Shopbot pick-up

[sebastien1]

I'm thinking doing the training in NC and returning with a 96-48 shopbot. Apperently they weigh about 1200lbs. and come a 30x40x90 crate. I have a 2003 Toyota Trundra w/ a 6' bed; 8' with the gate down. Looking at the Tundra manual, 1200lbs. is well under the weigh limits, however I believe about 2/3rds of the weight will be aft of the rear axle. I'm wondering if anyone has used a similar truck for an 8hr + trip? Is this a bad idea?

[wberminio]

Concider the cost of gas,wear on tear on your vehicle and the sales tax you'll have to pay.
Balance that with the cost of having it shipped right to yuor door

Erminio

[drodda]

I picked up my 120 x 60 PRT alpha in my dodge caravan with stow and go and brought it back home after classes. The drive was about 20 hour trip so I think you should have no problem with your truck at all.

You can remove most of the small parts and place them inside you truck to ditribute the load if needed. I took mine out of the crate and hauled myself the wife my mother and my 1 year old daughter in the van along with my machine. Mother played the part of nanny while we were at the classes.

-D

[drodda]

You don't pay sales tax just a manufacture tax I think it was $80.00 and there was no chance of damage on my items by some unhappy dock workers with a forklift and a grudge.

Worth every dime, besides he can't walk to the class. The truck will already be there.

-D

[gerald_martin]

Sebastien:

It is worth the trip to Shopbot and I think you'll be ok with your truck.

I took the trip for my PRS Alpha (my second shopbot), I had decided long ago that when I bought my next bot I wanted to meet these people.

I tell you, I was not disappointed.

Gerald

[woodworx]

my tacoma (smaller) has hauled wayyyyyyyyy more than that at 70 mph for hours. Shouldn't be a problem.

[blackhawk]

I found this on the website about picking the machine up in Durham:

"Pick Your Tool Up at ShopBot. Especially if you plan to attend a training session, you can save $200+ in shipping expenses if you pick your tool up while you are here. Please note that you must furnish us with a manufacturers certificate or you will be charged full NC state sales tax if you pick up the tool at ShopBot. With a manufacturers certificate, you pay $80. Give us a call if you have questions about this one."

NC sales tax is 6%

[curtiss]

Do you have a friend with a small trailer ??
I would think even a golf cart trailer would take a bit of the weight off your rig.

Not sure where you are located exactly, but your should be able to find one to rent somewhere if you want to lighten up.

Check your front brake pads in any case.
cj

[gene]

Put it on there and dont look back.If i had to move an elephant and could talk him into the back i'd do it in a minute. I hauled mine in a F 350 ford but i would have done it with my tundra in a heart beat. Its just at the time the tundra was loaded with stuff and the Ford wasn't , so you know what truck i took.

[bcondon]

Sabastein,

I just recieved mine 3 weeks ago and surfaced the table this morning... what a thrill... and then I had to go to my REAL job 8-( 7 hours and counting!

As for shipping, one issue that no one has brought up is at your house/shop and the unload process.

This monster is heavy in every way you can think about it. Everything is wonderfully made of 1/4" steel so you need to think of "the other end" because the folks in Durham have a fork lift truck to load, but what do you have to unload?

I will tell you that you will need a couple of people to take all the crated assembly apart and this is not easy work. The system is very well packed so it will not move around... many things are screwed inside the crate... the crate is SO cool.

I tend to lift a lot of weight in all my construction projects (more weight than most) and you absolutely need 2 people for the gantry.

==

My experience was that it was shipped by Rodeway, and got to Massachusetts in only 2 days... They did not bring a lift gate truck even though it was ordered ( and Shopbt refunded the fee for liftgate) but my fine friends at the local hardware store (I should be an owner with what I spend there!) lifted the unit out of the truck and placed it on my trailer. I backed the trailer in the garage and could work on it, at my leisure.

If you are only talking a couple hundred dollars and you feel that you can spend it, considered being easy on yourself because you do have some heavy work assembling the system when it arrives.

===
The machine is just the coolest thing..

I have always been in the computer industry so this will now test my talents at the age of 52
and am very excited. I have built a woodworking shop since I was 18. My Day had a full metal shop of which I now own.

The class was EXCELLENT. I wish they had a little more machine time even just showing us how to cut parts, ad setups because it is a little nerve racking to jump into new things....

If we saw it cut a bunch of parts, we know what the sound is, what the operations are.... All of the instructors and instruction were excellent!


today is the example of nervousness:

using the zzero routine (but needed to make sure everything is REALLY wired correctly), starting the spindle for the first time, and finally surfacing the table.

The experienced users may not remember how "the first time" is but now that I am through that, it is time to play with "the next thing"

Good luck !

[sebastien1]

So I spoke to Diane at Shopbot about the Manufacturers certificate and NC sales tax. The certificate exempts from paying there tax and the $80, which is listed on the "Before you buy a CNC" section on the site. Apparently there are only four states which enforce this; California, Virginia, NC & Indiana. I just happen to be in Indiana... Looks like I need to research this a bit further.