Sending an Indigo2 and Two Monitors
to the University of Uruguay
A Demonstration of My Packing Methods
These pictures show how I packed an R4K/250 Extreme Indigo2, various
parts for Indy and Indigo, and two 17" montors, for shipment to the
University of Uruguay in late 2004.
I used an Apple G5 box for the main Indigo2 + parts as it is very
strong and the perfect size.
- i2inside.jpg
- The contents of the Indigo2. Other items were also purchased
along with the Indigo2 for Indy and an Indigo (disk upgrade,
CPU, etc.) Thus, in order to minimise the space used inside
the box (and hence maximise the amount of space for protective
packaging) I placed some of the items inside the Indigo2.
- i2withlid.jpg
- The Indigo2 with the top lid in place.
- layout.jpg
- Before packing the main Indigo2 box, I laid out the items in a
stack to work out exactly how I was going to position them. Each
package is labelled to make it easier for the recipient to unpack
the more important items first.
- boxbase.jpg
- Shows how the underside of the box is covered with lots of
black gaffer tape to give very strong resistance to any damage when
the box is being moved about.
- makebox1.jpg
- Preparing the inside of the box, the bottom flaps are sealed,
and the hand holds on either side are covered with protective
bubblewrap panels to prevent any packaging from falling out,
and to help prevent anyone carrying the box from affecting
the contents when using the handholds.
- makebox2.jpg
- Prior to placing the Indigo2 in the box, foam blocks are stuck
to the bottom of the box to prevent any downward movement of
the contents during transit. In theory, the presence of the
foam chips underneath the box would do this anyway, but I've
always used foam blocks in this way to be absolutely sure that
unwanted movement cannot happen. The blocks are stuck to the
base using double-sided gaffer tape. Foam chips are placed
inbetween the blocks before the Indigo2 package is inserted.
- makebox3.jpg
- This shows the Indigo2 package installed in the box, with the
keyboard and locking bar also in place. Extra foam blocks are
positioned to prevent any sideways movement. Though not visible in
the picture, the ends of the keyboard package are taped to the sides
of the Indigo2 package to prevent the keyboard from moving
lengthways.
- makebox4.jpg
- All the other packages are now installed, with tape securing
the packages together to help prevent any of them moving
around during transit. More foam blocks are also used to
help prevent movement.
- boxready.jpg
- The completed box with the Indigo2, all tapes in place, but the
shipping labels are not yet attached. Note that the top of the box
also has lots of gaffer tape to give extra strength, as does every
edge of the box - this greatly reduces the chances of the box being
damaged by general handling, eg. when being moved against other
surfaces, lifted by machines, stacked on top of or underneath
other boxes, etc.
- monitorsready.jpg
- The two 17" monitors were packed in a similar way. This picture
shows the monitor boxes completed, with the shipping labels not
yet attached.
- collection1.jpg
- The day of the collection, all details of the shipment received,
so I can put on the shipping labels and attach the required
documents. This is one of the monitor boxes.
collection2.jpg - The other monitor box.
collection3.jpg - The main Indigo2 box with all labels attached.
collection4.jpg - The WTA truck arrives!
collection5.jpg - Items on board.
collection6.jpg - Sealed up & ready to go...
collection7.jpg - ...and it's away! 8-)
The parcels were transported to a processing centre in England, from
there to one of the main UK sea ports (I'm not sure which one), and
then a couple of weeks later when the ship arrived they began their
journey to Uruguay which took approx. 21 days. All three boxes were
received in perfect condition. Here is the reply from the person I
was dealing with the the University of Uruguay:
From: "Federico Iribarne"
Subject: at last we got the stuff!!!!
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 19:42:50 -0300
Hi there!!!
I´m writing to let you know the good news!!
Yesterday, we fetched all three packages and the indigo2 and both
monitors are all installed here now.
Thanks a lot!!
Man, I can't believe how great of a packaging job you've done. It has
to be the best I've ever seen.
It took me almost and hour to unpack the three items! I can only
imagine how many time you spend preparing the boxes!
You were certainly not exaggerating when you claim that noneone packs
things as you do!
Everything looks just great. The indigo2 has a very nice design,
those foot stands kick ass! Dont worry, I removed all the
supplemental stuff from inside the indigo2, namely, the SCSI disk +
adapter, mouse, UTP cable and spare riser backplane.
Finally, many thanks for the spares and the O/S cds! My boss was very
happy about them. That cd case was a nice touch too! When I have the
time (dont think it will be any time soon cos I have a Ph. D thesis
to finish before March 2005) I will try and upgrade the indy CPU.
Again, thanks a lot for a wonderful transaction. Youre the man!!!!!
Cheers, Federico
It was definitely fun doing this shipment, sending something so far
away to be used in a useful manner once again - a new life for an
Indigo2 which had originally been used for car design from 1993 to
1997. Now it is destined for use in biochemistry applications.
Cheers! :)
Ian.