Argh, packaging for shipment!

April 11, 2013 1:02 PM

I need to pack three fairly delicate, 1" thick panels which are 18" by 15". Ideally all three would be in the same container, but I'm having difficulty navigating the world of hard shipping cases...

These are fretwork panels with some surface relief (so their thickness is variable at differing points on the panel; the thinnest point is 1/8" and the thickest is 1").

The question boils down to this: if you were confronted by the need to ship three 1" thick, 18" by 15" fretwork panels in a single box that must survive repeated Fedex/UPS shipments, to whom would you turn?

Problem: cash is not infinite, which (thus far) has put most "custom case" builders out of reach.

posted by aramaic to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

Best answer: I've used Pelican Cases to ship or transport delicate electronic components. They're extremely tough and come with foam dividers that have these half inch squares you can pluck out to make a nice custom fit. The 1600 looks like it would fit your needs.
posted by IanMorr at 1:30 PM on April 11, 2013

Best answer: When I used to sell antiques and we'd need to ship something fragile, or pack it to travel, sometimes we would hack a custom-fitted case for it with spray foam much like this, using plastic sheets and old bedsheets to protect the items.
posted by peagood at 1:37 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The Government of Canada's Canadian Conservation Institute has a six step write up on protecting collections during shipment. Step six is constructing a durable crate for shipment and relatively accessible tools like a skilsaw and hammer are all that are required.

A wooden crate combined with a multilayer foam block produced like in peagood's link would be excellent protection and if the lid was fastened with screws (or ideally captive nuts and machine screws or bolts) rather than nails or staples it would be reusable.
posted by Mitheral at 8:32 PM on April 11, 2013

Response by poster: For future readers: I've elected to buy a Pelican case, and if that fails will then be building a box using the link suggested by Mitheral, with the packing inside that box using the method suggested by peagood.

...so thank you all!
posted by aramaic at 9:41 AM on April 12, 2013

If possible, check your liquor store for wooden wine boxes/crates. They used to be free/cheap here in Toronto, but now that decorators and crafty people love them, they can range from $10 and up. That's what we used to use for figurines/smaller items. Your panels might just fit in one, with the foam insert.
posted by peagood at 11:55 AM on April 12, 2013