Machine Acquisition
"Mom, he followed me home, can I keep him?"
Marty found this machine in Tucson and we felt it would be a good upgrade from the little Dyna DM300. Both of the machines are super well built, with nice heavy castings and well thought out designs.
Always buy a big machine from a guy that owns a forklift!! Getting it out of the building was a bit of a trick as there was a 12" difference between the slab and the ground. We dollied it to the door with a pallet jack and then grabbed it with the forklift.
You can never be too rich or have too many tie down straps. The drop deck trailer cost $175 for a full day (return the next morning) and made the job safe and simple. We ultimately found enough hard points on the machine to tie it down. The machine needed to sit up on some cribbing as we could not get the pallet jack underneath. Surprisingly the machine did not shift at all on the trip back to the valley.
We did a pit stop for some Burgers near the I-8 intersection and checked the load, nothing shifted! Here is the machine in the warehouse at work where it will spend a few months before hauling it home The plan is to video document the fact that the original controls work so the parts I take off can be sold. I will be removing and selling the X & Z motors, the control panel, display unit and the entire electrical cabinet with all the spindle and servo drives.
4/14/2022
Marty and I loaded up the machine in his squatting trailer and hauled it home April 10th. We used skates to roll it in and out of the trailer and a pallet jack to maneuver it when not in the trailer. I have it placed so the "bump" on the back of the cabinet that covers the X Axis drive just clears the garage door. Access to the back will require the garage door to be open but that access is only needed during the modification. Access to the end opposite of the spindle drive is possible because I left the lathe about 20" from the garage wall.