How Should I Pack Larger Shop Items For Movers?

[Julie Moriarty]

I have a SCMS, mortiser, drum sander, lathe and duplicator that have no boxes and there's nothing I can find that's large enough and strong enough to pack them in and I have no desire to make crates. Do I bubble wrap and shrink wrap them and let the movers do the rest?

With hardwood stock, how much can be wrapped together and still be within the mover's parameters of being manageable to handle? Would you think if it's less than 100 lbs they would be okay with it, or should I try to keep it at 80 or 60 or something like that?

I've been being very careful packing boxes. I make sure nothing can shift in the box and keep the weight to around what I could lift, if I had a gun to my head. I figure movers should have no problem with anything I would struggle with.

[roger wiegand]

When I did a corporate relo with real movers and packers they blanket-wrapped all of my bigger tools and handled it just the same way as they did the furniture and pianos. They bundled wood using film in bundles that were in the 60-80 lb range (they did have to navigate stairs with them). When I had to move myself we used a pod and padded machinery with moving blankets, but just loaded wood flat in the bottom of the pod without bundling. It was easier for me to carry 1-2 boards at a time.

[Ted Calver]

Granted, I haven't moved in a while, but when I did all boxes I packed were marked "Packed by Owner" on the manifest and the carrier would not insure them. Things may have changed, but check with your carrier. Supplemental moving insurance may be in order.

[Julie Moriarty]

Thank you, guys.

When the mover's rep came to the house to price everything out, she was told we'd be doing all the packing. She was kind of vague about how to do it though. She did mention moving blankets for the tools but didn't know if that meant bench mounted tools. Some of the cabinets I made for those tools are kind of crude and I'm not taking them to the next place. I doubt I'd be able to use them because I'll have a very different layout configuration to work with.

I guess if it can't fit in a box, the mover's will have to figure it out. For the wood stock, I'll keep it manageable.

[Rod Sheridan]

Julie, it may be best to bolt them to a scrap of plywood and wrap them in a movers blanket...........Rod.

[William C Rogers]

The main thing my mover wanted was for all the power cords and any "moveable" part to be shrink wrapped to the machine including anything with drawers. All of my heavy machines except the table saw and lathe were on wheels. I put those two on the HF mover dollys. They had a lift gate and they just rolled them onto that and put them on the truck. Since mine we're going to storage I coated all the tables with a spray type film that dried. I think it was a Liquid Wrench product I got at Lowes, just don't remember the name. I used a combination of plastic bins and heavy duty boxes from Home Depot for smaller items. I shrieked the lids on the bins. The only thing I forgot was on a couple of small stands had rubber feet covers and a couple got lost. So anything that moves or comes off needs to be addressed.

[Steve Milito]

I packed the vast majority of the shop myself. I moved my shop separately from the rest of the house and hired a local rigging crew. I had a large crate that I salvaged from work and bought some job site tool boxes which I filled with all the hand tools and smaller tools. I guess they all weighed 300-400 lbs when filled. They moved the large equipment via a fork lift and lift gate. The machines were strapped to the sides of the trailer. They filled the middle of the truck with the crates and tied them down. The machines were not crated, boxed, or even covered with blankets and were not damaged.
I'm glad I used the riggers for the shop. The furniture movers basically depend on packing the trailer to the gills to keep things from shifting. They clearly would not have been prepared to move the equipment that required a fork lift and likely any cargo shift would have damaged my furniture not the machinery. We filled a 55' trailer with the furniture and a small fraction of my tools. Thus, two trucks were necessary anyway. I'm really glad that I allowed the movers to box my household belongings and I'm glad that I packed up the shop myself. I would have never had the time to box up everything myself and it really didn't cost as much as I thought it would. i hope your move goes smoothly, it really is a pain.

[Julie Moriarty]

The shop is in the basement, so everything large has to be broken down. It would be great if I could let the movers just roll them on the truck because they are all on wheels, but I don't have that option. The only thing I can't dismantle is the bandsaw. The table saw is a contractor's version with a 52" table. That will have to be broken down but maybe not as far as I was thinking. As I write this I'm also thinking I could leave the drill press on it's mobile base.

The SCMS has a plastic blade guard on it that looks vulnerable to impact. Maybe I need to remove it?

If they can get it up the stairs and it's not too unwieldly, should I forget dismantling the tool? The drum sander sits on a stand that has a bigger footprint than the sander itself, making it more of a challenge to move than if I was to separate the two but not any harder than the bandsaw will be.

