What is the best way to pack a monitor? Recommended material, etc?

[+eebuckeye]

Thanks!

[Keatah]

First order of business to to make sure it is a solid fit in the box with 3-4" padding on all 6 sides. You want the monitor to decelerate with the box if it is dropped, not be bouncing around. Packing peanuts and paper bags are no-nos!

Edited May 2, 2018 by Keatah

[Flojomojo]

The manufacturers used custom styrofoam ...you could use interlocking foam bricks. I would take it to a shipping place and let them handle it, since you're going to pay a fortune for shipping anyway. Hope the monitor is worth it!

[Andromeda Stardust]

buy like a mile of bubble wrap and packing tape and go nuts. given the weight of the tv it may be more economical to freight ship it. when i ordered my 1 cu foot ceramic kiln online, an 18 wheeler dropped it off in front of my house, which happens to be located in a truck free residential zone.

[Flojomojo]

Found this answer from a 2003 question on Ars Technica. Crazy but would work!!!

 

trash bags and spray foam.

 

Mile of bubble paper and packing tape is more my speed, but I like the innovation of the spray foam idea.

[Eltigro]

When I worked at Fluke electronics, long ago (early 2000s) we used expanding foam to ship electronic calibrators and oscilloscopes and amps and such... It does work. For some machines we had molds made. Lay in the plastic, spray in the foam, lay more plastic over the top, clamp the lid shut, wait a minute, take out the mold, repeat. There were special molds for the front and back. For others, we would lay plastic in the bottom of the box, spray in foam, lay plastic over the top, settle the unit on top of the foam. Wait a sec for it to cool, lay more plastic over the top, spray in more foam, more plastic, close up the box. It worked really pretty well. I don't have any pics or anything of what I used to do, but there's lots of videos on YouTube of similar processes if you search for Sealed Air Foam Packaging.

But it's not really something you can do easily at home. Maybe the trash bags and foam idea would work, but I don't know what kind of foam you would need. Something that won't compress too much and offer no resistance, but something that wouldn't be too hard so as not to cushion. It can be a fine line, I think.

[JamesD]

I recently shipped a Vectrex. The box had 2" solid foam on the outside and around 2 inches of bubble wrap taped around the unit itself.
You need at least 2" of foam to be sure it qualifies for an insurance claim if it's damaged.

[+eebuckeye]

Great.. where did you buy the foam?

[Flojomojo]

But it's not really something you can do easily at home. Maybe the trash bags and foam idea would work, but I don't know what kind of foam you would need. Something that won't compress too much and offer no resistance, but something that wouldn't be too hard so as not to cushion. It can be a fine line, I think.

 

I assumed it was insulation foam, like this. Expensive but probably not if you find a wholesaler.

[Eltigro]

Yeah, the doing it at home way would probably have to be something like that. I was just saying that expanding foam and plastic is actually pretty common in industrial packaging or whatever. The Sealed Air stuff I was talking about is even more expensive and certainly not practical for someone who just has one thing to ship every once in a while. There might be something available along those lines, made for packaging, though, instead of the insulation/hole filling type.

[Eltigro]

Looking around though, I found out that they do make self contained room temperature foam bags. The industrial stuff I was using required a warmer. One reason you had to let it cool a bit when doing it direct in the box was that if you put the top layer on immediately, the plastic would melt together and make it really difficult to get the item out without a chisel. Anyway, not sure how big the monitor is, and these are still kind of expensive, but...

 

https://www.amazon.com/EcoBox-Inches-Instapak-Temperature-2032-1/dp/B00KAFU2SK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525358137&sr=8-1&keywords=instapak+quick+room+temperature

[JamesD]

Great.. where did you buy the foam?

Places like Home Depot sell it as insulation

[Eltigro]

Great.. where did you buy the foam?

 

Was looking online for places to buy foam. There are lots of places to buy online, but if you're wanting to walk right into somewhere and buy some, you might consider looking at egg crate style foam mattress pads. You could just cut them up with scissors or a box cutter to the size you need. Maybe use spray adhesive to attach it to the insides of the box. Any extra can be used as void fill. No idea what your budget is for packaging, but you can get these pretty cheap... 20 to 30 dollars or so.

