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East bound and down!

kevin.decelles

Jack of all trades -- Master of none
Premium Member
Greetings @Dusty , @Doggggboy , @6.5 Fan , @Scattered Parts ! Save some perogies for me, pass the pilsner and my bunny-hug and please differentiate between dinner, supper and lunch!

If you haven't guessed, I'm moving!

After a nearly 30 year adventure/career in Calgary, my wife and I have purchased an acreage near my home-town of Langenburg Saskatchewan, sold our acreage in Calgary and are in the process of moving.

Why? Well, we are both in the IT industry, can/have worked from home for years, and can pretty much work from anywhere. Couple that with recent mental/physical health challenges, and a desire to be near family, and a great real-estate market in Calgary..... well, it was a perfect storm. After looking into it, we were able to buy low, sell high so to speak and advance our retirement.

The new property will be a labor of love -- starting with a planned shop build in 2023! There is an existing 30x42 triple car garage w/10' ceilings, so I'll have a place to store my machines until then.

Which brings up the talk of the 'move'. For those of you who have seen my shop..... this is an event and I've been at it for nearly 6 weeks now. I've been running two trucks w/flat-deck trailers and running weekly convoy's out and back. The distance out is 1000km, so it is about 12 hour days of driving, and one day in between to load.

I'll be posting some pics soon.

For my metal-crazy-members in Calgary -- this isn't goodbye, I plan to visit often I have family still living here. It has been great to attend the meet-ups and I've made some life-long friendships. It saddens me that the percentage of John to non-John members will go 'up', but I've always considered myself an honorary John.

For my green-blooded brothers and sisters to the east -- I look forward to the opportunity to get to meet/know you as I move to the machine-tool-desert! I can officially confirm that the per-capita number of shapers to people has gone way-up!
 
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So logistics....

I needed to be able to load flat-deck trailers here, then unload there.... Without a crane/picker-truck.

Thankfully, I had purchased the PA 2-ton gantry crane a month back when I saw it on sale for $250. I already had a 2-ton home-built gantry here, so the plan was to move the new one to the new acreage on the first load.

One of the issues with the PA crane is the width -- it won't fit across the full fender width of my flat-deck (or the one I rented) . During a metal-pick last year I picked up a piece of I-beam that I retro fitted to the PA crane. Now it is nearly 10' across and will allow the trailer to be backed under.

Some pics of the project and a pic of our test lift.

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First-trip - giving the Beverly Hillbillies a run for their money!

How do you eat an elephant? one bite at a time! For the first trip, I needed a palette jack, the gantry crane, and a few other cribbing items. Other than that, it was the first 3 or 4 large objects from the front of the shop including a project surface grinder, power-hacksaw, welding table, 7x12 bandsaw etc. This opened up a hole in the shop for the subsequent trips. The downside, nothing fit together and it looked like this.....

Believe it or not, I didn't have to touch a strap -- it was rock solid.

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Next step - resurrect the 2-ton gantry at the other end.

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the water body you see in the background is Lake-Decelles. A 4-6' deep 12-acrea slough. I took this pic shortly after launching kayaks and paddling it for 30 minutes!
 
Ok, second load -- lets get serious and move some metal! (@Dusty - your spider sense should have been tingling as I rolled through Moose-Jaw with this load!)

What went on this load? 1903 Von Wyck Lathe, 14x40 Modern Lathe, Surface Grinder, CNC project mill, 6x26 knee mill, Southbend lathe, and a BBQ (lets be civilized here!)

A quick word on our wrapping process. I've never had luck with tarping, especially loads that are freakishly 'non-square'. I pick up some black cling wrap (22" spools) and then used red (and some blue) tuck-tape to lap seams and reinforce corners. We learned on this trip that pre-wrapping with a moving blanket softens the edges and we were able to arrive after 12 hours of 100Km/h travel with it pretty much intact.

After turning some serious miles in August, (not @Brent H serious, but serious enough) we NEVER encountered a drop of rain. it was 29-36 degree days, blue skies and sunshine every single trip.



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Congratulations man on the move up in the world. Way to go, I think you will always be glad you did what you did and when you did it.
That is quite the move. Lots of work and lots of planning. Be careful and take your time when needed. I wish I could offer to help somehow.
 
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