Best way to pack woofers for shipping?

Gregory

Gregory

Soundco Kid
What's the best way to pack woofers for shipping? These are a pair of 12" McIntosh 036-047 drivers. With other bass drivers, you could attach a piece of square plywood over the cones. The -047 surrounds protrude beyond the frame or basket. I could pack them magnet down, but what if the shipper flips the box over on it's head? like a drop from a conveyor? I'm prepared to double or even triple-box them if necessary. Have 12x12x12", 14x14x14" and 18x18x18" boxes which can be cut down to 12" or 8" height. Does styrofoam produce chips that can mess-up drives? Weight is 12 lbs ea.


-Gregory
 
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If smaller diameter drivers (8-in. or less) I've bolted the woofers together with a piece of 1/2-in. wood between them, using double-nuts to make sure they don't back off -- which has happened to woofers shipped to me. Then I pack and ship them together.

On larger diameter ones like you have, I would bolt them to an individual piece of 1/2-in. plywood over the woofer -- using a combo of a long bolts and washers to make the wood stand off the surround. And I'd ship them in separate boxes -- at least double-boxed with foam sheets, not peanuts.

Wrap each woofer in a heavy plastic trash sack -- foam sheet can crumble a little and the pieces will find their way into every nook of the woofer and are a PITA to clear out.
 
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Ask the repair facility what they recommend. They may have proper packing materials that they can send along that could save both $$ & time.

When I shipped the 12" woofer to Atlanta I used triple-wall cardboard and cut a hole in it to mount the speaker in just like it was mounted in the cabinet and then used machine screws and fender washers on the cardboard side to secure. Cut pieces of 1" sheet styrofoam and line the bottom and sides of the box to space the woofer up so the magnet is not quite resting on the bottom piece of styrofoam. Do the sides first and the bottom piece will hold the side pieces in place. Place a couple of layers of 1" bubblewrap below the magnet 'just in case'. Once the woofer is 'suspended' in the box, just another set of 1" styrofoam sheet pieces to line the space along the sides of the box to hold the rest in place during shipping. The woofer came back to me in the same materials and suffered no problems going either direction. I did use a double-walled box, as well.
 
Wornears said:
On larger diameter ones like you have, I would bolt them to an individual piece of 1/2-in. plywood over the woofer -- using a combo of a long nuts and washers to make the wood stand off the surround. And I'd ship them in separate boxes -- at least double-boxed with foam sheets, not peanuts. Wrap each woofer in a heavy plastic trash sack -- foam sheet can crumble a little and the pieces will find their way into every nook of the woofer and are a PITA to clear out.
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Some good ideas.. Thanks!

I've also purchased a roll of 12" wide bubble wrap and a 6-pack of 48" x 14.5" x 3/4" thick white foam sheet. Already cut two pieces of foam for the bottom of the 12" x 12" box as in a double-layer. There are tiny white foam `pills´ flaking off the edges, so the drives will need to be placed in plastic of some kind. Just experimenting at this point. I have some lighter wood panels to cut.. perhaps 5/16 or 3/8". Could also make some wooden `sides´ to form an H-assembly that would hold or suspend the drives in the boxes.

A couple years ago I shipped two 10" drivers by wrapping them in bubble-wrap, then setting them on an angle in boxes with peanuts in the bottom, then used crumpled packing paper on top. Finally boxed those TWO packages in a larger box. They came back from the factory face-down on plywood (no fasteners) in just the right size boxes.. then reboxed in a larger package.

These 12-inchers are somewhat of a challenge!!


-Gregory
 
MX117.MC7150 said:
When I shipped the 12" woofer to Atlanta I used triple-wall cardboard and cut a hole in it to mount the speaker in just like it was mounted in the cabinet and then used machine screws and fender washers on the cardboard side to secure. Cut pieces of 1" sheet styrofoam and line the bottom and sides of the box to space the woofer up so the magnet is not quite resting on the bottom piece of styrofoam. Do the sides first and the bottom piece will hold the side pieces in place. Place a couple of layers of 1" bubble-wrap below the magnet 'just in case'. Once the woofer is 'suspended' in the box, just another set of 1" styrofoam sheet pieces to line the space along the sides of the box to hold the rest in place during shipping. The woofer came back to me in the same materials and suffered no problems going either direction. I did use a double-walled box, as well.
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That's pretty close to how things are progressing here.. thanks.


-Gregory
 
I usually place woofers face to face (so long as no parts other than the mounting surface touch) then use zip ties through the bolt holes and zip them tight with pliers. Never had a problem with this.
 
