I am looking for suggestions with regards to getting my equipment down a straight flight of stairs into my new basement. I will try to get some muscle gathered up for the event but am looking for any input that could make it go easier. I will be moving in a bandsaw that weighs about 375lbs, a Unisaw that weighs about 400lbs, shaper 550lbs and jointer planer combo that is also about 550lbs.
Thanks in advance,
Blair
First step, figure out if you can take the various machines into smaller pieces.
When I moved my 6" jointer into the basement, the sheetmetal base (with the motor installed) went as one piece, the fence assembly went as another, and the main table assembly went as a third (this was the only piece I needed help carrying).
My 12" bandsaw went in two pieces (stand w/ motor, and the saw itself).
The drill press went in several pieces (base/column, table, head).
If you're going down a flight of basement stairs, I think this is the most logical thing you can do. Let's say you and a burly friend weigh
400 lbs together. Add 550 lbs of machine, and you've got half a ton of live load. Are you even sure your basement stairs can support that much?A pipe frame and chain fall comes to mind.
Start by being thankful that you are not fighting gravity!! Then slide the machines either on a sled as described earlier or on 2x10s. Use a good rope, (1/2 " nylon comes to mind) tie the machines off well. (Re read the Boy Scout handbook?) You should not have anyone underneath the load when you slide it in place.
You can control the slide using a mountain climbing technique called belaying, (similar to rappelling except you lower someone else instead of yourself). Wrap the rope around a stationary smooth round object a few times. The friction will slow the load.
I have installed several machines (South Bend and Oliver lathes, a 14" bandsaw, a 6" jointer, several workbenches from a school sale, and most recently a cast iron boiler/furnace) in my basement by myself using this method. In my case I ran a couple of turns around a trailer hitch ball served as a belay point for most of them. Once in the bsement a hand truck or flat dolly becomes valuable.
There is a special kind of handtruck designed to go down stairs with heavy loads. It is hard to describe, but it has two rubber tractor-like belts, one behind each wheel of the handtruck. When you run a standard handtruck down stairs, as the wheels leave the end of a tread they drop down to the next tread. With this thing, the tractor belts ride the nose of the tread. I've seen 500 lb classified safes moved down stairs with this type of truck, two guys. You should be able to rent one of these, maybe from a U-haul place.
This being said, a friend and I just brought in my new Dewalt TS -- only
275 pounds versus your stuff. We used my handtruck that has pneumatic tires that are larger than the standard hard rubber tires. The saw bounced a bit at each stair, but not much.BTW, as someone else said, I would also suggest checking the stairs for their ability to carry the load. Of course, it should be able to, but who put in the new stairs?
'Zactly!!! After all, I want something there to cushion the fall of the saw if it gets away from you!
Really, if done slowly and with good judgment about the machine being secure on the sled, there is little danger/risk. If the load gets so heavy that there is doubt, it is time to be disassembling something.
-- Jim in NC
I would be more worried about to get the machines back up the stairs.... :)
He's talking about:
If you didn't put it on a sled, how would you do it?
-- Jim in NC
Seems I am out voted on this one.
Few things you can make with wood will be as heavy as a honkin big ole cast iron piece of equipment. Some people never make anything larger than a coffee table.
-- Jim in NC
This is how I moved a Jet XActa saw into my basement:
Calculation beforehand showed that, due to the slope of the stairs, about 60% of the weight would rest on the stairs, and 40% would be loaded onto the rope. The use of a movable pulley meant that my son had to hold back only half of the load on the rope (20% of the total), with the other half being loaded onto the 4x4. So the stairs took a load of some 410 pounts (60% of the saw, plus
100% of me), the doorposts about 40 each, and my son about 80. He said it was pretty easy.Note that the total load on the stairs was about the same as that of two large adults at once. Not a big deal.
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)
Before you go putting this stuff down the stairs, make sure that your stairs are built to handle that kind of load. A failure could ruin your whole day. If your stairs have the vertical backboard supporting each stair you will probably be ok. If it is open, I'd do a few calculations before I tried any of these, especially the heavy ones.
I don't have my manual handy, or I'd remember that your allowable stress would be halved due to impact loading, and that your worst case moment would be if you managed to drop the piece onto the stair from some height. If you assume 550 pounds placed in the center of a 3' wide stair without a center stringer or vertical backboards, then you will just exceed the allowable bending strength of a 2x12. If the stairs are 1" thick, then you manage to go over by a factor of 4. If you dropped the load even from a small height, then you will not have to worry about getting the machinery to the basement. You'll even have a woodworking project.
The sled idea sounds better because it will redistribute the load over several stairs. My question is what you will use to hold everything back.
550 # has a lot of potential energy, and as it goes kinetic it will require a serious beam to tie off the tackle to. Again, you could have another woodworking project.While you are at it, very seriously consider the loading of the joists you are dragging this stuff over to get to the stairs. I'm assuming that you don't have the luxury of going across concrete until you get to the stairs. You could find some serious deflection at those weights. Gathering everything on the wood floor at the top of the staircase would not be a good idea.
Reduce the size of the equipment as much as possible. Take things down in as small a size as possible, with the equipment laying down on its side. Tumbing band saws don't look so good. You may have to make yourself a slide to put on top of the stairs, down which a sled carrying the equipment should be placed. Make the slide of 2xwhatevers placed side by side, or a few sheets of thick plywood with some 2x's to support them, with lots of support from the stairs. Putting a little sandpaper under the sled might slow it down a bit. Go slowly. A few inches per second is fast. A foot per second is out of control. Use a good block and tackle, with several shives to get a very high leverage. Figure that you can control 50# easily, so you will need 5 shives on each end. This is not the project to demonstrate how strong you are. Save that for the beer cans after the whole thing is done. Get a few friends, and have one or two in charge of nothing but watching and making sure things are going right.
One of the easier methods is to convince your SWMBO that her kitchen would do better in the basement, and that your woodshop would look better on the upper floor, after you reinforce the beams. This particular argument is fraught with danger also. There are many sharp objects that would have to be transferred in that case. Some might slip.
Michael
Wow. "Oops, sorry Dad, there was this cute girl from the neighborhood walking by outside and I got distracted. Are you OK? Dad? Dad?"
:)
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.