Used SawStop


Mark J

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OK, I bought a used SawStop ICS, or at least I've paid for one, I still have to get it out of the seller's basement and into mine.  My local tool rental place has a Power Mate stair climbing two wheel hand truck available. 

https://www.powermate.info/powermate_videos?hsCtaTracking=35548cbb-2040-4f7c-a7fe-d3c2c80b24a1|bb059731-8c33-4d09-a98b-5fe327211c96

Have any of you had any experience with this machine (or a similar device)?  Care to share?

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The plan was to remove the front and back fence rails and the left and right cast iron wings, but I just got off the phone with SawStop, the cabinet, motor and central cast iron table together are 530 pounds.  Of this the cast iron top is about 100 pounds, so I'm re-thinking whether or not to remove it.  Technically the dolly is rated for 650 pounds, but me, maybe not so much.  The Power Mate does seem to be the way to go, though.  I checked with Two Men and a Truck, they won't take anything over 500 pounds up or down more than 5 stairs, so that's a no go, which is OK, because for 400 pounds they want $700 :wacko:.   

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36 minutes ago, Mark J said:

The plan was to remove the front and back fence rails and the left and right cast iron wings, but I just got off the phone with SawStop, the cabinet, motor and central cast iron table together are 530 pounds.  Of this the cast iron top is about 100 pounds, so I'm re-thinking whether or not to remove it.  Technically the dolly is rated for 650 pounds, but me, maybe not so much.  The Power Mate does seem to be the way to go, though.  I checked with Two Men and a Truck, they won't take anything over 500 pounds up or down more than 5 stairs, so that's a no go, which is OK, because for 400 pounds they want $700 :wacko:.   

If you hired you'd  want to find a company that moves gun safes but they are probably goign to use the machine you linked.

At that weight even the typical stretcher style i use to move table saws would be iffy. I'd do it because 215 lbs a person isn't that terrible when you have good hand holds but I'm young and dumb.

 

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There's a company in town here that specializes in moving bank vaults and other heavy industrial equipment. Probably at least 1 in every city. But I think if you take off the top & rails then that super dolly would be just the ticket. If you do take the top off, be sure to keep track of any shims (if any) and which place each of them were located. They need to go back in the same place.

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It looks like this Power Mate is the move to make.  Which gives me another problem to solve so I'm calling on @Tom King and all my other construction savvy friends. 

I have a basement (workshop) entrance with just six steps down, but at the top there is also a single step down to the ground.  

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The Power Mate might negotiate this, but I think I need to build a platform or landing.  I anticipate the load at 1000 lbs.  As a further complication the land slopes gently toward the steps.  

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With the level leveled the distance to the ground is 8" at the concrete and 7 1/4" at the lawn end of the level.  Also know that the top of the first step is not flat.

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It's about 1 15/16" to the concrete and 1 1/16" to the wide steel plate.  

I am thinking of a top layer of 3/4 plywood which extends over the top step with an appropriate piece of wood supporting the edge of the plywood against the concrete.  This plywood top surface would have to extend beyond the brick work onto the lawn to allow room for the dolly and load to be turned around while on the landing.  I brought out my plain old hand truck for size and I think that I would need 4 to 5 feet between the concrete step and the lawn side.  

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That's five feet of the six foot level and note also the doors can't be closed once the landing is in place.  

So here's some questions:

Do I need to accommodate the slope of the land or should I ignore it?

What should I build do to support the plywood top over the brick and lawn?  I could use a layer of "cinder block" laid on its side?  It's available in 4, 6 and 8" widths.  Lumber on top of that would make up the difference.  Alternatively I can build a wood frame out of 2x6 or 2x8?

If a wood frame, what 2x?  Would two long sections joined by "joists" every 16" be the target?  

Do you think 4 1/2' wood be a large enough landing?  That gives me a total size with the over hang of 5 1/2' and this would store a little more easily than 6 feet.  

I'm hoping to build this tomorrow.

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Today was a long day.  We got everything moved from the seller's basement to my workshop.  All except one piece.

 

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We tried everything we could think of, but could not get the saw cabinet up the stairs.  

The stair climber works pretty well, for example we used it to easily move the cast iron top.  But when it came to the saw it seems the center of gravity was too far forward.  It's necessary to tip the dolly handles down to balance the load on the wheels.  With the saw that requires a lot of tipping--the handles will make a fairly acute angle with the floor.  The seller's stairs on the other hand are steeper than usual making a much less acute angle with the floor.  The only way to balance the load would have been if the dolly handles could have protruded through the stairs.

We were also limited by the narrow doorway at the top of the stairs.  This required that tongue be placed on the fron or back of the saw.  The center of gravity issue might have been solved if we could have come at the saw from the motor side.

So the stair climbing dolly works, but it is limited by the center of gravity and steepness of the stairs.  

What's next?  I'm too beat to think about it tonight.  

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Before joining this forum, I always thought of a cellar as a place to store jellies and jams as we just don’t have them down here and I’ve been jealous of those that have them. Good luck Mark, hope it works out for ya! 

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Basements, benefit or bane?  I used to think of them as a required feature.  They are bonus spaces, rough and ready, but inaccessible.  If you don't have them you won't find yourself trying to get anything in or out of one.  At least at my end I have a direct entrance. 

I haven't given up, and I still think this was a good deal.  It got into the basement and it certainly has to come out.  I have a turning class today.  Tomorrow I'll  put some calls out to moving companies.  

Taking the motor off is possible, in theory, but looking inside the cabinet I think it would be monumentally difficult  and 3 times harder to get it back on.  It occured to me last night in bed that the motor is low in the cabinet, so upside down the center of gravity would be higher.  No idea how to just casually flip it over or whether anything inside would be harmed.  

I need to turn some wood today.

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1 hour ago, Mark J said:

Basements, benefit or bane? 

I think benefit - and any inaccessibility is just an implementation issue.....the typical basement exterior access (around here anyways) is the basic bulkhead door and stairs that are rarely user friendly.  Some houses have walk-out basements, but obviously you need to have the right piece of land for it.  When we renovated I had them replace the "typical" entrance with a doghouse entrance with a nicer set of stairs.  I highly recommend it.

Back to the original topic ...  

9 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

Does the seller have any hints about how it went DOWN the stairs in the first place

I'd like to know this as well.

I'm with Chestnut on this one - with his 'disassembly' philosophy.  I moved my PCS down similar stairs with the help of a friend without disassembly - but it is significantly less weight than an ICS.  If I was in your situation, I'd build a cradle around the saw - think of it as a sturdy shipping crate; secure several 2x6's (or some other size) on the stairs running up and down as 'runners', then tip the crate over onto the runners and then use a come-along or winch or something to pull the whole thing up the runners. 

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Wish i was closer i'd come and help. I hate hearing that the  stair climber thing didn't work. I was hoping it'd be better because some day in the future i plan to but a new planer and would love to get it in my shop easily with out hurting any one. That device seemed like the ticket.

I think @jfitz has an excellent idea with runners and a come along. Just don't overbuild what ever you are going to build around it. 2z4s are a lot stronger than people give them credit for. Any extra weight you build around the saw is more weight that you have to move.

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Thanks for that thought. 

Don't give up on the stair climber entirely.  It did move the drill press and the cast iron top after all.  But it turns out that besides weight, the center of gravity of the load and slope of the stairs are factors.  

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Unless you can get a bunch of guys and there's room up the steps I think the crate/runners is the best option. Depending on how you need to get it out you could try a little electric winch to pull it up to make things a bit easier. Had to do that to get a fishtank stand out of my buddies house.

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