Moving Amiga's....

[Steve T]

We've been trying to organise it all year, but it seems to be happening, in two weeks my Amiga and myself, and to a lesser extent my long suffering partner (and her cat) are moving to South Wales.

Since its a long distance move I'm wondering about the best way to transport my retro-hardware. Is simply wrapping them in lots of bubble wrap acceptable? While I think this would protect them from physical damage, sudden shocks from bumpy roads or clumsy handlers, I'm concerned with protecting the rear ports from static - bubble wrap generates a ton of static. Perhaps I should try and get some huge anti-static bags? would wrapping in paper help? or are port protectors available, or, am I worrying too much?

I'm taking a Megadrive too, but well, eh....

[Ami_GFX]

There is anti static bubble wrap. I would remove the zorro and cpu cards and wrap them in that and put them in a separate box with lots of padding. If you can't find anti static bubble wrap, putting the cards in an anti static bag and bubble wrap layered on top of that will work. You don't want anything inside the box to be able to move while the box is moving. Double boxing is also very effective.

[Steve T]

thanks for the input! i'm specifically moving a pair of 1200's, one has an aca expansion card, i guess it would be best to remove rather than have it flapping around on the exp connector. I guess a big antistatic bubble wrap bag might work, but is that going to work ok when the machine is cased in plastic itself?

thinking about it some more, iirc, wedge amigas in the retail boxes were wrapped in a sheet of foamy thin material... if thats correct anyone know what that is or where to get some?

[Steve T]

thinking about it, antistatic bubblewrap, this would be a good idea for all my hardware, right - I mean its ok to wrap complete systems in it? I have several PC's, monitors etc... i can get 100meter rolls from staples for about 70 quid.... this is perhaps a little more than i would require though....

[Amiga1992]

Are you hiring a company to move your stuff?
I moved all my junk across the Atlantic so I have good experience Personally, I just bubblewrapped the machines really well (double layer when possible or one layer of regular bubblewrap covered in a layer of the very thick bubbles) and shove them all together in a box with other stuff so it wouldn't rattle, and shoved that box into the movers' box. Everything came to me just fine.

I didn't remove any expansions from inside the computers. The A1200 expansion board has a snug fit and I would be VERY impressed if anything snaps out of it. If you have any expansion that latches onto a chip (like some scandoublers), I WOULD remove those.

I didn't use any antistatic shit. People have an obsession with static. It isn't a problem, it's not like your stuff will be passed through a giant electromagnetic pulse :P I NEVER ever had a problem with static, in my life, in any of the regions of the world I have been.
Also if you bubblewrap tightly there shouldn't be any kind of friction that might generate any static. In brief, don't bother.

If you have the original boxes and styrofoam inserts for any of your stuff, I would recommend shipping it in that. They were made to be shipped. This is how I moved my C64 and my TV. It's especially good for monitors and screens.

Hope that helps!

[Daedalus]

When I moved to the UK from Ireland about 2 years ago, I took my particularly precious stuff with me in my own car and the less important stuff went in the movers' van. That precious stuff included my camera gear and my Amigas, which I strapped into the rear seats and put in the rear footwells padded with blankets. Worked well enough, not a single connection came loose, and my car's a fairly harsh ride.

[Steve T]

Thanks Akira, I don't know if 'company' is the best word, just a general 'man with a van', because we aren't taking a huge amount with us, and only going about 100 miles. Certainly one of the Amigas will be in the car, the other will be in whatever packaging in a wooden crate I made from our old dining room table certainly it will be firmly embedded and padded in with some other hardware. It really is the static issue I'm most concerned with, I didn't care about it at all at one point, I'd always handle boards by the edges and try and earth myself, just as a precaution but over the years the static fear has finally got to me. I'm not expecting any EMP burst or anything like that, but conventional wrapping certainly does seem to generate a large static field when handled.

Your transatlantic move makes this seem less challenging though. How long ago was that? static damage can manifest problems many years after the event apparently.

[Steve T]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

When I moved to the UK from Ireland about 2 years ago, I took my particularly precious stuff with me in my own car and the less important stuff went in the movers' van. That precious stuff included my camera gear and my Amigas, which I strapped into the rear seats and put in the rear footwells padded with blankets. Worked well enough, not a single connection came loose, and my car's a fairly harsh ride.

This is the approach I want to take, and if there's any room left over my better half and the cat won't have to ride in the back of the van....

I think I might leave all the expansion boards in place in all my gear, its all fairly secure, there's a towering, goofy looking, huge cooler on my main PC's cpu though, maybe i will remove that. I guess the board its attached to is probably stronger than i imagine though.

Unfortunately I don't have much packaging for many items, only a recently bought monitor can go in its proper box.

