What's new
What's new

Moving & mid-term storage of home shop machines - recommendations?

Jlel12

Plastic
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
Location
Boston, MA, USA
Hi all,

I'm going to be moving in the next few months, and am starting to plan out moving my little home shop. Background on this move and my shop:
  • My home shop is little (corner of a basement of a Boston apartment building), and all of my tools are commensurately little (Benchmaster mill, Ames lathe, Walker-Turner 944 bench drill press, 14" Rockwell bandsaw, Rockwell-Delta vertical sander).
  • We are in the process of looking for a house, but thankfully have family we can stay with while we search. Our plan is to load the majority of our possessions - including the tools - into a PODS storage container, and then leave the container in storage until we've got the house lined up.

Generally, I'm just looking for advice from anyone who's done something like this before - either moved their shop, or put their shop in storage - to make sure I don't forget anything. Specific things I'm curious about:
  • What corrosion-inhibition steps should I take? Coat of Fluid Film over everything? Does this stuff work?
  • I'm planning to tie down the machines inside the PODS container with ratchet straps. Anything else people recommend for securing machines?

Any thoughts/ideas/recommendations welcome! Thanks, all.
 
I've seen some of those "pods" moved with a rollback truck, which I believe would necessitate securing machinery to the floor, or other means to make sure it does not tip and punch its way out of the pod.
 
The one thing you should know about a POD is there not weather tight. Rather than the cling film I would suggest vapor barrier paper. If you don't want to buy a whole role let me know and Ill send you some.

Todd W (from Boston class)
 
I've seen some of those "pods" moved with a rollback truck, which I believe would necessitate securing machinery to the floor, or other means to make sure it does not tip and punch its way out of the pod.

The PODS brand uses a spiffy little hydraulic straddle lift. It's a slick setup and they can put it down wherever you want. YMMV with other companies.
 
I have only packed stuff for two month ocean voyages. We would spray everything we could with LPS3, pack it full of dessicant, and boat shrink wrap it, taping all of the openings, even around the chains/straps. Also throw dessicant packs in every electrical cabinet.

They also make VCI packets and VCI shrink wrap that might be good for your use case.
 
Machines will need to be adequately secured so as not to move about/fall over in transport.Turn it into a spiders web if necessary.My old favorite is used car tyres,very effective at preventing damage.
 
The PODS brand uses a spiffy little hydraulic straddle lift. It's a slick setup and they can put it down wherever you want. YMMV with other companies.

Ok, but do they have a weight capacity? I'd imagine if they are just used to household stuff, machines might exceed that? IDK, never used one.

I moved all my small stuff in a 20' box trailer, bolted everything to floor, 1600 miles, worked great, no damage. Bolting to a pod floor might be more difficult.
 
PODS are wood-framed, plastic-topped affairs with less structural rigidity than your average backyard deck. There is basically nothing to tie anything down to except for some 3/8" hardware-store eyebolts in a few places. They're meant to transport household furniture and boxed things. Not really suitable for a full shop move, due to weight and tiedown issue, in addition to flimsiness.

Better bet: 20' conex if you can, or companies like ABF U-pack and SAM and others offer containers built more like box truck bodies. More rugged and weatherproof, but more money, too.

If you buy smart, you can sell a 20' container for about what you paid, and they can be moved by two-axle rollbacks if packed withing reason, both weight-wise and load-wise. It's what I will likely do as that time approaches...
 
Broker a dry van, its WAY cheaper than those silly pods, figure $1.80 per mile for a full 53' trailer. Securing is really simple too, you will just need to purchase an adequate number of "etrack" or "logistics track" which cost around 10$ each for a 20' 2k lb working load strap. Another method to secure is load bars that attach to the logistics track and crosses the 8' dimension and are rated at 2k lbs and cost around 60$. I am moving from Sarasota, Fl to Portland, Or and have a qoute for 5800 that includes them dropping for a day for me to load(for refference the pods i qouted were like 7200 for 15' of trailer iirc), my plan is to palletize everything and and rent a lift to set in trailer, then pallet jack to final location. This will be enough room for my entire move including HHG and is way less hastle that trying to drive a big box van and trailers etc. Another option are the JLG trailers you can rent at united rentals, they dont have axles and the deck lowers flat to ground and is around 4" tall when lowered, there rated for 10klbs and I can personally attest it has NO issues lifting 5klbs up.
 
This is great - thanks, all!

