On Sat, 22 Jul 2006, I COLLECT TRAINS wrote:
Guess i'll be packing it myself :) probably have fedex pick it up from the
house.
For most 19" rackmount gear - I do this:
First, wrap the item in a large trashbag and tape with 'box sealing tape'
- you do have one of those little 'tape guns' and some 2" wide clear cello
tape, don't you?? The [lastic forms a moisture barrier and keeps any
loose packing materials out of the gear's innards. [I shipped a tube
audio power amplifier to a customer once - packed it in peanuts, which got
all inside the unit - he laboriously picked it all back out, but missed
the one wedged bewteen a KT88 and the output tranny - you can imagine the
mess that made!]
Then, I cut a piece of 1/8" plywood, or double-thick cardboard, to go
over the front panel - in case something sharp punctures the box. I've
had more than one piece of nice gear get trashed like this - it hardly
looks like 'damage' on the outside, but inside it's two meters and a dial
plate gone forever... ;{
Put an address label on this item, tape it down.
Bubble-wrap the item, one layer, and fit it snugly into a cardboard box,
tape it shut.
That box goes in another larger box - with either more bubble-wrap, or
peanuts all around (top, bottom, sides..) and then: tape the Ever-Lovin'
BeJeezis out of the outside box - use duct tape or filament tape if going
overseas. I don't just tape the seams and edges - I run four bands in from
the edges a few inches, two vertically and two horizontally, so even if
the outer box gets shmooshed, it still holds together.
Label properly, hand it over to the Drayage Enterprise, and then you've
done the best you can - it's now up to them.
In the case of fairly heavy (50 pounds or more) item, I just get thin
plywood, cheap 1X3 lumber, and drywall screws, and make a crate for the
"outside box"
Nothing I've shipped yet, including a Hammond BCV organ (450 pounds) to
Denmark, 250 pounds of Altec tube gear to So. Korea, or a Yamaha CS-80
Synthesiser from the 70s to London (250 pounds including the crate), and
many many other, smaller (sort of) items, has gotten lost or damaged in
shipment or Customs. And hey! I'm just a nerd with a soldering iron - not
some skilled trasportation master....
Cheers
John KB6SCO
