Moving New Tablesaw into the basement

[Dan Fuller]

I am considering purchasing a Grizzly G1023 cabinet saw. The problem is I only have basement access through the house. I am thinking that if I remove all of the top and possibly the motor as well that it might be lite enough to get it down the stairs with out causing damage to the house, saw or myself and helpers and still get it back together in working order. For any of you that have purchased this saw, do you think this is a viable option?

[Jack Frederick]

Basements are tough. I have not moved a GO1023 but have put a Unisaw into a basement as well as barrels of cider, etc. I wouldn't take it apart any further than necessary to fit through the door. With the top removed will the body of the saw go through the door? An appliance cart secured to the cabinet is good. A couple 2x10's or so secured to the stairs to smooth the drop makes things a bit more comfortable. The hairy part is getting the cart over that first step at the top. You then need the rigging or enough muscle to hold back on the load. Don't get below it.

[Rod Sheridan]

I would not remove the top as you will mess up the calibration.

Remove the motor if you must however an appliance cart can be rented for pocket change which will make moving the saw with one helper very easy.........Rod.

[Matt Day]

I’ve moved half a dozen cabinet saws up and down stairs. If I have a strong helper I leave the top on, but remove the wings and fence of course. Strap the saw to appliance dolly with pneumatic wheels that can bump down the stairs. Might need to remove a hand wheel or two to clear door frames.

I’ve moved them down stairs myself with the top and motor removed. But honestly I’d recommend removing the top anyway. Once you have it in your shop in place, you should do a full alignment of the table anyway so you might as well take it off and make it easier to move.

And don’t rent an appliance dolly, buy one for 30 bucks at Harbor freight or your local big box.

[Patrick Kane]

Im in a basement too; however, it has an on-grade access door, thankfully. I have moved many table saws in and out of the basement--i think the count is up to 7 now. All but the contractor saw were mostly dissembled prior to moving them in. Unless you are Paul Bunyan, I would take that thing apart into manageable pieces. The whole saw probably weighs 350-400lbs. It's essentially a unisaw, which ive owned 3-4 of. They arent heavy, but that is a bit much for one person fighting against gravity going downstairs. Compare that to 75-100lbs, and you would have to be incapable, disabled, or foolish to mess it up. Why take the risk of dumping your new toy and potentially injuring yourself or a friend? Taking the motor off and back on is a 30 min job at most. Undo the motor leads to separate the motor from the switch, unbolt the motor, and set it aside. Do the same in reverse to put it back on. Taking the table off and putting it back on is 3 minutes. No offense to Grizzly, but lets be honest with ourselves, that thing isnt coming from the far east dead nuts on calibrated. You are going to have to calibrate it with a dial indicator anyways, whether the top comes off or not. This is a very easy job on a cabinet saw. Loosen all but on bolt and use a dead blow to tap your way to perfection.

[Myles Moran]

I moved a sawstop into the basement with my wife having removed the top. It wasn't bad to realign it, but it would have been nice to not take it off. Overall not a too bad to do. I left the motor in not wanting to deal with the awkward angles of getting it back lined up with the mounting holes and bolt it in place and get the belt on.

It was fairly heavy, but my wife managed. If I had a friend we probably could have managed without removing the top. An appliance dolly would have been a big help as well.

[Mike Kreinhop]

My basement shop is accessible only through the open wooden stairs. I moved all of my shop equipment down the stairs, but the Minimax SC2 Classic had to go down in pieces. Since it had to be commissioned anyway, I didn't have any hesitation about disassembling it to the point where two people could carry or maneuver the components down the stairs. I used a chain hoist for the cast iron table and the concrete counterweight, but everything else could be carried.

See Mike's Shop is Underway (https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?258395-Mike-s-Shop-is-Underway&highlight=) for a description with pictures.

My shop still isn't finished, but I am still working on it two years later.

[Richard Coers]

You didn't mention anything about door width restrictions. Best case scenario is leave it in the crate, rent an appliance dolly, then use rope to ease it down the steps still strapped to the dolley.

[Alex Zeller]

I wouldn't hesitate to remove the top. If you can do it with just the wings removed then clearly that's the way to go. Removing the top will mean setting the miter slot back up to the blade. This isn't hard but should be done with more accuracy than a tape measure.

[Stan Calow]

In similar situation, I found a cheap hoist from Harbor Freight helped put things back together.

