[Boatanchors] Shipping Radios

[WBob]

I ship 2-3 reel-to-reel tape decks/week. These usually weigh between 40 and 75 
lbs each. Here is the procedure I have come up with to survive the rigors of UPS:


____________________________
I use only new material except for the filling material between the two boxes. I 
have found that ALL reel-to-reel decks will fit in the same size boxes and I buy 
them by the bundles.

First put 15-20 feet of big bubble (2 ft wide)on a flat place at least 4 ft 
long. Put the bubbles up. Lay the deck on this such that the front is up and 
whatever dimension seems to fit within the 2 ft bubble wrap is centered.

Place 4 inch pieces of cardboard tubing (cut from carpet roll cores available at 
any carpet place) over the reel tables to protect the spindles and tables from 
taking loads. If the deck has delicate switches or other controls elsewhere on 
the front put a tube on them as well. Roll the deck wrapping the bubblewrap 
tightly around the deck.

Tape the bubble end with some tape other than clear so the buyer can find what 
to cut to undo the deck. Tape the ends folding the bubbles over the edges of the 
deck. Make it as tight as you can.

Place this wrapped deck into a 20x20x14 box. It will be tight so the best way is 
to place the deck face down and put the box over it and turn the whole thing 
over. Cut the box down until the flaps are tight over the bubble wrap with as 
little space as possible. If the deck is smaller than the 20x20 part of the box 
then fill this with something un mashable, but soft like bubble wrap. Tape it 
all up good. Every crack.

Prepare a 24x24x16 1/2 inch box with a bottom of something like 1 inch foam or 
peanuts or or lots of crumpled newspapers. Put the other box init and cut down 
the bigger box until it just will close on the smaller one. Before sealing it 
all ut fill the void between the two boxes with peanuts or crumpled newspapers 
or more foam or something.

Tape the thing up again all cracks and corners. Note that the top of the deck is 
protected by three layers of bubble, four layers of cardboard from the inner box 
and four more layers from the outer box. There is no peanuts or other crushable 
material between the front of the deck and the ouside world, so it doesn't get a 
chance to accelerate when dropped. The front just takes the direct shot and not 
the inner box moving within the outer box forces. Most decks have the front 
panel very strong, but the front is full of delicate items and these must be 
protected. This is what the carpet tube pieces do.
___________________
WBob

solo22@sbcglobal.net wrote:

> I actually have the best luck using one box.   I tripple wrap the radio 
> with small bubble sheet.  Place a sheet of styrofoam under and on all 4 
> sides when possible, then fill all nook and crannies with foam peanuts. 
> So far its worked great, *so far*   Zl
> 
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