Physically moving an X Carve

For those of you who have bought a used machine, or moved your x carve from one place to another … what did you do to lock everything in place?

if it wont fit flat in my SUV (it’ll be suuuuupppper close … i have 39 1/2" of width and 50" of length … would having it at an angle (provided it was supported) hurt anything for a couple hours?

any tips on what i should do to make it travel as good as it can?

I have moved both of my machines several times, mostly from school to home (30 miles) in the summer time so I can tear them down and do routine maintenance. I put the 500mm machine in the front seat of my Fiesta and tuck the 1000mm machine on an angle behind the front seats. Just make sure the gantry is not free to slide around and go easy on the curves and over the bumps. If I had to move them across the country, I would probably remove the spindle motors from the machines.

But in your circumstances, I’d probably just put a couple of blocks under the spoil board to support it so it would not rock around, and I’d move the gantry to the lowest point so it would not move around. Wouldn’t hurt to maybe tie the gantry down with a few strategically placed bungees if you have a long bumpy trip.

thanks … should be 90% interstate … about 100 miles give or take …

just wasnt sure if transporting it at an angle would hurt it … sounds like it should be ok, if we make sure its supported if we have to angle it, and tie the gantry down.

You can always use shrink wrap, wrap the entire machine and nothing will move.
Russell

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I didn’t think of this last night, but possibly some risk of distorting the spoil board/table when it’s sitting on an angle in the back of the car. However, my machines are bolted to very flat benches when set up for operation in the shop and I have not had any problems once I made sure the benches were flat. Carriage bolts through the spoil board in the corners outside of the cut area, secured with wing nuts from underneath hold the machines tightly to the tables but allow me to remove them for maintenance or to replace damaged insert nuts. Don’t over tighten the wing nuts because that will also distort the spoil board. Check the bed for flatness once you have the machine set up, and shim as needed to bring up any low areas. I do NOT resurface my spoil board. Instead, I overlay it with a sacrificial sheet of 1/4" MDF which is cheap and easy to replace. I use the X-Carve to prep the clamp locations and then carve a grid pattern with a 60degree v bit to help with alignment of work pieces. More than you wanted to know I am sure. Good luck with the move.

all good information.

i had planned on supporting it, if it needed to be at an angle.
i was curious about the wasteboard part, but hadnt gotten around to searching for it yet … i still havent even built the bench :smiley: