Moving C&P and How to find the Space

Hi all -
We have just come into a lovely C&P and need a few stars to align for it all to come together.

First - We need to get the press from SC to CA. I am nervous about moving the press across country, so I’d like to pick someone who has experience moving these delicate machines. Does anyone have any GOOD RECOMMENDATIONS?

Secondly - We have just moved to a new area and have no idea where to start looking to find a place to setup and run the press. Currently, we have a small tabletop that is in our apartment. That option isn’t really feasible for a C&P. So, my question is - how did YOU find the spot that you are in? We can’t afford an expensive rent on a place right now since we’re just getting our business up and going. Does anyone have any creative suggestions?

Thank you for any helpful thoughts you can provide!

Log in to reply   14 replies so far

I actually talked to a few storage places before deciding where to move my press. I ended up finding a warehouse space for free (don’t count on that). I asked around, made connections, and had some friends with space so it worked out.

Many of the storage places are climate controlled, and more than one seemed perfectly OK with me operating my machinery in there - I explicitly asked and did my best to explain what I was doing. Those places had the cheapest rent I could find, but don’t count on tons of outlets, you’ll have to go there and ask/look.

From what most of the experts here say, the press should stay 70 or above to prevent the cast iron from sweating (gathering condensation) and rusting. The ink also doesn’t stick when it’s too cold and hard. Rubber rollers should be kept at room temp in the house just like the ink.

PS. STRAP that press down real good, move slow, keep it low to the ground. I’ve seen lots of pictures of presses obliterated on the pavement after traveling hundreds of miles. I’m sure you know it’s real top heavy - take the ink disk off, any motor belts, and run straps through the body.

All this is gathered from what experts have told me and some personal experience.

In a previous post I descrbed how we borrowed a platen press which was not being used, for a union float in a labour day procession; it fell off the truck before the parade, cost the union about 3 weeks’ wages for a tradesman. We did not realise the truck would rock sideways. No one injured.

Alan.

Hey, we just got ours delivered successfully, but not so far a distance. Anyway, I took tons of pics, if that would help, of the delivery. It is a 12 x 18 C and P. We have it set up on a pretty broken up concrete floor in an old auto shop on our property but on a steel plate. Anyway, let me know, and I’ll process and upload the pics and send you a link. Good luck fellow C and P folks!

Jinny

Further note:

In my home town (pop. 100,000) a small carrying firm has a specialised service which uses what we call a box trailer to deliver palletised items; you have seen goods strapped down to a pallet, and we see a lot of them.

The trailer may be visualised as looking something like a Roman chariot (open at the back), but with a motor-car or what the Americans call a pick-up truck towing it; but the pallet-transporter has independent suspension, no axle across between the wheels. The floor may be lowered to rest on the ground; the floor is raised by hydraulic lift built-in to the transporter. Usually a fork-lift places the pallet on the bed of the transporter, and it is raised a little to keep the centre of gravity low, but if a rough patch of road is encountered, slow down the pace and lift the floor higher to clear the ground. Of course the pallet is strapped to the transporter.

Visualise a pallet with goods strapped down, that is what you need if transporting heavy machinery; and if it is easy to remove a piece like a flywheel, think of trying that. Always remember that things like platen presses are top-heavy, and unstable.

In Oystraylerya, a pickup is called a utility vehicle, shortened to utility, or ute; it used to be a tilly in North Queensland, but when the “Mexicans” came from Victoria and New South Wales the tilly word was replaced by ute.

If you can get hold of a trailer with brakes independent of the towing-vehicle brakes, that makes the rig much easier to drive if the driver understands how. And the loaded trailer should not weigh more than the towing vehicle; over-weight trailer may be illegal?

[The relatively-small towing vehicle and the towed trailer are much easier to manipulate than a large motor-truck in confined spaces. When semi-trailers (22-wheelers in Aus, 18-wheelers in U.S.A.) came into use in Aus, there were many difficulties of manoeuvring.]

Alan.

Thank you, everyone! I am very thankful for all of the responses! I hope to find a good creative space and a way to get the press across the country — so keep the ideas coming!

I’ve driven a few C&Ps about as far. What size press is it? I think i would recommend having a place to move it to before moving it. Otherwise, you will probably have to move it again or mightn’t have it in a place you can use it to print. Are you under tight time constraints to have the press moved(other than needing to print of course;)

Michael - I’m not under a huge rush and I absolutely will find a place for it before we venture across country. It’s 12x18. Any advice is appreciated.

