workshop removal abroad

[Gary MagowanParticipant @garymagowan]

I am planning a move to France and am wanting to take my Myford MLR single phase and Boxford 3 phase lathes. The Boxford is a CSB of 1950's vintage so I will probably fit a new 230/415 Volt main drive motor with an inverter drive. It also has a 415V coolant pump and I am not quite sure what I will do with that.

Does anyone know of any import problems that I will need to address? I am assuming that I can buy whatever electrical kit I will need before I move and that I will have no issues operating that in France.

Any help will be appreciated.

[Gary MagowanParticipant @garymagowan]

Does anyone know what @hazards@ I can expect?

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

At sea we had all sorts of places we went to asking all sorts of official questions and demanding that we list all items of value bla bla bla etc etc etc

We only ever wrote two words on these forms

"personal effects"

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Hi Gary, we moved to SW France 13 years ago, lathe and workshop followed once the Man Shed was completed. No problems, but you do need to scratch about for material and fittings etc. Biggest problem is what to ask / search for as a simple translation does not always give you what you expected. Remember that we are in 'metric land' and non metric fasteners do not exist, also, just double the price for any tools, material etc.

Electricity is same as UK, but you will need to ask for Tri Phase from EDF. Mine came with neutral as well.
I don't see any problem with customs so long as they can look inside the van etc.
Once you have made the move, you will love it – let me know where you are going and if anywhere near, perhaps meet up.
BobH

[JESParticipant @jes]

As we are still in the EU just load the van and move,. I did it 30 years ago, After brexit who knows?

JES

[An OtherParticipant @another21905]

Same as JES – we moved from UK to France, some years later to Germany, and then retired to Romania. Never had any problems – only leaving UK with customs wanting to stick their noses in the van. (and all they were bothered about was that I had a spare tank of diesel – it was illegal to carry it on the ferry, can you believe?) In each case I made two or three trips with a hired van, taking all my machines (2 lathes, mill, hacksaw, circular saw, wood lathe and hand tools, plus lots of miscellaneous material), and never had any problems. Once out of UK, all electrical connectors in the different countries were the same, and electricity supplies. I did it myself with a hired van and a friend to help, because using a commercial company to do it was wa—-ay beyond what I could afford, and would have generated endless paperwork. Lot of work, but worth it in the end.

I didn't even need three phase connections, although this was possible in German and Romania just for the asking – the VFR on the lathe converts single phase to three phase.

Even getting hold of materials was easier out of UK – particularly in Germany and now in Romania.

Biggest disadvantage I have found so far is that I do my best not to buy anything from the UK – postal charges from UK are always very much higher than ordering from any other country. Sorry to be so negative about the UK, but this has been practical experience. JES is probably right, it will almost certainly become much harder to move depending on the terms the UK manages to negotiate for Brexit, but at least that will take a couple of years yet.

Good luck with the move Gary

[clogsParticipant @clogs]

Hi Gary,

I also moved there 13 years ago, it's quite normal in SW France to have 3phase in the older houses…….just check…

ur estate agent will tell u by phone if ur worried, thats quite important info they normally have….anything EDF do as a special is mad priced, compare costings for the poss lathe conversion….

Unless u need the electronic controls dont bother…..keep everything simple, all my materials+ tools etc come from the UK……it's available here but at a price…..thats if u can find them…I'm in the middle of nowhere……

Unless u can do it ur'self find a Brit sparky either locally or from the UK (free holiday) to get u set up in the w/shop…..

Speedy B is correct on the tooling, unless u move to a city or close by there's no where to buy the stuff….I've found there's no problems getting stuff posted……

Where we are there's a Brit that collects and delivers any and everything from the UK, he bought a largish lathe over for me even Tesco shopping if u can't live without the brown sauce….hahaha…….I'm sure u'll find somebody doing the same……

As for Whit, Bsf and the UN threaded nuts and bolt, just go to the local tractor part shop….our's, stock a limited range even Allen bolts but if u'r desperate they'll order them in……..there's loads of UK built tractors here……..

If ur here for Xmas bring ur own turkey…….an average sized bird cost abot €50-60……..

any further info PM me……happy to help………..

U'll have a great time here, enjoy and have a safe move…..Clogs

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Lots of good advice already.

We moved to the Pyrenees Orientale back in 2003 and have no regrets. We used Robinsons for the move and had to put everything into storage as we had yet to find a property. They had no problem with the lathe and other workshop contents and as soon as we had a suitable property they delivered everything intact.

There is no problem with customs.

