Shipping Tube Gear

[ruffrecords]

I recently sent a prototype tube mic pre from here in the UK to a client in the USA via DHL. The mic pre is built in a sealed die cast box and has a separate similarly constructed linear power supply. I surrounded each with about 2 inches of foam, then some polystyrene so they fitted snugly into a cardboard box.

Despite that, on arrival a tube had been shook out of its socket - OK maybe tubes should go separately - but worse, a sub-chassis that fitted into slots inside the die cast box had worked loose and pulled off some connections to its tube sockets.

Now given how I packed it, there was no way I expected a sub-chassis to work loose.; DHL must have really thrown it about to achieve that.

So my question is, what are others people's experiences of shipping tube based gear, especially internationally, and what lessons are there to be learned.


Cheers

Ian

[leadbelly]

IMHO, sounds like the problem is your mechanical design, and not shipping. As you already pointed out, the tubes should be packed separately. Also, relying on formed slots to hold a subchassis that contains heavy tube-amp-type parts simply won't do. You need to use good strong standoffs and screws. From your description, your preamp wouldn't even have survived as checked baggage.

[Osprey]

Ship the tubes in a separate box and double box the gear. Two inches of foam is not enough. That box should have been in a bigger box surrounded by "peanuts".