my 14" Delta, 2 people can then carry it pretty easily.
So the only thing I would use a ramp for is the lathe bed. If you have a come-along, you can make an attachment point out past the end of the ramp (essentially a ramp extension) and use that to attach your come-along. Then lower it a click at a time. Or might there be a handy tree in the yard? I'm not even sure it would be necessary; depends on the balance between gravity and friction between the bed and the ramp. However, this is not easy to ascertain in advance; caution and safety remain important!
I have the same setup. 5 or 6 steps into the basement from the back yard. I load a tool, broken down, into my pickup and back it close to the bulkhead. Remove the tailgate and slide it down a ramp into the cellar. A couple of things I had one friend help.
There's enough resistance on the ramp to keep things from sliding out of control. It wasn't an issue for me.
Remove all cast iron tops. Don't let anyone lift a heavy machine by the cast iron, it can snap. You'll need to adjust and align everything anyway, so just take it off.
If you are too worried, just hire someone.
Some thick necked guys named Gunter! Oh, and a stair climbing handtruck ,a big one! rent one or buy one. If you have a shop that is accessed by stairs it's probably worth your while to own one.
I too had to set up a basement shop with only interior stairs access and I can attest it is no easy task and definitely under no circumstances a one man job. I fortunately had two 6'4"+ 220lb footballer players for sons plus a similar sized son-in-law to help me, I'm 6'3" 240 lbs myself and I will tell you it was everything we could do to muscle a Delta Unisaw, Laguna 18BX bandsaw, Grizzly 12" planer/jointer, Delta drill press and a Laguna dust collector down those stairs. Putting plywood on the stairs is a bad idea IMO and without the proper help my suggestion is hire a pro who knows how to handle heavy equipment it will be less than repairing damaged machines or worse if major injuries result.
I'm pretty sure Mark Spagnuolo (the Wood Whisperer) has talked about this on his blog, Youtube channel, or podcast, I can't remember which. He's moved his shop around several times. I can't find a particular reference, but I believe he said he hired a moving company that specializes in commercial equipment moving. These guys move restaurants and factories and other unusual and heavy items. Furniture movers may balk at especially heavy equipment moves.
I'm in my mid-50s. I'd pay someone to move it along these lines.
Also, with my age, if I had a shop that required stairs, I'd also think about putting something in so that easy for me to get in and out of as well as furniture. You may be young enough where this isn't yet a concern.
I'm either in my last home or second to last home and aging in place (as my grandparents and parents did) is often on my mind.
If you have a ramp it would be pretty simple to just use a come-along or block and tackle to let the machines slide down the ramp.
Tie it off to a tree of trucks trailer hitch. Just something secure.
I recently hired a piano moving company with 3 very strong and experienced men to move a 600 lb Hammer A3-31 jointer-planer successfully down basement stairs. It helped that it was still bolted to the shipping pallet. I also reinforced the stairs to handle the load. Gravity helped a lot.
I saved the pallet but really have no idea how it is ever going to come out of the basement without some type winch.
I also had a Hammer A3-31 plus a MiniMax MM16 bandsaw to move down to the basement via the bulkhead stairs. To cut the angle of the slope I used a couple 2 x 12 x 12 to form the ramp with some 4x4 bracing underneath about midway. The ramp extended about 3' into the basement. I measured to make sure I still had enough clearance to the header.
I used the shipping pallet the A3 came on but added cheap lawnmower wheels with all-thread for axles. I only had my son to help so I bought an electric winch that I attached to my truck trailer hitch. I bolted a length of chain to the pallet at two spots for the hookup point.
It took some muscle to get the pallet started but once we got it angled down the ramp, gravity and the winch took over. The winch cable wasn't long enough so I had to do it in two steps: lowered it far enough to brace the pallet using a 4x4 across the doorway, unhooked and retracted the winch, then attached another length of chain to the winch and lowered the rest of the way. My son worked the winch from above, I kept an eye on things from below. Worked like a charm.
Used the pallet again to lower the bandsaw in the same manner. We laid the bandsaw on its back and strapped it to the pallet. The MM16 has a nice base to keep it stable on the pallet.
A few years later I used the same method to bring the machines up from the basement. Since gravity is not your friend in this case I had to adjust attachment points and truck position so the winch cable did not catch on anything.
