packing breakables

More about sleeves and tubes

---

These are the principles. The tube has the same wall-thickness or more than the outside box wall thickness. It extends from top flap to bottom flap, or from side to side.

The tube is ONE fill thickness longer on each end than the item it contains. The item is kept in the middle of the tube, vertically, ONE fill thickness from each end. It's held in place by stuffing each end of the tube with peanuts.

The item can't move, it has nowhere to go.

Other irregular shaped objects that don't really shout "I'm Tube shaped too" can also be packed up this way. It's all about how you look at an object; it's "aspect".

aspects and section

Everything has a two basic "sectional" views, horizontal and vertical.

That section, like a slice right through the middle, will be the "shape" of the tube - tubes don't have to be cylinders, they can be ANY shape.

Even box shaped.

Consider a dinnerservice for 20. Very un-tubular indeed, but actually well suited to this style of packaging.

The dinner-plates are circular, but that's not the "view" that concerns us.
We're interested in the edge-view, becuse we're going to pack them on-edge, in skinny, wide, flattish sleeves, suspended about 2" from either end.

Instead of packing them FLAT or "plate" style, i.e. one on top of the other, pack them vertically so that they stand up like they would in a plate rack.

Bundle half a dozen plates in sleeves together with tape and you've got a ironclad innerpak - a "honeycomb" - and in this case the strength in numbers maxim is definitely applicable.

Once you get used to looking at objects from different aspects and start packing this way, you'll hardly ever do double boxes again.

Double boxing, unless ABSOLUTELY necessary, is a worthless task and should be avoided as much as possible.


Remember, bigger is not always better.