I have a few machines that I might sell online and wondering if anyone has a way to ship them that won’t break the bank but is still secure in that they will arrive safely. I have considered making small wooden crates or double cardboard boxes filled with bubble wrap or use expanding foam like door and window foam in the box (I would protect the machine from the foam). Some will have bases, some will not.
Anyone have any expertise on this?
Just saying, I destroyed a vintage machine once, taking as checked luggage. You are wise to overpack carefully.
Seriously, imagine someone tossing your packed machine across the room and seeing the box bounce. It needs to withstand that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_HS5eSWWHg
Excellent recommendation!
Nice video
I knew I had seen one. Took a bit of searching but there it was! Very informative!
Check pirateshipping and poke into weights and dimensions with an example address. You might be able to use cubic shipping with them, which could be the most efficient way
Ive successfully shipped 3 machines.
Buolt wooden crates wirh 4 inches of closed cell foam on all 6 sides for 2 of them, 3rd was a 221 in a similar crate with foam inside both the crate and carrying case.
I paid out the nose for a singer 431g and the seller shipped it in a cardboard box with foam peanuts, i received sewing machine chunks and had to fight for a refund.
The title alone of this thread brings up sad memories.
See this thread on Victorian Sweatshop. It's possible to do it, but it's easy to underpack. Doing a good job that will make it through unscathed is never going to be cheap.
Foam peanuts will shift and let a machine work its way out of their cushioning effect. Bubble wrap bubbles will pop from the weight, and then it's nothing but a couple of layers of plastic wrap.
People often pack portable machines assuming the portable case or bentwood case will protect them. Then the machine tears loose from its hinges during shipping and smashes around in the case and the packing during shipping.
I've seen handwheel rims smashed off the spokes. Handwheel axles bent. Cast iron beds cracked. Pillars cracked.
You have to assume someone along the way is going to try to pick the packaged machine up, underestimate how heavy it will be, and drop it onto concrete. Maybe more than once.
At this point I won't buy a machine unless I can pick it up or have a vsm buddy collect it for me.
Electric shop motors and tractor starter motors have been shipped with those foam bags you burst the chemicals that foam. One bag on the bottom to nest the object in after start of its expansion and then the top one added and the lid closed and wrapped right. Self forming foam locks the item in place so no movement.
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Good idea. This is better than my window and door foam idea. Off to see what these cost and where to find them.
I have bought several online shipped from opposite states in the country. The best one came with store bought bags of poly fill stuffing (for making teddy bears )stuffed into the center of the sewing machine and on all four sides of it. and then it was wrapped with 1 inch chair pad foam on all four sides of it. It was put into a cardboard box and then secured inside another cardboard box. The machine was in perfect condition and everything they shipped me? I was able to use later in other craft projects! Nothing ended up in a landfill.
I have been buying and selling machines for four months now, and I buy them from online auction sites, and no matter how well they are packaged about half of them end up coming to me broken and requiring a claim. I don't know what the correct way to do it is, but they're just so heavy that they smash through almost anything. I think your idea about a wooden crate with some sort of metal strapping would probably be about the only way.
Box and crate it like a "Special Award". LOL That's what vintage sewing machines are, after all.
I have bought some and the first one broke the bottom out of a bentwood case. Looking back I should have claimed the damage but I didn’t. That episode and the stories of snapped spool pins and other damage I have heard about is what made me post this.
Oh, I just assume I'm replacing spool pins on every single one that I buy. It's a treat when they arrive undamaged. I've completely stopped buying any that are in cases cause even when I send explicit instructions on how to safely package them they just do not survive.
I've got a Husqvarna Viking 2841 that I'm trying to get ready to sell right now, and somehow the presser foot ankle was broken in the shipping process, and I have been unable to find one anywhere. It sucks, because the machine is almost perfect and it has original accessories and its original case and it looks beautiful. But I cannot find that presser foot ankle, I've ordered two separate ones that looked correct online and they were not.
I can tell you from experience that little feels worse than having a machine/case arrive in splinters because the cast iron body wasn't secured inside the case.
The best one I had shipped arrived with the cast iron strapped down to the base so that the small latch isn't holding the machine in place, and the cavity inside the case filled with bubble wrap. Then the outside was also securely wrapped and taped in about 3 inches of bubble wrap.
From the looks of your mushrooms you seem to be east or west coast to the north. There's a hell of a market for older machines and people willing to drive. You may not have to ship them at all.
I’m in freight so we pack things to a very high level. I had my vintage Bernina shipped by one of our sister stores. Luckily it still had its red case and the original polystyrene inside the case. The case was wrapped in heavy duty bubblewrap ( similar to what we wrap furniture in), used the expanding foam and then in a very sturdy and reinforced box. Arrived intact.
As some have noted, for an item to arrive intact it needs to be secure in the box. A loose item will get broken if it is rattling around inside the box. A loose heavy item will break the box as well.
Regular bubblewrap will not be enough for an heavy item as the pressure will slowly push the air out of the bubbles. The expandable foam is best if you can get it