Dilemma - I have to lift a 20 inch thickness planer.

[Mac Cambra]

I have to lift a very heavy thickness planer to make some repairs to the mobile base. I would appreciate some advice on the best/safest methods keeping in mind I do not have access to a tractor, or a bunch of of friends, its basically just me and the tool weighs almost a 1000lbs.

I can rent something I just don't know what and I am sure you guys have cross this bridge before.

Thanks in advance.

Mac

[Loren Woirhaye]

Well, an engine hoist may work. If you have an overhead beam that can take the load, an inexpensive imported chainfall hoist will be up to the job. A chainfall is easier to work with than an engine hoist in my opinion.

Another option is to take a beam, stick it in the planer and jack it up with a pair of scissor or bottle jacks.

All this stuff is good fun as long as the drop is only a few inches.

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Mac
Are you lifting both the mobile base and planer at once? How high do you have to lift? If I was just replacing casters I would just use a Railroad Bar and lots of blocking. Lift each corner at little at time. Tom

http://images03.olx-st.com/ui/11/50/29/1312810824_237424129_2-railroad-pry-bar-Baraboo.jpg

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mac,

Do you have access to a pickup truck? If so, check with a local rental center about an engine hoist that might handle that weight.

If not, consider renting a chain hoist.

Regardless, raise it, get the mobile base out, then set the planer down while you repair the mobile base. Don't leave it suspended during the repair time.

[Mac Cambra]

The problem is with the casters, the rubber on the wheels delaminated and peeled off. I have decided if I just want to replace them or replace the whole mobile base with something else. It is a heavy duty Woodstock mobile base and has been nothing but trouble since I bought it. I was thinking of building something and use very high quality casters.

[Mac Cambra]

I do have a truck. Whats good about the planer is that it does have steel rods that extend through the cabinet that I have to believe are there for lifting the tool.

[Loren Woirhaye]

Shop Fox base casters suck. The tires crack off under heavier machine loads. I replaced a couple recently with comparable sized casters salvaged from whatnot. You can unbolt the wheel shaft and switch out the wheel for a similar wheel easily enough, leaving the caster mount bolted to the base. That's what I did. In that case, it just requires a crowbar and some wood spacers to lift the base 1/2" or so.

[Charles Coolidge]

What Loren said many casters are a standard size, pull a wheel measure the bolt diameter, wheel diameter, you should be able to source new wheels. The wheels are falling apart on my brothers Powermatic PM2000 and its a major job to try to pull the whole caster, swapping out the wheel is a lot easier.

[Earl Rumans]

Take a Harbor Freight 20% off coupon down to HF and buy this http://www.harborfreight.com/shop-crane-2-ton-foldable-69514.html along with a couple of the web slings on the same page. It's what I use for setting up and loading my machines on mobile bases and such. It folds up and stores easily, if you have the room, if you don't have the room then sell it on CL and you can get back most of your money. It will end up being cheaper then trying to rent one and most of the rentals I have used are greasy messes to deal with.

[Keith Weber]

As others have mentioned, engine hoists and chain falls work well, but if you're just replacing casters, there are a couple of cheaper ways. You could borrow or buy a little floor jack (about $80 at Harbor Freight during their frequent sales). Just jack up one end at a time and stick a few foot-log pieces of 2x6 or wider under to hold it up, or act as a safety. Heck, if you've got a small car (and the existing casters are big enough), the jack in the trunk might even fit. Leverage is always your friend when moving or lifting heavy things. Even a 2x4 can be effectively used to pry up a corner of a machine high enough to get a block under it to hold it up. Just remember never to stick any fingers/hands/feet underneath anything until it is safely blocked up. If you're creative enough to make furniture, you'll be creative enough to lift heavy things with your brain instead of your back. Leverage is your friend.

