Air Pillows for shipping tuba

[chrisginstl]

Amazon sells pre-filled air pillows for shipping purposes. This link: https://www.amazon.com/Industrial-Pre-f ... ng+pillows is for a quantity of 330 pillows for $18.95.

I will be shipping a large tuba, following some really good advice found on TubeNet ... viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31654 ... however, I haven't found a great way to estimate how many air pillows I will need. The last thing I need is hundreds of extra air pillows hanging around, though my kids might disagree.

Any advice would be welcomed! Notes below might help:
1. The tuba is a MW 2155, and I will be mummifying it with bubble wrap and including a beach ball in the bell.
2. I will put it into its gig bag, with 1" foam and a rigid circular disc that protects the bell.
3. I will allow at least 6" all around the tuba and will plan to find UHaul wardrobe boxes to build the shell.

Any regular tuba shippers out there who can get me in the ballpark of # of air pillows for that purpose??

Thanks in advance,
Chris

[bort]

My personal choice -- I've never used air pillows, nor do I think I would really trust them for this purpose.

I have always used styrofoam peanuts -- TONS of them. It's a hell of a mess (especially on the receiving end), but after doing the method that Norm described, and filling every single crevice of the box with peanuts, there is nowhere for the tuba to shift or move around. That, plus a few inches of buffer space on each side, and that's about the best you can do.

I seem to remember that the biggest wardrobe box is something like 24" x 21" x 48"... obviously big enough, but you'll fail to get 6" around the bell rim. You'll get close, though. I'm not sure if bigger boxes are available, and if so, whether UPS/Fedex will accept them.

Also, what Joe wrote about packing vs. strapping tape is important. Tape the crap out of that box. Especially if you use a wardrobe box, by design, it has that big open flap on the front that needs to be sealed up. Seal it up!

Finally, I've always had good luck when I print out and attach stickers to all sides of the tuba box:
* Fragile
* Do not stack
* This end up
* (on the top) -- Do not put other boxes on top
etc.

Oh, and I put that all in both English and Spanish, along with whatever icons seem to be the standard for shipping labels.

Takes a lot of work and time to properly ship tubas. It can be done, and it's not really hard... just takes effort. And as most people will say, if it's within about a day's drive... drive instead!

[smitwill1]

I like how the peanuts flow and fill in the gaps around irregularly shaped -- and fragile -- contents within a shipping box. But, they (1) are a mess, and (2) are potentially a waste. To avoid the waste problem I've used the "spent" peanuts to fill a rather comfortable bean bag chair.

https://buybigjoe.com/seating/bean-bags/original.html" target="_blank

No, I don't own stock. However, I think that they're far better made than the old naugahyde or vinyl ones from the '70s.

[chrisginstl]

Thank you for the replies. I plan to use air pillows and not peanuts. Still hoping to find out how many to order .

After bubble wrapping the horn, putting it in its gig bag, there are not many interior gaps to fill, and I've read that the air pillows are more stable than peanuts in keeping the tuba away from the sides of the box. Indeed, Norm recommends it over peanuts though at the time he wrote that the air pillows were not as easy to come by.

[bort]

Thank you for the replies. I plan to use air pillows and not peanuts. Still hoping to find out how many to order .

After bubble wrapping the horn, putting it in its gig bag, there are not many interior gaps to fill, and I've read that the air pillows are more stable than peanuts in keeping the tuba away from the sides of the box. Indeed, Norm recommends it over peanuts though at the time he wrote that the air pillows were not as easy to come by.

Oh, interesting -- I didn't re-read that whole post, so I didn't know that about the pillows.

Regarding waste, yeah, the peanuts aren't the best. I know you can buy a version that's made from recycled materials (better than nothing!), and then there's the corn-based ones that dissolve in water (I try to use these, when possible).

But in the end, it's like anything else, try to do your best, and make good decisions where you can. There's no perfect solution. If I have to ship 1 tuba every 5 years, then I'm going to just favor whatever gets it there safely without damage. If I have to ship 5 tubas every week, then I'd be much more motivated to find better, more sustainable, friendly, etc. solutions.

[Donn]

I used some paper towel rolls for tuba packing. If a paper towel roll fits, I think it fills the bill - lots of compressibility, won't collapse - and it's a good bet that wherever it ends up, there'll be some use for paper towels. That might be an option to fill the space left when you run out of air pillows.

[PMeuph]

That big uhaul box is shy of 16 cubic feet, so if you guestimate the volume of the tuba as a little over half of that, one order of 330 pillow should be enough. (Since it covers 6.5 cubic feet.) If you get a bigger box (I would) you should buy more.

What I've done in the past is to use inflatable camping and pool mattresses/pillows and toys to fill parts of the box up when there was too much void to be filled. I also keep old peanuts and not around when I buy instruments.

[tofu]

.

[Roger Lewis]

The one thing to consider with air pillows for packing a tuba is the weather. In cold temps the pillows shrink so over pack them. The box will not always be in a heated environment while shipping.

Just my experience.
Roger

[chrisginstl]

Thank you all! Especially PMeuph for the help on quantity.

[timayer]

I recently shipped a PT6 across the country. I happened to have styrofoam tubing (like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1- ... /204760811" target="_blank).

I wrapped that around the bell and leadpipe and also a couple places around the body of the horn. THEN I wrapped the horn in bubble wrap. THEN I put it in the gig bag. THEN I brought it to UPS, who put it in a wardrobe box and I believe filled it with air pillows. There was room enough in the box for a layer of air pillows on the bottom and top, as well as most places around it. Based on that experience, I'd agree with PMeuph that 330 would be more than enough.

[Gus_Pratt]

I used to crate tubas. I would wrap the tuba in bubble wrap, put it in that crate, and then use the foam insulation that comes in aerosol cans to fill the gaps around the tuba. On occasion I had put a beach ball in the bell to keep the bell away from the wall of the crate.

[MaryAnn]

Bloke said: "It's like getting rid of the "Old Maid" card"

You know I bet a lot of the younger people here don't even know what an Old Maid card is!