Moving a Jointer Down Stairs - Suggestions?

[Cian]

BTDT.  Call up your LARGEST friends and cash in every favor you've amassed.

If it weren't for John's Woodshop and his linebacker sized sons, I'd have a garage woodshop instead of a basement woodshop.  

[Belle City Woodworking]

I have the opportunity to pick up a nice, used 8" JJ-BCS Jet jointer. I'll take the bed assembly off the base to load it, and I'll be able to get the base into my basement shop just fine. The problem I have is, how do I get the 6' long bed down a steeper than normal set of split-level stairs into my basement? It's likely I'll have to do this by myself and I can't see any good way to do it without breaking either the beds or me.

I don't have anywhere to attach my come-along to in the house, and I certainly can't carry the beds by myself. Are the tables easy enough to remove and replace on the bed assembly, or would I be setting myself up for an alignment headache by removing them? Anyone have any suggestions?

Like Cian said find some football players offer some pizza and a few bucks - they will love the workout


I was just blessed to have some strong sons

[Cian]

I was just blessed to have some strong sons

And a heartfelt THANK YOU again, John. 

[srv52761]

Several here have suggested hiring football players or such. I have no first person experience but have two acquaintance anecdotes.
1. My uncle had hired some high school kids to help him paint his house. One fell off a ladder.

2. Our high school soccer teams had an annual 'Hire a Soccer Player' fund raiser. One player hurt his back.

Both cases were legal nightmares. Both insurance companies of the injured said they were not responsible for the medical bills. Said my uncle's homeowner's policy and the school district's liabilty insurance respectively should pay. (edit: all soccer players were/are required to have injury insurance, either through personal or through a stand alone school policy... were they acting in their sport, as a paid employee, as private contractors, as an employee of the person donating $ to the soccer program??)

I would vote for shelling out the $ for bonded and insured professionals.

[lincmercguy]

I've found that life is much easier when you own a hand truck.  I think it's worth buying one, even to make moving heavy stuff that you can carry easier.  I moved a 6" jointer by removing the base, then strapping the rest to a hand truck with ratchet straps.  It was easy enough to move with just one person, but I understand yours will be much heavier.

A safety note on moving, if you need help, they should not be downstairs from the jointer.  If something goes wrong, you want everyone to be above it.  You can use a light tow strap to allow a couple of people to help ease it down the stairs or pull it up.

[WilliamHodge]

I don't have anywhere to attach my come-along to in the house, and I certainly can't carry the beds by myself. Are the tables easy enough to remove and replace on the bed assembly, or would I be setting myself up for an alignment headache by removing them? Anyone have any suggestions?

It's time to improve your skills, to the level needed for owning and using that new machine.

One skill is moving it, another is working on it.

If you learn how to align the beds, you can take the machine apart and move it into the basement. Putting it together is not that hard. You will then know how to set up your machine.

Using an uninsured group of kids isn't good for the machine. They probably don't know how to lift it gently, by the base. As the above poster noted, you will be liable if their bravado gets in the way of their brains, ans someone gets hurt. The hospitals and insurance companies are lawyered up, ready for this exact situation. The injured's insurance company will investigate the workplace, and sue. I'm not a lawyer, but I have been a worker's comp administrator.

My advice is to up your skill set, take the machine apart, and move it gently.

Failing that, hire riggers, not movers. Riggers know how to move machinery, movers move household goods.

[vernonator]

Several here have suggested hiring football players or such.  I have no first person experience but have two acquaintance anecdotes.
1. My uncle had hired some high school kids to help him paint his house.  One fell off a ladder.

2. Our high school soccer teams had an annual 'Hire a Soccer Player'  fund raiser.  One player hurt his back.

Both cases were legal nightmares.  Both insurance companies of the injured  said they were not responsible for the medical bills.  Said my uncle's homeowner's policy and the school district's liabilty insurance respectively should pay.  (edit: all soccer players were/are required to have injury insurance, either through personal or through a stand alone school policy... were they acting in their sport, as a paid employee, as private contractors, as an employee of the person donating $ to the soccer program??)

I would vote for shelling out the $ for bonded and insured professionals.

This...seriously call 2 Men and a Truck (or your local equivalent) it cost me $100 to move my tablesaw into the basement. Took them all of 20 min and most of that was them wrapping the corners and rails so they did not damage them.

[woodhead]

slide it down on a plank

do NOT do this by yourself!!!


Al

[fredhargis]

Jason, do you have a plan? Let us know how things go!

[Jason28]

Jason, do you have a plan? Let us know how things go!

Sorry about the silence here. I got real busy all of a sudden with what seemed like every client I have needing me for everything, all at the same time, and all of it urgent. I ended up having to cancel my appointment to go see the jointer this week; I just couldn't make the timing work and don't know when I'll be able to. I told the seller to move to the next person in line since I'm not going to keep him hanging on my unpredictable schedule.

However, I did learn a whole lot from this thread tonight, so I've got many options for the next jointer to come along. Thanks everyone for your thoughts; I greatly appreciate the help.