My company is throwing away a monster of a machine- an old-skool solder paste inspection machine.

http://twitpic.com/mn0tl

Of interest to us is the fact that it comes with an X-Y gantry which is suspended above a frame which could be used to hold a workpiece. The gantry is (probably) powerful and sturdy enough to hold a real, honest-to-goodness milling device. Not a Dremel or Rotozip- a REAL router, or a more powerful motor with better speed control, more torque, and less RPM, for milling metal or other substances.

There's no Z control- we'll have to add that in later. Simple plunge Z (possibly even manual) shouldn't be too hard to add.

The problem is, quite simply, I have NO way to move this thing. It'll take two or three stout men a couple of hours to strip back the parts that are unneeded (there's a sizable chassis associated with it that may not be needed), then wrangle it into a truck (or SUV). We could potentially store it in my garage- although if someone with more space wanted to offer I wouldn't put up much of a fight.

Depending on date/time, I can help with the tearing and lifting.

I'm thinking either next weekend or sometime next week, in an evening. As I tweeted, they are discarding it by the end of next week, but if I can get it out next weekend, they'll be okay with that.

Again, it's MONSTROUSLY heavy. I'm guessing well over 500 pounds. I'm also imagining that we may be able to eliminate some of that weight, or at least mitigate it, by disassembling the thing.

How about if we did it Wed. night?

I will ask around at the office to find out if that's okay. It may work, it may not- I think the dock doors can't be opened after hours or on weekends without an alarm, so that may be a problem, depending on how much disassembly we do.

The stages themselves, together, probably weigh about 100-150 pounds. The more we disassemble the more manageable it becomes.

I may be able to help depending on time. Also where do you work at where you would have such a machine?

I work for the company that actually made the thing in the first place. I'm assuming we were keeping it around so we could help customers with field problems, but we terminated support on this model some years ago- anyone still having a problem will have to figure it out on their own.

I'm aiming for a 7:00 Wednesday meet-up to disassemble/move it. It will probably be a multi-hour process; I'll aim to get some pre-disassembly done first. Updates will follow.

Also, do any of you happy little helpers have a pickup (half-ton or bigger), cargo van (minivan is PROBABLY not in the running) or large SUV (not a RAV4, Vitara, etc etc)? I'm looking still but I may have to rent a truck. We also may not be able to open the loading dock doors after hours without setting off an alarm, so that may be a limiting factor as well. Disassembly may be our only option.

Update- I have a friend with a truck for tomorrow night. He works here, too, so that cuts the travel time down.

Anybody available? Time would probably be five p.m.-ish. Unloading at my place might be the bigger task, since there will be more people and tools here. Maybe a 6 p.m. unload at my house?

I am also going to have to revise my estimation of the weight of this thing- probably well under 500 lbs. I can squat lift one side of it. I still don't know if it can be wrangled in one piece in and out of a pickup truck, but I'd bet we could reduce the total weight by 100 pounds by removing crap (there's a lot of stuff stacked on it), and then get the individual chunks down below 200 pounds each by disassembling a little more.

EDIT- I also want to note that the machine DOES, in fact, have a slight Z-axis adjust. It's only about 2 inches, but that's all you need for a REALLY good CNC router.

This is going to be awesome !

Mike, I'd like to help but I have a dr. appointment at the same time.