I will definitely look into LPS-3 - heard of it before, never used it. Good excuse to buy some new chemicals!

Todd: Great to hear from you! Hope you're doing well. I appreciate your kind offer and will let you know if I decide to take you up on it.

Agreed that securing the machines is critical. When I moved some industrial robotics cross-country in a POD, we ratchet-strapped the heavy equipment to the vertical tie-bars in the POD, which worked well. I like the tire idea, too.

I think some of y'all missed the parts where I live in an apartment, and all of my machines are tiny :D As much as I would love to buy a 20' Conex, I think the BPD might have some choice words about my decision to put it on the street (if I could even get it into the neighborhood...) Thankfully, my experience is that the PODS are a little more heavily built than Chip indicates - steel frames, thick wall panels a fair number of vertical logistics tracks inside. They have an all-steel container option, which I may explore just to be safe.

The load capacity issue is absolutely an important concern, though. Nothing I own weighs more than 500# individually, and we've estimated the weight of our collective possessions (machines included) at well below the weight limit for the POD. However, I'm still concerned about even weight distribution, and will take pains to ensure that the machines are spread out through the box.

Again - thanks, all!
 
another opinion....

There's no way to adequately protect your machines from rust with plastic and dessicant and magic liquid. Outdoor relative humidity in the next few months in New England will skyrocket on at least a few days and there'll be a film of water on every metal surface.

Put them into some kind of climate controlled storage, whether it's a somebody's basement, living room or paid storage.

And just as important, move them yourself!
 
I'd be reluctant to use a PODS for machine tools (even small ones). There's issues of weight, issues of how you tie-down or secure the various loads inside the POD, issues of theft, issues of where exactly the PODS are stored both in the short-run and the long run.

I'm in the Boston area and used one of the u-store-it facilities in Somerville. The one just North of Cambridge Street. If memory serves, Twin Cities Plaza. Wasn't terribly expensive and you get to place your own belongings however you want in a covered storage unit of whatever size you want to rent. Might even have been modestly heated although I can't recall.

If your machines and household goods are each under 500 lbs, I'd be renting my own truck or trailer and moving/securing my stuff myself.
 
I looked at PODS website a few nights ago, no info given on load capacity, just estimate of how many rooms of household goods they will hold. Before loading one full of even small machines, I would get something in writing from co on load capacity.
 
Hi all,

I'm going to be moving in the next few months, and am starting to plan out moving my little home shop. Background on this move and my shop:
  • My home shop is little (corner of a basement of a Boston apartment building), and all of my tools are commensurately little (Benchmaster mill, Ames lathe, Walker-Turner 944 bench drill press, 14" Rockwell bandsaw, Rockwell-Delta vertical sander).
  • We are in the process of looking for a house, but thankfully have family we can stay with while we search. Our plan is to load the majority of our possessions - including the tools - into a PODS storage container, and then leave the container in storage until we've got the house lined up.

Generally, I'm just looking for advice from anyone who's done something like this before - either moved their shop, or put their shop in storage - to make sure I don't forget anything. Specific things I'm curious about:
  • What corrosion-inhibition steps should I take? Coat of Fluid Film over everything? Does this stuff work?
  • I'm planning to tie down the machines inside the PODS container with ratchet straps. Anything else people recommend for securing machines?

Any thoughts/ideas/recommendations welcome! Thanks, all.

My advice is to peddle the whole lot and not HAVE the move, preparation, preservation, and storage risk cost nor hassle at all. Your collection ain't exactly regarded as Grand Old heirlooms in our trade.

The living arrangements and future direction can get delayed, or changed ...etc.

WHEN you have a proper house, you should not be limited to sardine-can sized machinery, can equip yerself more capably even with bog-average goods, or BETTER goods, even if still small machines for small work.

And/or "move up the food chain" rather than take last-year's PROBLEMS with you as hard-limits baggage no longer suited to a new environment.

You "know more now than you did then..", and will know more, yet, once you have a new facility.

Mind, I may be "over-experienced".

Move before last, I didn't take the ex-wife EITHER. Did manage a substantial capability, quality, durability, and appearance upgrade, nonetheless - 29 years and counting already!
 
another opinion....

There's no way to adequately protect your machines from rust with plastic and dessicant and magic liquid. Outdoor relative humidity in the next few months in New England will skyrocket on at least a few days and there'll be a film of water on every metal surface.

