Ok here is the situation. I am in the Army and move around every 3 years or so. movers come to the house pack everything up put it in big crates and then on a boat or truck. I am looking at getting an xcarve (the big one) and am trying to figure out a way to make a container that would be able to hold all the parts and be sturdy enough to handle the move, the kicker is I have a weight limit so I can’t build some giant wood box that weights 200lbs and it has to fit in there standard crate. my garage accounts for 40% of my total weight allowance so the wife says if we go over our weight then I have to give something up and that’s not going to happen. what I am thinking about right now is constructing or buying a box then using foam on the inside with cut outs of all the parts. Does anyone have an ideas?
Use a flightcase with detachable lid and put the lid on top of the cover when in use. There are special ball/hollow corners that allow you to stack them without bolting them together. You can bolt some 2x4 in the corners to achieve the right height. If you use it only once every three years you can use 9mm birch plywood without the aluminum sheet metal. There are online suppliers that can offer a kit made to specification.
Ooooh,
Don’t ever leave the X carve behind.
Get rid of the couch and a couple of chairs.
Thank you for your service sir.
The better question is what’s cheaper
Would selling your current one locally and buying a new one at your new destination be an option?
At least he’s got some options… 
If weight and size were not an issue I would say build a crate that doubles as the table.
(Make it so it can tilt on the side and even add built in casters)
But to keep the weight and size down…
A plywood box will still probably be your best bet for cost / weight / strength.
Unless you have access to some hard shell shipping crates? (military surplus and all)
The biggest and heaviest part of the XC is the waste board. So unless you are moving to a region where getting MDF is a problem I would suggest leaving it out and replacing it after you move in.
It would have the advantage of letting you breakdown the waste board frame and the y axis (I would leave the gantry intact, just slip it off the end of the Y rails) so you could pack it all in a much smaller crate.
Disadvantage, it is probably take you a lot longer to get you XC set up as you will need time to reassemble and align everything. (If it was me It would probably add 3 months till I got carving again)
it might be a little expensive but have you though about getting a pelican case?
you could make custom foam inserts for it
I like the idea with making a create and then using it as the table. dose anyone have the outside dimensions of the 1000 xcarve
Take it apart and rebuild it when you get there in a few hours Rent some padded moving blankets - - no crate to deal with
I don’t know if that will work, when I moved this last time my stuff was in transit for 3 months and most of that time was on a ship. the next time I move it will take the same amount of time.
DITY move.
take it apart and build a smaller box
thanks for the advice, I am torn between building a box/table style or a smaller box and taking it apart. I like that fact I can use the top of the box as the table then I don’t need to build that separate. I will wait to build my XC and see how big it actually is.
@RobertCanning’s pic can be custom made with case parts (Rockler). I’m thinking fold-down sides.
My x-carve takes up 41" x 43" (plus and additional 8" if you have the sideboard). The frame is pretty light without the wasteboard, so the heaviest items would be the xcontroller and the spindle, followed by the steppers.
hey cole have you though about making your own case?
kinda like make a project out of it
probably will be more expensive in the long run but it will be exactly what you want
maybe some 80/20 extrusion and expanded pvc sheet
yea, I think what I will end up doing is buying a case and ordering foam cut outs. I think it will have to be taken apart, shipping it together is to risky.