[+eebuckeye]

Thanks everyone for the excellent information!

[Andromeda Stardust]

YEah blue foam insulation in an actual crate would be ideal. You'd want to cut layers of it to pad around the box. You can cut the foam easily with a heated wire. Something with high electrical resistance, ie not copper. A guitar "e" string (smallest string) with a low voltage, high current bench power supply might work.

[Ed in SoDak]

If you use the canned insulation foam, be aware it won't cure quickly against plastic bags. It will also flatten out if you place a weight like a monitor on it before it's cured enough to support it. I use a paper barrier between the foam and any plastic, I also let it firm up awhile before placing full weight of the item on it.

 

Packing foams don't have these issues, they'll expand till they're done expanding, so don't overdo their use. My old job used bags you popped an internal pouch, squish the stuff around and get it in place and form it as needed as it grows.

 

Whatever supports the weight and allows some give. I like to firmly support things in an inner box, then have a more cushiony filler in the outer box.

 

Bubba wrap can pop and flatten if there's not enough of it or the item is dropped. It the monitor can slog around, the bubbles will pop on the impacts and leave less and less support allowing even greater slogging and flogging of the contents. To get a "feel" for that, place 5 or 6 layers of bubba wrap on a hard chair, then sit down on it and wiggle your ass or bounce up and down. PopPopPop! Flat!

 

Styro peanuts will compress, then just move aside till there's peanuts and free air above, but not much of anything beneath.

 

Even densely wadded newspaper can work, but it'll take a month's worth that only adds weight to a large package, but you can use it to fill gaps in your other packing if you stuff in there firmly till it won't take any more. Think no movement and you'll be good.

 

Pack so any side can be up, down or sideways, because that's how it's going to travel and it'll take a few drops off conveyors and trucks besides the drop-kicking gorillas.

 

I ship fossils using these methods. Most monitors are much sturdier and come in more convenient rectangular sizes!

 

-Ed

Edited May 4, 2018 by Ed in SoDak

[JamesD]

I tried the canned foam, and it takes a heck of a lot of the stuff at $6 (ish) a can. I big sheet of the styro insulation is around $20.

[+eebuckeye]

I was thinking about trying this:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076JNCQ39/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2D4URBA75P65Q&psc=1

 

I did not think the styrofoam would absorb much shock as it is pretty stiff?

[JamesD]

I was thinking about trying this:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076JNCQ39/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2D4URBA75P65Q&psc=1

 

I did not think the styrofoam would absorb much shock as it is pretty stiff?

I used bubble wrap in addition to the styro to absorb shock, but that kind of foam would work as well.

Just remember, these computers and monitors were originally shipped with just styro packing material.

[+eebuckeye]

That is a great point.. that packing styrofoam is really just on each corner top and and bottom and was not cushy.. Very interesting... not sure how it provided protection.

[+wood_jl]

I DISAGREE ABOUT THE PACKING PEANUTS BEING "NO-NOs."

 

It depends upon 2 things:

(A) Who is doing the packing with the peanuts? An idiot or someone with common sense?

(B) What type of peanuts is it? The new "biodegradable" junk?

 

(1) Box must have 3-4" of clearance on all sides - as someone said above - for copious packing materials.

 

(2) Wrap the monitor (or whatever) in a plastic bag, to keep styrofoam bits from packing in the vents/etc. of the monitor (or other electronics).

 

(3) I like to place a layer (or 2) of extra cardboard cut to protect the glass screen, taped to the monitor, for extra insurance.

 

(4) NEVER use the biodegradable/earth-friendly (food starch or whatever) peanuts. They are worthless junk. They compress irreversibly and the monitor (or whatever) will soon be flopping around loosely inside. Styrofoam non-biodegradable peanuts are resilient, and can be packed tightly.

 

(5) Tape some folded bubble wrap on the corners of the monitor, to add extra cushioning in case the box is dropped on a corner, and to increase the surface area (and thus resistance to moving) against the peanuts.

