Bought MiniMax FS30 need crating advice.

[john lawson]

I just bought a MiniMax FS30 with a mortising unit and it will ship from New Mexico to Alabama. The seller is going to palletize and crate it and ship it. I asked him to take lots of pictures as he is crating it.

My question is how should I ask him to do it? I am thinking secure to pallet, take off mortise table and secure to pallet and build the crate around the pallet/machine. Should I ask him to take the jointer tables off or leave them on?

thanks in advance.

[Jim Becker]

I wouldn't take the tables off...it's not an easy task. Locked down, they shouldn't go anywhere and he could add extra banding tied to the pallet to insure that, too. Make sure he marks the crate such that nothing gets stacked on top of it!

[john lawson]

Thanks, Jim

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Make sure it's a large pallet. That thing is going to be top heavy.

[john lawson]

Make sure it's a large pallet. That thing is going to be top heavy.

Good idea, thanks!

[John TenEyck]

I agree with Jim to leave the tables on. I've taken them off a MM jointer and it's not easy to break the bolts loose w/o breaking them, and that would be bad. If the crate is built well it should ship just fine. Plywood sides and top with 2 x 4 ends should be plenty strong enough. You are going to like that machine. I have a FS-35 with the mortising attachment, and overall it's a great machine. The jointer is great and the planer function has zero snipe. I hope you are getting the factory knife setting jig with it; it makes installing the knives a no brainer. Or does yours have a Tersa head? Even better, if so. I do wish it had the ability to lower the feed speed, however. The mortiser is good for large mortises, but I much prefer my horizontal router mortisers for anything up to 1/2".

John

[Erik Loza]

Of all the machines I shipped, it was jointer/planers that most often arrived, damaged. As others have mentioned, they are top-heavy. I don't have access to my shared SCM drive any longer, or I'd post pics of how we used to crate show machines for transport but basically, we used a metal banding machine that ratcheted and crimped a steel band around whatever your machine was. We used heavy cardboard on the cast iron tables and just "lassoed" it down to the pallet. You may not have access to one of those steel banding tools so what I would suggest is block the machine up around the base with some 2X4's as best you can. Make it so that it can't rock back and forth if at all possible.

On the mortising unit, same deal. I would actually screw it down to the pallet with some lag screws since those things tend to "wobble" inplace, if you get my meaning. Good luck,

Erik

[mark mcfarlane]

Of all the machines I shipped, it was jointer/planers that most often arrived, damaged. As others have mentioned, they are top-heavy. I don't have access to my shared SCM drive any longer, or I'd post pics of how we used to crate show machines for transport but basically, we used a metal banding machine that ratcheted and crimped a steel band around whatever your machine was. We used heavy cardboard on the cast iron tables and just "lassoed" it down to the pallet. You may not have access to one of those steel banding tools so what I would suggest is block the machine up around the base with some 2X4's as best you can. Make it so that it can't rock back and forth if at all possible.

On the mortising unit, same deal. I would actually screw it down to the pallet with some lag screws since those things tend to "wobble" inplace, if you get my meaning. Good luck,

Erik

Good quality ratcheting tie down straps would probably work similar to the metal bands.

[Ira Matheny]

When I ship machines, I start with a pallet build oversize, using 4x4 instead of 2x4 runners and thick ply deck. Bolt the machine solidly thru the ply and the 4x4s. [This in not the time to skimp on bolts!]. I then I go to strapping. Fabric straps tend to wear, fray, and fail, so I prefer metal strapping. If I must use fabric, then I make sure of of non-shifting soft corner between the edges of metal and the fabric straps.
Extra is better.

[mreza Salav]

I have shipped my FS350 twice across the country (you can see the photos of how I crated it here)
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...jointer-planer

One thing I did and it turned out extremely important was: secure the machine so that it doesn't move when the crated is tilted!
When the movers came to take it out, although I had confirmed at least 3 times they will have a pallet jack/lift gate, they came with some big dollies and 5 of them tilted the crate almost 30 degree to put the dollies under it. The machine would have had moved and crashed the crate if it was not locked down to the crate in several places.

[Jim Becker]

Always...always...always...bolt physically to the pallet!