[Amiga1992]

I'd say don't listen to tin foil hat stuff about static, I moved my Amigas across the pond already a bunch of times, and taken them on trips long distances, always well packed and with no anti static shit on them, and they are fine. When I travel with them long distances I usually wrap them with crappy shopping bags. Never a problem. The problems I am getting lately is with stuff snapping off its socket on my A600s (CF adapters and ACA devices)

I think the priority is that you make boxes that do not rattle. Fill up all space, with bubblewrap if you don't have anything else to put in there, or magazine paper, whatever you can. And take whatever you feel should be safer with you, definitely. For me this is usually data (hard drives, CF cards, you name it)

I made two transatlantic moves, one in 2011 and one last October. Believe me, lay off that bullshit, it only does your head in. Just don't wrap your Amiga with a wool sweater or something :P

[Steve T]

I know what you're saying but feel there is a compelling argument for it being a tangible risk, I've read a lot of arguments either way, but perhaps the UK and the East Coast are similar in having moist, static-reducing air for much of the year. Everything will be very tightly packed to prevent motion and damp out physically damaging vibration, any rubbing of bubble wrapped items might generate a field too, whether you believe in such ghouls and goblins or not.

[Amiga1992]

Where in the UK do you say there is dry weather, exactly?

[Steve T]

High humidity = low static, so even if you're happy with plastic bags on the east coast, if you ever move out to the west.... still looking for a source of reasonable amount of A/S bubble wrap though because I believe that will prevent any buildup while both wrapping and transporting. Paranoid? Yes probably

It's all 100m minimum it seems, anyone have half a roll they'd be prepared to part with for suitable compensation?

[Steve T]

http://www.postpack.co.uk/acatalog/a...wrap-foam.html cheapest I've found in the UK so far... 25m worth for £25.... then add the VAT and shipping O/C.

[-Acid-]

When I moved every computer/gaming item i own went in my car, i wouldn't trust the movers with any of it.

[Steve T]

If only I still had my old estate car that might be possible, some of it is going to have to go on the van.

[Amiga1992]

There's nothing to worry about, it's not like moving people are a bunch of mindless monkeys that all they want is hurling your equipment around.
If you pack everything yourself it's pretty safe, the problem would be if you let them pack it, since they won't see the importance of such items and probably not do a good job at that.

[Steve T]

Yeah but you know it isn't going to get as comfortable a ride as if your were transporting it yourself, at least not in the back of a sprinter.... I decided against ordering the antistatic wrap; found a couple of big antistatic bags which i think will protect the amigas as well as anything, they'll be standard bubble wrapped over and both might come with me.

any monitors (my newest and best still have the original packaging) are going to have the ports taped over with kapton - don't know if this will help really, i'm not even sure if i have the AS type here anyway - then standard bubble wrapped, since the ports are well inset on these, no pins are in direct contact anyway at least.

The PC's are in metal boxes anyway, the ports i might reinforce some tinfoil with kapton, then tape it across the ports, making sure the foil is in contact with the metal of the case - again there's an air-gap so the foil is never going to touch anything and should shield the ports from charge caused by bubble wrap placed around the cases... all this stuff is being sealed up in wooden boxes, i've just finished the last crate this afternoon, everything will be well padded on the inside, i'm actually more concerned with physical breakage than anything but I imagine it could get pretty static-y in there.

Think I might say goodbye to the CRT TV's I've been using for retro entertainment, but I guess I can pick one up down there pretty easy, they are nothing special anyway.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by Steve T

Yeah but you know it isn't going to get as comfortable a ride as if your were transporting it yourself, at least not in the back of a sprinter....

You could have to suddenly stop your vehicle and your amigas could fall from a seat or something. There's ALWAYS a risk but don't be so negative!

any monitors (my newest and best still have the original packaging) are going to have the ports taped over with kapton - don't know if this will help really, i'm not even sure if i have the AS type here anyway - then standard bubble wrapped, since the ports are well inset on these, no pins are in direct contact anyway at least.

I would be ten times more worried about padding the screen properly so a bump wouldn't make the tube explode.

[Steve T]

Originally Posted by Akira

I would be ten times more worried about padding the screen properly so a bump wouldn't make the tube explode.

Originally Posted by Steve T

i'm actually more concerned with physical breakage than anything

I agree with the right and wrong ways to pack monitors! thats true for CRT and whatever the tech avoid putting pressure on the screen.

Originally Posted by Akira

You could have to suddenly stop your vehicle and your amigas could fall from a seat or something. There's ALWAYS a risk but don't be so negative!

It's OK - in that case the cat would break the fall.... If I was really being negative, well we probably wouldn't be going Honestly though if this move was transatlantic like yours, I'd probably be selling everything, convinced the cargo boat would go all titanic.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by Steve T

if this move was transatlantic like yours, I'd probably be selling everything, convinced the cargo boat would go all titanic.

But then you would realize you miss what you sold and also that the stuff is ten times more expensive the other side of the pond (and it's all awful NTSC. Yuck!) so you don't really have the choice to buy it all again!

On my first move I sold most if not all of my junk and re-purchased a lot of it in London because Europe is really a haven for affordable old computer stuff.