[Milsurplus] Ebay / email list selling trading/shipping

[David Stinson]

Bill Pileggi wrote:

> One of the better materials available for packing/protecting 
 >the heavy-weights is "foam insulation/sheeting"....

Sorry, Bill; I can't agree at all.
I've seen stuff packaged with this very rigid material.
I received a Minerva Tropic Master which was packed with it.
The shipper had three inches or better of the stuff around
the radio, holding it tightly in place.  OOPS (UPS) had obviously
dropped the package and the radio was badly damaged.
The purpose of "packing material" is to absorb and disperse
the energy of an impact so it is not transmitted
to the item packed.  The material needs to be "elastic," in that
it deforms and then bounces back, using up the impact energy.
Alternately, it can "crush," using up the energy, but only once.
This foam board stuff is too rigid to do either very well.
It transmits the energy of an impact directly to the item;
you might as well use cut wooden boards as your packing material.
I think it works very well as wall reinforcement for the box
and I have used it in that fashion.
But you still need material such as large-size bubble wrap
or peanuts between it and the item.

IMHO, of course.
73 Dave S.