Colchester lathe
 

There is a lathe up for auction near me and I was wondering if anyone has moved a lathe and how did you go about it. The weight is approximately 1500 lbs.
Thanks

I know some guys have jacked them up and bolted the legs down to wooden skids. Then moved the lathe with a flat bed trailer, ramp and rollers or with a rollback tow truck and the winch on board.

Matt

move
 

hi Paul

If you mean move a lathe from a factory/vendor to your home/shed then use a professional with a hiab truck crane . Lathes are top heavy items and they have a nasty habit of falling over very easily. You sometimes see a lathe with broken handles and its easy to see why.... its fallen over at some time.

If you mean move the lathe from your driveway into your shed , then it depends on the type of ground you have . If you are moving over a concrete surface , its relatively easy job using lengths of pipe underneath the lathe and a chain block to pull it along. If its an older vintage Colchester it may have the cast legs at each end, if that's the situation then its not an easy job in any case.

Ropes or slings under the bed, and an engine crane. You will likely need a larger engine crane than those chinese ones you see everywhere these days.

Once in position, you will want the best level you can find to level out both ends of the bed. I picked up a digital level that has proven to be very accurate, giving readouts down to .05 of a degree.