The forging press (“red press”) arrived today. I wish the building was ready but it’s not.
The semi driver had to find a flat spot that wasn’t too much mud, then dropped the tailgate.
We both pushed like crazy to build up enough momentum to get the thing off the liftgate. As it happened, we got all of the pallet off except for about a foot, which the trucker was able to clear by driving the truck forward.
Out standing in its field.
After a while, Ken’s crew showed up with their crane and relocated the press to the horse barn, where it is perplexing Otto (who is mostly perplexed all the time, anyhow). It should be OK there until the walls and sides of the building are up.
The US’ dependency on semitrailers for delivery is incredibly inefficient. On the other hand, we stole this absolutely humongous chunk of land, and things are very spread out once you go outside of a city and its suburbs. When you’re talking about delivering large things like this, there really isn’t any other option but it feels incredibly wasteful to see that great big truck that can haul 60,000lbs of stuff, mostly empty except for my little press.
Love that first photo.
And I’m pretty sure the press prefers to travel in style, with lots of legroom, not crowded in with all the other crates and boxes. Let ’em breathe, I say!
The Press doesn’t like to mix with ordinary packages.
They shrink-wrapped it! That’s pretty cool. I suppose that would stop little parts from joggling loose and falling off during transit. Or maybe that’s just a rain poncho.
Don’t let Otto scratch his butt on it. I’ve seen the devastation this can cause and Otto has a sizable butt.
Who is Otto?
*groans at pun*
Exciting even if it can’t be put in it’s final position yet.
Chigau@#4:
Who is Otto?
Otto is a shire horse that exwife rescued. I think he was 7 or 8 at the time, and he had spent his whole life in a tiny stall in manure up to his knees. When we got him, he literally did not know how to run; he could barely walk. Now he’s got a great big field and lots of grass and he ignores the world. He’s not very smart, unfortunately, because he never developed any thoughts. But he’s sweet and pretty and he enjoys standing in a field and looking around with a sort of “oh wow” expression. The birds like him because he doesn’t mind them sitting on him so he’s got poop streaks on his flanks and that doesn’t bother him either. I assume that his early life was so miserable that he’s just happy to be out in his field.
Lofty@#2:
The Press doesn’t like to mix with ordinary packages.
When they were talking about “Free Press” this is not the one they were talking about.
kestrel@#2:
They shrink-wrapped it! That’s pretty cool. I suppose that would stop little parts from joggling loose and falling off during transit. Or maybe that’s just a rain poncho.
Yeah, it’s shrink-wrapped. Coal Iron does a great job with their systems. Everything is really top notch.
What’s odd about the presses is that all the stress that they produce is internal, so they don’t vibrate or try to move around. So they Coal Iron presses have casters on the base and you can just push them around. Very nice. Of course right now that means that the pallet is bolted through the caster-holes, which means that eventually I have to reach underneath that thing with my hand, which my hand does not like. (I have several pieces of nice railroad track that I use to make a safe hand standoff)
Don’t let Otto scratch his butt on it. I’ve seen the devastation this can cause and Otto has a sizable butt.
No way. I have seen the devastation that can be caused by draft horse butt. It’s about 6′ from anything.
P-nut would have already unwrapped it and gotten his face stuck in it somehow. Curiousity and horses can be a bad combination.
The US’ dependency on semitrailers for delivery is incredibly inefficient.
They won’t let forklifts travel on highways.
Not sure if I would be okay with a forklift doing the speed limit of 100k or more…
rq@#10:
Not sure if I would be okay with a forklift doing the speed limit of 100k or more…
Maximum aggression forklift!
They have these pretty cool rigs I’ve seen on the highways, which haul a flatbed load of bricks or whatever, and there’s a forklift that sort of backpacks right on the back of the truck, for unloading the material at the work-site.
On my place, a forklift would immediately sink in to its hubs. Ken’s crew brought the crane-truck that they used to unload the shed beams. Coal Iron makes the presses with a balance-point lift hole, so it’s really easy to lift them if you have the appropriate gear.
Otto sounds like a dear. Or maybe a deer, they aren’t very smart either.
Good luck with getting it in and out of the horsebarn.
The press, not Otto.
if the horse shed doesn’t work out you can stash it in my garage, i’ll even break it in for you :P
I would enjoy some pictures of Otto.
So, you have heavy things to move, ground too soggy for a forklift …. and you have a shire horse. :-D
Lurker #753
@lurker753: Horsepower for the win!
So would I!
I’ll try to get some pictures of Otto when he’s looking particularly photogenic.