Shipping an RC-3 without it exploding? Ideas?

[Fizzlemizzle]

Hey everyone, a buyer out of state wants my already damaged from shipping RC-3 (Horn driver broke off, one corner of the woofer driver plastic tab broke off) because HIS RC-3 was also broken in shipping and somehow both his woofer voice coils got broken. Anyways... I am trying to think of ways to at least prevent damage to the plastic woofer frame mounting holes. Right now, my current thought is to unscrew the "bolts" and reinstall them with the widest possible washers to distribute the G-forces across a much wider area. As for the Grille, which already has one mounting tab broken off, I'm not sure how to package that in the box with the cabinet.

 

Any ideas or advice is appreciated! As you can see in the pics, one corner of one woofer already had to be affixed with a washer as the paper-thin plastic frame broke in shipping years ago. Clearly, the Reference line was designed to be delivered by pallet to dealers only, lol.

[billybob]

Bubble wrap and if called for, double box. . .

[001]

damage like that is from either poor packing or extreme rough handling in transport.  i have shipped 2 rc3ii centers, a kv3 & multiple bookshelf klipsch as well as fortes & other similar size speakers as well as hundreds of automotive parts large & small.  what i do for speakers is to buy a cheap piece of 2" styrofoam or the pink extruded styrofoam & get a sturdy/thick box that will fit the speaker plus pieces of the styrofoam on every side & some bubble wrap or tightly wadded up newspaper all around especially in the corners.  then mark FRAGILE all over the box.  never had one get damaged, but have had quite a few items sent to me damaged, so the best you can do is over pack it.  fedex/ups require an item to withstand a 3' drop, the heavier the item the more secure the packing needs to be.  bubble wrap is good but with something  heavy & sharp corners its worthless once the bubbles pop so you need 2 or 3 layers of packing.  double boxing is also a good idea but not always needed if the item is packed securely in a sturdy box.  walmart sells "heavy duty" boxes for a couple bucks each that are double walled. 

 

& most important is to insure it for its value & make a claim if it gets damaged.... i can tell you from experience with both companies, do NOT ship via UPS, they damage far more items than fedex & if you need to file a claim they will fight you tooth & nail & want to come take the package then the majority of the time deny the claim & blame your packing.... fedex usually pays the claim with little to no questions asked within reason, just gotta prove what you paid.     

[Alexander]

 

I concur with the UPS claim issues, when I had my own businesses I only used FedEx and also USPS for the small stuff..

 

 

[Fizzlemizzle]

Thanks for the advice, but 2 out of the 3 Klipsch Reference RF-5 and RC-3 I had shipped to me both had woofer frame damage (One RF-5 woofer completely popped out!) that required me to use washers to screw the woofers back in to the cabinet and the horn driver snapped off the horn on the RC-3 as well. I will pack it best I can, but am kind of surprised that I seem to be the only one who's had this happen to me.

 

I will ship it Fedex, mark it fragile, insure it, but packing it will be a hassle. The buyer is willing to cover whatever it costs to pack/ship it well - if Fedex packed it would they do an adequate job? This is turning in to a lot of effort and time for $50.

[Thaddeus Smith]

Remove the woofers and pack separately.