Igor Chudov, owner of Chicago Machinery Movers

Does Your Rigger Have a Machine Shop?

Fixing Trucks and Forklifts, Building for Customers

By Igor Chudov, owner, Chicago Machinery Movers, Berkeley, Illinois.

The welded steel deck at the top of our loading ramp, seen from the side, with the yellow rails

Rigging is a business of moving physical objects using heavy equipment, such as trucks, cranes, and forklifts. When moving machinery, and especially scrapping machinery, riggers' equipment is pushed to its limit. Machinery movers are notorious for using old equipment, for good economic reasons: old equipment costs less to purchase, and is usually simpler to use and maintain, but needs more maintenance than brand-new stuff. Brand-new equipment has its own problems: it also breaks, often due to "value engineering", and when new equipment breaks, its repair is out of reach of typical shop maintenance mechanics. Anyone who claims that "their equipment never breaks," is making stuff up.

The physical work of moving, loading and unloading heavy objects, necessitates making or changing numerous structures like ramps, platforms, custom lift aides, and so on. Customers frequently need custom structures to mount some of their machinery, for example elevated platforms for process equipment and tanks. The ability to meet all these demands at an affordable cost is defined by the rigging company having a "machine shop" and people able to use it. Chicago Machinery Movers has an excellent machine shop allowing for repairing, making, and modifying our equipment, as well as to help our customers with certain customization needs.

The loading ramp platform

This blue portable ramp connected to the yellow platform provides a perfect example of how having a small machine and fabrication shop helps us serve new market segments while doing our work more easily, efficiently and safely. The building that I have at 5250 McDermott Dr in Berkeley, IL is extremely nice, except that it does not have elevated docks. And yet, we often need to load or unload full-height trailers from the rear. Examples are:

Container Loading and Unloading
Loading scrap into gondola semi trailers
Dry Van work

Many businesses in our position would use the ramp only, which is extremely unsafe and inconvenient for anything but simple pallets, due to approach angle, steep ramp angle, and the risk of hitting the roof of the container right after climbing the ramp. They do not have platforms, because those are expensive and hard to come by. Our welder

Since we have a decent shop, we made a platform, from the material we had saved up from our scrapping: the large 6 inch square tubes, I-beams, and various pieces of 1/2" diamond plate. We made sure that the platform has safety guards on the side, which are removable in case if we need to put something very long on the platform. It fits exactly what we need to do and would be very difficult to buy new or used.

Our portable steel loading ramp with the forklift deck we built at the top of it, in our yard in Berkeley — The blue portable ramp, where it meets the platform.

Removable safetu guards on the platform — Removable safety guards.

Our white Freightliner semi with a black scrap gondola trailer, backed up toward the ramp and platform in the yard — The semi with a scrap gondola, backing up to the ramp.

The gondola trailer backed against the yellow rail of the platform, with the forklift visible inside the gondola — Gondola against the platform. The forklift is already inside it.

Looking from the platform deck into the gondola, the forklift driving in over the deck to load scrap machinery — From the deck: the forklift drives straight into the gondola to load scrap.

A box for the liquid oxygen tank

The yellow steel box we built to carry the liquid oxygen tank and a fuel bottle, sitting on the forks of a forklift

We use liquid oxygen for heavy cutting during scrap and demolition work, but it must be stored safely. It is not legal to allow a oxygen tank to simply stand on the floor, as it must be secured. So, we took a steel bin. Then we added forklift pockets on the bottom, allowing a forklift to pick up the box from both sides with no chances of it falling off the forks on bumpy terrain. We also added lifting rings to the box to allow craning it, as well as to secure it easily and safely with straps.

Three welders, and what I will and will not weld

We have a welding capability to weld just about anything: semi trailers, platforms, trailer D-rings, and any structures. We have a Syncrowave 250 stick/TIG welder, a Lincoln 250 amp MIG welder, and a Miller Bobcat propane welder. The latter, I bought for $100 on auction, when it has its "face" bashed in due to a fall from a truck. Despite that, the welder worked fine, and simply needed its face to be straightened out and a new bezel installed.