As others have said tooling and materials are difficult or expensive to find here. Small quantities of metals can be scrounged or bought from a local machine shop. Most commercial suppliers will only supply full lengths and often will only sell to registered businesses. There are a few suppliers to MEs but they tend to be expensive.

If you are into steam models there is a national club, the CAV.

Bon chance!

Russell.

[Johannes GrabschParticipant @johannesgrabsch91508]

Hallo

We have moved from Leeds to the Netherlands 2 years ago, with almost all my Workshop things, and the complete household.

In my experience some thoughts are important:

Check that the moving company has a proper insurance. Prepare a MANIFEST, listing all items of value for insurance purposes – make many photos.

Make sure that the moving company has some proper lifting equipment for heavy machinery. Be present and vigilant when the loading happens! Make sure that a lathe is NOT lifted or pulled by grabbing at the leadscrew and the NOTHING HEAVY is loaded ontop of it.

Check regulations what may be illegal on a ferry: No combustible liquids or gases, no spray cans, no paints or thinners.

I packed all tools and materials into sturdy wooden boxes. The boxes were made from packaging for large glas panes – I got these free of charge from a company producing windows. Plastic crates are useless for workshop stuff.

For my 5 locos I had already made special transport boxes.

Make pictures of all importand things while packing.

Remove any electric cables in the workshop not needed any longer.

Before you leave make pictures of the empty and cleaned workshop. You will wonder how all that stuff fitted into this tiny area. Also, pictures are a nice documentation to prove to the new owners/inhabitants later, that you did not leave any nasty stuff behind.

Be at the new location BEFORE the truck arrives.

Make sure that you have a plan, where and in what order you need to transport the machinery into the new workshop. MAKE A PLAN.

Have the electricity cables for the power of machines in place BEFORE you arrive with the truck.

Be sure that the floor in the new workshop is solid enough and prepared to move heavy things around.

Be sure that the driveway is wide enough so that the moving truck can go as close as possible to the workshop. Talk to your new neighbors – unloading can take LONG and the road may be blocked.

Have an alarm system installed and working in the new workshop from day 1.

And, if you are working for a big company and you are being transferred, see that the company insures and pays the whole relocation – all costs, insurance etc. Or make a deal with the company that they do it FOR you. Their turms and conditions are better then yours as a private person.

Be prepared for some stress…

Regards

Johannes

[Chris Evans 6Participant @chrisevans6]

My Sister's partner is a model engineer and I regularly receive all he orders to my house in the UK. He then simply uses a parcel delivery company to collect and deliver to France the stuff I have packaged up for him. I think he pays less than £20 for a parcel up to 25KG. A fair bit of steel and aluminium has crossed over this way with no problems. We both save money as I now tend to buy material by the complete bar length and cut off suitable lengths for him and keep the rest in stock.

[simondavies3Participant @simondavies3]

There are a couple of sites in France where you can order offcuts directly and get them 'posted' to you. I have bought lumps of steel and aluminium and had them delivered (along with some interesting comments from the delivery guy) – one 15kg lump of steel was 'wrapped' in 2 layers of bubble wrap so I pity the remaining parcels in that delivery!

Stock steel and al are also available delivered and at reasonable prices IMO – I bought a 2m length of 20mm silver steel for about 45€. Terminology is the usual problem – silver steel is for instance sold either as 'Stub', or 'Stubs' or as '100C6'.

Not sure where you are heading but there is a small steam focused club in this region (Aix en Provence). Feel free to PM me with any questions.

Simon

[Michael Smith 15Participant @michaelsmith15]

I have taken loads of equipment to France from lathes to mini diggers and never had a problem .

When I wired up my workshop I installed english sockets and take most of my electrical goods from the UK, The price of electrical sockets etc in France I find expensive and nowhere near as substantial as english ones . I also believe that screwfix deliver to France on orders of 70 euros or more.

My local bricomarch what 20 euros for a Legrand double socket .

Interesting to know where other people live .My main workshop is still in the UK but I spend 4 months a year in France near to St Gaudens about 100kms south west of Toulouse.

Good luck with your Move Mike

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Simon, I would be very interested in those site addresses in France please.
Regarding 13 amp sockets, only fit them if you are prepared to remove them when you sell, also do not use ring main wiring or UK twin wire and earth as they will fail an insurance claim and fail on a house survey.
I don't like the French sockets or their price, but it is the French standard, and you will be living in France after all.
BobH

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I think if anyone came here and installed UK type plugs, regardless of whether they think the Kiwi plugs are rubbish, they might find they come up against the law. You can stick a bit of #8 wire in the fuse, because we don't fuse the plug, and if we did it would be smaller, our wall plugs are 10amp. It's a case of when in Rome etc.

