Thread: Moving machinery is dangerous

A tale of things gone pear shaped…

Sometime last year the front roller door of the workshop stopped functioning on motor properly, not surprising, it is 30odd years old. Earlier this year, I backed the trailer into it putting a small but somewhat noticeable crease into it. Decided shortly after to get a new one. Quoted, deposit paid, crickets….for seven weeks. Rang the company on Friday last week, the door hadn’t been supplied for the order from manufacture yet. Monday they call early arvo and say be there in half an hour. Umm no I have a folder and a mill to move to provide enough access. Long story short a bit of backward and forward and they decide fitting can occur Tuesday morning. No worries, I can put the machines on the skates I bought recently and shift them beforehand.. Mistake number one a time pressure.
Cleaned up the mill, and the area around it, got it ready to skate. Decided to move the folder first. Folder in question is an English made Edwards 3ft, very nice piece of kit, very heavy in general and somewhat too heavy with most of the top being 3/4” plate. Normally I would move this with an A frame. I generally borrow one from twopints to do this but I didn’t this time. Mistake number two…ignoring my gut feel about skating this machine.
I cleared all the off cuts out from under it and swept around it and the path forward to where I wished to move it too. Normally if I use skates I would also dust off the floor with compressed air to make sure there is nothing going to foul the skates. For whatever reason I didn’t do this, mistake number three.
With the folder on skates I took a look at the floor decided it was clear of obstruction and pulled it forward.
At this point things turned pear shaped, really badly.
It moved about half a skate length, the skate on the front right stopped causing the folder to start to topple and kick the skate out. The skate hit me in the left ankle causing me to lose balance and fall, directly under the heaviest part of the machine.
There are two very distinct things I recall at this moment, a feeling of something giving way in my ankle, and the flash of blue grey paint very close to me.
At this point I’m the squishy between the concrete and somewhere around 500kgs of machinery.
Pinned in the foetal position under the folder I couldn’t move it. I laid under it sucking in air as best I could and screaming to try and attract attention in the house. Took about 5 or so minutes but eventually my Mrs and her daughter figured out something was wrong and came out to the garage. I will not ever forget to look on her face..
Between the two of them they managed to prize one corner of the Edwards up high enough to allow me to pull myself out.
At this point, I’m having trouble walking, breathing and wonder what the actual…. just happened.
My Mrs bundled me into the car and went about setting a new land speed record for the brief trip to the hospital.
A few moments later I was in a resus bay in the hands of a trauma team.

The sensation in my ankle was it being broken just above it.
Im writing this from hospital having had a decent size plate and nine screws put into it just over 24 hrs ago. My left shoulder was dislocated and relocated in one smooth movement during the event also and I have some ligament damage as a result. The bruising on my right side (which was facing the folder) turned my back a decent and extensive shade of purple.
Miraculously, I didn’t hit my head on anything, I didn’t receive any spinal damage, and none of my ribs were broken or fractured.
Im now staring at 6weeks before I can weight my left leg again, and probably longer off work, but I’ll take that as a win mostly because the incident wasn’t fatal.
Its a very sobering thought pondering the what if’s.

If you’re moving machinery please exercise caution, double check everything and assume nothing. If something doesn’t look or feel right stop and stand down for a moment.
I have a decent amount of rigging and lifting experience through previous employment, and have moved or helped move a lot of machine tools thus far without any real incident, and whilst I don’t believe I was complacent, on reflection I can quite easily see the contributors. I haven’t been home since the incident so I still don’t know what caused the skate to stop.

Pictures or it never happened…

Crikey that could have been a lot worse, Anyway wishing you a speedy recovery and thanks for the detailed analysis and reminder about moving gear.

I am reminded of a manual handling course I did 30 odd years ago and one of the few things I remember was to avoid walking backwards and pulling heavy things towards you.
Pity I didn't remember this when at the mens shed we were moving the a large flat battery powered pallet trolley that weighed at least 600kg. I was at the pulling backwards on the the handle and 3 blokes were pushing from the other side. It took a bit of heft to get it moving across a dusty concrete floor and just when it was up to speed I slipped on the dusty floor and the back of the battery pack and motor rode up onto my boots - luckily I had steel caps on but back edge of the trolley rode up my boots far enough so my insteps were taking some of the weight. I screamed and the 3 blokes quickly dragged it off my boots. Fortunately nothing broken but both feet turned blue and then shades of purple and green - I don't think my feet have been the same since.

Even this morning I was driving the dogs back from their usual walk and being verge collection week was cruising slowly past verge piles when I spied an old 130A Transarc welder about 10 houses away from out place. I pulled over and went and had a look at it -well rusted but I thought it would be worth something as scrap copper. I started to move it and realised I would also have to lift it up high into the back of the 4WD so I drove home and walked back and got it with a sack trolley.

