Show & Tell: Building A Shipping Crate For An Adler 69

[Uwe]

I didn't sleep all that well after I realized that I had to ship my precious Durkopp Adler 69. I spent six hours today building a custom shipping crate, hoping it will greatly increase chances of survival while at the mercy of UPS or USPS. The crate is intended to keep the machine from moving around inside the box during shipment no matter which side is up, and to keep fragile bits away from hard walls in case it falls off the conveyor belt. The wooden crate will go inside a sturdy cardboard box with thick foam board pads all around. The small parts and accessories will go into a second box with regular bubble-wrap type packaging.

There are no guarantees, only improved chances. Perhaps I'll be able to update this post with photos of what it looked like after arriving.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Uwe

[Ole South]

Nice work as always Uwe! What kind of finish are you gonna use? Poly or Tung Oil? :D

Seriously, cheap and easy is a can or two of expandable foam sealant from HD and plastic bags. Bolt your item to your base, set it inside your box and place a plastic bags of suitable size strategically around the item. Shoot the foam into each bag and wait for it to expand (close the lid during this process so it fills the gaps you want filled rather than mushrooming out the top). Smaller bags in any remaining gaps. You don't have to use bags... sheeting is okay but a misplaced seam will get foam sticking to your item. This is good for one or two ships as the rough handling will degrade the foam blocks.

[Constabulary]

As always very accurate and well done!!! But quite an expensive shipping solution. I hope the buyer will keep the box for the future.

I once has shipped a Durkopp sewing machine head head to France. I looked for a heavy carton and bought some 40mm and 10mm Styrofoam plates and cut them to fit top bottom and sides and stuffed the gaps with smaller pieces. I have not used these flimsy Styrofoam flakes or the like. So the machine was not moving a single 1mm inside the box. Lots of tape and some plastic leashing straps and buckles (don´t know the English word) and I was on the safe side. Buyer was impressed by the packaging and the entire machine was well protected against very rough handling.

[LumpenDoodle2]

Not in the same class, but I once bought an 1880's domestic sewing machine from fleabay. I contacted the seller, and specifically requested that they added extra padding inside the machine casing, and not rely on the little catch which holds the machine on to the base.

The buyer ignored my request, and after a final 'hefting' into my hall from a height of 2 feet by the courier, I opened the parcel. The lovely 135 year old wooden case had 'exploded' because the machine was bouncing around inside. More importantly, the casting on two areas of the machine had broken.

The only good thing was that it was a very cheap machine to buy, and for display only, so I was able to live with the damage.

So well done you two for really caring for the machines. I just wish that other people would take the time to do the job well.

[gottaknow]

Nice job Uwe. I do the same thing except I cut hand holds on each end.

Regards, Eric

[coryleif]

I bought a Juki 241 off eBay about 6 years ago. It was from a liquidation outfit and turned out they had no idea how to ship a sewing machine:

Parts of the machine were sticking through the box and the needle positioner had exploded. It would've been better if they'd shipped it in a burlap sack. This machine's still on the "I'll deal with it later" list.

[TZBrown]

Another work of art Serious cabinet grade wood there

[TinkerTailor]

Uwe, I am not sure that 13 ply marine grade is good enough. That stuff is always epoxy glassed when they use it in boats, presumably because it needs the extra strength and protection. I did see that all the internal bracing has had the corners beveled to eliminate stress risers. Nice move.

[Uwe]

I normally use that plywood to make my tabletops, mainly because the edge looks super nice and the baltic birch has very few internal voids as I carve the cutouts etc. I had trunk full of this stuff after my last trip to Toledo Plywood.

The machine is in the hands of UPS now and I wish her safe travels to the east coast.

Here are few more pictures of the final crating:

Edited February 29, 2016 by Uwe

[Hockeymender]

Kind of sad to see that machine leaving our area Uwe. It was one of a kind.

[Uwe]

Yup, it was kind of hard to let this one go.

