Crates to transport Meddings MF4/5 ?

Half question, half answer possibly.

We will be moving house soon and I am thinking I should make a wooden crate to make it easier and safer to transport my Meddings floor standing drill press. Well two crates, one for the head, one for all the other components, base, table, chuck etc, and the mounting post will be carried separately.

I am thinking a simple wooden box made from 9-12 mm ply, with a thicker base, reinforced at all the joins and with hand holds that will secure the head safely inside, and make it easier for two lads to lift. Ditto the other components - I might even remove the motor and put it in the second crate to lighten the first crate.

Any thoughts or tips?

Thanks

Hello John,

Particle board might be considerably cheaper and if you are canny you could dimension the crates to make useful free standing shelving units when you unpack the drill at the other end. I shifted all my machinery in this way from the Dales to our current residence near Thirsk.

Keeping the contents rust free was straight forward; a good spray with WD40 and then wrap the bare metal with cling film, it worked very well while I built the new workshop with the crates sitting on battens on a poorly laid concrete floor in the draughty old shed within which I built the workshop

Good fortune with the move

Brian

Either start with a good pallet sawn to the best size and secure the head to that really well before putting a basic box over it or maybe ask around your local industrial estate for something, Check whether the movers will be stacking stuff on it.There is an ideal lathe transport box of 1in real planks in one in Watford at the moment.

Hi having packed many tools and tooling I always start with a pallet base made of good wood suitable to be fork lifted or pallet trucked if you have no control over the mover. A pallet truck has a minimum width to pass through the base. The small width for pallet trucks is 540mm so you may need to allow for that to pass through or under your pallet. Then i build an mdf or plywood box with pieces of corner wood to screw into which will take a small load. Also take care to distribute load so one end not heavier than another if possible and bolt or strap the load down to prevent moving inside box. I have used pieces of threaded rod and wood clamps drilled through sometimes.

David

How about building a small pallet to take the drill base?u

Then use a short bit of tube in the drill base then fir the drill head to this. That way, no major dismantling and you can move it with a sack track as if it was a bench drill.

You can sometimes get free pallets from your local gas boiler supplier.

I have moved an MF4 mk3 twice, the first time in one piece with help to load but unload was a solo effort. Very top heavy and great potential for disaster. The second time was to collect a damaged machine but the prize was the table with cranking mechanism. As I was on my own with this one I dismantled it into the head minus motor, the table,the foot and the column. If the weight is not a problem the table and head can be lowered down the column as far as possible and the machine fixed to a stout pallet, the column will stick out the top though. I think I would go for a two pallet crate solution with the head in one and the table, foot and motor in another. I would remove all the handles and the star wheel as these are always vulnerable and lock the quill. The sheet steel belt cover is easy to damage and may be worth removing. Due to the weight of the components they will need very secure fixing to prevent breaking loose if roughly handled. I think I would band some battens to protect the column from any dings and stop it rolling around. Good luck with the move.

Mike

Many thanks for all the suggestions - much appreciated.

I had not thought about using a pallet truck and will construct my crates accordingly. The min internal dimension between a pallet truck arms is 540 mm?

I will make two crates, one for the head and another for the base, drill table, chuck key rest, etc.

One thing I will need but cannot make and don't know how to obtain; is a short length of tube to fix the head to the collar piece that bolts to the base (foot). The head and the actual base itself in one crate will be much too heavy, so I am thinking to bolt just the collar piece to the floor of the crate and fix a short bit of tube to put the head on and hold it central in the crate.

I measure the Meddings support tube to be 80 mm / 3.15" OD, and it would need to be around 400 mm long - doesn't have to be metal, just strong enough to hold the head from falling sideways.