[Steve Milito]

The shop is in the basement, so everything large has to be broken down. It would be great if I could let the movers just roll them on the truck because they are all on wheels, but I don't have that option. The only thing I can't dismantle is the bandsaw. The table saw is a contractor's version with a 52" table. That will have to be broken down but maybe not as far as I was thinking. As I write this I'm also thinking I could leave the drill press on it's mobile base.

You should strip the tools of anything that's easy to remove like blades, guides, accessories and box those separately. Configure the tool in it's most stable configuration. Wrap any non-removable cord or like to the tool with plastic wrap.

The SCMS has a plastic blade guard on it that looks vulnerable to impact. Maybe I need to remove it?

Absolutely, they will stack, pack, and stuff things on the truck to the max. Anything vulnerable to breaking, being smashed, twisted, or torqued will be likely be broken.

If they can get it up the stairs and it's not too unwieldly, should I forget dismantling the tool? The drum sander sits on a stand that has a bigger footprint than the sander itself, making it more of a challenge to move than if I was to separate the two but not any harder than the bandsaw will be.

It's a tough call. Make sure you keep a small toolbox with essentials handy and at the ready. Then if the movers need something removed from its base or partly disassembled you can do do it while they move something else. In our case, the movers filled our driveway and front yard with stuff before loading the truck so that they could pack things as tight as possible. That should give you some leeway if one or two things need to be packed differently. Take your small toolbox in you car or somewhere easy to get to when the movers make delivery. It will be nice having a box cutter, screwdrivers, and wrenches within easy reach at the other end as you need to make your new place livable.

[Julie Moriarty]

Thank you, Steve! Very helpful! I'm new at this.

We were just shrink wrapping the hardwood stock in manageable bundles. I'll be asking the movers to blanket wrap them.

I have two items that are heavy for their size and odd shaped. One is a Lion miter trimmer and the other Delta tenoning jig. I'm trying to pack them in one heavy duty box, heavily padded inside to fill the void and cushion the tools. I think that's about it for the challenging items. It's been three weeks of part-time packing but I'm beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.

[James Gunning]

Julie,

One thought for packing containers to house really heavy items is jumbo sized plastic drink coolers. They are fairly inexpensive and very sturdy. I've shipped metal items weighing 50-70 lbs. secured in these with wood blocking and padding through the USPS and UPS. Just sitting in a moving van would be light duty for them, and they could even be reusable as a drink cooler after you arrive in the Sunshine state.

[Keith Westfall]

Julie,

You may want to bring in one of the 'movers' that will actually move the stuff. The guy that loads, moves, and unloads. Lot of good ideas here but none of them are moving your stuff I would bet.

When we moved last fall I basically moved all my shop tools in 3 trailer loads myself. The men that actually came to do the move were great, but the sales rep that came to do the estimate, was a waste of space.

I don't have "good" tools, but they are all I've got, and I am pretty fussy about them, and a bit paranoid about other lack of care. Not sure how far your moving, I was an 8 hour drive each way.

Either way, it's a pain...

[Lee Schierer]

Bear in mind that movers probably are not going to be familiar with tools and machinery. They will use any available surface to get a grip on a heavy item, which may result in damage and or misalignment. Tools that are top heavy may tip inside the moving van, so making pallets is advisable. Make sure that you have a good inventory of all your tools and that all items are accounted for on the itemized inventory prepared by the movers. High value items sometimes go astray when moving. And last but not least, gravity sometimes ceases to function normally in the back of a tractor trailer truck so plan accordingly when packing items.

[Julie Moriarty]

Outside of the drill press, the larger items are 15+ years old. I wouldn't mind replacing some of them but I'm not planning to. The movers will be storing everything they take for at least two months at their storage facility in Tampa. That's about 2 house north of where we'll be house hunting so it's doubtful we'll see what they move before we get into the new house. I'm going to have to trust the movers at some point and I think I've reached it. If they can't move what I haven't bubble wrapped and shrink wrapped without damaging it, I'll have to file a claim. As soon as I know the appraisal has come through, I'll start breaking the big tools down so they movers can get them up the stairs. We will only have a week before they are scheduled to arrive so there will be no time to pack the remainder of the shop like I did the rest. And then there's the rest of the house that still needs packing.

[Chris Friesen]

One suggestion I read about but haven't seen here is the possibility of using piano movers for large tools. They're used to working with heavy but delicate/expensive items.

Last time I moved I hadn't accumulated as many stationary tools. The next move is going to be a bugger.