 

(6) Place a few inches of peanuts in the bottom of the box. Pack them tightly!

 

(7) I like to place the monitor (bagged, with cardboard layer over the glass) face down in the box, on top of the few inches of well-packed styrofoam peanuts. This does 2 things: (a) It keeps the center of gravity low (as the glass screen is the heaviest part) in the box so the box is less-likely to tumble, as in rolling down a long-inclined conveyor belt in the sorting warehouse. (b) The box is most likely to take a force from being dropped (straight down) a short distance, either from lazy workers tossing it lightly when trans-loading between vehicles/containers, or just a lazy worker who is too fat to bend over and set it down gently on the floor, and drops it from a few inches. The long glass CRT yoke is strongest when it is sticking straight up in a box dropped straight down, rather than one sticking out perpendicular to the force of the inevitable drop, in all of its length and weight/inertia of the skinny fragile yoke.

 

(8.) Pour peanuts around the sides of the monitor, but don't bury it - yet. Pack the shit out of the side-peanuts with your hands (or a fist), paying particular attention to really smash them as tightly as you can into the corners of the bottom of the box, as it is possible the box may be dropped on the corner. You will create space, then refill the sides with new peanuts, then pack again, until tightly-packed. Tightly-packed peanuts in addition to the bubble-wrapped corners can resist this worst-case drop.

 

(9) Finally, cover the top (back of the monitor) with at least a few inches of tightly-packed peanuts and/or bubble wrap. You need there to be enough peanuts (or bubble wrap) for there to be some compression of the packing materials necessary to close the box. This immobilizes the monitor in the midst of a surrounding of resilient but energy-absorbing material. This is going to give the box the tendency to want to bust open, which means you did it correctly. We'll tackle that in the next step.

 

(10) Tape the shit out of the box. Because it's trying to spring open, it's going to take a lot of strength to hold it shut. You can get a roll of cheap clear packing tape for $1 at Walmart. Cheap packing tape, you say? Sure! That's because we're not going to be stupid and only use one thickness. We're going to go around and around, over and over, on each flap - all the way around the box so the bottom is covered too. Make sure both flaps (on both ends) are taped down, and also that the crack between them is thoroughly-taped as well - over-and-over, around the whole box. Tape that goes around the whole box can't pull loose from the cardboard like strips of tape can. Use the whole roll! Why not? It's only $1. Think of the headaches from a broken monitor, upset customer, exorbitant cost of refund and paying return shipping.....all because some skinflint tried to save 5 cents on tape. Tape the shit out of it.

 

(11) Once you get the label on, tape the shit out of that, too. It's going to be a heavy box, and as such, likely be slid around a lot, by workers too lazy to pick it up. It could get wet, and if it's inkjet ink, it may become illegible. Even if it's laser, it can tear. The label could come off. Not if you tape the shit out of it, too. Cover that sucker with lots of tape well beyond the borders of the label. Be careful to be neat, however, and don't place wrinkles or creases in the tape so that it reduces the legibility of the writing, and especially make sure you place the tape perfectly-flat (with no creases) on bar codes or other optically machine-read symbols on the label. Also consider (as with most packages) taping an address card or paper to the merchandise, in case (by some absolute gross mistreatment) the label is still damaged.

 

Sure, original packing and custom-foam is great....if you have it. Most CRTs are old and that stuff is long gone. Peanuts work fine, if you think about what you are doing and are not clueless and devoid of common sense.

[jhd]

(11) Once you get the label on, tape the shit out of that, too. It's going to be a heavy box, and as such, likely be slid around a lot, by workers too lazy to pick it up. It could get wet, and if it's inkjet ink, it may become illegible. Even if it's laser, it can tear. The label could come off. Not if you tape the shit out of it, too. Cover that sucker with lots of tape well beyond the borders of the label.

 

This is excellent advice!

 

I once received a parcel where the label was only holding on by one tiny corner; another day in transit, and the box would have been lost forever. The label had adhesive on the back, but it was not taped-down or otherwise secured.