[Earl Rumans]

As others have mentioned, engine hoists and chain falls work well, but if you're just replacing casters, there are a couple of cheaper ways. You could borrow or buy a little floor jack (about $80 at Harbor Freight during their frequent sales). Just jack up one end at a time and stick a few foot-log pieces of 2x6 or wider under to hold it up, or act as a safety. Heck, if you've got a small car (and the existing casters are big enough), the jack in the trunk might even fit. Leverage is always your friend when moving or lifting heavy things. Even a 2x4 can be effectively used to pry up a corner of a machine high enough to get a block under it to hold it up. Just remember never to stick any fingers/hands/feet underneath anything until it is safely blocked up. If you're creative enough to make furniture, you'll be creative enough to lift heavy things with your brain instead of your back. Leverage is your friend.
The problem with using a jack is what are you going to use for a jack point. I have floor jacks and bottle jacks and like the op I am basically by myself. I could never figure out anywhere to safely, both for me or the equipment, use a jack. That's why I bought the engine hoist. With it and some nylon straps I can lift any of my equipment safely anytime I need to.

I just used it the other day to put my Shop Fox bandsaw in a Jet mobile base. I had originally put some casters on the bottom of the saw when I first got it, as I didn't want to spring for another mobile base. I finally decided it just wasn't stable enough to suite me so I put it in the Jet base, like all my other machines, love those Jet mobile bases.

[Benjamin Miller]

An imported engine hoist likely won't be big enough to lift 1000 lbs safely for any height at all. I have one, and the boom is almost completely retracted when lifting 1000 lbs. Still, this is the option that I would try first, with a few nylon lifting straps or appropriate chain.

If the engine hoist won't do it, you're pretty much in gantry crane / forklift territory. I built a gantry crane to move my milling machine (3000 lbs), and it handles it with ease.

You can rent an engine hoist from most automotive stores, and you can rent a forklift from an equipment rental place or good hardware store. I'm not sure about gantry cranes, but I'd bet you can rent them too.

One more thing -- have you tried putting an ad on Craigslist? There are probably lots of people nearby who have forklifts and would lift the machine for a Jackson...

[Keith Weber]

The problem with using a jack is what are you going to use for a jack point. I have floor jacks and bottle jacks and like the op I am basically by myself. I could never figure out anywhere to safely, both for me or the equipment, use a jack. That's why I bought the engine hoist. With it and some nylon straps I can lift any of my equipment safely anytime I need to.

If you have a solid base (cast iron, or mobile base made from sturdy angle iron), then jack point concerns aren't really an issue. If your base is made of flimsy sheet metal, then you just have to find a sturdy point, or distribute the load with a piece of lumber between the jack and whatever you're lifting. The floor jack is my go-to tool for replacing casters. I've yet to find a problem finding a jack point on anything. It's just a matter of proper load distribution.

I have jacks, chain falls, pallet jacks, an engine hoist, and access to a forklift. They all have things that they excel at. For me, I'd say my engine hoist is the least used of them all. It's great if you have small things to lift and room around what you're lifting. I've got at least a half dozen tools in the 1500-3000 lb. range. The biggest problem with the engine hoists is that their bases need to fit under whatever they're lifting. They're too small to lower something big to the floor or onto a mobile base, and they're too big at times to get into a tight space to pick something up. Not trying to knock engine hoists (I've used mine plenty), just saying that they've all got things that they excel at, and other things that render them useless.

[george newbury]

So you have a MOBILE base with wheels?
Make an inclined plane, drag it up the inclined plane, block it at that height.
Do it again with 2x4's under the corners so you can block under where the casters are not.

My preferred method for one person, no tractor/forklift is a HF hoist:

[Gerald McGrantham]

Take a Harbor Freight 20% off coupon down to HF and buy this http://www.harborfreight.com/shop-crane-2-ton-foldable-69514.html along with a couple of the web slings on the same page. It's what I use for setting up and loading my machines on mobile bases and such. It folds up and stores easily, if you have the room, if you don't have the room then sell it on CL and you can get back most of your money. It will end up being cheaper then trying to rent one and most of the rentals I have used are greasy messes to deal with.

Plus one on what Earl said. Best $150 bucks spent for a shop tool. I bought mine when I bought my Powermatic Lathe to move around. I use the lift to move all the heavy equipment in the shop.

[Chris Fournier]

I'd go with Thomas' suggestion and creative use of blocks and a solid crowbar will allow you on your own to get the base out from under your machine. Visit a few metalworking forums and search for machine moving. It is no big deal to move a 1000 pounds on your own, just be safe. I have two metalworking machines in my basement that are both over 1500 pounds and I moved them in there myself with no special equipment.

