We may be moving in a year or so and I am trying to plan ahead for packing up the shop. Most if not all of the machines and cabinets are on wheels and my wall cabinets are on French cleats. My plan is to move all the base cabinets and machines as is, and then take down the wall cabinets and flip the contents and use them as moving boxes. They will be heavy, but will work.
My question is what about the hanging tools, clamps, and items on shelves. Has anyone made wooden moving boxes? My desire is to make boxes that are stackable and can be used in the new shop as shelving/cabinets.
Would love to hear your ideas and/or pics.
Many thanks!
With small items, I had good luck in our last move (2,000+ miles across the country) with wrapping them with newspaper and or bubble wrap, and placing them in cardboard boxes with peanuts, all taped up. All these things are pretty inexpensive and easy to acquire.
Doug
I used smaller cardboard boxes purchased off the internet and a stronger version of packing tape. Tools are heavy and easier to carry in cardboard with smaller boxes. Identify what is in the package. Consider a temporary storage facility to get them organized together and out of the way. If using a mover some charge by weight-wood can be quite heavy. Label boxes with your name and address.
I love the small heavy duty (double lined) boxes from Home Depot.
I used those for my last move and I'll do the same in the future.
I thought about making wooden boxes but I decided against it for a lot of reasons.
You might want to rethink using the wall cabinets as moving containers. If you load them up with too much stuff you'll probably blow out the backs when you go to lift them.
I moved my shop about a year ago and found that the cardboard boxes I bought at U-Haul did a very good job of moving most of the small tools. The moving guys used dolly's when moving the boxes so I didn't have a single box that arrived damaged.
I bought a like a dozen of those large plastic storage containers places like target sell.
Worked great, and I can re purpose them for storage in the future...and have.
Doing the same thing here. We are planning to move in about a year and a half. Depends on how long it takes to sell the house.
When I'm done with all the house work I will get the shop all boxed and ready to load up into a truck. Building some more roll around cabinets so as much as possible is already in its own moving box.
I don't have any wall cabinets as my shop is a metal building and there is nowhere to hang cabinets from since with steel tube the framing it 5' on center and only one horizontal 5' from the floor...
For all the stuff that doesn't have its place in a cart I'm going to use the black and yellow boxes everyone sells. Costco is usually the cheapest at around $9. They aren't bad boxes however the lids are very fragile and can split if you flex it too much when you open the box. Often you will see them broken in the store but the store's always have many more lids than bins as its a common problem.
The only thing I wish was that there was a smaller version as like you I'd like to use them for shop storage as well.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-27-Gal-St.../205978361 I'm also thinking of getting one or two of the big plastic rolling tool crates as well. Just a big plastic box on wheels for storing power tools etc.
The biggest issue I'm going to have is finding a deal on a moving truck with a lift gate. For some reason very few trucks have lift gates. And yeah renting a truck costs a fortune... Doesn't take too many rentals to pay for that truck... Might look into a big trailer instead.
I moved my shop last August. For the small items like hand tools, clamps etc. I just used heavy cardboard boxes and plastic bins. I really liked the bins because they were stack-able, reusable, water resistant and easy to pack.
If you're using commercial movers, just know they get temps to do the heavy lifting, and aren't too particular about background checks, so if you pack your own stuff, use a number code rather than labels with exact contents. I "lost" a box of cordless tools in my last move that was accurately labeled.
First, you have my sympathies. As someone here recently replied to my moving post); "I wouldn't wish moving on my worst enemy"
I'm finally un-packed. Many small u-haul cardboard boxes. A few medium size. The weight adds up fast, so stick to the smaller boxes. For the cumbersome stuff, like clamps and other long, weighty items, I used plastic rubbish barrels and wrapped them up in the roll plastic wrap that movers use. Your cabinet situation is exactly like mine; base cabs moved and wall cabinets removed from their cleats. I left them all empty because they are heavy enough on their own. I marked all the boxes with their shop destination, rather than spelling out their contents. "Bench-Upper Cab", Bench, left drawer", etc. Didn't lose anything in the move. YMMV.
Good luck with your move and hope you enjoy your new digs!
Bob