RogerDat
03-18-2015, 08:00 AM
I was able to find a thread in the archives on the subject of how to package lead so it all arrived. And I think the information applies to other heavy objects, and I am sure there are tips not covered or items that I am not aware of that have a best way to package. Based on lots of shipping and receiving experience plus having worked for a moving company and reading a post found in the archive this is what I have come up with as a check list of how to reduce the chances of package arriving with damaged contents.
Feel free to add your own ideas of what works to have the contents arrive alive.
#1 The item is firmly held in place from all directions so that it cannot move. We are all aware of the effect of velocity on the force of a lead projectile weighing a couple hundred grains. A 20 lb. item does not have to be moving very fast to have a lot of force. As an experiment put a piece of cardboard above your foot, resting on blocks on either side of your foot, heck put two pieces, now drop a 5# lead ingot on it from waist height on the cardboard. See lots of force. Ingot goes right through the cardboard. Even a 1 lb. ingot may get through with enough force to hurt. (If you do this experiment and are forever after known as hopalong or just "stupid" it is your own fault) You get the point a 20 lb. item = 140,000 grain projectile. It can move pretty slow and still hit hard.
Really tight balls of newspaper on all sides, or those plastic grocery bags wadded into balls work well as padding. If the item has weight and can move you are rolling the dice on if contents will arrive inside the box, sticking through the sides, or deposited across several transfer facilities after the first time it drops from the conveyer to the parcel bin. 20 lbs. of dropped anything is not going to land gently.
#2 The strapping tape with nylon threads in it is the only thing that works well. The clear plastic packing tape holds it closed by does not make the box seam any stronger. The nylon strapping tape adds strength. Use the strapping tape liberally. One every seam, the folded lines of the edges in the cardboard are weaker so add tape to all of them. Use the tape like angle iron to reinforce each edge. Add tape as bands to reinforce sides and top.
#3 if the box is fully packed with compressed packing material it won't get crushed as easily. A crushed box is a weak box so it is easier for more crushing to take place or for the stuff inside to become loose as the box changes shape, and then bust through the weakness where box was crushed if (when) it suffers a drop.
#4 You can double up FRB pretty easily with a little trimming to just be able to slip the one inside the other. Double walls of outer shell is stronger than one layer.
#5 know when it needs an inner box with soft packing like bubble wrap, then surround that inner box with tight pressed in packing material. I received a balance beam scale double boxed with inner box full of fluffy stuff and half the size of the outer box. Space between inner and outer box packed tightly with wadded newspaper. Scale was in great shape, nothing out of place by even a tiny amount.
Apparently I posted this in the wrong forum originally, some nice ideas added so I'm moving it here in the hopes that they will get re-posted.
Feel free to add your own ideas of what works to have the contents arrive alive.
#1 The item is firmly held in place from all directions so that it cannot move. We are all aware of the effect of velocity on the force of a lead projectile weighing a couple hundred grains. A 20 lb. item does not have to be moving very fast to have a lot of force. As an experiment put a piece of cardboard above your foot, resting on blocks on either side of your foot, heck put two pieces, now drop a 5# lead ingot on it from waist height on the cardboard. See lots of force. Ingot goes right through the cardboard. Even a 1 lb. ingot may get through with enough force to hurt. (If you do this experiment and are forever after known as hopalong or just "stupid" it is your own fault) You get the point a 20 lb. item = 140,000 grain projectile. It can move pretty slow and still hit hard.
Really tight balls of newspaper on all sides, or those plastic grocery bags wadded into balls work well as padding. If the item has weight and can move you are rolling the dice on if contents will arrive inside the box, sticking through the sides, or deposited across several transfer facilities after the first time it drops from the conveyer to the parcel bin. 20 lbs. of dropped anything is not going to land gently.
#2 The strapping tape with nylon threads in it is the only thing that works well. The clear plastic packing tape holds it closed by does not make the box seam any stronger. The nylon strapping tape adds strength. Use the strapping tape liberally. One every seam, the folded lines of the edges in the cardboard are weaker so add tape to all of them. Use the tape like angle iron to reinforce each edge. Add tape as bands to reinforce sides and top.
#3 if the box is fully packed with compressed packing material it won't get crushed as easily. A crushed box is a weak box so it is easier for more crushing to take place or for the stuff inside to become loose as the box changes shape, and then bust through the weakness where box was crushed if (when) it suffers a drop.
#4 You can double up FRB pretty easily with a little trimming to just be able to slip the one inside the other. Double walls of outer shell is stronger than one layer.
#5 know when it needs an inner box with soft packing like bubble wrap, then surround that inner box with tight pressed in packing material. I received a balance beam scale double boxed with inner box full of fluffy stuff and half the size of the outer box. Space between inner and outer box packed tightly with wadded newspaper. Scale was in great shape, nothing out of place by even a tiny amount.
Apparently I posted this in the wrong forum originally, some nice ideas added so I'm moving it here in the hopes that they will get re-posted.