How to Build a Bomb Proof Shipping Crate
So you spent months working on a project, and now you need to ship it across the country. Or maybe across the world. About the time you start thinking of how much time you have into this, you see a video online of a UPS employee intentionally dropping a box out of the back of a semi. Or a truck taking off with the rear door open and boxes falling out. Now you are in full panic mode. What if they destroy your project? Will insurance actually cover it (insurance is a nightmare FYI)? Your client may never come back to you if this doesn’t go well. How can you ensure your item is packed as securely as possible?… Don’t worry, I got you. Read on to see how I build my bomb proof crates.
Materials/Tools Needed
Step One
The first thing you are goin to do is cut a piece of OSB the size of your item (a table I these examples) plus two inches. Since my table was 48x30” I cut an OSB piece 50x32.” After that piece is cut, go cut six 2x4’s 32” long. Nail together into three pairs.
These 2x4s are going to be your forklift/pallet jack access points. So now take them and nail or screw them to your base of the crate you just cut. Next just cut a piece of the foam sheet the size of your base and set it in place.
Table base wrapped, foam underneath
Step Two
To compensate for any inevitable vibration that can and will happen during a cross country trip, you will need to wrap your item in something soft. I generally prefer the thin smooth foam sheets that comes in rolls. However for this table I used bubble wrap because that is what I had available. After wrapping all sides of it, I covered the bubble wrap with the thin saran-style plastic wrap to make sure it was on tight. At this point my top isn’t attached. I didn’t want a wood-to-metal attachment for transport. It would probably be fine. But I opted to put more foam between the wrapped base and the wood top. Then cover with more bubble wrap and plastic wrap.
Step Three
Test fitting the side panel
Now you should have a wrapped table sitting on a rectangle platform. With almost an inch of space on all sides. If so, you are doing great. FYI, better to be a little oversized than undersized here. You can always add in more foam if you need to.
The next step is going to be to build your side panels. You want these to go the width (32” here) and be tall enough to cover the foam on the bottom, the wrapped base, the foam between the base and top, the top, and the piece of foam over the top. PLUS 2” to be screwed to the bottom 2x4. Did you catch all that? Basically, build a piece the width of your crate, and tall enough to cover everything and still be screwed to the 2x4s at the bottom. Pretty easy.
Wrapping panels in 1x4 whitewood
Once you have one built for each side. Go ahead and cut and nail 1x4 stock to go around the perimeter of these sheets. The 1x4s will give the panels structure, and give you something to screw into later. Lastly, line your panel up with the top of your foam and screw it to the 2x4 base using construction screws, not nails. You want to protect your item, not mummify it.
Your crate should look something close to this now. Notice I added in foam sheets on the ends.
Step Four
Almost looks like a crate now
Next step is to measure left to right, from the edge of the 1x4 to the far edge of the other 1x4. You want to bend your side panels up to close to 90 if they are currently bowed out a little. After you have that, measure from the top of the foam, to the bottom of the OSB sheet. Don’t go over here, or your front panel could get crushed by forklift forks. Cut a plywood sheet to these dimensions and then wrap it with 1x4s like the side panels. Finally, screw the panels to the side panels through the 1x4s. Make sure to drill pilot holes here. A countersink helps as well
Last Step!
Before you cut your top, add some foam pieces to the front and back. Now you should have foam on the bottom, top, and all four sides. The crate should also be snug to the foam and its sides. Lastly, you just need to cut a piece of plywood to cover the entire top. Drill your pilot holes and screw the top down to the 1x4s.
Finished!
And that’s it! Send your most valuable items out with the sketchiest of freight companies now. Better yet, send it with that guy on craigslist who has a panel van. This crate can take it all… Ok, that last part might not be in your best interest. People do ask me all the time how I ship expensive stuff though. Lately, I use Freightquote exclusively. My personal rep is Liza, she’s great. Her email is Elizabeth.Hill@freightquote.com if you don’t want to risk getting a lazy rep. This isn’t a sponsored promotion, just a good company. Once I called Old Dominion directly and they quoted me $985. Then I went through freightquote and the Old Dominion price was $425. They basically get a better rate than little guys like me can get since they ship so much. They will also handle disputes directly if there is any issue.
