Industrial Wire Baskets - Which One Is The Right One?
The humble industrial wire basket came into existence in the 1890s to help manufacturers move heavy bulk parts easily and efficiently. Over the years baskets became the choice for companies that made stampings, castings, and machined parts because they offer a durable reusable container that can withstand the abuse in a manufacturing plant.
Benefits:
- Strong construction enables them to handle the loading and unloading of heavy parts.
- The mesh sides allow liquids (like cleaners or degreasers) to freely flow through the basket and parts and drain easily making operations for parts cleaning more efficient.
- The open design allows for easy identification of parts inside or for inventory management.
- The heavy steel construction means they can be reused and subjected to a variety of elements time and time again with needing replacement.
- The ridged construction allows them to be stacked safety and to reduce valuable floor space.
- Being made of steel, they allow parts to be heat treated within the container reducing the time to load and upload parts in the process.
What should you look for when buying industrial wire baskets?
This will depend on what type of parts you want to store or move. Not all baskets are the same, in fact there are many options on the market and buying solely on price may not be the best plan.
Strength
For heavy, sharp edge parts you need a basket strong enough to withstand the weight and capacity you want. Cheaper thinner wire basket may save some money but are useless if your product causes the sides to bow outward. Be careful about buying collapsible wire baskets for heavier parts, the design allows them to take up less space when not in use, but most don’t offer the integrity for handling large heavy parts.
Stackable
Space is usually a valuable commodity in a manufacturing plant or warehouse, and baskets can take up a lot of space, that’s why the ability to stack baskets is so important. You need to choose a wire basket that is rigid and strong enough to hold the weight of other baskets on top as well as the capacity and weight of the parts inside. Again, rigid frame baskets offer more strength for stacking than collapsible.
How they are welded
The strength of the frame and mesh sides is important but so is how they are held together. You want to look for wire baskets that are “Weld to Print” and not “Stitch Welded”. Weld to print means the welded seam is a continuous bead from point to point as designated in the design print. Many companies in an effort to reduce costs stitch weld the parts together meaning the weld seams are a series of small welds to secure the seam rather than a continuous one. This shortcut can significantly reduce the integrity of the entire basket because the parts weight or shifting can compromise the weld points and cause the entire basket to break apart resulting in damaged product or worse employee safety.
Size and Capacity
There are many options in the market when it comes to sizes, It is important to determine two factors regarding size when purchasing. First is the size of the parts and the capacity needed to be stored to transported, the inside size. You also must determine the outside size or “footprint” the basket creates so that it can be stored or moved inside your facility easily and not create problems of being too large. You may want to directly contact a metal fabricator to have a basket made to your dimensions and capacities to save money and time in the long run. Once you determine the size and capacity needed, make sure the basket has the strength to handle your parts so that your basket doesn’t break apart or need to be replaced more often.
ESCP
ESCP is a contract metal fabricator located in Davenport,
Iowa. They have built their business on fabricating custom industrial wire baskets,
storage racks and shipping containers. They work with your prints or have the
relationship with a design agency to design the prints for a custom basket. They
have developed a reputation for quality workmanship and manufacture baskets to
many OEMs across the country.
Many Thanks to John Nelson from ESCP for providing the information for this post.