[Constabulary]

And what will you buy as replacement? How is you Puritan machine doing?

[Uwe]

Now I have trouble falling asleep because I'm like a kid who just got his allowance

Options in no particular order:

1. Buy about 100 needles+awls and a set of cast-offs for the Puritan (and then one or two Starbucks drinks with the leftover money)

2. Buy a used Juki 1341, or a new clone thereof

3. Sell my Puritan too and buy a new Adler 869

4. Sell my Puritan and my Adler 205 and buy a new Adler 969

5. Fund my "No-Curb" rescue shelter for abandoned industrial sewing machines for another two years.

[Constabulary]

With the puritan you for you have a nice but special machine which is worth investing some coins I´d say. If I were you and had the money I´d look for a Singer 97-5 but our preferences are quite different I´d say.

[Wizcrafts]

Now I have trouble falling asleep because I'm like a kid who just got his allowance

Options in no particular order:

1. Buy about 100 needles+awls and a set of cast-offs for the Puritan (and then one or two Starbucks drinks with the leftover money)

2. Buy a used Juki 1341, or a new clone thereof

3. Sell my Puritan too and buy a new Adler 869

4. Sell my Puritan and my Adler 205 and buy a new Adler 969

5. Fund my "No-Curb" rescue shelter for abandoned industrial sewing machines for another two years.

I was in a similar situation in 2013 or 14; I can't remember which, I sewed at home part time and had a Union Lockstitch that I rebuilt over a 2 year period. I invested over $1000 in parts, thread, needles and awls, in addition to the cost of obtaining it in the first place. By the time I was finished modding the machine, it sewed up to 7/8 of an inch.

During the summer of 2012, I moved into a shared, one room - 280 square foot leather business with a fellow crafter. By that time I had also acquired a brand new Cowboy CB4500. There was only room for one of the big machines and the Cowboy won. So, I put the Union Lock up for sale and it went fairly quickly.

I used the money from that sale to fund a used Singer 139 long arm walking foot machine and a Fortuna skiver. I brought home the standard size walking foot machine that was in the shop and replaced it with the Singer 139. The skiver was on a short table that Bob Kovar custom built for me. It fit between a display cabinet and the wall behind it, which amounted to something like 32 inches.

As much as I miss the awesomeness of the Union Lockstitch machine, with its needle and awl system that I had adjusted to space station accuracy, I make more use of the two machines that replaced it than I would have if I'd kept it. Sometimes you have to let go of machines that aren't truly needed and move on to others that are more useful for the work at hand.

As things turned out, last summer we took over a second adjoining room that had even more footage than the original. It is loaded with machines and a cutting table, plus rows of storage cabinets and stacked drawers. I could have easily fitted the ULS into the new room; now dubbed the sewing room. But, that's not how it played out in my timeline.

Edited March 2, 2016 by Wizcrafts

[Gregg From Keystone Sewing]

I can hardly believe my life has come to me viewing online pics of a sewing crate with real, genuine interest. Looks great by the way, and yes, we have had many cardboard boxes show up with smashed machines inside. I've long wondered how UPS can show up with equipment damaged so badly I couldn't have done better myself if I tried.

[billybopp]

Shippers do indeed do some amazing things to equipment. I used to fix mainframe computers for a living, when those were still a thing. We had a customer with a failed disk drive, when those were the size of a dishwasher. The individual drives were about 60 pounds or so, but came boxed and well padded in the box. The replacement was shipped with lots of "handle with care", "Fragile", and other such labeling on it. The first replacement failed immediately when we installed it, so a second was shipped, this time with shockwatch and tip labels. This time around, somebody was near the front door when it was delivered ... to find the FedEx driver flipping the box end over end along the sidewalk all the way from his truck to the door. So much for handle with care!

Bill

[JREESER1]

I have had several shippers and mail handlers tell me, over the years, that "FRAGILE" just means ....."throw it underhand!"

jr