I too have a basement shop and when I bought my planer and my saw stop the company gave me the name of a safe mover. He had special dollies that were not only made to move heavy safes but had a special mechanism to lower the machinery to each step as he worked his way down.
Nothing had to be dismantled in my situation. Might be worth inquiring to a few local safe movers and I think you would find they have moved many a piece of woodworking equipment..
Yes, this is the exact approach I took when moving my shop a few years ago. In the Cincinnati area it is "Pete's Safe and Vault Moving".
I think there are links on YouTube worth looking at.
I found an online broker for in-home moves: https://www.movinglabor.com/ (no conflict). They found a local company who sent two guys who knew how to move things (and had insurance) for 4 hours for a reasonable price. They got my new sawstop downstairs, my old saw upstairs, moved an old tv out of the basement, and even lifted the sawstop onto the base and helped assemble the wings. Without moving skill, strength, and strong friends unafraid of injury, this was the way to go for me. Enjoy the space!
All great ideas everyone - thank you !!
We moved 4 years ago. I broke most of the stuff down into smaller pieces. The delta lathe was heaviest. I removed the tailstock, motor, headstock and the bed could be managed by 2 people (off the wood table).
For the table saw, I removed the wings, rails and motor, but it is not as large as a Sawstop.
I was fortunate; they only broke the belt cover on the lathe, crushed a number of boxes. What really pissed me off was that they took a bundle of veneers that was shrink wrapped to a piece of plywood and clearly marked "fragile" and dropped it on the floor and proceeded to walk all over it. Also 2 bundles of small moldings that altogether added up to some serious $, and they walked all over them.
But the one that almost drove me to homicide was a round metal patio table that I had just de-rusted and carefully painted - the idiot kid was rolling it down the new (rough) concrete sidewalk... talking on his cell phone. common sense is no longer common.
It's hard for me to imagine how this can be moved at all.
I had the same issue where my shop was in the basement of a 1939 Bungalow. I hired a company that moves safes. They had all the equipment to haul the heaviest of the tools.
Reading posts like this makes me grateful that I have a garage shop and can have equipment loaded off a truck directly into the shop. Also I can open the garage door for clearance for long boards on the tablesaw, bandsaw, and planer. Having the door there means you can do a much more efficient layout of major tools than in a basement shop of equivalent size. The table saw can occupy a much smaller footprint, for one.
Having moved the same kind of machinery into a basement, and now more recently moving it all out, I also have had been super happy that I called a rigger (machinery/safe/vault mover). Funny too how many of us with this suggestion have had to move the A3-31!! They've seen it all before, have some specialized tools and if anything goes wrong...theyre insured. They may be willing to offer you a better deal (this has been my experience) if you work around their usual clients --banks and jewelers often require their safes be moved/delivered first thing in the morning. The first time I used a rigger was to move an 600lb Hammer A3-31 jointer/plainter into the then basement shop...for less than what I gave the state in sales tax on the tool...the riggers built a gantry crane, lowered the tool (still on the pallet) down through the bilco doors, and brought the euro sized pallet jack required to get the tool off the pallet. Took them less than an hour.
BTW all the comments saying to save the pallet are correct! Was super helpful to have the A3-31's special pallet and brackets to load it back onto for the trip out of the basement (last year I moved to an above ground dedicated shop). For the move out, I actually removed the stair case entirely. The riggers craned everything up the empty shaft and then I installed new steel stair stringers and pressure treated treads...a future owner will be greatful for the ability to remove the treads and put them back as needed.
I have moved basement shops a number of times, though my current shop is above ground in a separate building. I, too, have a Park's planer, an 8 in. Powermatic Jointer and a 3 hp Unisaw. I hired movers and they did it without hurting themselves or my equipment. One of the staircases was narrow interior. I have a 3 hp Jet lathe in my above ground shop which I moved in myself by disassembling it. I have also had a 400 lb. gun safe moved into my basement by a safe mover. They have electirc dollies that actually move themselves down the steps which would work for the table saw and the planer, but probably not the jointer.
I think it is better to seek the help of professionals to be sure that your equipment will remain intact and unharmed. There are quite a few companies that help with moving. They move absolutely any bulky things. I'm sure they will do an excellent job with the equipment too. I used the service https://a-plus-moving.com/ when I moved to another city. They moved all my furniture, and no one thing was damaged. I understand that you have a slightly different situation with your equipment because you are not moving far away as I did. However, your problem can be solved by the movers.
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