Borg Collective, Please Help Me Build Something

My company manufactures large metal boxes. They are a bit more complicated than that, but for the sake of this conversation, they are large metal boxes. For trade shows, they are mounted on a steel pallet that allows a forklift to get under them.

When I take them to trade shows, they often get damaged in the process. The biggest culprit is the forklifts used to move them around. Forklift drivers will tilt the forks down, and the top of the mast (or upright) will hit the metal box and dent it. In addition, other wooden crates are often shunted into my box, denting it, or the forks are not lowered all the way and they dent my box. So I need a way to protect the box.

Option #1 is to build a larger box out of plywood and 2x4s and enclose my metal box inside a wooden box. My smallest box is 8 feet wide, 6 feet deep and 10 feet high, so that means a pretty heavy box with big parts to deal with. Wood gets torn up in shipping pretty fast.

Option #2 is to wrap my box in 4 x 8 insulating styrofoam sheets. This is what we are doing now, but they are not exactly rugged and taping them all around the box is a PITA.

Option #3 is to build something that is rugged, offers protection where I need it, can be easily broken down and modified/repaired as needed. This is what I want to do. I am thinking about using T-Slot aluminum frame to build a "cage" around the box. I could add cross-bars wherever I needed protection, or even include wood panels where the forks would hit. It could be secured to the base easily enough, and broken down into a few pieces once at the show with simple hand tools.

The only issue that I have with this is that I am paying for a lot of structural strength that I am never really using, and this stuff is expensive. So my alternative material is Unistrut. This stuff is much more affordable, is also modular, and I think I can accomplish much of the same with it.

Anyone have any experience with either product? Or have an idea for another option?

So you work for this company?

Thanks for leaving all the futuristic weapons lying around

Anyway, try the Unistrut, worst case scenario, it lasts as long as the wood and you learn a lesson.

How are the boxes moved prior to shipment? Do your guys still use a forklift to move them or are they handled with more care?

I'd say build a wooden box that holds your box, and has 2x4 or something on the bottom of it so when you open it, a forklift can easily pick up the more valuable box inside without damaging it.

Wood will be alot easier to replace than metal unistrut.

Used Unistrut for many years but not w/ all the accessories available to us.

Using Kindorf now and it's damn good stuff. Wouldn't see any problem building that structure you posted.

Linky: http://www.tnb.com/pub/en/node/189

Option #4? Wrap box in stretchy plastic shipping wrap. Spray wrapped box with urethane foam. Wrap foam insulated box with stretchy shipping plastic.

Better forklift drivers!

Unistrut is sorta like legos for adults.

Use construction adhesive to put a thin layer of subflooring/plywood on the outside of the Styrofoam. Use perforated metal 90° angles ( http://www.mcmaster.com/#steel-angle-bars/=vr3kb5 ) to put it all together. You could bury something between the wood and the foam to either have a nut or a bolt captured for attaching the angles.

Glue some nerf foam E36 M3 on the outside in critical areas like chair rails on the office wall.

Put your show box in one of your bigger boxes?

You need a buffer-zone between the box you want to protect, and the box you don't, like styrofoam, etc. Keep in mind just how deep forklift forks can penetrate also. I'd seriously consider 18-gauge steel on at least both ends, sticking up 4"-6" from the pallet. You can probably get away with just plywood over styrofoam from there up. I'd suggest 1" of styrofoam to absorb whatever bumps & bruises occur.

Right angle pieces of cardboard on all 4 corners strapped and have a sheet of 3/4" plywood on each side the truck will pick it up from. Pretty simple answer to an easily over thought question. We ship big tool boxes that way and rarely have any issues.

Stand beside your box with a claw hammer, and clobber the forklift driver when he berkeleys up your E36 M3? Eventually he will either bleed to death, or learn to be more careful.

Make your box out of thicker metal?

yamaha wrote: Right angle pieces of cardboard on all 4 corners strapped and have a sheet of 3/4" plywood on each side the truck will pick it up from. Pretty simple answer to an easily over thought question. We ship big tool boxes that way and rarely have any issues.

^^^, this. Add some bubble wrap and stretch film prior to installing the angles and ply if the surface is prone to scratching.

On a similar note to streetwise, I know a few owner drivers who would pretty much beat you to a pulp if you carelessly damaged their trucks. Fork drivers are always so much better when the threat of bodily harm is involved.

Take some of those swimming "noodles", a knife, and some duct tape and wrap the masts of the forklift.

81cpcamaro wrote: Better forklift drivers!

But then who will break the forklifts? Those careless forklift operators are keeping me in business! Just yesterday I had several hours of OT due to preventable, operator induced, damage.

In reply to HappyAndy:

At least he wasn't carrying a bomb when he drove off the loading dock......oh wait...

In reply to T.J.:

I'm surprised there's not a large pile of poo in the seat!

In reply to HappyAndy:

I have a good friend who's a forklift mechanic and some of his stories are epically terrifying.

He's spent the last few years in a hog-processing plant. He can no longer eat bacon(or any other pork product) - it's that disgusting. The amount of pig-parts he's had to clean out of the trucks...or pig-parts + cockroaches... Blech.

Some follow up information:

1) The boxes are about the same metal thickness as a car fender, and painted about as nicely. They are at a trade show under a lot of lights, so any dent or scratch shows up pretty easily.

2) The boxes are shipped to trade shows in dedicated trailers and we always oversee loading and unloading, but it only takes a second for a fork driver to make a mistake. Or another fork driver with a large crate up front to run into us. And between shows, they are in an active warehouse with crates moving around.

3) Once we get to the show, we have to remove the protection, then store it, then re-attach it after the show. Wooden boxes are so large on one side that they are hard for two guys to assemble with just a screwdriver. We had one smaller box protected in this way, and it was a pain.

4) Metal is cooler than foam or wood. It makes sparks when you cut it. The finished product will have a rock-crawler, external roll cage vibe to it.

Thanks for the Kindorf link, that is exactly what I was thinking.

In reply to petegossett: You don't need to be in this business very long to start collecting those kinds of stories. I've evaluations on machines that were in some pretty terrifying accidents, thankfully none of the ones that I've had check out were bloody. PS, don't Google search forklift crash or accident images.

Back to issue of operators, its all in the skill, training and conscientiousness of the operator, and that is usually a reflection of the employer. I have some clients with machines that are pushing twenty years old, that look only a few years old, due to good operation and maintenance practices, and others that can destroy a brand new machine in months.