I prefer moving presses myself using a low open trailer. You can load it onto the trailer with a come-along, engine hoist, or hire a tow truck. Tie it down good and tight to the rails of the trailer. Take it off any of these same ways.

To make life easier, put 2x4 or larger skids under the press’ feet and use 1” or larger iron pipes to roll under the skids. Two people can move this press over a concrete surface easily. Also tie the platen up in the closed position. No real need to take anything off unless moving the press through a cramped area. Anything you don’t take off, you won;t have to figure out how to put back on. Although there are really very few ways to do it wrong on a C&P. Look back into the archives for more detailed info on moving C&P presses.

Moving the press up or down stairs is a different matter…much trickier.

This may not be cost effective for you, but I had an ‘in’ {my husband works for the company and we were moving on their tab…}…

For our move from Boston to Atlanta, I packed my 8x12 AND 12x18 in a PackRat unit. It’s like a pod, but metal instead of wood. The two presses were strapped in about 8 thousand ways to keep from toppling over.

I can’t tell you how incredible that experience was— and not just because my husband works for the company. My presses were loaded up around 6am in Boston, and picked up by the PackRat folks a few hours later— put into storage for 2 weeks, then loaded onto a semi-truck with 2 additional units {it had all our STUFF from the house…} and shipped down to GA… everything was loaded into a warehouse for another few days of storage, then delivered one by one to the house. The presses were last, obviously, and I had a rigging crew on standby that morning to help me load in the presses. I was 8mo pregnant, so me moving anything was supposed to be out of the question.

Anyway, its an option— a covered option. The company does long-distance moves all the time so if you call, ask if they have something from SC to CA and maybe score yourself a spot on the semi {it can only hold 3 units at a time…}.

evseidl — AWESOME! thanks for the info! did you have to do anything creative to find a new place to operate them?? We had a basement in our old house in NC, but we recently moved to CA and we have no basement or garage. ack!

Alan, Nice One almost identical to what we have done here, with big heavy proof presses, casting machines and the odd Thompson Platen and occasionaly a V.M. the only variation we hired a car transporter trailer which used a tilting bed and a 9,000 lb pull Warn (American of course) Winch centered the machine(s) in the middle of the 4 wheel twin axle body, and then shackled down with H/D ratchet straps to the ring bolts in the deck of the transporter. We once had to resort to bribery and corruption (well a couple of beers anyway) and enlist the help of our man with a Big tractor, with the massive spike up front for loading large bales of hay and straw, unfortunately the heidelberg platen was almost (at approx one and a half tons) near the limit of the capacity of the tractor, but as the machine only had to go from one unit to another on the public highway for 100 yds, it made it!!! underwear was suspect, the owners and the tractor drivers, somebody who shall be nameless, was observed being highly amused and came close to walking home approx 10 miles. Obviously these operations would be impossible and/or impractical across American Interstate Highways but would quote the phrase “needs must when the devil drives” and he is still not far behind us now???

Alan, Nice One almost identical to what we have done here, with big heavy proof presses, casting machines and the odd Thompson Platen and occasionaly a V.M. the only variation we hired a car transporter trailer which used a tilting bed and a 9,000 lb pull Warn (American of course) Winch centered the machine(s) in the middle of the 4 wheel twin axle body, and then shackled down with H/D ratchet straps to the ring bolts in the deck of the transporter. We once had to resort to bribery and corruption (well a couple of beers anyway) and enlist the help of our man with a Big tractor, with the massive spike up front for loading large bales of hay and straw, unfortunately the heidelberg platen was almost (at approx one and a half tons) near the limit of the capacity of the tractor, but as the machine only had to go from one unit to another on the public highway for 100 yds, it made it!!! underwear was suspect, the owners and the tractor drivers, somebody who shall be nameless, was observed being highly amused and came close to walking home approx 10 miles. Obviously these operations would be impossible and/or impractical across American Interstate Highways but would quote the phrase “needs must when the devil drives” and he is still not far behind us now???

Moved my C&P 12x18 from Seattle to Calgary on the largest UHaul open trailer (12’ I think). Lessons learned:
Make sure it’s two axle - we had a tire blow. Stop after 10 miles and feel the tires and bearings, also after any sustained speed change. I discovered we had to stay under 90km/hr to keep the tires from overheating. Use chains to tie the press down. Do not use cruise control. Note, the 12x18 with motor is close to 3000lbs.

Another thing to keep an eye out on trailers is to make sure the tires are fully inflated. Low pressure in trailer tires will cause them to rapidly fail. Frequent checks of tire and bearing temperature are a very good idea too.