[Kevin Nathanson]

You have no shortage of people telling you what to do, so I'll break the trend and tell you what NOT to do. DON'T lift it by anything other than those steel rods. Especially don't lift it by putting a long board in it and hoisting from the board. Those rods are there for exactly and only the reason you surmised; to lift by. Doing anything else will most likely knock the important level and square bits out of alignment.

I have a 20" planer that I have to move on occasion, with no mobile base at all. I have the luxury of a forklift that I use by wrapping lifting slings around those extended rods (they slide out wide giving more grip area) and hooking the slings over a fork. A cherry picker—as many have suggested—would work as well. Another option might be to rig up a cradle support of sorts from under those rods, and then use a floor or bottle jack to lift it one side at a time, and then block up the area under the cradle so that it can be lowered so that it rests on the blocks supporting the machine by those bars while leaving the base elevated.

K

[bill tindall]

I faced the same problem. I had floor joists overhead. I put two 3/4" bolts through two optimally positioned joists, hooked two come-alongs to the bolts and machine and effortlessly jacked the machine into the air.

[John Piwaron]

The problem is with the casters, the rubber on the wheels delaminated and peeled off. I have decided if I just want to replace them or replace the whole mobile base with something else. It is a heavy duty Woodstock mobile base and has been nothing but trouble since I bought it. I was thinking of building something and use very high quality casters.

When you say "building something" you mean welding a metal frame to attach those casters too, then go for it. I was too cheap to buy the metal mobile base for under my Unisaw (~650lbs) so I used the mobile base kit that I had under my previous saw. One of those with the metal corners joined with wood. Even though I used hard maple, sized the wood up to be as large as could possibly fit into those brackets (~2.5" square) and joined 3 of them with M&T at the corners (couldn't do that all around due to caster placement), it's still not rigid enough. It flexes. Now I wish I'd have spent the $ for the factory build metal mobile base.

[Mike Wilkins]

Something like the previously mentioned railroad bar is what I would use. It is amazing how much leverage you can exert with something like this. I unloaded and moved a 1000 pound sliding table saw into my shop solo. Leverage and wheels, not my back is what it takes. I would just replace the wheels if that is the problem. Check the Grizzly catalog for some good high-quality wheels.

[Mark Bolton]

If you dont want to spend any money at all, and you have blocking (cribbing) avaialable, you can simply crib up a few piers and stretch a 4x4 or couple 2x4's spiked together under the lifting rods. When you say handles pass through the base it makes one think of the standard 20" import planers with the rods that slide through the lower motor housing. 4 cribbing piles, (scrap 4x4's, 2x4's and so on) and two longer 4x's would get the machine up easily.

I have one of these planers (if its the same as yours) and I can rock/move it easily alone. Getting it hanging in mid air wouldnt be that much work if you had the scraps.

I crib up machines fairly often in our shop and while an engine hoist may be handy, for as often as I'd use it, and the space it would consume (even folded), wouldnt be an option I'd consider.

[Dan Blackshear]

As was mentioned before, you can just replace the wheels.

I had the same problem with the rubber wheels on the mobile base for my TS. I had the grizzly mobile base and I'm sure it's made pretty much the same as most of the others. I saw on the grizzly site that they also had a version with steel wheels and did a little more hunting till I found these. http://www.grizzly.com/products/Fixed-Caster-for-D2058A/D4176

The process was as simple as raising the side I was working on with a pry bar and blocking it with a wood block, removing the axle bolt and switching out the wheels.

No hoists and the price was hard to beat.

[Jim Matthews]

Crib on either side of the base to just under the hard mount lifting points.

Slide a sheet of 1/2" plywood through.
Drive in wooden wedges from each side to raise the works.

If you can get four screw driven car jacks, you can raise them steadily and slowly.
Do you suppose you could get four from the people you know?

Block the base up off the ground when you have sufficient clearance.
DO NOT rely on wedges to hold a static load - they will move, when it's least convenient.

You can also generate large lifting forces with tires, place on their sides.
The limit of the load they can lift is the same as required to unseat the bead.

You don't have to go far, just enough to get the old caster off.

[Keith Weber]

Jim,

Four car jacks? Really? I'm having a hard time visualizing what you wrote, but there is no way that you need four car jacks to lift a little 1000 lb planer. One jack, and some blocks -- Easier, more stable, and faster. This is a simple job. It should take no time at all. People are over-analyzing this in a big way.

