just nate – code is poetry, life is code

I and two of my friends own a company that manufactures wakeboard racks and other boating equipment. Until now, we’ve had most of the metal-working done overseas. Last weekend, we purchased a new CNC mill to help us with prototyping and touch-up work.

Our shop is located in Bountiful, Utah, but the machine we purchased was in Los Angeles, California. So, my two friends drove down to pick up the machine and bring it home.

I drove up after work to help unload the machine, and was very enthusiastic about what I saw.

The machine is about seven feet tall, just as we were told by the previous owner. Unfortunately, it is exactly 7′3″, which is three inches too tall to fit into the garage where we will be using the machine. We were tasked with the difficult feat of unloading a 4,000 pound machine, armed only with ingenuity. We considered renting a forklift, but realized immediately that any space between the bottom of our machine and the floor would make it that much more difficult to move in to its new spot.

The trailer is able to tilt and become a ramp, and so we decided that our first task would be to pull the machine off the back of the trailer without allowing it to tip over.

We built what might be termed a wedge out of a few two-by-fours, anchored against the cement foundations of the garage.

We connected a hauling strap to the wedge, and connected this to a chain wrapped around the base of the machine.

The idea was to drive the trailer right out from under the machine.

We kept the top of the machine stable with chains, and after a series of successive pulls, we would slacken the chains again to allow more sliding.

When the top of the machine was within inches of the garage entrance, we stopped to cut out a section of garage. Between the chains and the saw, and shouting back and forth as the trailer was sliding under the machine, we were making quite a lot of noise.

It was enough of a racket, and late enough at night, that the police showed up to restore peace.

We had an awful lot of tools in the garage, and a nice boat full of gear, and were unable to close the garage door. We decided to sleep out there and get up with the sun to finish the job.

In the morning, we cut out the offending part of the garage.

We removed the wedge and pushed the machine with the trailer.

As you can imagine, we left some marks on the garage floor.

The trailer wouldn’t fit into the smaller section of garage where the machine was fated to spend its days, so we pushed it the rest of the way using a two-by-four and … the truck.

With some tricky maneuvering, we got the machine right into position.