Designing Pallets/Skids to Ship Machinery

I'm moving from SoCal to Hawaii and am taking my machinery with me. I'm looking for information on how best to design pallets/skids to accomodate the numerous top heavy machines I am going to ship by container. My manual lathe and mills for example are top heavy and have small footprints. Anyone have input regarding pallet footprint size vs the C.G. of the machine. I doubt the machines will tip over in the container but loading and unloading with a forklift and traversing uneven ground gives me concern. Any input would be appreciated.
Rob Daniel
[email protected]

I'd be tempted to disassemble the major components of the machines.

Take the lathe off of it's stand. Remove the table from your mill, or at least move it to it's lowest position. Pull the ram from the mill.

"I doubt the machines will tip over in the container"
Of course not:



Watch: Containership's Structure Visually Flexing in Heavy Seas - gCaptain Maritime & Offshore News

ClassNK Completes Forensic Study of MOL Comfort Structural Failure - gCaptain Maritime & Offshore News
Limited Data, Extreme Rolling to Blame for Svendborg Maersk Cargo Loss -REPORT - gCaptain Maritime & Offshore News
Decision to Abandon Rena Wreckage Heads to Environment Court - gCaptain Maritime & Offshore News
Insure the hell out of them.

I would think that after disassembly of all the major components, if you still have tall parts that can't lay down then placement on a large pallet with cross bracing down to the edges would help. Something similar to a box framed around th top of a machine with rafters down around all sides to make a structure like a hipped roof.

Aaron

load the container with the assumption that is is going to be rolled 30 degrees and severly banged around. I once shipped several containers to Pakistan, they first got lost in Africa for several weeks having been unloaded by mistake, then when they got to karachi, they looked like they had been turned upside down. Another time i shipped a printing press to SA and it was secured with a great deal of bolted 4 x 4 an 6 x 6 bracing, it arrived wrecked because the wood bracing was stolen!. so after you pack everything, take lots of photos of the contents in the container. if it can fall over, then you re better off to lay it down or disassemble it. something like a mill is ok, if the head is flipped and it is BOLTED to a large skid and it is jammed into the container with other crates so it has no where to go. maybe. remember, BOLTS, not screws. BOLTS