ATM Shipping Glass

[Anthony Stillman <atmer@flash.net>]

Recently, having purchased a large disk of glass, I had an opportunity to
move it from one side of the country to the other.  I had never before
attempted to ship 100 lbs of glass, so I began the journey with some
research.  I re-read Texereau for packing advice, and Dan Cassaro's web
page for shipping advice.  I decided that, given the unique nature of the
contents and transaction, I would build the shipping crate at my end, send
the empty crate to the original owner, and have the glass return in it.
While I was still imagining the packing crate, I checked the web pages of
UPS and Delta.  A few back of the envelope calculations showed that if I
kept the crate weight under 50 lbs I could use UPS and I wouldn't have to
shlep it to and from the airport.

It took one trip to home despot  and two nights work to build the box.  I
wanted to stick with the box within a box shipping solution which has been
proven successful.  Given the weight the exterior had to be substantial.
Ultimately I chose 5/8 inch plywood.  This decision was driven by cost and
weight.  Wisely I had the 4X8 plywood panel cut into all the pieces I would
need for the assembly.  What was left over, with some 4X4 I had, has since
become two stacked storage benches, for heavy stuff.  To contain the glass
inside the box I purchased two,  2 foot by  4 foot  insulating Styrofoam
panels.  One 2 inches thick and the other 1 1/2 inches thick.  Actually,
that's just how they are labeled, in fact they are nearly a quarter inch
thinner.

To build the box I started by assembling an internal frame of 1X2s with
glue and small nails on the inside of the bottom and side plywood pieces.
Once the glue had set I put the box together with 2 inch drywall screws.  I
pre-drilled all the holes to keep the 1X2s from splitting.  Before screwing
on the sides I cut the Styrofoam to fit the interior of the box.  An ideal
way to cut Styrofoam is with a hot wire.  I used a single edged razor blade
ducked taped to a short length of aluminum.  Naturally this made a huge
mess with Styrofoam bits static clinging to everything.  I was doing my
work on the garage floor between the washer and dryer and it dawned on me
to use an anti-static dryer sheet to wipe down the Styrofoam and wood
pieces.  This is one of those ideas I wish I had thought of 10 years ago.
After the Styrofoam was cut I glued equal sized pieces of doorskin (1/16"
plywood)  to the bottom and top squares.  These formed the top and bottom
of the 21X21X4 inch box within the box.  I used 3M 77 spray adhesive to
attach the doorskin to the Styrofoam.  Incidentally, I used the same single
edged razor blade to cut the doorskin, scored back and front then snapped.
To reinforce the sides of the inner box I assembled a 21 inch square form
of 1/2 inch redwood planking four inches tall, cut, glued and corner braced
to fit snugly within the lining of Styrofoam.  When the crate was complete
there was 3/4 of an inch of wood and 2 inches of Styrofoam between the
outside top and bottom, and the void in which the glass would be carried.
As I assumed that most of the time the box would be on a side, there was 3
1/2 inches of Styrofoam and nearly an inch of wood there for protection.

Shipping went fairly smoothly.  I took the crate up to the UPS hub to send
it.  I expected that the personnel would want to inspect the contents so I
left the lid unsecured and took a screw driver with me.  They didn't.  The
only issue raised was with about the contents line on the shipping form.  I
wrote crate.  Yea, you're shipping a crate, but what's in the crate?  Maybe
I should have written bubble wrap.

I became a little concerned when, at weigh in the crate came to 43 lbs.  My
top estimate on the glass was 109 lbs.  This would have put me 2 lbs over
the UPS limit.  Luckily, everything worked out and the way back was equally
painless.  The UPS driver dutifully delivered it to my curb, though he
wanted help unloading it from the truck.  Together the glass and crate
weighed 147 lbs.

Dan Cassaro recommends 3/4 inch plywood for crate exteriors.  When I was
buying wood, I thought this was a bit overkill.  When I saw the box on the
truck after it's 6000 mile journey, I wasn't so sure. The plywood is
heavily scared and one corner is slightly crushed.  The crate certainly
survived and I will use it again, but if weight hadn't been an issue I
think 3/4" ply would have been better.  I plan to add metal corners caps to
the box before its next trip.

Let me end by thanking Guy, Dan, Mel, and even UPS, home despot and the US
postal service for making this all possible.  Thanks.


Anthony