Ian S C

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Ady1 on 26/11/2016 00:06:03:

At sea we had all sorts of places we went to asking all sorts of official questions and demanding that we list all items of value bla bla bla etc etc etc

We only ever wrote two words on these forms

"personal effects"

Which reminds me; on telly any shipment labelled 'Machine Tools' is usually guns!

Dave

[Paul H 1Participant @paulh1]

Hi Gary, no problems at all bringing your equipment over here as we are still in the EU. Expect to install new wiring, sockets and tableau (distribution board). Going by many positive posts about putting inverters on lathes with 3 phase motors that seems to be a good move anyway. If you want to use English plugs stock up on adapters and get yourself some UK extension cords/reels and put French plugs on them. In the long run it is easier to change your plugs over to French. After over 10 years in Normandy I have very little left on UK plugs. Having seen so many houses bought by Brits and for that matter French, the electrics rarely seem uptodate so you will probably need to rewire. English wiring, etc will invalidate your house insurance. On the positive side French wiring is pretty easy to do, very logical and the distribution board much safer, but Brit electricians registered and working here are normally very good in my experience. My advice would be to have a specific board in the workshop, so all the breakers (disjoncteurs) are to hand. I can suggest a very good book on the subject that I have used for all my projects, but it is written in French. The bricos (DIY stores) have everything you need for single phase. Legrand is very much the Rolls Royce of electrics. My double sockets for the workshop come in at 7 euros 35 at Bricomarche.

As I have only this year bought my lathe and mill (mail order from UK with no problems) I too am interested to learn about French machining material suppliers. Tooling I order online from the usual suppliers in the UK. In fact some French forum postings suggest UK suppliers. RDG and Arc are very fast on delivery here. Cast iron seems to be cheaper to buy off EBay Germany. French suppliers of machine tools and tooling seem to generally charge roughly double UK prices. Structural steel is fairly easy to buy locally and all the bricos have a rack of small sizes and profiles of aluminium, some plastic and steel of unknown grade, presumably mild steel (it welds easily but machines a bit rough). I have found some places more orientated to agriculture have bar up to 38mm and as Clogs says have some selection of non metric fasteners. The internet comes to the rescue there also. If I can help more please email.

Could some of you perhaps tell us which French suppliers you buy your steel etc. from?

Paul

[DanielParticipant @daniel]

Posted by Paul H 1 on 05/12/2016 10:00:14:

Could some of you perhaps tell us which French suppliers you buy your steel etc. from?

Paul

Hi Paul,

Bit far from you, but I use Outilmetal, in Limoges.

No website, but their stock is breathtaking. They are industrial suppliers primarily, but wonderfully accommodating with small orders. They even let me rifle through the offcuts, if I'm after one small piece.

Cannot praise them enough.

All the best,

Daniel

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

O.K. a few metal suppliers I have found here:

Tartaix

Boursométaux

Blockenstock

Alternatively look in the Pages Jaunes under "Rectification d'usinage, fraisage" for a local machine shop.

Russell.

[Peter Harris 3Participant @peterharris3]

If you're anywhere near Lyon:

http://www.sinnet.fr

[simondavies3Participant @simondavies3]

**LINK**

Agree about Tartaix, especially clock brass and also Blockenstock – very useful for offcuts

Edited By Simon0362 on 05/12/2016 19:48:36

[Gary MagowanParticipant @garymagowan]

Thank you everyone for your replies. They are very much appreciated. I am hoping to return to our rented property at the end of March (I have been waiting for a bed in my local NHS establishment) and will post updated contact information then.

thanks again,

Gary

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Gary,

I lived in France [for 12 years] until 2015, when we moved back to the UK. I would caution you against a) using UK-style sockets – they do not comply with French electrical installation regulations and b) be aware that using electricians who are working "on the black" out there can lead to a fine of up to €20,000 and/or imprisonment. If you have to, employ a registered artisan, it will cost, but you will get a 10-year guarantee to go with the work, they turn up when they say they will and work like nobody's business until the job is finished. We used an English builder to do some alterations when we first arrived and regretted it long afterwards.

As for the move, it's no different from moving within the UK. Just takes a bit longer and there's the small matter of "La Manche" to cross, whether by train or boat.

Have a fabulous time en France, I'm sure you won't regret it. And, if you don't already, learn the language!

Regards,

John

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