Sold the BP, bought a Lagun

[the spyder]

Years ago when I worked in a CMM/CNC shop, we had a 90's era Lagun. I've always held them in high regard after watching it still maintain a tight tolerance despite how hard it was ran. The machinist there loved it and I told myself one day I will buy one. Last week that opportunity arose. A old friend stopped by, having recently taken a new job at a local shop and mentioned they were selling two of them. A FTV-2 R8 and a larger FTV-4 40T (?). The 4 was out of my budget and larger then I can fit in my small machine area. It was in overall good shape and everything functioned as should. It's been used to drill the same two parts for over a decade with the tables locked. Best of all, it has a power drawbar and DRO. I called up a friend and gave him a smoking deal on my old worn out J-Head BP. I'm hoping to pick up the Lagun his weekend. Moving it should be interesting, as it weights quite a bit more then the BP.

Sadly, to fund the upgrade I've decided to sell my DoAll 36" Bandsaw. I just simply don't have the use or space right now. Hopefully it will find a new home here shortly.

[duckman903]

Just remember to remove any thing you can including the draw bar, so it doesn't fall out when you turn the bead over to get the center of gravity at it's lowest point, I also put a piece of wood between the head and table hold it by raising the knee, then block under the knee make it tight, then you can chain/strap over the knee with out hurting the elevating screw remember the protect the top of the knee, I personally use old 4" fire hose 2 layers of canvas with 2 layers of rubber never cut through one yet. If you've never turned a head over most not all have a pin that needs to be pulled our to allow the head to rotate past 45° and it helps when turning the head to have 2 people 1 to hold the weight and 1 to turn the wrench.

[monckywrench]

Dunno how you plan to move it but I've done two BPs and one lathe so far with a simple outrigger dolly setup that's highly tip-resistant and rolls nicely on and off trailers. Too wide to tip sideways and sufficiently longer than the base to make fore/aft tipping unlikely.

Angles under base clear a pallet jack. I left them in place since I like the extra table height. I replaced the bolts attaching the outriggers to the angles with Grade 5 all thread which works nicely for lowering the load. Unscrew top nuts slowly, then when the weight is off spin off the nuts and stash the outriggers for the next move. Casters are bolted so I can unbolt them if I want to skid the outriggers on pipe or other surface when moving something else. You can easily fit pipe or 4x4s under the outriggers if you need to lift things a bit to clear minor bumps or to precisely maneuver the load with greater ease than pushing by hand.

[platypus20]

After losing the Atlas/Clausing mill, in the lifting debacle, I can give the names of a few guys NOT to use..............

[monckywrench]

Our local community college used some "professional" riggers who dropped one mill, smashed an optical comparator, and damaged much other equipment. At least they were insured, but they didn't even know to put wood or rubber matting on forklift forks so mill rams don't slide off them!

There is so much useful advice and so many examples online of how to do it yourself I won't bother with a rigger. I trust myself more and I can take my time.

Those drop deck trailers at rental centers are slick but I've not had an excuse to rent one yet.

I have three of these (steel cable version) and they are wonderful for winching and controlling loads:

https://www.wyeth-scott.com/

[RancherBill]

A worn out Bridgeport and a band saw for your dream machine is a great deal. It sounds like it's in great condition, having just being used as a drill press, and it has a bonus power feed and DRO. The next thing you'll post is that they gave you three boxes of tooling they don't need anymore for the old mills.

[the spyder]

Picked up the new mill Friday and dropped the old Bridgeport off at it's new home Saturday. We spent a good several hours cleaning the machine, mainly removing old dried on coolant. We found some corrosion from where coolant pooled and evaporated- nothing bad, but it's something to watch out for if a machine has been used for a single operation half it's life. I called Lagun and got the date from the serial- 12583 is a 1981. It's in pretty good shape, considering it's older then I am! We're going to get it lubed and wired up this weekend if all goes well.