The misadventures of a Wells-Index 860C

[ScrapMetal]

(05-19-2012, 08:24 AM)Highpower Wrote: Yes, just a normal pipe fitting on the inlet to the regulator. The blue hose is the air supply from my compressor.

That is a very nice mill Ron. Congrats. You are lucky though to be able to rent any type of forklift. They won't anything like that around here to an individual. Companies only.

Maybe it's the gray hair, they think I know what I'm doing. They'll pretty much let me use anything I lay down the money for.

Thanks on the regulator guys. Mine, of course, is the same as I confirmed earlier today.

That takes me to what I was up to today...

First a nice shot of the "telehandler" with my truck and mill in the background.



This first shot is of my "shop". Told you it was small. I pulled all the machines out and put them in the parking lot. Here I've got my lathe rigged up so I can drag it to the door and get the forks under it.



Pulled the mill up and am getting ready to "rig" it. I planned to lift the mill up, one end at a time and place the straps underneath. I used the bolt slots to keep the straps from moving.



Once that was done. I put another strap around the vertical straps/turret to make sure the mill couldn't shift out of the straps. Now I'm getting ready to do the nasty.



Scary as hell! Pulled the trailer out from beneath, grabbed the camera, and took a quick shot. Hightailed it back to the telehandler. Darn, just noticed! My new mill clashes with my shaper.



Safely on the ground.



Conditions were such that I had to rush the rest of the job. It was getting close to evening and there was some rain on the way so no pics of the rest of the operation.

From here I lifted the mill back up and placed 2"x4" lumber under the front and rear edges. After setting the mill on them I would have enough room to get the forks underneath.

I spent quite a bit of time (too much) trying to remove the verical head and in the process discovered that I could just rotate it a full 90 degrees so it was level with the top slide. Sweet! Didn't have to remove it after all.

Things got a little "exciting" as I discovered just how easily the mill slips on the smooth metal forks. After I got my heart re-started and did some extra rigging I was able to slowly drive the telehandler all the way in to the back of the space, deftly avoiding my furnace even. Had a bit of a time getting the mill off the forks but got it done.

It is now raining hard and very dark outside. All my machines are still out in the parking lot. I quickly (probably too quickly) went and picked up my lathe with the telehandler. Had a couple of miscues and almost lost it a couple of times. Hey, it was dark and wet with limited visibility! Heard some wood crunching so the crappy old wood frame it sits on may need to be replaced. I didn't have time to take stock of things as I needed to pack it in for the night.

As it is I left my shaper and LeBlond grinder sitting out in parking lot with trash bags over the parts I really don't want to get wet. The "wet" isn't too upsetting as I was planning on hitting them both with the power washer while they were out. I just don't like leaving them out in the lot all night even though it's a "good" neighborhood. I'm hoping that the rain keeps most riff-raff and kids in doors tonight. I'll take things up again first thing in the morning if the weather is better.

I'll also take some pics of the mill in the back of the "shop" for you guys. I still have lots to do with getting it turned the right way as well as figuring out how I'm going to reconfigure everything.

More to come...

-Ron