Moving a shop

[David Keast]

My main concern with other people (eg removers) moving specialised machines etc. is making sure them know what they can use to get hold of when lifting, eg not handwheels, sliding tables etc. I've no experience of moving a woodworking shop, but experience of moving a lot of electronic equipment is that it is better not packed. It is easy to throw an anonymous cardboard or wooden box into the back of a truck, not many people are willing to do the same with a television or a computer. I think the same would go for machines.

[Josh Bowman]

I used one of these:

and one of these:

and some of these:

No strained back, stopped and thought a few minutes before I every tried to muscle my stuff, all went very well.

[fred marcuson]

the first question , how far are you moving ??
i moved my shop an others short distances (across town).
if it is a long distance , spend the time and crate up your large tools !
break them down for easier handling . itemize everything in every crate .
put 'shock markers' and'tilt indicators ' on the crates ...
keep a record of the materials cost for the crating , it is tax deductible (or at least it was ) .

[Jim Matthews]

+1 on PODS and the engine hoist.

I recommend removing motors, in heavier machines - if that is possible.
Movers care about time, not boxes. If you pack the POD yourself, or hire a day crew, you can take your time.

This is also an opportunity for you to pare down to the tools you regularly use to free space in the new shop.

[Chris Kennedy]

I moved my shop quite a distance with movers and then once by myself locally. Honestly, I would go with movers again. I would move things out of the basement out of concern for my tools, my stairwell walls, and the movers' health. They are going to brute force things out, and something or someone could easily be damaged. But after that, I would trust them to get them into the truck and back out on the other hand.

I doubt they will move things into your new basement. Usually most moving companies state they are only responsible for moving items to a reasonable location. Pack your boxes too heavy and you will find them all nicely stacked in your living room. I think with tools, if there is a garage at your new place, they will them there and call it good. Also, I would highly recommend you have them pack your fragile items that you cannot move yourself. If you pack something and it breaks in transit, you have little to no recourse. If they pack it and break it, you have some recourse.

Cheers,

Chris

[David Thompson 27577]

Take pictures of all your stuff. Pack any hand tools that are inherently valuable (planes, squares, rules, etc) so that they are impervious to damage in transit. Then let the movers handle the weight. No sense in pulling your back out, when others can do that for you.

[Greg Book]

Thanks for all the information. We're planning to move about 90 miles, and were definitely having movers move everything in the house at once. Unfortunately, I'll probably be started the new job before we close on a new house, so everything will need to be packed and ready to go before I start. I think the safest thing is to bring the pieces of the heavy machinery into the garage and then let the movers just push it into the truck.

Someone mentioned wanting to see pictures of the shop since it's so small. I just measured it and its actually 10'6" x 17'6". Vertical is the key. Everything can be stacked on top of something else. I've found that the planer fits nicely below the miter saw. There is also a full size mattress set in the corner, which I'll leave for the movers to move. I think the bench will stay at the old house, since its just 2x4s, but I may disassemble it and take the bolts/lag screws with me.

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[Greg Book]

I'm still moving the shop, but it turns out it'll be into storage first. We couldn't decide on a house, so we'll rent an apartment for a few months in the new city before going for a house. There will hopefully be a space for the new shop in the new house, but in the meantime, I need to move the whole shop into storage. This is not a climate controlled storage unit, and it'll be stored in CT from October through at least January.

I think I'm good for moving the equipment out of the basement, but any tips for storing equipment in non-climate controlled environment in the winter?

[Jerome Hanby]

The cosmoline with which many new power tools arrive covered seems to do a good job. Not sure where to buy it...

[Carl Beckett]

Hi Greg,

First - good luck with your move (I have moved my shop several times now). One of my moves included a temporary storage for my shop in your area (Boston - although I enjoy Max's when in West Hartford). Looking at your pictures doesnt frighten me - you will be able to move this pretty easily. Some thoughts:

If you pack and it breaks, your problem. If they pack it and it breaks, movers problem (its an insurance claim process - the actual mover guys generally dont care that much - they just want to get done, go home, watch the game and have a beer)

Bring water/gatorade/snacks for the movers. Its not a requirement - just a show of good will. In fact, a couple of moves I tipped everyone a $20 UPFRONT. Cost me some $$ - but they did a lot of extra effort for that $20.

Assume something will get broken. Dont wig. Take lots of before pictures, and after pictures. Especially the outside of the boxes that show exterior damage, then the inside contents.

An unheated storage in New England in the winter is worth protecting. I use Boshield. The hand planes, chisels, etc - I wrap in rags with WD-40 sprayed on them.

