Moving machines to another state

[Mike Brady]

I have a friend who wants to take his basement shop equipment to a new home a couple of states away.  He has been told that it is cheaper (or a wash) to sell and repurchase equipment rather than pay for the moving company to pack and transport  the shop to the destination.  He was also warned not to move fragile items during summer months because the personnel are often temp hires in the peak season and they aren't careful or experienced.  Anyone have some experience or expertise in moving shops?

[Aram]

I have a friend who wants to take his basement shop equipment to a new home a couple of states away.  He has been told that it is cheaper (or a wash) to sell and repurchase equipment rather than pay for the moving company to pack and transport  the shop to the destination.  He was also warned not to move fragile items during summer months because the personnel are often temp hires in the peak season and they aren't careful or experienced.  Anyone have some experience or expertise in moving shops?

I just moved a few months ago. It was a 9 hour move from CA or OR. My tools are not small. I had to haul a Minimax MM16 bandsaw, PM66 with the long rails, a 6-foot long 8" jointer, 15" stationary planer, a top heavy floor-standing drill press, shelves, wood, hand tools, and so on.

I hired professional movers for my household goods, but not so the tools. I rented a UHaul, got a buddy to help me load it up, and drove it myself. It can be done with a little patience, a furniture dolly, a lot of ratchet straps (used as a safety net while running big tools up the ramp, and for securing them to the van) and a lot less muscle power than you probably imagine. Lever and nudge the big tools up onto a dolly, roll them up the ramp, and off you go. Seriously. It was more time consuming than difficult.

One tip: I made a full length cradle that I strapped onto the spine of my MM16, with casters on the top end. Moved the saw upright until it was close, tipped it so that the cradle rested against the back edge of the van floor, levered the saw up and rolled it in along the floor. Stood it up again in seconds. It worked great!

I did partly disassemble the tablesaw (rails and extension/router table off), and jointer (removed the fence and tables). It was probably necessary for the TS. In retrospect, I might have left the jointer tables on.

On the receiving end, I hired a couple of local people (found on Craigslist) to help me and my buddy unload. That was mostly for speed, so we weren't there late annoying my new neighbors.

Highly recommended, and no (ahem) "pros" to damage things.

[EDIT] Bob10 talked me into it. He was right. But don't tell him.

[BloomingtonMike]

Depends on the tools and what you paid i guess and how rare they are.

[Scott W]

Depends on the tools and what you paid i guess and how rare they are.

Very true.  It depends on whether you buy new or not and depends on the CL where you are going. For me,  if keep and pack what I have. That way you know what you have but also you can be up and running in a snap if you have a place to set up....now, if no garage I may think differently.

[TDKPE]

Another recent thread discussed this very issue.  Might get some useful opinions from there, too.  Including mine.  
 

https://www.forums.woodnet.net/showthrea...id=7331835

[TGW]

Good tools and machinery are never cheap and usually not easy to get hold of either.

If all he has is a shopful of the cheapest chineese junk that barely works when new than I doubt they would be worth the cost of moving. In that case selling and buying new is the only sensible option. What business and a consumerist society expect and want people to own is such junk and hence the adive to sell and buy new is repeated over and over again whether it makes sence or not. They want us to sell of or preferably scrap what we have and replace it with such junk and then replace everything over and over again every time the junk breaks down.


Good tools and good machines are expensive whether you buy them new or secondhand. Most that turns up secondhand will just by the nature of things be broken or worn and reqire a rebuild. Rebuilds cost valuable time. Secondhand stuff also tends to turn up rather far away from home will all that implies. I have had several machines shipped from 400-500 kilometres away and one from 900 kilometres away because I couldn't afford to buy new so I had to buy secondhand from wherever I could find them. I have had spare parts arriving from the other side of the Atlantic. Still for some tools may take 5 or 10 or even 20 years of searching to find an affordable specimen in good condition. Some will have to be custom made.
Once there is a repurchased set of tools one has to get used to them. Personally I am well aware that I have adapted my way of working to the strenghts and weaknesses of the tools I have. I doubt I could relearn a new way of working in less than 5 frustrating years.
So in my oppinion he should keep and move everything that is reasonably good quality and everything that has any value.

[paulmaine]

We used a local moving company to move 300 miles from Massachusetts to Maine.  The whole shop was packed up...tablesaws..everything.  Used cardboard boxes from Uline  with a heavy duty tape.  We had to move the wood on a short notice and that meant a smaller extra truck due to weight.  The transfer of money across state line from the sale of the old house to the new house took a week due to the Feds I was told. We stayed in a B&B that allowed us to cook our meals. 

    Because of the week waiting at the B&B the mover had to unload, store, and reload the three moderate size trucks.  A few boxes were lost-put labels with your ID and addresses on all boxes.  The movers had to be put up in a hotel because of the distance. Some boxes were put on the wrong floor.  These were a total pain at my age. 

   It was worth having to pay movers on a full size house/shop move (2000 sq ft).   Cost was $10,000 but no physical injuries took place.

[SteveS]

Moving my tools was pretty easy; I rented a PODS unit, rolled them in and used lots of ropes to secure them, though screwing in chock blocks to the floor would also help.

[doobes]

Moving my tools was pretty easy; I rented a PODS unit, rolled them in and used lots of ropes to secure them, though screwing in chock blocks to the floor would also help.

Are there weight limits to PODs?

[Dave Diaman]

Pods do have a weight limit. I used a pod to move all my tools. If I remember correctly the weight limit was 8000lbs. I know mine was over that but they never said anything. They just loaded it up and drove away.