Getting 15" planer into basement - It was scary!!

[Scott Baer]

It was the Griz g0453z. Everything from the base, up. Not sure how heavy. The total weight is listed at 655 lbs. We took the top off the base, but didn't want to mess with breaking it down any furth. The base and table extentions might weitgh.. oh.. maybe 200 lbs, tops. Another 20 lbs or so for misc parts and stuff. That makes the main unit somewhere around 425 pounds? Thant's a lot for two mid-life year olds! (me and my friiend)

we needed to get this thing down into my basement and all we had was a basic dolly and no outside access.

here are a couple pics. I have more, but the quality is terrible. that's what happens when you ask the wife to take pics; of course she grabs her cell instead of the camera.

My freind is at the top of the stairs and I am on the stairs with the planer.

[Lee Schierer]

Good use of the equipment at hand. If no one got hurt then it was a safe move.

Just wait until you want to bring it back up........:eek:

[Neil Bosdet]

Yikes! Reminds me of getting my old jointer out of my pick up truck. Weighed 1600 lbs. Slid it off on a 8 ft piece of 2" oak and 6 very nervous guys.

Bet when you sell the house it will be advertised "with planer!"

[Jeffrey Makiel]

This is the biggest reason why I have not upgraded my equipment. I'm glad it worked out well.
Jeff :)

[Eric DeSilva]

I've recently started wondering if I could get a 15" 453 down my stairs into my basement... While I do have an exterior stairwell, it goes down to a landing that isn't particularly wide, and the door opens in off the side--I'd have to make a turn. So I'm really curious--dimensionally speaking, how big was the heavy part you wrestled down the stairs?

[Greg Book]

That was the exact same method I used to get my 260lb table saw into the basement. One step at a time, on top of a handtruck. My back and shoulders were extremely sore the next day.

I did have the following conversation with myself as I attempted the process.

Standing at the top of the steps with 200lbs balanced on a tiny hand truck...
Me2: "Greg, this is a really bad idea and you should not do this"
Me: "Yeah, but how else will I get it into the basement?"

After dropping the handtruck wheels onto the top step...
Me: "Well, I can't get it back up the stairs, may as well continue"
Me2: "Yeah, you really have no choice at this point"

By the second step...
Me: "Hmmm. This may fall and go right through the basement wall. I wonder how much that would cost to fix."
Me2: "There's really no way out of this situation. You won't be able to do laundry if you leave this on the stairs"

Eventually I got the saw into the basement and it did not crash through the basement wall. But it was a very scary evening.

[Scott Baer]

approx 30 x 25 x 25 (w x l x h).

I will say, I'm not the timid type, and I almost bagged it until I got some appropriate planning and tools on site. 400+ lbs doesn't sound that heavy until you start movin it around and consider how your gonna manhandle it down the stairs with two average guys. although, I dont think more manpower would have helped. There is only so much weight the stairs can take and not much room for humans. The last thing you wanna do is be downstream if things dont work out well.

If I would have had the time to engineer something, a couple 2x4s and a come-a-long would probably be sufficiant.

[Scott Baer]

HA!!! I had very similar conversations with myself

[David Castor]

I'm sure your wife was happy you were able to get it out of the kitchen. Congrats.

[Dewayne Reding]

Reminds me of the night I took about 300 pounds of cabinet saw downstairs with my wife and daughter. I was on the downstairs side "because I am considerate like that" :) I think my exact words were...... " no pressure, but if you decide to let go of the dolly I will probably die".

I have waaay too much life insurance to be saying things like that.

[Mike Ruggeri]

Oh, I remember those days.... In my old house I had to do the same thing with my 15inch planer. The planer was a bear and made the cabinet saw or shaper feel light. After getting it down there, my father reminded me that moving it out some day will be a much harder task. Well, three years later we moved and me, my BIL and my sister pulled the thing up and out - not fun. We were all glad I decided to use the garage as a shop in the new house so it was just a matter of backing the truck up and rolling it down the ramp.

[Philip Rodriquez]

First, let me say that I have a 1000 SF garage that still fits 2 cars! As a result, all of my tools are in the garage.

Second, call a "safe mover." They have specialized equipment and they are pretty cheap!

[Victor Robinson]

Glad you got it done safely Scott. I would have been freaking out.

[glenn bradley]

Good job guys. You're gonna love that thing.

[george wilson]

You guys DO BE CAREFUL about how strong your stairs are. The notches cut out of the side timbers to take the treads on many stairs leave precious little wood for supporting weight. If I had to take something heavy down my stairs,I'd certainly securely nail some extra 2x4's vertically from the outside of the timbers down to the floor. Of course,my stairs aren't finished in like these in the picture. Just check out your stairs first.

[Eric DeSilva]

Thanks. I can appreciate exactly what you are talking about. I moved a Bridgewood floorstanding mortiser (450#) with one other person, and that was no fun. That said, an appliance dolly with the stair belts on it (they can help control how fast it goes down a step) is a great thing...

[John Morrison60]

I moved a Minimax J/P into my basement shop.
Used an outside stairwell, a home made sled on a guide timber. (and 3, 25 year old friends)
When I needed to move a c/l Woodmaster sander in, I got 2 men and a truck. best $60 I ever spent.

Good that you got it in OK, You will love that planer.

John

[Jaze Derr]

Where there's a will, there's a way!

Glad it made it safe and sound.

But...need more clamps! :)

[John M Bailey]

I'm just noticing that your wife took more pictures of your friend than she did of you!

[Gary Herrmann]

This is why we're never moving. I've got 6 500+ lb tools in the basement. After the first 2 or 3, I decided it was worth it to hire movers. The last one was over 600lbs. I didn't like the way the stairs felt on that one.

Glad you got it down without anyone getting hurt.

[Mike Cruz]

Eric, wouldda been fun gettin' a 20 incher down there, huh? :D

[Bryan Rocker]

If you think gett'em down the stairs is fun wait til its time to reverse the process. Trust when I say it is WAY worth it to call a safe mover......best $200 I ever spent........move an X-5 table saw and jet 20" planer out of the basement.......

[John Cavanaugh]

I assume you tested it before you brought it down the stairs. :-) Otherwise Im sure I would have heard the screaming of 4 letter words all the way here in California...

[Mike Cutler]

Nice move!
Kind of the same way to get a furnace into the basement. There just isn't an easy solution.