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What's the best way to pack woofers for shipping? These are a pair of 12" McIntosh #036-047 drivers out of the XR6 Isoplanars. With other bass drivers, you could attach a piece of square plywood over the cones. The -047 surrounds protrude beyond the frame or basket. I could pack them magnet down, but what if the shipper flips the box over on it's head? like a drop from a conveyor? I'm prepared to double or even triple-box them if necessary. Have 12x12x12", 14x14x14" and 18x18x18" boxes which can be cut down to 12" or 8" height. Does styrofoam produce chips that can mess-up drives? Weight is 12 lbs ea.


-Gregory
 
For heavy speakers, in addition to bolting them together, I encompass them in the heavy duty home insulation foam, it REALLY holds up much better than the softer styrofoam. Once completely enclosed, I then brace it with the softer styrofoam all around to ensure no shifting. I've also used a can of expanding foam in some instances to brace delicate items (of course, the speakers were completely sealed, no foam could get to them).
 
Do them face to face. Uses spacers between the flange holes and uses bolts with nuts to lock them together. That will keep the cones and surrounds safe. Use a flatish box (12x12x3 or 13x13x3 or whatever fits the diameter of your frames) with a hole in one side, three layers of foam inside; two with holes cut in it to fit the circumference of the magnet, one no hole. One slips over each magnet so it's magnet support box-speaker-speaker-magnet support box. Drop this into a box of perfect fit. The woofers should not be able move around within that box. Double box and go. The hardest part is finding perfect fitting boxes. I usually make my own from flat cardboard. I've not shipped a lot of drivers, but the ones I did arrived safe and sound.

speakbox.jpg
 
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cubby01 said:
Do them face to face. Uses spacers between the flange holes and uses bolts with nuts to lock them together. That will keep the cones and surrounds safe. Use a flatish box (12x12x3 or 13x13x3 or whatever fits the diameter of your frames) with a hole in one side, three layers of foam inside; two with holes cut in it to fit the circumference of the magnet, one no hole. One slips over each magnet so it's magnet support box-speaker-speaker-magnet support box. Drop this into a box of perfect fit. The woofers should not be able move around within that box. Double box and go. The hardest part is finding perfect fitting boxes. I usually make my own from flat cardboard. I've not shipped a lot of drivers, but the ones I did arrived safe and sound.

speakbox.jpg
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He's definitely got the right idea here... :tresbon:

Vote for best way to go on that one.
 
Last time I sent some big woofers with surrounds bigger than front gaskets I did something similar to Cubby but I used a board between them with a circle cutout to house the surrounds and I went corner-to-corner with the "baffle board". It worked out pretty well.
 
When I ship drivers, I put them in airtight plastic bags. The limited air volume and restricted air flow helps keep the cones from moving around.

Another thing I've done is to short the speaker terminals together. This can help damp the motion of the voice coil in the magnetic gap. Especially if the suspension is really compliant. I've seen some new drivers shipped this way...
 
packing materials are cheaper than speakers. I build boxes using luan plywood and 1X4,6,8 pine for sides. No hinges or latches just screws to secure top and bottom to frame. The second box inside is new cardboard. Foam peanuts don't collapse like bubble wrap does. Like it was said before, put each speaker in a plastic bag sealed with a tie wrap. Use new cardboard and boxes, not recycled boxes. New cardboard is stronger. Put a second copy of the airbill or documentation inside the box. Makes it easier to find you if the label or airbill comes off the box. Box and speakers should be able to survive a 3' drop on a concrete floor.
 
I use styrofoam to a 2" thickness placed in the bottom of the box so as to completely fit the box. Then I cut a relief in the styrofoam the exact dimensions of the magnet, obviously cenetered in the box -- deep enough relief to drop the magnet in a half to 3/4" deep. Then I go from there, speaker wont move no matter how the box is flipped during shipping.
 
Celt said:
Yep, but multiple threads on the same subject by the same author aren't allowed. The two will be merged into this one.
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That's fine.. I realized it after posting in the Mc forum. Same thing with the Crossover Caps question. Sometimes posts disappear and you assume they've been deleted all together. Now I use Goggle advanced search to find them. If they're gone, google usually has a cached version of the content. Also I try to SAVE [a copy of] any content that took a LOT of time to create.


-Gregory
 
day67 said:
I use styrofoam to a 2" thickness placed in the bottom of the box so as to completely fit the box. Then I cut a relief in the styrofoam the exact dimensions of the magnet, obviously centered in the box -- deep enough relief to drop the magnet in a half to 3/4" deep. Then I go from there, speaker wont move no matter how the box is flipped during shipping.
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Good idea. Last weekend at the home store.. they only had specialty 2" tongue-and-grove foam sheathing and it was EXPENSIVE. Plus the sheets were too long to fit in my vehicle. Must have spent 50 bucks on a variety of packing material and STILL haven't decided how to package the woofers. They're considered irreplaceable and must be packed as such.


-Gregory
 
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