I recently picked up a lightly used 4x8 AVID Pro and am working through the logistics of getting it home. I have a couple of questions for the community.
My main concern is the joint between the two 4’ sections. When rolling it up the ramp onto the trailer, there will be a point where the center legs aren’t in contact with the ground. I’m worried about the stress on that joint during that moment — does anyone have experience with this? I’m considering clamping 2x6 lumber to the legs under the rails to help carry the load across the joint while it’s being loaded.
Second question is about securing the gantry for transit. I’m planning to use foam or moving blankets to support the Z-axis, and I’m thinking about clamping blocks of wood to the rails to keep the gantry from sliding back and forth. Does that sound like a solid approach, or is there a better method others have used?
Want to make sure I get this home without any damage — any advice is appreciated!
I don’t know if it is a good idea, but they make linear rail stop blocks to make sure that your bearings don’t run off the end of the rails. you can slide these on to the rails, snug them up to the bearings, and tighten them down. The only advantage this has is that the stop blocks are small and unobtrusive. They won’t get in the way, and they won’t get jarred/bumped into/ knocked off.
Partially yes — the seller has been really gracious in letting me keep it at his shop while I sort out logistics, and I don’t want to take up his entire day disassembling it. That said, I don’t want to risk damaging the machine either.
He did mention he originally moved it with a forklift on a flatbed, so it has been moved fully assembled before. I plan to remove the spindle, controller, and VFD regardless. But I’m wondering — how long does gantry removal typically take, and is it worth it for a single move?
Just thinking outside the box… in a pinch, you could screw a pair of 60" boards onto the bed (in the 48" direction of course) such that they trap the gantry and mostly hold it in place…
Here’s my plan for moving my 4x8 PRO fully assembled. I’m going to attach two 10’ lengths of Unistrut along the lower leg crossmembers using drop-in T-nuts, and another two lengths along the top — either on the upper crossmembers or directly to the top of the side rails. The dust caps on the rails are screwed into existing T-nuts, so I can simply swap them out for Unistrut hardware using the same T-nuts already in place. Thanks to Paul for that T-nut tip! The goal is to tie the two 4080 extrusion sections together and distribute the load away from the center joint during ramp loading.
Bonus — the bottom Unistrut will double as a shelf/lumber rack once it’s in the shop.
Has anyone done something similar? Any feedback on whether this adequately protects that center joint?
Just picked up my CNC today and wanted to share how I handled transport in case it helps others. I used a 7×15 enclosed trailer rather than a flatbed so I wouldn’t need equipment to offload it at home.
To stiffen the frame, I used Unistrut with roll-in T-nuts to tie the legs together. I also added a length of Unistrut along the top of the side rails, spanning the midpoint joint between the two sections. I removed the dust cover screws and replaced them with slightly longer screws to secure the Unistrut to the rail.
I removed the spindle and added a linear rail stop block to keep the gantry from moving during transport. Trailer jacks at each corner, combined with the Unistrut bracing, made for a very quick and easy load onto the trailer. Once in the trailer, I lowered it back onto its feet.
The setup rode very solid on the trip home. I’ll add a few more photos once I take it out of the trailer. Overall, this worked very well. I hope this helps anyone who’s planning a similar move.
. Mine have the factory dust covers on them.