Geez mate - glad you’re still around to post about it.
Highlights how quickly things can go bad.

My thoughts are with you for a speedy recovery and return to full capacity.

Out of interest I watched a YouTube video recently where an older guy with many years of moving machinery was going over his kit and how he used things.
I recall him pointing out the skates and explaining why he didn’t use them. I’ll try and dig it up.

Edit: Here's the link. Its a bit dry, but I personally got some good info and tips from it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wu1WUl8jBQ

Steve

Please accept my best wishes for a full recovery and a return to your full capacity.

As I was told by a medico after surgery.

"It is rest and recovery not an opportunity to catch up on your workshop projects". He did a bit of Home DIY and was fully aware of my circumstances.

Take it easy OK?

Thanks for posting .

Hopefully it is a pause for thought when other members might be considering moving heavy stuff.
Get better soon.

Grahame

That’s a really good video Steve.

The bright side of this (aside from not becoming prematurely extinct) is the extended grounding has provided me capex approval for a new 85” 4K TV from the minister of war, finance, and rescue services

What she hasn’t told you is she’s already booked the tool auction to fund it

Steve

Get well soon, and PLEASE, be more diligent about cleaning the floor next time!!!!
Kryn

Ouch that’s a bloody disaster.
Timely for myself as I’m doing a bit of this currently.
Using US made lift trucks and chain blocks on the ‘i’ beam to get a 800kg bench to the door.
Tuesday it will be loaded onto a small truck using a cumalong.
Ive propped the Oregon beams and the abbey crane will help getting it out the door.
Also moving my wood kit out of the annex back into the main ‘shop using the ute with an improvised crane out its bum.
H

Should have asked earlier, but as you won't be back in your shed for a while, is there anything urgent in there (that is, can't wait that long) that we can help out with?

Michael

Originally Posted by Michael G

Should have asked earlier, but as you won't be back in your shed for a while, is there anything urgent in there (that is, can't wait that long) that we can help out with?

Michael

Fortunately no, I’ve stopped taking work through the door for a bit so I could reno our ensuite and kitchen, and finish cleaning up a deceased estate. Thanks for asking, the helpfulness here is one of the things that sets this forum apart from the others.

Bloody hell that was a close one, awesome missus though

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:u:u:u

Them bloody fridgies- always up to no good.

Good to hear you didn't do more serious damage (and I can picture the missuses face, pretty sure I've seen similar expressions before)...

I've never liked the idea of those little skates for a few reasons.... One being the height you need to lift just to get them under, followed by the fact that they have tiny wheels relative to the weight they're carrying, and lastly the fact that there's usually no way to attach them to the bottom of the machine or each other, combined with a tiny contact surface - which in my mind has always been a recipe for exactly what you had happen.

Think I've put this up before, but for the sake of providing people ideas for other methods:

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This is what I made up to move my mill (Bridgeport size) across the garage. Ignore the absolute crap welds, I was out of Mig gas and not real good on the stick at the time. They've been 'repaired' since....

Also absent from this photo are the rachet straps I had around the skates to stop them moving, although the 'tilt' of the skates under load bit into the blue 40x40 square tube quite nicely. The original I was inspired by on the net had bolts in the top to act as a friction lock, an easy addition.

Advantage of this setup is you only need to lift about an inch off the ground, it increases the footprint of the machine for better stability, you get big wheels to deal with cracks/stones/cable ties/the neighbours cat and the skates shouldn't be able to leave the machine once installed. If the machine dumps on its side, it's probably because you pushed it into a pothole. With a Bridgeport somehow managing to completely lose a skate might cause it to land on its face, but anything with a lower centre of gravity should have a good chance of staying upright.

Those who have used Shane at Total Crane Trucks will have seen something similar - Shanes are the same basic idea, other than his are longer (a good idea if you don't need to get into tighter spots), and they have two castors on each end (the second is inboard of the angle iron). This has the advantage that his skates stay upright by themselves, and he just runs a chain from one to the other on each side. On the flip side it does mean the skates can parallelogram under the machine, and in the worse case drop a corner off (Graziano did this on the last move, as the drain plug for the coolant means it doesn't go on the skate as far as it should).

I'm making 6 inch bolt on riser platforms for the Graziano, with leveling screws incorporated, which will also have two drilled and tapped holes on each. I'll then drill two holes in the back of each skate at a suitable height, so that I can lift the lathe up with jacking screws, bolt the skates to it, then lower the jacking screws and roll it wherever I need. I don't anticipate needing to move it around the shed (or anywhere else) more than once, but if I do it'll be simple...

Did you cancel the door or is it still going up.

It’s still getting installed, but probably not until early new year