I recently returned from a trip to California, and while out there managed to pack up and ship some of my goodies (4 instruments totaling about 200 lbs) home. This time, I took photos while packing, and more of the unboxing. Some will be posted here, but since there are 73 images total of the two packages here is the link to the gallery with the captioned images in it:
https://pmanning.smugmug.com/Electronics/Packing-heavy-instruments-forThe cabinets were two different sizes, with two instruments in each size, so each box held two nearly identically sized devices. This made packing much easier. Each of the units weighed somewhere between about 40 and 55 lbs, so none of them was particularly lightweight.
The boxes used were purchased at the local FedEx shipping center and were 24 x 24 x 24" double-walled cubes. They cost about $12/each. The foam used was intended for household insulation purposes, and came from the local Home Depot (a big-box building supply store for those not in the US). The sheets are supplied in 4 x 8 foot panels, and I get 1 and 2" thick ones for shipping things. They have a clear plastic overlay on one side and an aluminized plastic overlay on the other, with Styrofoam sandwiched in between. (I mentioned them earlier in this thread.) The 1" thick ones are around $11 a pop, and the 2" ones about double that.
The packing procedure I've settled on is to get a box that is ideally 4" larger inside than what I'm shipping, and basically construct a styrofoam box inside the main shipping carton. Multiple instruments are piled one atop the other with a 1" Styrofoam divider sheet between them, and smaller blocks are placed as needed to fill gaps between front panels and carton walls, with efforts mate to keep knobs, buttons and display windows/screens in free air with nothing to bear on them. In this instance, two of the instruments had long cabinets that only permitted 1" foam between their ends and the carton walls, but with some additional bracing from flat cardboard to spread the forces on the foam that would otherwise be concentrated by handles and the rear perimeter of the enclosure, I felt in this case that things would be safe enough with the smaller space. Additionally, as these 2 foot high cartons were much taller than needed for the stacked cabinets, their height was cut down as needed.
The first step was to determine the necessary carton height. This was done by adding 5 inches to the stacked instrument height. (2" of foam on the bottom, 1" between and 2" on top, plus the total device height.) After determining this, I cut the carton down - measure and mark the corners to the new, shorter height, then cut out the excess cardboard. Lightly score along the new bend line and fold the flaps to close the carton. I put the cut side on the bottom, as the extra material strengthens it and I figure it's better on the bottom than the top (not that the carton stays upright in shipping, but on the off chance that it might, it can't hurt...) The 'inner' flaps are left at full length, and the 'outer' ones cut where they meet in the center to mate cleanly. The cut off pieces were later used to help prevent the instrument handles from crushing the foam.
Once the box has been sized and the bottom sealed, a piece of 2" thick foam sized to fit snugly inside was placed flat on the bottom. The first instrument was then placed in the center of the foam, and walls built around it inward from the carton sides. In the first one, I made the side walls full height (box height minus the 4" total of the top and bottom foam pieces), whereas in the second I made them the same height as the instrument, forming a platform that the second device then rested on. I like the second iteration better as the instrument-height foam pieces can be cut on the bandsaw while the double height ones are too wide and must be cut with the razor knife. Pieces should be cut so as to snugly line the inside of the carton, then any gaps may be filled with smaller blocks. Once everything is immobilized, the divider sheet (1" foam) is cut to size and put on top of the lower instrument, the second put in the box and the process repeated. Finally, the top foam piece is put into place and the carton sealed up.
Following are some of the pictures taken as things were packed up. The first few showing the measurement and the box cutting were from the second pair that were packed up (I neglected to take photos of this when doing the first ones). All photos are in the gallery linked to earlier in the post.
Measuring height:
Marking box:
Cut down box:
Instrument on foam in box:
Gaps around cabinet being filled in:
Spacer blocks threaded in between knobs and switches to fill gap between front panel and wall:
Divider layer:
Second instrument in box with foam around it:
Top layer of foam:
-Pat