Note that we are not certified welders and will not take on jobs requiring certifications. We also do not do "trailer repairs" for outside customers. However, we routinely weld machine bases, walk platforms, and that sort of thing, ensuring excess of material and solid performance. As we have a good amount of secondary steel, we have a material cost advantage no welding shop can beat.

The red Lincoln MIG welder with its shielding gas bottle — Lincoln MIG. Most of the steel work happens here.

The Miller Syncrowave 250 TIG welder with the pulser on top and leads hanging around it — Miller Syncrowave 250. TIG, aluminum, and anything thin.

The Thermal Arc stick welder on its shelf — Thermal Arc stick machine, for dirty or heavy steel.

The welding bench with a vise, the TIG torch and air tools — The welding bench.

Welding on site

The Miller Bobcat 250 engine-driven welder on its wheels in the shop, ready to go on the truck

The portable propane welder Miller Bobcat 250, is an engine-driven welder. We can take it to a customer site to weld or repair something. We always keep it in good condition with regular preventative maintenance.

The rest of the shop

The items below is what is properly called "machine shop" and we have all we need:

Cutting

The Startrite horizontal band saw with bar stock in the vise — Startrite bandsaw. Cuts beam, pipes, angles, and more.

The blue Wysong metalworker, used mostly to cut angles and flats — Wysong metalworker. We mostly use it to cut angles and flats.

The sheet metal brake — Sheet metal brake bends thin panels.

Machining

The Monarch 16-AA engine lathe — Monarch 16-AA lathe. Made in 1944, pristine ways, used for all kinds of work. We recently completed clutch maintenance on it as well as changed gearbox oil. (Mobil 32).

The Gorton 2-30 vertical mill — Gorton 2-30 mill. A step above the usual 'bridgeports'.

The Bridgeport Interact 2 CNC mill — Bridgeport Interact 2 CNC. For parts that have to be exact, or made more than once. Everything on the machine is in working condition, coolant refreshed continuously using a "wavemaker", ways are lubricated automatically. Air/water separator was recently upgraded.

The Allen multi-spindle gang drill with its table — Allen gang drill press. Amazing drill press, two rungs about the usual "Craftsman drill presses". It has one head suitable for tapping.

Pressing and fitting

The blue hydraulic shop press with its safety cage — Hydraulic press. Pushes pins and bearings, U-joints, bends stuff, you name it. Next to it is a big shelf with various press accessories, bars, rings, plates for various pressing needs.

The heavy steel bench with the big Morgan Chicago vise — The bench, with the Morgan vise. Sorry for the mess.

The sand blasting cabinet in front of the hardware bins — Sand blasting cabinet. It blasts away paint and rust.

Stock and tools

Labeled drawers of bolts, nuts and washers sorted by size — Fastener drawers.

The long bench with tool cabinets and shelves of parts behind it — Parts shelving.

The tool room, racks of grinders and drills and a tool chest — The tool room.

More of the tool room, shelves of power tools above a desk — Grinders, drills and hand tools.

The story of one repair

One of the two ramps that the RGN gooseneck rollers ride on broke on one of our semi trucks. We are fixing it in our own shop right now. The rest of this story, with the finished repair, will be here when it is done.

The frame of our semi truck behind the cab where the RGN roller ramp broke, with the damaged support on the frame rail — Where the ramp broke, on the frame behind the cab.

A length of rectangular steel tube laid across the truck frame, the stock for the new ramp — The steel for the new ramp, from our own stock.

The question to ask

Ask your rigger, "Do you have a machine shop"? Can he weld something to his own semi trailer today? Can he make you a 2' tall 8x10' wide stand from 5" square tubing and I-beams tomorrow? Does he need to wait for days for a mechanic to replace U-joints in his semi truck?

Call or text Igor: (630) 235-6603.

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