Mills CNC – 21 Ton Precision Lift

It’s All About The Angle…

Getting a 2.77 meter wide and 7.36 meter in length machine through a narrow entrance isn’t exactly the simplest of tasks. A few hours of precision lifts, movements and skating later, the machine was in its new home.

First attempt at getting the machine in wasn’t as simple as it seemed – having to rethink the strategy and make adjustments to the surroundings. The process involved cutting down three steel beams to allow the slings to manoeuvre correctly without damaging the machine.

Watch the video below to see how we tackled this complex machine move.

The operation started off by Michael Oliphant (V78) getting materials offloaded, by ABA Cranes, into the facility. This was the easy part – due to the narrow structure, manoeuvring the materials in was the simplest part of the operation. The only ‘challenging’ part at this stage was reversing down a narrow path towards the facility, but both Michael and John Burke (V117) made light work of it.

Once all the material were moved into the facility, John (V117) made his way towards the facility with the Puma 700lm machine – weighing 21,800kg. Due to the size, length and width of the machine, getting it through the narrow entrance to the facility provided us with a few obstacles to overcome.

First attempt at getting the machine in wasn’t successful, due to the steel beams above the unit restricting the movement of the slings. The next step was cutting down the beams so the slings could safely, and accurately, manoeuvre the machine into position and through into the facility.

Now that the challenging part of the operation was over, the final step was skating the machine through into the facility and in position. A well put together team effort made this difficult move a success. The skill an efficiency  of each member involved help minimise the potential problems we could have faced, making this job possible.