Need help packing gear....dont have boxes no more

The box is really just a wrapper -- it's inside that counts. Get some boxes and rolls of bubble wrap at Office Depot, U-Haul, etc. and wind the bubble wrap around each piece several times to give it good padding. Fill the empty space in the box around the piece with lots of crumpled newspaper.

I could be going overboard here, but you might consider building a crate that would hold several pieces. It depends on the value of the equipment if it's worth it. If you are shipping by ground (it sounds like you are moving--just a guess). By ground it won't be as expensive and the crate will protect what is inside. In the crate should be lined with high density foam and then pack each unit in a cardboard box and bubble wrap. Any box can get crushed, but it's very unlikely a crate will. I had two very large crates built for my speakers when I moved. The moving company wouldn't insure them without the crates. The moving company also wanted $5000 for the crates, but I found a company that builds crates to make them for $200.

As a veteran of a number of international moves from the U.S. to points overseas, I can commiserate with you. Since your audio gear may be subjected to less than tender treatment, you need to find a way to pack your gear so it is both immobilized in its container, and cushioned from impacts.

My suggestion is to have custom boxes built for your most valued pieces of audio gear, and then have those boxes placed inside another box and fill the space between the inner and outer box with expanding foam. This is a technique that is often used by manufacturers that ship heavy items such as kilns, and it works very well.

Some of the "mail box for hire" companies that do custom packing have the capability to work with expanding foam. Look in your local yellow pages first, and if that doesn't turn up what you want, try the Internet.

SDcampbell makes a great point about the expanding foam. I just wrote in another post about contacting lamp shops and geting the expanding foam that is used by the lamp companies, very reusable. I would also advise going to Walmart or the like and and buying these large plastic chest they use for tool storage,garden storage, toy storage, whatever, and packing the units away in there, you can do single or multiple, they come in many sizes. I have also gone to the Goodwill, Salvation Army, and second hand stores and purchased old hard sided suitcases($5 or so on average) for shipping items in. I have done so with items to Europe many time with excellent rssults. Best thing you can do is pack it yourself as if you are sending it to yourself, which in this case you are. I have never had any problems when I have kept that in mind.

Whenever I ship audio stuff, I pull most of what I need out of the garbage: discarded boxes to double and triple box depending on component, (heavy computer boxes are best.); styrofoam to pack the voids between the boxes; foam peanuts and plastic pillows to use as needed.

I just shipped a turntable to calif. from nyc---the original manufacturer wanted $40 for original packing---I spent .99 cents for tape. Although it probably took half an hour for the buyer to get to the deck, he was thrilled to receive it unharmed. Wrapping the item in bubble wrap is a very good idea. Set inside a box and tape it shut. Set the box in another box that you have lined with styrofoam so that the first box doesn't shift--fill voids with peanuts to keep the larger pieces of foam and the box from shifting. Be anal and repeat,i.e. don't be afraid to overpack! Just remember this rule: if it moves, it'll break!!