[Mark Bolton]

Jim,

Four car jacks? Really? I'm having a hard time visualizing what you wrote, but there is no way that you need four car jacks to lift a little 1000 lb planer. One jack, and some blocks -- Easier, more stable, and faster. This is a simple job. It should take no time at all. People are over-analyzing this in a big way.

Lol.. I would be looking at a pile of boards and a long screw driver. If its a 20" import I can rock it up on a single corner alone.

It would be fun to see cartoon parody's of all of our options haha..

[Mark Bolton]

DO NOT rely on wedges to hold a static load - they will move, when it's least convenient.

Did you mean to say "dynamic" load? Houses, brick buildings, lighthouses, all over the planet have been moved/relocated many miles sitting on large hardwood wedges driven in on top of jacks and dollies.

I have personally raised several homes with jacks and then crib'd them up and wedged while moving other locations or overnight (because jacks leak off).

I guess maybe he would try to run the planer while its up on the wedges but Id still guess it'd hold.

The tire trick would be interesting.

He said he didnt have a slew of friends but Id guess if he had four friends who would loan him the jacks they may just help him boost the planer.

:D All tongue in cheek.. good read

[Pat Barry]

You can probably rent an engine hoist for around 50 bucks for 4 hours. Go there late in the afternoon, rent the tool, bring it back in the morning. You will have it all night for the 4 hour price (at least that's how my local rent-all works). Be safe, not sorry - don't screw around with getting all your neighbors and have a jacking party sounds like a recipe for disaster.

[Mac Cambra]

First I really appreciate all of the replies, thanks.

This caster problem has happened to me before, and the first time I did the crowbar blocking method to replace one caster at a time. It worked fine but the second set of "improved" casters from Shop Fox only lasted marginally longer. I won't make that mistake again.

The only reason I am asking is if I was to replace the mobile base. I was thinking of laminating 2 layers of 3/4" plywood to serve as the base for this tool with 4 new heavy duty, high quality casters. Is the plywood going to be trading one problem for another?

Would I be better off simply retrofiting new castors to the old metal base?

BTW: I will probably buy a engine hoist, to lift the beast if this replacement altogther is the better plan. I don't want to deal with this again.

Thanks,

Mac

[Jim Matthews]

You could make the base to whatever height you chose,
if you can raise the feed table to just above the height of your tablesaw (for example)
it could become an outfeed to catch longer boards.

I've always felt that the main appeal of a powered planer is for things longer than 30".

Plenty of plywood bases in service that are stable after years of regular use.

An engine hoist is designed for stability and will eliminate most of the worries in hoisting something so top heavy.

[Jim Matthews]

Lol.. I would be looking at a pile of boards and a long screw driver. If its a 20" import I can rock it up on a single corner alone.

It would be fun to see cartoon parody's of all of our options haha..

The OP has reported a history of poor results with prior methods.
He'll likely be working alone, and attempting to raise it higher than he has before.

While it can be done with nothing more than a J-bar and railroad ties,
he can't be close enough to slide cribbing under - securely while hoisting.

For the first few inches, this presents little risk.
Once the center of gravity is raised above the center of rotation,
he's at risk to tip the works over, or have it slide off any platform.

The suggestion to use four car jacks isn't frivolous, it works and is stable over a longer period of time.
That, and it the load rating of most car jacks is far in excess of a 20" four poster.

It would be trivial to turn a few screws, and inch at a time until the base could be rolled out from under.

It's too easy to bulldog something like this into scrap metal and trip to the ER.

[David Masters]

+1 on Thomas Hotchkin's suggestion. I had to replace the wheels on a used Grizzly 15 inch planer last year and used a simple level to lift the corners of the planer, then blocked the corners with some scrap oak I had in the garage. From there, the casters could be removed and the wheels replaced. For the lever, I think I used a long crowbar and a narrow block of wood.

[Mark Bolton]

The OP has reported a history of poor results with prior methods.
He'll likely be working alone, and attempting to raise it higher than he has before.

While it can be done with nothing more than a J-bar and railroad ties,
he can't be close enough to slide cribbing under - securely while hoisting.

For the first few inches, this presents little risk.
Once the center of gravity is raised above the center of rotation,
he's at risk to tip the works over, or have it slide off any platform.

