Packing a piece to ship

[Lynn]

Hi all,

I am getting ready to ship a panel to a friend via mail.  This is the first one that I have not delivered in person. 

So-what is the best way to pack a panel for shipping?  With the holidays coming up, I expect that I will be sending off quite a few pieces, so knowing how to do it right will make me much more comfortable with handing this peice off to the mail carrier.

The one I am sending is about 11 in X 14 in.  I would really like to be sure that it doesn't get broken in transit....at least not if I can prevent it by taking proper care up front.

 

[JoanFrances]

Hi Lynn, Graham or Rebecca should be along soon, I have seen they have posted with the how-to's ins and outs on shipping in the past.  Several other members may also have suggestions on the best methods.  I swear this time I am gonna print the thread out and file it in my folder on glassing tips. 

I can tell you that when I shipped ceramics, I wrapped the piece in bubble wrap, inserted foam rubber in the box and inserted the item.  I then place crumpled up newspaper and tons of it, in a second box, placed the smaller box into the second box, surrounded it with more crumbled up newpaper and sent it off.  Never had one piece broken.

Good luck my dear, I will be looking forward to read what others do for glass shipping

[Lou Ann]

Lynn,

I have shipped quite a few pieces and have yet to have one I packed break...

For something that large, I would get a box that allows at least 1" all the way around and wrap it in bubblewrap so that there are at least 3 layers of wrap on each side of the panel then I fill the rest of the box with packing peanuts... if packing peanuts aren't available, I use paper on the ends that are on the sides to prevent any side to side or up and down movement of the panel in the box, I also add more bubblewrap on top and bottom of the panel as it lays flat so that it is tight in the box...

If there are 2 panels going in the same box, I wrap each individually in bubblewrap and the put a piece of cardbard the size of the box in between the two... (I do this even if I am sending suncatchers -- cardboard just larger than the suncatcher goes in between each one and I've shipped 10+ in the same box with no breakage)

I also only ship priority mail so as to limit the time in transit... I have yet to ship with UPS so I don't know how well they do.

ps -- I'm not at home so I can't verify the measurements on the largest one I've done but I'm pretty sure it is slightly larger than your 11x14

Lou Ann

[Lynn]

That is along the lines of what I was thinking, so it is good to have some confirmation that I am at least in the right ballpark.

[Rebecca]

I really haven't shipped any glass, but the glass I receive from my wholesaler is wrapped solidly in bubble wrap and then in plastic like a garbage bag.  The box is about three inches bigger than the glass in ALL directions.  The box is lined in the same garbage-bag-like plastic.  About three inches of that expandable foam insulation stuff is blown into the bottom of the box, the glass is centered in the box and the rest of the box is filled with the foam stuff.

I have also heard that the foam insulation that you can buy at Home Depot or Lowes can be used to completely surround the glass about three inches on ALL sides.

Rebecca

[Graham]

I have often been accused of "over kill" when packing panels to ship, but after a few failures I adopted a system (see below) that produced zero breakage over a 10 or 12 year period. In that time I shipped dozens (I'd like to claim hundreds, but I'm trying to ne honest and awfully modest here) of panels to every continent but Antarctica.

Packing well is expensive, but I'll be damned if I want to see a week's work or more shot to hell because I cut corners on packaging.

[Stephen Richard]

These are my suggestions:
http://glasstips.blogspot.com/search?q=packaging

steve

[Kev]

I have only shipped once piece about 11x14, but I used a similar method to what graham and Stephen suggests. I used 1" x 4" wood and constructed a box frame to which I attached masonite. I then placed a layer of 1" styrofoam, on the bottom and all around the edges. I inserted the panel and cut 2 pieces of styrofoam to fit on top of it within the surrounding border, to fill it to the top. I then screwed another piece of masonite to the top, wrapped the edges in packing tape and shipped it off. It got there in perfect condition.

the process sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. But this method will work very well for large panels as well, though I would probably use 1/4" plywood instead of masonite for those.

[Lynn]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and advice.  This gives me some confidence in handing stuff off to the carrier for shipping....at least it will be likely to arrive unharmed.

I am printing it all out so that I am not asking the same question as Christmas gets closer and closer.  Not that I would forget, but I always seem to run into a high level of forgetting where I heard things going on-especially around the holidays.