Questions about taking delivery of new lathe

[David Bolson]

I can’t rely on getting a cooperative driver. I think what I’ll do is rent a pickup. UHaul rents them for $20 for 8 hours. Have the delivery driver load the box onto the pickup and then back the pickup into my garage. I have one of those sturdy metal kitchen rolling shelf units on casters. I realized that I can change the height of the shelves. I should be able to slide the ways and headstock out of the pickup onto the shelf and roll into position. Or I can use the method that Walter suggested.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

[David Bolson]

The company delivering the lathe is Saia LTL Freight. I don’t know anything about them.

[Brice Rogers]

David Bolson, I think that your plan to rent a pickup is great.

IIRC, the headstock weighs around 180-200#. It is possible to remove the motor and that may roughly halve the weight. The other parts: tailstock, legs and banjo are easily moved by one person. I don't recall the weight of the bed but I don't think that it is much more than 120#.

When you go to assemble the lathe components it helps a lot to have someone help you.

[Richard Coers]

The whole lathe doesn't weight much more that 550pounds (584 shipping weight). You really think the head weighs close to half the machine weight?

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

A few years ago, my wife ordered a 350 pound pellet stove on line. My driveway is 800 ft to the place where I wanted it. But there was no way a semi was getting in there. When the driver got there, he put the stove on the back how bucket and helped me secure it with straps. I then drove the thing down to the building, around the back and could set the thing down on a dolly just outside the door.

Years ago, when I set up a metal lathe weighing over a ton. I used a hydraulic jack to lift one end of the ways and put a block under it, then went to the other side and used the jack to lift that side up to put a block under it. Took a few cinder blocks and 6x6 wooden blocks but I got the thing up high enough for the legs just fine. Was a little time consuming, but no problem for one person. Also once lifted a two story timber frame carriage shed back up on a foundation by myself the same way.

[Ron Selzer]

I can’t rely on getting a cooperative driver. I think what I’ll do is rent a pickup. UHaul rents them for $20 for 8 hours. Have the delivery driver load the box onto the pickup and then back the pickup into my garage. I have one of those sturdy metal kitchen rolling shelf units on casters. I realized that I can change the height of the shelves. I should be able to slide the ways and headstock out of the pickup onto the shelf and roll into position. Or I can use the method that Walter suggested.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Renting the pickup is a smart idea
The truck driver is ONLY required to get the crate to the back of the truck UNLESS lift gate services have been purchased also. The truck floor is higher than the pickup floor and it would be your responsibality to move from truck to pickup.
IF you pickup the crate at the trucking terminal they will load the crate in the back of the pickup with a forklift.
GOOD LUCK
RON

[Brice Rogers]

Richard Coers,

180-200# is about 32 to 36 percent of the total weight. I'd rough that to about 1/3 the weight and not half the weight. You're right though - - if someone said that it was half the weight, I'd question that myself.

At one point Grizzly sent me a new headstock (and motor) and the crate weight was listed on the manifest or Bill of Lading as 220#. So, that is why I made a rough guess of the weight. I assumed that the manifest was correct and the crate may have weighed 20-40#. So, Richard, if you had a manifest/BOL saying that the crate weighed 220#, what would YOU guess would be the weight of the headstock? Was the manifest wrong? I don't know.

So, say it is only 150# ?? It is still one of the heavier components. Heavier than either leg, the bed or the tailstock. AND if you take the motor off, it will make it easier to move. My point was the headstock is the heaviest component but it can be made more manageable by removing the motor.

[Bill Bell]

BE CAREFUL! I took delivery of a Jet 1640 a few months ago. No problem getting everything into the garage with the help of the delivery guy but I felt a sharp pain in my arm when I tried to lift the headstock up onto the assembled lathe. I went to the doc a few weeks later and discovered I had ruptured a tendon and had to have surgery. No more turning for a few months. Moral of this story: know your limitations and pay attention when the manual tells you to get an assistant to avoid injury!!

[David Bolson]

So, in preparation for the delivery, I rented a pickup truck, bought a 500 lb hydraulic table from Harbor Freight and built an addition for the top of the table to give it enough height to raise the bed over the legs, and took the day off from work. The lathe took a while to get to me as it took a drunken tour of the Eastern U.S. This is the tracking information:

2/15/21 09:43 am Springfield, MO Weather Delay
00:00 am Springfield, MO Delayed due to WEATHER-SNOW (KO)
05:52 pm Springfield, MO Load Trailer: 533054
04:00 pm Springfield, MO Unload Trailer: 533318 Assigned
03:01 pm Springfield, MO Arrived at Origin Terminal
01:55 pm SPRINGFIELD, MO Pickup from Customer

2/16/21 06:37 pm Springfield, MO Load Trailer: 285302
00:00 am Springfield, MO Delayed due to WINTER WEATHER (BH)

2/17/21 05:22 am Springfield, MO Weather Delay
00:00 am Springfield, MO Delayed due to WINTER WEATHER (BH)