The suggestion to use four car jacks isn't frivolous, it works and is stable over a longer period of time.
That, and it the load rating of most car jacks is far in excess of a 20" four poster.

It would be trivial to turn a few screws, and inch at a time until the base could be rolled out from under.

It's too easy to bulldog something like this into scrap metal and trip to the ER.

Risk of a tip over? Good gosh. The lifting handles (which is what you would crib off off) are 16" off the floor. The center of gravity would allow you to cant the machine at a steep angle (wouldn't be necessary) with zero risk of tipping.

We are not talking about jacking up a lighthouse here dude. Lol.

In perhaps 15 minutes I could stack two crib'ing piles on the left and right of my planer a bit shorter than the lift handles. Lay a 4x across the top of the piles, rock the planer back with a pry bar and wedge it. Repeat on the other side. And the planer would be hanging, from the factory handles, with the base a couple inches off the floor. If I wanted it higher simply bar, wedge, re-crib.

It's not cape canaveral. These planers are not that heavy.

I've crib'd an 1800lb, 9' slider, this way several times. Alone.

10 fingers, 10 toes, 20+ in construction, and never a single trip to the ER for an on the job injury. But there's always a first.. ;-)

[Phil Thien]

I'd go with Thomas' suggestion and creative use of blocks and a solid crowbar will allow you on your own to get the base out from under your machine. Visit a few metalworking forums and search for machine moving. It is no big deal to move a 1000 pounds on your own, just be safe. I have two metalworking machines in my basement that are both over 1500 pounds and I moved them in there myself with no special equipment.

This. You'd be amazed to watch installers of like super-large printing presses and other sorts of industrial machines using nothing but large bars and blocks. If they move it, they use pipes. It goes faster than you'd think and is probably a heckuva lot safer than using any sort of hoist.

What they can't move with bars, pipes, and blocks, is moved with a crane.

[Chris Fournier]

This. You'd be amazed to watch installers of like super-large printing presses and other sorts of industrial machines using nothing but large bars and blocks. If they move it, they use pipes. It goes faster than you'd think and is probably a heckuva lot safer than using any sort of hoist.

What they can't move with bars, pipes, and blocks, is moved with a crane.

By crowbar I mean Gransfor, see Lee Valley and go for 36". I bought one 15 years ago and it has paid for itself three times over.

A long time ago I moved an industrial sized Czech 36" bandsaw with a crow bar, pallet cart and black pipe. This machine had to have a hole cut in the floor to clear the lower drive wheel and the thing weighed 5000lbs according to the specs. I moved it by myself. No super human feat I can assure you. My boss said I could do it and he was right.

Woodworkers make a huge deal out of moving light weight machinery. No need!

[Gordon Eyre]

By crowbar I mean Gransfor, see Lee Valley and go for 36". I bought one 15 years ago and it has paid for itself three times over.

A long time ago I moved an industrial sized Czech 36" bandsaw with a crow bar, pallet cart and black pipe. This machine had to have a hole cut in the floor to clear the lower drive wheel and the thing weighed 5000lbs according to the specs. I moved it by myself. No super human feat I can assure you. My boss said I could do it and he was right.

Woodworkers make a huge deal out of moving light weight machinery. No need!

Chris, if I were going to ask a friend over to help you would be the man. :D

[Andy Pratt]

People have also done this sort of thing in a pinch by building a 2x4 frame around the tool and using good quality clamps to lift the machine up and inch or two and set it back down. If you need more lift you do it in stages. I've never done this myself but I've read at least one post on here with pictures of a guy doing it on a table saw. It was years back or I would try to find it to link it.

Not the easiest option I"m sure, but you might be able to do this for $20 vs some of the other methods. An engine hoist would be pretty handy in general if you have the space for it though.

[Mike Cozad]

Might want to give Larry Edgerton a shout to borrow his new magnet... :D

[Chris Fournier]

Chris, if I were going to ask a friend over to help you would be the man. :D

My friend has a Minimax 5 operation combo machined he recently moved to a home where it had to go in the basement. We cut the jointer planer off of it, tore it apart, machined up some new attachment components, moved it all down stairs and rebuilt the machine. No small task but no hardship either.

Now when I ask my friend for a favorite he's gonna be in trouble!