Shipping a large tabletop

Presuming you are in the US, I rekon it will need to be securely crated and weighed, then you can contact any number of LTL (less-than-load) shippers for quotes. (It is not uncommon for crates to weigh as much or more as the contents.)

If you have access to a loading dock, it might shave a couple bucks, but many freight expeditors have lift-gate trucks for pickup/delivery.

How wide before “wide-load”? In Aus, wide loads pay for police escort. This district uses a 144-wheel trailer for heavy-lift items. Can the load be divided into sections? — Alan.

Tabletop press = wide load?????

Bob

A tabletop press should not take more than a small crate.

It’s killing me! There’s a couple on Briar press that refurbish Pilots and other table tops. Their website shows how they crate them. I’m trying to find it!!!

Police escort!

@tmac

www.tandtpressrestoration.com

My parents… letterpress is a family affair :)

Ah yes, that’s exactly who I was thinking of.

I didn’t end up buying a press from them (found one in a basement nearby), but they were super cool over the email.

Tom — maybe you could buy a crate from them, but it might be terribly complicated. If I was you I’d take a look here at what a properly built crate looks like:

http://www.tandtpressrestoration.com/shipping.html

And then you could try and replicate something like it.

Cheers!

I’m less concerned about the crating and more concerned with the actual shipping. Like, has anyone used any companies that they were happy with, fair prices etc.

to tom

Apologies. I thought the size 9 x 13 was in feet, the size of the outside of the whole machine. shows my ignorance of some aspects of printing. But have we learned something from my mistake? After metric measurements were adopted in Australia, from time to time someone confused millimetres and centimetres,resulted in some tiny screen doors or very large metal boxes.

Alan.

Alan.

Hi you may want to try the on-line sevice called u-ship, they are easy to use, and you get the added benefit of having multiple people bidding on the cost of the shipment. If you have seen the tv show Shipping Wars this is the service that is used on that show. I have used it and it worked well I recived bids from most major frieght carriers and small independant companies as well.

Tom -

Be VERY concerned with the crating. This is how most presses are damaged in transport.

Rick