Hey everybody! Been a while! :) I've been slacking for way too long on posting anything, in fact I've been slacking on even working in the workshop! But I've bought a new machine and I plan on getting into some really fun projects and the PLAN is to document them as I have done in the past :) 

So the new machine I got is a Smithy Granite 1340 Max - It's a metalworking mill / drill / lathe - and yes I did already have an Enco 3-in1 but I sold it for this bigger / better one :)

This post is about my journey getting it home and set up...

First I built a new bench for it to sit on and secured it to the wall.

 

They were supposed to deliver it to my house on Friday, the crate arrived in Tampa on Thursday morning so I figured Friday would be a safe bet being in the area for a whole day+.

No call... No call... No call...

So I call them - not going to deliver it till the following Tuesday or Wednesday! ugh - that's no good! So I rented a UHaul and went and picked it up myself! Now this thing weights 900 pounds, and I had already rented a pallet jack to help me move it around the garage (Which I only had for the weekend already - another reason why "next week" wasn't working for me) So I drive to Tampa and they load it up in the UHaul with a forklift - pretty uneventful... Here's a picture of the Smithy in the crate, in the UHaul.

 

Trying to even slide it in the UHaul turned out to be very difficult - at 900 pounds this thing was not budging! So I decided to try and lighten the load but uncrating it in the UHaul. According to the email I received I was just supposed to remove a few screws and the top would come off - well that wasn't working! #1 there were screws around the bottom of the whole thing, not just the front where they said, #2 I wouldn't have been able to lift it off inside the truck anyway. So I had to disassemble the crate completely, some screws were stripped and I basically had to just rip it apart LOL - I eventually got it and here's a picture of it uncrated in the UHaul.

 

Even after taking off the crate and removing the tailstock and extra boxes that were in the crate, it was still too heavy to slide! So I took a come along and attached it to the lathe and basically ratcheted it to the end of the UHaul! Once at the end I could take the pallet jack, jack it up to the height of the bed (It was a High Lift Pallet Jack) and then using the come along ratchet it onto the pallet jack. Now we are getting exciting!

I eventually got it off the truck and onto the floor in the workshop. I was struggling with how to get it off the crate bottom and onto the bench, AND onto the chip tray that was included. There was just no way to do it without messing up the chip tray. So I basically pulled it off of the crate bottom and onto the forks. then raising it up to the level of the bench (and slightly over it) and with the help of my son, we slid it onto the bench! Whew! Below are the remaining pictures. I will probably eventually rent a engine hoist to raise it up a few inches and put the chip tray underneath - it's not necessary since I'm not really going to be using a coolant system, but it would still be nice to have it under there!