Relative humidity in New England in winter is far lower than in an open top Conex crossing the Pacific. And LPS-3 is only a liquid while you're spraying it on. It's basically wax in solvent; it stays put.
 
+1 on the LPS3. Don't buy the spray cans. Buy a gallon of liquid and a brush.

Good advice on the "sell now, buy later" idea. However if any spouse gets left behind for
an upgrade, that's probably *me*. So nix on that concept.
 
This is great - thanks, all!

I will definitely look into LPS-3 - heard of it before, never used it. Good excuse to buy some new chemicals!

Todd: Great to hear from you! Hope you're doing well. I appreciate your kind offer and will let you know if I decide to take you up on it.

Agreed that securing the machines is critical. When I moved some industrial robotics cross-country in a POD, we ratchet-strapped the heavy equipment to the vertical tie-bars in the POD, which worked well. I like the tire idea, too.

I think some of y'all missed the parts where I live in an apartment, and all of my machines are tiny :D As much as I would love to buy a 20' Conex, I think the BPD might have some choice words about my decision to put it on the street (if I could even get it into the neighborhood...) Thankfully, my experience is that the PODS are a little more heavily built than Chip indicates - steel frames, thick wall panels a fair number of vertical logistics tracks inside. They have an all-steel container option, which I may explore just to be safe.

The load capacity issue is absolutely an important concern, though. Nothing I own weighs more than 500# individually, and we've estimated the weight of our collective possessions (machines included) at well below the weight limit for the POD. However, I'm still concerned about even weight distribution, and will take pains to ensure that the machines are spread out through the box.

Again - thanks, all!

1. 20' conex box never is in apartment complex, rent a storage lot.
2. Take time to wire said 20' conex box with a 100 amp sub panel.
3. Move machines into conex box, affixing them to floor properly.
4. At all times, machines are still avail for usage.
 
This is great - thanks, all!

I will definitely look into LPS-3 - heard of it before, never used it. Good excuse to buy some new chemicals!

LPS 3 is really excellent, and they have great product support for application and technical advice (like how much you can thin it, etc). Get a gallon, it has unlimited shelf life. You can spray it from a pump up garden sprayer (if warm). For robustness, it is important to apply only a very thin initial coat and allow it to dry. Then you can layer it thicker. If you put too much on, a skin will form and it is difficult for the rest to evaporate, making it fragile. Temperature of application - product and machine - are important. You need the carrier solvent to evaporate. You can apply it with a brush, but if the machine is cold that is difficult because it will thicken as soon as you touch the machine.

Note that LPS has anti-rust compounds that are key to performance. It isn't the same as just covering in oil or wax.

LPS quite a bit cheaper at Zoro. Free shipping at $50. Also, their prices on stretch wrap are far cheaper than anyone I have found - especially local. I frequently use the 2-3" wide, the 5-7" wide and larger rolls. You'll need to do something to keep your taps, endmills, etc from banging around. That can be a layer of paper, and then stretch wrap to keep everything snug enough to not rattle. CRC 3-36 is a very light oil that wicks very well and is surprisingly good at rust protection. It sprays great from compatible hand sprayers (surprisingly, dollar store sprayers work well). Also cheap in a gallon.

You will want fabric covers for your machines. If there is any chance of a roof leak, etc, you'll probably want some kind of liquid barrier. If you need to open storage in rain, often there are not gutters and the rain (or melting snow) will splash back inside. 3300 lbs WLL 2" ratchet straps are about $10 at Rural King - prices have gone up at the big box stores.

Don't forget the old stand-by when you need to protect a machine Right Now - especially in frozen temps - slather it with grease (ideally waterproof grease with corrosion inhib, not high pressure grease etc). Foam brushes and gloved hands work okay for spreading. You can protect the grease from getting wiped off and massive mess - like on lathe ways and tables - by carefully covering it with cling wrap. Try and seal the seams and crevices with the grease, so when condensation happens, it is less likely to wick in.

100% silica gel desiccant is widely available as fancy cat litter. Enclose in stapled papertowel.

If you sign up for zoro's email list, on your first order you'll get 15% off, IIRC. They regularly send coupons - 20% off on a min order of $150 or whatever. Once in a while you'll get those that have no min order. At one year, I got a 25% off with no min. I continue to be surprised at what zoro stocks - it is basically online grainger, but cheap. I see they have drop clothes, etc.

Lps Premier Rust Inhibitor, 1 Gal. 03128 | Zoro.com
 








 
Back
Top