The following true story is of the re-homing my beloved AVL 48" 16H Compu-dobby Production Loom from California to Marian Dahlberg of Vava! Veve! in Minnesota http://www.vavaveve.com/1 ...... literally months in the making......
Nowhere on the Internet is a guide on how to ship such a large piece of equipment.
I started with AVL. Amanda Brimm [always most helpful] said AVL sold a set of boxes for $1200 plus shipping. NOT an option
PACKAGING
There are 2 options: Cardboard and Crates
Cardboard [Pros and Cons]
There are a couple of items in a production loom that require special handling. First is the sectional beam. With all of the pegs it would be too easy to break even with an inordinate amount of bubblewrap. Second is the compu-dobby and finally the harnesses. I determined that if I were to choose cardboard boxes, 2 large wardrobe boxes could be adapted to accomodate the sectional beam. They were wide enough to cover the circumference of the beam. Other long pieces [frame, rollers and plain beam] could have fit into extra large boxes.
PROS: Moving boxes are easy to obtain and are cheaper [theoretically] than wood
CONS: Subject to the elements, prone to breakage. Loss of a single box in shipping would have rendered reconstruction impossible
Crates [Pros and Cons]
I started looking at all the pre-fab crates online. ULine has a series of configurations. The largest and cheapest of their crates started @ $99 with a minimum purchase of 5. These would not accomodate the longest pieces of the loom. I consulted with local shippers. A partially open crate [consisting of a pallet bottom and basically 2x4 with wide spaces in midsection and top [http://www.occrating.com/standard-custom-shipping-crates.html] started @ $360 Plus delivery of $60.
One day I hit upon the idea of craiglist. Los Angeles has a lot of furniture importers. There were tons of crates for sale. Most of them ranged from $150-$350 each. I lucked into finding someone who had 2 crates left for a total of $70. The crate measurements were: 87x32x22 and 78x35x26. The latter was deep enough to accomodate the sectional beam. I thought we would have too much room yet every bit of both crates were needed to ship the loom. These were solid wood crates. One of them had locking hardware and was lined with thick styrafoam. Even with the cost of renting a truck for a day it was far cheaper than to buy one pre-fab or custom made crate. NOTE: We always thought Uhaul was the cheapest way to go for truck rental. NOT SO. There's a low daily rate but the mileage jacks the cost up. Enterprise has a separate truck rental. A brand new Nissan panel van [ample room for both crates and then some] was $60 [free mileage] you pay for gas used. It was easier than trying to maneuver a UHaul too.
PROS: All of the pieces of the loom are shipped together. Padding the loom with bubblewrap and having a solid container minimizes breakage even if the crate were dropped.
CONS: None - after finding such an amazing deal for 2 crates! If you're handy with a table saw it seems easy to make.
I did think of packaging the pieces into multiple cardboard boxes, loading onto a pallet and shrink wrapping. My concern is that due to the weight [600# - loom weight, crates and additional pieces - see AVL library for technical specifications of all looms. Very handy in establishing a starting point for weight] that if it shifted during transport there was an increased risk of damage. I don't know what shrink wrapping costs if done professionally. Home Depot sells it in rolls if you want to try and shrink wrap it yourself.
SHIPPING: CARRIERS
USPS: Has a weight limit of 70#. Has size restrictions. The pieces of the frame exceeded the HxWxL
UPS: A quote for 500# from California to Minnesota was over $1800 and 2-3 weeks for delivery. The last loom [workshop loom] I shipped at my local UPS Store. They weighed, measured etc and charged my card. Midway during transport I received another bill doubling the cost! They charged my card. I called them and they said well that's what it is. The clerk made an error. The price I paid at the store was the same one quoted online. I refused to pay double and they reversed the charge. I cancelled my account with UPS immediately. I would never use them again, for anything.
USHIP, PODS, FedEx, DHL and several other online carrier quotes. uSHIP you enter the weight, zip, whether you need a liftgate, delivery to residential etc. Carriers offer bids for the job. The lowest one was over $1800. Other carrier quotes [including references given by AVL] were closer to $3k. I thought about the PODS system. They drop off a container, you load it up and they transport it. No need to buy a crate. You can ship in sections instead of breaking the loom down. They were over $3k!
FreightQuote: Jayson Edwards [[email protected]] This poor guy endured a gazillion emails from me. He was the most knowledgeable. Jayson is the one who explained the freight classification. [for looms if it is broken down to 1/3 the size - Freight Class 85] His quote for door-to-door pickup and delivery, including liftgate [the most expensive method of shipping] for one crate was $415. When I added the second crate and another 100# it was $438 total. [NOTE: Marian realized after we booked the shipment that I did not add insurance. I had assumed since I gave the value at the beginning of the quote it was included. That added another $25] Jayson followed up with both of us on the shipment from pickup to delivery. Extraordinarily professional.
DELIVERY:
The loom was picked up on a Tuesday afternoon. I was told it would take a week. Tuesday would not count as a shipping day. It was delivered to a terminal in Los Angeles. Marian received word on Friday [!] that it had arrived in Minneapolis. They picked it up on Monday. Professional, fabulous service.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
Buy $55 worth of bubblewrap. When Herb came home with gigantic rolls of bubblewrap from Home Depot I thought for sure we would be returning one of them. Not so. Every bit was used and then some. Get Color Coded Labels [Avery 5481] These are useful in labeling parts keeping same colors per section. Sterlite Containers [Target] I have enough of these to open an outlet store. I packaged the compudobby in bubblewrap and inside a container inside the crate. I kept like items together ie; treadles, automatic cloth advance, manual dobby and parts, cabling . All the nuts, washers, bolts were kept with corresponding parts. For the extra reeds they were wrapped in shrinkwrap. The double flyshuttle was dismantled at the ends and packaged together.
I hope this is of use. It was quite the adventure. I hope you find someone as wonderful to work with as I did in Marian: a kindred spirit, a new friend and such a delight. She had the patience of a saint throughout this learning process. I know she will enjoy the loom as much as I did. Such a talented weaver, check out her website! For any additional information on the shipping process feel free to email me.
HAPPY WEAVING!
janis