Gloat--Many thanks to my Johnson...

[Ted Calver]

Bar (also called a Lever Dolly), a couple of 1000lb rated equipment ramps and a few blocks of wood for helping me unload this PM 2442 that jumped into the truck during Woodcrafts last sale and before the big May price hikes.

I watched 4 strong men using a pallet jack wrestle it onto the truck and wondered if I was going to be able to unload it by myself or have to hire professional help.

Someone on another forum had mentioned using a Johnson Bar to move heavy metal. I had never heard of such a critter, but Google had and a search led me to rent ($18/day) the one I used to move this beast. This is an amazingly handy tool, with a 4500lb lift capacity and wheels to boot!!

I used the Johnson and some blocks of wood to lift the pallet enough to slide a heavy duty 4 wheeled furniture dolly under the rear of the lathe, put a sheet of plywood over the ramps and inched it off the truck using the Johnson as front wheels. With ropes tied to the side of the lathe to make sure it couldn't tip sideways and control the rate of descent, it slid off the truck slick as a whistle!

Thanks for looking.
Ted

[Todd Burch]

Way to go Ted - you are a GENIUS! When you don't have more than 2 hands - you have to use your head.

[Jim Becker]

Any wonder that the "mobility kits" that many large machines have use this type of arrangement. Vega bases do, too. You really can lift and move some weight--levers are very, very wonderful things. After all, they used them to build the Pyramids!

[Jim Ketron]

Congrats! Ted looks like your ready to throw some shavings (seen the chainsaw and the blocks of wood ready to go )
My Jet mini lathe came yesterday but my chisels are not here yet That sucks!
Have fun on your new toy
Jim

[John Miliunas]

Congrats on the new PM, Ted and kudo's for your innovative method of unloading something, which otherwise, appears to be quite unwieldy! Good job! Now, quit gloating and start spinning! We need pictures of finished product(s)!

[Dan Mages]

Oh! I thought that someone else was going to have a baby. Nice tool! It will make some great projects.

Dan

[David Rose]

Hey Jim! Were you engineering on that pyramid project?

I have an "old" truck driver friend who use to unload some really unweildy heavy stuff. I mean units that were truck loads in themselves. I called him to help me unload a "big" milling machine. The 3/4 ton truck was waaaay overloaded. I suspect the Bridgeport is well over a ton. The trucker laughed when I told him what I wanted to unload. He brought some pieces of 1" pipe and a crow bar and we found some 2x12s and axle grease to slide it down out of the pickup bed. We had to get onto the ramp, out of the bed (down at least a foot) onto a redwood porch, then over a threshhold then around some display shelving and across the room. It took us about 15 or 20 minutes. If the guy hadn't had to say "Dave, stand back and watch" a few times, he probably could have done it in 5.

David

Any wonder that the "mobility kits" that many large machines have use this type of arrangement. Vega bases do, too. You really can lift and move some weight--levers are very, very wonderful things. After all, they used them to build the Pyramids!

[Brian Hale]

Way to go Ted! Looks like an execellent piece of machinery and i'm sure you'l get many years of pleasure from it.

I've used johnson bars for years and they're wonderful tools. I remember a qoute from years ago that goes something like .... "give me a long enough bar and i'll move the world".

Also nice to see another Ram doing what they do best ...

Brian

[Steven Wilson]

Good for you, a Johnson Bar is a really usefull thing to have around the shop, cheap too! Only $70 for a new one.

[Bart Sharp]

Way to go Ted! Looks like an execellent piece of machinery and i'm sure you'l get many years of pleasure from it.

I've used johnson bars for years and they're wonderful tools. I remember a qoute from years ago that goes something like .... "give me a long enough bar and i'll move the world".

Also nice to see another Ram doing what they do best ...

Brian

I have nothing useful to add (beautiful lathe by the way), but I really like the quote you're talking about. Definitely from years ago, it is generally attributed to Archimedes (the screw guy) around 200 BC. There are different versions depending on translation, but it is along the lines of "Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I will move the world."

Okay, I've geeked out enough for one day...