Leave Cali day 11

These Dunkel Bros riggers were better than the ones that moved the mill from my shop to here.

For one thing, they brought steel plates to get the mill over the curb lawn.

The lathe was in the single-car garage with a broken up floor from tree roots.

The fork truck would not fit in the garage, so the guys started to block up the lathe.

They needed to get the lathe high enough to get a pallet jack underneath it.

This is the lathe leaving the garage, the pallet jack got over the cracked concrete fine.

Once the lathe was clear of the garage, they dropped it down and got the fork truck.

Good riggers with good machinery. They slip the forks under the lathe.

Hang around riggers and you learn that going slow is their method to not get in trouble.

They got the lathe down the curb cut just fine.
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No cracks or damage on the curb cut, and the lather barely wiggled as they got it out.

They had the lathe up on 4x4 cribbing in no time. I knew they would get it to the buyer.

They strapped the lathe down and made sure it wasn't going to slide around.

The machine looks good up on that flat-bed trailer. These guys were careful and diligent.

More room in the garage now that the lathe is gone.

It's good to see some real American machinery tooling around Silicon Valley. It's turning into a software town full of clerical workers.

Now to get the mill from the side yard.

They brought plates, but it was still a little sketchy getting up the concrete strips.

Rather than use my neighbors curve-cut like the guys that brought the mill, these guys used cribbing to jump the curb and a steel plate.

The concrete strips were almost too wide apart.

So they backed up to re-engineer the approach. These guys were good.

They are just getting the forks under the mill.

There is so little concrete under the wheels I was going to have nervous breakdown.

One problem was the X-axis motor that stuck out so far it put the machine on the tips of the fork. They put cribbing under the tires.

The tires have a little more concrete under them on this side of the machine. They have to get it past a gate you see in the foreground.

If they can get onto the steel plates, everybody's blood pressure will drop.

They brought a huge plate to get over the lawn.

They took their time and made sure things were safe.

They too wanted a picture for posterity.

It was still tough to get over the curb. Sunnyvale will not let you have two curb cuts on one house. Good thing they had this wood.

You can see how far out on the forks the machine is. Here is a movie clearing the curb..

They used the pallet jack to angle the steel plate.

Whew, it goes on the truck, Bravo, these guys were great compared to other riggers.

They start to chain the mill to the truck bed.

Both machines on the trailer, with good weight distribution on the tires.

Now they can get the plates up on the trailer. I wish the guys that brought the mill here had plates like these.

They adjust the plates to get where they want.

Now they have it where they want.

They get the pallet jack up on the trailer. About now I remembered I needed the transformer gone and they got that. I think they had to get the pallet jack back down. Here is a movie.

The riggers check that everything is strapped down.
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They drop the forks to get the fork truck loaded. Here is a movie going up, and lifting the ramps.

All loaded up and ready to go.

The whole rig looks pretty impressive going down the road. Hats off to Dunkel Brothers.

A last long view of the machines no longer in my life. Sigh.

And the mill on the way to the scrap yard. I felt no pangs watching this thing leave my life.

Out of my life for good, it's a happy day to be 15,000 pounds lighter.
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The side yard is finally clear of that monstrous machine.

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It was a tremendous relief getting rid of the machines. They were the one thing holding up a simple sale of the house. I made a lot of money on the lathe, and lost even more on the mill.

The sad thing is I had bought a Phase Perfect 3-phase inverter to power the machines here at the house. Instead, I sold it off, along with a 3-phase Quincy air compressor I had brought from the shop. I learned it is hard to have more than a Bridgeport in the garage, though that lathe did look good in there. Eleven days into my moving plan and a big problem is gone.