Moving a 1750 lb planer

[Sam Beagle]

Bought a delta invicta 20”. RC51.
It’s at a place w no lift but has a concrete floor. I have a full size transit van I use for work.
Can someone help me even start to plan how to load and unload.
My shop is a direct shot in and we have a pallet jack onsite.

[Mike Cutler]

Build a transom lift on site, put it on a pallet, crate it and move it. You could even buy one of the gantry cranes, hoist ,and traveler, from Harbor Freight ,and Craiglist it when you get done.

[Matt Day]

Sounds like a job for an engine hoist. You might need to block up the planer to make room for the legs of the hoist since it likely can’t straddle it. Rig it as close as you can to the hook so you can get it in your van.

Put a couple 4x4’s through the machine and road the bed so it grabs them between the head and the bed - rotate the head so you don’t crush the knives. Use these 4x’s for the straps.

My 18” Oliver 399 is 1300lbs or so I think, and the hoist moves it nicely.

[Charlie Velasquez]

Bought a delta invicta 20”. RC51.
It’s at a place w no lift but has a concrete floor. I have a full size transit van I use for work.
Can someone help me even start to plan how to load and unload.
My shop is a direct shot in and we have a pallet jack onsite.

Go to the edge of the concrete floor where it meets the yard/dirt. Dig a sloping trench about 6 feet wide, 15 feet long, and terminates at the edge of the concrete at the height of the floor of your van with the doors open.
Back up and slide it in....

[Bill Dufour]

Rent a OTC engine hoist or a gantry which should be able to straddle the base. The OTC is the only one I know of that the legs can be spread for a wider stance.
Bill D.

https://www.otctools.com/products/44...avy-duty-crane

[Alan Lightstone]

I hired a local rigging company to move all my heavy equipment. Worth every cent.

[Geoff Crimmins]

If the planer and your shop are in the same town, you could see what a towing company would charge to move it using one of their tilting-bed trucks. (It works just as well for longer trips, but would get prohibitively expensive.) Otherwise, I would consider renting whatever type of trailer looked like it would be easiest to load the planer into.

[Cary Falk]

I would rent a trailer. No way I would try to squeeze it into a van.

[Bill Dufour]

I would rent a drop deck trailer. Sunbelt rents them. you may have to rent the scissor lift to get the trailer.
Bil lD

https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equip...-axle-trailer/

[William Hodge]

I hired a local rigging company to move all my heavy equipment. Worth every cent.

This. If you don't have experience moving stuff like this, you will learn a lot form watching the riggers. When you see how to lift a machine and put it on a pallet or beams, you can use that knowledge in the future. It's like going to school to learn how to deal with a machine you own. I just had to move a heavy machine two feet sideways to accept longer wood. Because I had seen riggers use a J bar, blocking, and a pallet jack, I had a clue about what I was doing.

Putting beams under the head and hoisting the planer by its lady parts might be out of the machine builders' design considerations. This idea gets suggested a lot, but I always wonder what forces are applied to fragile parts, like the chip breaker pivot castings.

[Mike Cutler]

Putting beams under the head and hoisting the planer by its lady parts might be out of the machine builders' design considerations. This idea gets suggested a lot, but I always wonder what forces are applied to fragile parts, like the chip breaker pivot castings.

Yeah,this is generally not good advice. It would be pretty easy to damage something if it wasn't done correctly. You need to make sure that your are lifting from the casting frame of the head, on the inner, and outer edges.
I understand the logic, at least as it applies to newer, smaller, planers. Most of the weight is in the head, so the amount of weight of the frame/base is very minimal. With something much bigger, and heavier, you really kind of have to know where the real weight is at.
Lot of difference between lifting a 500lb. planer and a 1750lb. planer.

[Mark Wooden]

I just moved a Powermatic 180 of about the same weight and moved it with a trailer.
I lifted it up with a straight bar and fulcrum bit by bit at each end (about four moves per end) blocked it up on on 2x4's. I then slid two 4x4 skids with 45 degree cuts (about half width) on the ends and lag bolted the planer to them. I lifted the planer with the bar and slid 3/4" steel pipe under the skids and using 4 pieces of the pipe (2 at a time) rolled the planer off the trailer, down the ramp- I used a comealong to ease it down- and in to the basement.

[Sam Beagle]

You guys are fearless about moving stuff. I just cannot wrap my head around it. It just seems impossible to me.

[Jim Becker]

Hire a rigger. That's a LOT of weight and it needs to be "done correctly" for both the machine's sake and your sake. The cost for the service will be inconsequential over time.

[Mike Cutler]

You guys are fearless about moving stuff. I just cannot wrap my head around it. It just seems impossible to me.

There is no shame, or embarrassment, in hiring it out.
You would probably need $1K+ worth of equipment to do this safely, if you have none of it already. ( Shackles, lifting slings, tie down straps, chain hoist, chim chims, dunnage, gantry lift, or engine hoist, machine dollies, johnson bar(s) and a trailer.)