[tom lucas]

You can rent a power dolly that goes up/down steps for about $100. They work good and are much safer than a regular hand truck. I used one to get a 700 lb boiler out of an old house with a narrow stairwell. Was worth every penny of the rental cost.
https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/items/1225/stairclimbing-motorized-hand-trucks/#

[Matt Day]

A lectro-truck or similar is WAY overkill for a little cabinet saw. Remove the top, strap it to a dolly, and bump it down the stairs already. Strap the table to the dolly and do that first so you get the hang of bumping the dolly down the stairs.

If you’ve never done it before, inch the wheels toward the edge of the top tread and just as gravity starts to take over and it’s going to the next step down pull back on the dolly to slow the bump. Having a helper below you and working in unison will make it an easy job. Practice on a single step outside if you have to.

Chain boosts and battery powered hand trucks are great but they just aren’t needed here. I used a battery powered hand truck to move a 600 lb 20” bandsaw up and down my steps but that was heavier and a lot more awkward. And I used my chain hoist to carefully align my planer table onto the base of the planer, but that table probably weighs 150 pounds and needs to be lifted 5’ in the air to clear the base.

[kent wardecke]

Hire movers. Most moving places will send some guys for $75/hr plus mileage (most places,not two men and a truck)
Remember when we were young and our friends would help us move for pizza and beer, well those days are over. If i knew then how economical movers are i would have hired them back then

[Roger Feeley]

Take a good look at the basement stairs. In my old house, I was preparing for the delivery of a cabinet saw and was amazed at how flimsy my stairs were. I wound up putting 4x4 posts at the midway point and at the top. I’m absolutely convinced that they would have collapsed otherwise. Aft the saw arrived, I took out the posts at the top but kept them for the inevitable trip back up. When we moved, we hired machine riggers. They moved every heavy machine from my basement to my garage including the sawstop, three bandsaws, 6” jointer, floor standing drill press, and other stuff. It was a crew of three or four people for three hours. I think the bill was around $1100. Not cheap but they were insured and very experienced.

[Roger Feeley]

I moved an 18” rikon bandsaw to my basement with the help of a co-worker who is an expert rock climber. He had all sorts of good ideas about how to rig safety ropes and had plenty of hardware.

[jeff norris 2011]

I third or fourth the idea of taking the top off. I would expect to be aligning any new saw coming into my shop. Once broken down, there is not going to be any single part that should give you trouble.

[Günter VögelBerg]

I moved this same saw into my basement down narrow, steep century old stairs. I left the middle of the top and the motor in and got a strong friend to help me. It really wasn't that bad. It's fairly compact when you strip it down. I didn't have to go through the house, though.

The Jointer/Planer machine was another story...

[Dan Fuller]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I anticipated having to do a table alignment whether I removed the top or not so removing the top is OK with me. Thank you for confirming that this whole idea i doable. I will let you know how I make out.

[Dan Fuller]

Update - Pulled the trigger on the saw and it as delivered on Friday. I rented a Powermate Stair Climbing Hand Truck and was able to safely move the saw down through the house and into the basement without issue by myself. The only difficult part was turning the saw and hand truck on the stair landing 90 degrees with very little room to tip it back over again. That part alone took about 10 minutes. Next time I will build an extension on the landing over the next step to give me more room.

The hand truck cost me $115 to rent but with the investment in the saw I think it was worthwhile not to manhandle it and risk damage to the saw, house or me. Also did not have to disassemble anything to make it lighter.

[Von Bickley]

Congratulations on the new saw.... Now we need to see pictures.

[tom lucas]

Update - Pulled the trigger on the saw and it as delivered on Friday. I rented a Powermate Stair Climbing Hand Truck and was able to safely move the saw down through the house and into the basement without issue by myself. The only difficult part was turning the saw and hand truck on the stair landing 90 degrees with very little room to tip it back over again. That part alone took about 10 minutes. Next time I will build an extension on the landing over the next step to give me more room.

The hand truck cost me $115 to rent but with the investment in the saw I think it was worthwhile not to manhandle it and risk damage to the saw, house or me. Also did not have to disassemble anything to make it lighter.

Smart choice. Better safe than sorry. I once tried taking a frig down a flight of steps by myself using a standard frig dolly. I lost it about 2 steps down. It wasn't pretty. That was a long time ago. I'm much wiser now :)

[kent borcherding]

I am with the person who recommended hiring movers. the movers are insured if anything would damage the saw.

My wife and I moved a Uni-Saw to the basement , many moons ago, removed the motor and the wings. Did not remove the top . no problems - but now I am older and wiser - sure would recommend having movers do it.