[Hallicrafters] Shipping boatanchors

[Carl]

ALWAYS read the shipping companys packing "guidelines" and follow them to 
the letter as an absolute minimum. There is nothing a shipper likes more 
than denying a damage claim due to improper packing.

Peanuts, soft foam, crushed newspaper are all verbotten for heavy and 
valuable items in particular. UPS spells it out exactly that way and Im sure 
the others do also.

Dont use hard foam scraps found in the dump or on the side of the road. Most 
of it has very little strength and is easily crushed to little specs. Break 
down, spend money, and get the good stuff in 4 x 8 sheets from Home Depot, 
etc. Use 1" for light equipment such as a S-40, DX- 60, etc. Use 2" on a 
real boatanchor, a wooden table radio and especially consoles.

Nothing irritates me more than some cheapa** seller trying to save a few 
bucks and the item arrives damaged.

In the wodden radios of all types take the speaker out and ship seperately. 
Most are only held in place by 3-4 short wood screws in old and cheap wood.

Dont overlook Greyhound for shipping if bus terminals are convenient at both 
ends. It is my favorite way of getting consoles in one piece. Double box and 
lay it down with the speaker side (front)on the floor. Use enough soft 
material to protect the dial, face, fancy wood shapes, etc. Mark the box 
with arrows, Greyhound actually pays attention and the others dont. With 
many buses the box stays right on one bus, with others its carefully moved 
by hand.

Photograph all the packing steps, especially if its really valuable. There 
is nothing like CYA when filing a claim.

Just my 3 cents from decades of shipping and receiving.

Carl
KM1H



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <WA1KBQ at aol.com>
To: <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 6:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] Shipping boatanchors


> http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m191/wa1kbq/sx88.jpg
>
> Preliminary  packing... carefully pack inside with wadded paper to secure
> tubes and tube  shields in place. Wrap with several layers of plastic 
> stretch
> wrap to protect  paint finish. Glue styrofoam corner protectors in place 
> to
> support the cabinet  in the shipping container. The corners of a cabinet
> are the strongest points on  a cabinet to adsorb and distribute forces 
> from
> drops and shock impacts. Cut and  glue a double wall box for an exact fit
> using hot glue for high strength if you  have to but the right size box is
> essential with this method. Place the primary  box inside a second double 
> wall
> box lined with foam rubber for energy  absorption. Double wall boxes glued
> with hot glue and much stronger than using  tape. The most common problem 
> I see
> in shipping boatanchors is using a box with  a weight rating less than the
> item being shipped and depending on styrofoam  peanuts to do all the
> protecting. Peanuts shift easily and will not support the  shape of a box. 
> Often
> boxes shipped with heavy equipment packed in styrofoam  peanuts will not
> retain their square shape but rather will usually be beat into  a round 
> shape
> through routing handling and conveyor belts in the sorting  centers. I 
> have had
> some arrive here as round as a beach ball because of  styrofoam peanuts
> where you could roll it down the drive way.
>
> If you get  a piece of equipment in and discover it was packed in peanuts
> tape the top back  down and turn it over and open the bottom instead. This 
> is
> the quickest and best  best way to know if the equipment had migrated to
> the bottom of the box because  of shifting peanuts where it could have
> received a direct hit from a  drop.
>
> The second most often encountered shipping mistake is shipping  something
> big, expensive and heavy with the chassis retaining screws missing  from
> underneath or in back. This is so common because screws are often left out 
> and
> put aside by a well meaning previous owner in order to make it easier to
> remove from the cabinet the next time. Mr. previous owner becomes a SK and 
> the
> estate gets sold and shipped and whoever is in charge of liquidating it
> didn't  know about the screws or know they are important. UPS (FedEx too)
> drops the box  while it happens to be upside down and the chassis bends 
> the
> front panel and  crashes the cabinet because it was not screwed down.
>
> 73, Greg
>
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