Rent storage as close to your new place as possible. Put the pieces into the storage in reverse order that you think you will take them out. That way, if you dont have the time you wanted to setup your new shop you can do a little at a time.

Take everything. Even the ratty old useless bench. Again, you might not have the time to build a new one (plenty of other stuff to do), so it could turn out that you want it. If nothing else, you can use it as a second bench for a while since it sounds like you will have more space.

If it were long haul move or overseas, I would consider just selling some items. But 90 miles is no biggie. Heck, in the limit you could work out a rent deal with the new owners of your house and just leave it all there (unlikely, but just being creative here). But consider the possibility that you know you will want a different machine at the new place since you have more space, and go ahead and unload the current machine now and have the new one delivered there. Dont even have to move it that way.

Better you than me - I 'dislike' moving....

[Ryan Mooney]

+1 on the engine hoist/crane in general. Not usually a huge fan of HF but they have one thats only $160 if you have a 20% coupon and seems to work just fine - definitely saved the heck out of my back.

Agree generally with disassemble what you can, although I don't see much on your specific list that would likely benefit a lot from taking apart (possibly remove the tables on the bandsaw and dp to remove temptation to lift by them ). Basically look at it and try to figure out what the worst case grab, carry, throw and work to protect against that.

If I was in your shoes I would get everything up to the garage. Build some simple pallets under the major pieces (TS, Jointer, CNC maybe?) what are just wider than the widest point and bolt/screw the machines down to those - they have the advantage of providing a "stand off" so that they aren't slopping around into other stuff. Pack the rest into boxes padding or screwed together + padded crates if its a real valuable piece. Make a good list of all of the tools and relative value, take good pictures of all sides of every piece before packing them up so that when they get dinged up you can say "see before and after".

[Matt Day]

I've moved my shop twice in the past year and a half, from VA to UT, and from UT to OH. The first move I did myself with friends. That time we actually went down steps from my shop to the truck (sloped backyard from the basement), and the second time it was up steps and by movers.

Are you packing the boxes or are the movers coming into your house and packing your stuff for you? As someone mentioned, whatever you pack is your problem if it breaks.

On my last move we had movers that would pack the boxes and move them to the truck. One day the boxers showed up, and the next the movers showed up. I didn't want them packing up my tools (paranoia I guess), so I did everything I could. This meant putting all the little stuff into small shoe box size boxes that the movers could then put into larger boxes. For the tools, I disassembled them as much as I could. For instance, I took the uppor portion of my 14" BS apart, I removed the TS wings and motor cover, I removed my planer from my flip top stand, I disassembled my 1.5 HP DC, I took apart my lathe, and I separated the bed from the base of my 8" jointer. I packed the smaller parts myself so I knew where the parts would be when I went to put it all back together.

I hope your movers are better than mine - they were a lot more brawn (sp?) than brain. They were 250# + Tongans, and one guy was the size of an NFL lineman. I was there the whole time and had to make many suggestions on how to carry and move things. On my jointer bed, it took 4 guys my size to wrestle it around, and it took 2 of them to heave it overhead and put it out a window - given that they almost got crushed during the lift and I was ready to call 911. So I suggest you do your best to be there and supervise because likely they don't know squat about caring for large tools. And don't help, or you could take responsibility. The guys who unloaded on this end were great though - younger college age guys who took direction well and did a great job - and earned a good tip!

Good luck and PM me if you have any questions.

[Steve Kohn]

Not to derail this thread but is there a weight limit on what you can put into a POD? And how do you secure the tools inside the POD so they don't shift during transit?

[Jerome Hanby]

Not sure on the weight, but in the `16' POD currently in my driveway there are tie-offs all around the bottom of the walls you can use to lash things into place.

Not to derail this thread but is there a weight limit on what you can put into a POD? And how do you secure the tools inside the POD so they don't shift during transit?

[Ryan Hellmer]

I will jump on board with leaving it to the movers. The only tools that I see are at any real risk would be the jointer and bandsaw. Pictures of the condition before are always a good idea and I would try to be there to "assist" the movers with loading, at least for the jointer and bandsaw so that they don't lift things by the tables. You could even remove the BS table to further insure yourself against breaking the trunions. I don't know if this will sound snooty or rude, I hope not, but your stuff is not so huge as to require "riggers" and is mostly replaceable, including parts (you can buy new trunnions from gizzly for pretty cheap). If you had a 1600 lb 60 yr old jointer, that'd be another story. I've moved my shop twice in the last 5 years by myself, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're really into that sort of stuff.

Ryan