Re: [ATM] Advice for shipping a 16" mirror

[John Lynch <john_lynch2006@yahoo.com>]

Mike,

I've even gone so far as to glue a square piece of
plywood on the bottom of the box that just fits, added
wooden corners, and screwed on a piece of plywood on 
the top that just fits before closing the lid.  Your
comment about making it easy for the coater is well
made, and they reused all of my packing.  Call me
paranoid.

John Lynch

--- Mike Lockwood <melockwo@uiuc.edu> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> After shipping 40 mirrors or so, I can say that the
> most important 
> thing is to not let the mirror move around in its
> packaging.  I favor 
> a heavy box full of solid, closed-cell foam (pink or
> blue), with the 
> mirror tightly packed inside.  For 6" or larger
> mirrors, I do NOT use 
> foam peanuts, bubble wrap, newspaper, and other
> insufficiently durable 
> space fillers.  They allow the mirror to move around
> a bit, which is 
> bad.  I want a minimum of 2" of foam on all sides of
> the mirror, and 
> the mirror should NOT be able to move.  It should be
> a solid brick of 
> cardboard, foam and glass.  Even if you drop a
> mirror in this package, 
> it might dent the corner but the mirror itself won't
> crush the (pink 
> or blue) foam.  White foam is another story.
> 
> I cover the optical surface with kleenex or a clean,
> soft towel or 
> cloth.  You can add another layer of cardboard
> inside the box if it 
> makes you feel better.  I use shipping tape wrapped
> completely around 
> the box, and I reinforce the corners with it.
> 
> Perhaps the one thing people forget is that the
> mirror has to be 
> repacked after it is coated.  Therefore, make the
> repacking by the 
> coater easy.  If your package is packed with lots of
> random bits of 
> foam, bubble wrap etc., the odds of them getting it
> all back in place 
> perfectly are practically zero, and pieces often get
> left out.  Make 
> it simple, tight fitting, and easy to repack, and
> the coater will 
> appreciate it.
> 
> This packing will keep the mirror from being broken
> if it is dropped. 
>   However, nothing can save it if they decide to run
> a forklift fork 
> through it.  (No, that hasn't happenned to me.) 
> Therefore, insure the 
> mirror for enough to ease the pain if that actually
> happens.
> 
> 	Mike Lockwood
> 
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> ATM mailing list http://www.atmlist.net/
> 


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