2/18/21 11:55 pm St. Louis, MO Departed from Terminal
09:18 pm St. Louis, MO Arrived at Breakbulk Terminal
00:00 am St. Louis, MO Delayed due to WINTER WEATHER (BH)
09:15 pm Kansas City, MO Departed from Terminal
03:34 pm Kansas City, MO Load Trailer: 292735
02:10 pm St. Louis, MO Arrived at Breakbulk Terminal
00:00 am St. Louis, MO Delayed due to WINTER WEATHER (BH)
09:58 am Springfield, MO Departed from Terminal
00:00 am Springfield, MO Delayed due to WINTER WEATHER (BH)


2/19/21 04:46 pm Indianapolis, IN Load Trailer: 286975
04:28 pm Indianapolis, IN Unload Trailer: 292735 Assigned
00:00 am Indianapolis, IN Delayed due to WINTER WEATHER (BH)
03:03 pm Indianapolis, IN Arrived at Breakbulk Terminal
00:00 am Indianapolis, IN Delayed due to WINTER WEATHER (BH)
12:52 pm Cincinnati, OH Departed from Terminal
06:57 am Cincinnati, OH Arrived at Breakbulk Terminal
00:00 am Cincinnati, OH Delayed due to WINTER WEATHER (BH)
01:49 am Effingham, IL Departed from Terminal
01:28 am Effingham, IL Arrived at Breakbulk Terminal
00:00 am Effingham, IL Delayed due to WINTER WEATHER (BH)

2/20/21 06:07 pm Pittsburgh, PA Arrived at Breakbulk Terminal
12:13 pm Cincinnati, OH Departed from Terminal
05:22 am Cincinnati, OH Arrived at Breakbulk Terminal
03:15 am Indianapolis, IN Departed from Terminal

2/21/21 05:28 pm Newark, NJ Arrived at Destination Terminal
02:19 pm Harrisburg, PA Departed from Terminal
03:58 am Harrisburg, PA Arrived at Breakbulk Terminal
12:16 am Pittsburgh, PA Departed from Terminal

2/22/21 04:12 am Newark, NJ Unload Trailer: 286975 Assigned

2/23/21 01:25 am Newark, NJ Load Trailer: 193004

2/24/21 02:31 pm Newark, NJ Shipment Returned to Terminal
09:51 am Newark, NJ Scheduled for Delivery
04:40 am Newark, NJ Load Trailer: 291271

The driver shows up and this is what I find:
Grizzly delivery 1.jpg

Grizzly delivery 2.jpg

So, of course I had to refuse delivery. To their credit, Grizzly called me today and said they were going to send out a new one.

Also, it turns out that the hydraulic table I got is defective so I have to return it to Harbor freight for an exchange (and they have none currently in stock).

To be continued....

[Alex Zeller]

That sucks. You can request to have it sent by a different carrier. How can a trucker keep a straight face while unloading that crate? I've had good luck with UPS. My last Grizzly tool came by New Penn. Unlike your lathe it was loaded onto a train to go from Springfield to somewhere outside Philly (over 2 weeks).

[David Walser]

When I bought a PM 3520C this past summer, it arrived with pieces piled together on a pallet. Before opening the back door of the truck, the driver greeted me with, "Don't worry, you don't have accept delivery." The replacement lathe arrived the following week -- in perfect condition.

[Brian Tymchak]

... So, of course I had to refuse delivery. To their credit, Grizzly called me today and said they were going to send out a new one.

Well, I'd get banned if I wrote the words that came to mind when I saw those pics..

How many more months will it take to get a new machine?

[Thomas Wilson80]

Also, it turns out that the hydraulic table I got is defective so I have to return it to Harbor freight for an exchange (and they have none currently in stock).

To be continued....

What is wrong with the table? I have the 1000# cart and sometimes when I go to pump it up it won't move and I have to pull the release lever and then it will pump up without problem.

Tom

[David Walser]

...

Also, it turns out that the hydraulic table I got is defective so I have to return it to Harbor freight for an exchange (and they have none currently in stock).

....

I recommend you return the 500# table and use the money toward the price of the 1,000# table. It's a nicer table, not just able to lift twice as much weight.

[David Bolson]

Alex - They told me they would be using the same carrier. But they said it was very unusual for the journey to have included so many stops - thry are going to talk to the carrier about it.

David - I'm hoping for the same result.

Brian - I was more sad and annoyed than mad. The driver was a nice guy and the damage wasn't his fault. No point in getting mad at him.

Thomas - Out of the box the table had zero hydraulic fluid. The box was dry so I'm assuming it never had any. Not a big problem - I filled it up with fluid and it pumps up fine. But one of the two swivel casters doesn't swivel. I took a close look and it's not something I can fix and it's not something I can live with - the table is very hard to move around. It would be impossible to move with a heavy load on it. This table was not checked by quality control.