Not one of my many pieces of '70s era audio equipment still has its original packing.

Is anyone aware of a company that will "custom make" boxes and cushioning to fit a specific piece of audio gear? Or are we consigned to the "do it yourself" approach?

Check in your local yellow pages under "Boxes" for manufacturers. I have had several "prototypes" run for very specific pieces of gear.

For custom cut packing, check under "Foam & Sponge Rubber". Again, I've had a local shop (Foam Concepts) custom cut high density foam for specific pieces of gear. They even prefer for me to bring them the piece so they can exactely match the piece.

You can even ask your box guy who they use for foam. It's how I found Foam Concepts.

Thank you; this is very helpful. I assume that if I start with the box, the foam fabricator can then create something that fits both the box and the component.

A project for when I'm in the States this summer!

There are shippers who use a two componet urethane expanding foam that works very well. we used this at a company I used to work for where we made plaster coffee tables etc. I have yet to see this on the market but this thread has peaked my interest and I am going to check it out.

We used to wrap the bottom half with a sheet of mylar then shoot the foam in the bottom of the box then do the same with the top half. We ended up with a form fitting foam type packing like you see some referb units packed at the factory.

do it yourself foam system. put your item in the box and put four plastic bags on each side. use the spray foam in a can that you can get at lowe's or home depot and fill the plastic bag. it will expand and fill the gaps. its cheap to do and after a little practice with the foam you can ship just about anything anywhere with confidence that it will be safe. this foam also is avaliable with different rates of expansion, works great

I had thought of the DIY foam system to ship some portable tv's from wards to me, And that is a good way to go if you have something real expensive to ship. However the cost of the cans of foam was something like 8.00 each and the items I have are worth about the same! It would have taken most likely several cans.
Another way is use several layers of foam carpet padding to wrap the stereo or use foam cushions from an old couch, Both can be found for free on trash day.

Sometimes if I am in my local STAPLES-type office store, I just ask one of the stock-people if they have any loose styrofoam in the back and a big box they can throw it in. Most of the time it is ony 1" thick sheets, but many times I get a whole crapload of blocks and "corners". They are usually happy to hand the crap over because it is one less thing they need to worry about breaking down and compacting!

How many people have tried using that expanding foam (most popular is "Great Stuff" I believe), and what kind of luck have you had with it? It seems to me that it would hold it in place very well, but not cushion so well. Perhaps first wrapping the item in bubble wrap and some foam, then using the foam would work? Seems like it would be fairly cheap too. Just a thought.

I work for Costco and grab up the used shrinkwrap from the floor. It works awesome.

Ball it up and stuff it hard into the open spaces; it holds the item in place, but also absorbs any shocks w/o transmitting them to the goods, and it doesn't break down or collapse like peanuts or paper.

I've had several of my customers complement me on it's use per se, and tons of packing kudos!

You can also get nice boxes from an outfit called Uline. I was running out of decent boxes and ordered a bundle of 15 from them. They are 24 x 18 x 12 so fit most any receiver and are really strong.

Rob

You might try All Packaging Company. I have used custom and premade boxes and packing from them many times.
http://www.allpackco.com/