Getting a C&P off the palate
Hi, I am a spring chicken when it comes to letterpressing. I have just had a beautiful c&p 10” x 15” moved into my garage, very costly exercise but I am frustrated that I can not play with it yet as it is on the palate. I have contacted forklift companies and they said they can not help as it is in the garage - low garage door clearance, and a palate jack will not go high enough to lift the press, so I can slide the palate out. Errgghh! With the help of two other guys,we moved the whole thing about 10cm from the wall and even bent the crowbar?? Any help would be muchly appreciated. I know it will be a slow delicate process.
An engine hoist capable of lifting 2000 lbs can be used to suspend the press off the palette (C&P presses are really nice, but I think they’d taste bad on the palate). Close the press and remove the feed tables. Use a couple of heavy duty straps and lift with the engine hoist. Pull the palette out and lower the press to the floor. If the press doesn’t have skids underneath the feet, put them down first and lower the press onto that. Lag bolt the press to the skids. This’ll make it easier to move the press around later. If you bevel the ends of skids it will make it relatively easy to place iron rollers underneath. Two people can easily move the press around on rollers.
You can jack / leverage it up to place it on skids that are longer than the pallet. Then block the skids up from the floor - slightly higher than the pallet - using thin boards on each four corners. Then you can slide the pallet out and just lower it slowly by taking away thin boards one corner at a time. A Johnson Bar is a good tool for this.
Thanks for your help! I appreciate it very much
I have moved a couple C&P 10x15’s on home made 4x4 pallets and gotten them down the same way. I jacked the press up just so I could take pieces out one at a time using ever smaller shims until it was right on the skid I built for it. It takes a while but better safe than sorry with something so heavy. I’ve picked them back up the same way to move them again. I just used a small car floor jack and used 2x4 scraps to spread the load across a strong part of the press frame underneath.