Wire Baskets - Wire Forms - Industrial Case Studies - Marlin Steel Wire Products

The customer told basket maker Marlin Steel Wire Products of Baltimore that it required a basket that could hold 20 pounds of small palm-shaped parts. It proposed angled insert dividers that would enable water to drain off the parts after washing. It also wanted a handled lid with no hinge so the lid could fit inside the basket and rest on top of the parts to hold them in place. The baskets also had to be made of stainless steel and coated with nylon to withstand 30-minute washings in soap and water at 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

The customer received eight of the baskets, built to order, before its holiday recess and was very pleased with the result. "Received the baskets before shutdown, just got the dividers this morning. Everything looks great!" it wrote Marlin. "Thanks for all of your help. Happy New Year!"

Marlin engineered baskets from stainless steel with separate compartments to contain 25 blades and a set of documents. GKN required the carriers to handle two different types and sizes of blade parts.

But the baskets had to do more than carry up to 20 pounds worth of turbine blades. They had to secure the blades when they were being washed as well. And they needed to be able to stand up to an Ardrox 185 soap solution and water for 20 minutes.

Fair enough. But the company instructed Marlin's designers that the baskets also would be exposed to ferric chloride, hydrochloric acid and ammonia.

For 20 minutes at a time.

And at 185 degrees Fahrenheit.

Marlin turned to halar coating, which holds up well to those particular chemicals. The baskets were also designed with sizable cutouts to aid air-drying of the blades. Functionality and appearance were very important, GKN told Marlin, but holding down the cost of each basket was job one.

Marlin delivered, and quickly. GKN was pleased with the result: "Baskets are working well," the company reported back.

The basket request from Alcoa was hardly typical. The manufacturer of components for aviation and other technology industries needed a circular wire mesh basket, four feet in diameter. The basket needed handles so it could be lowered to fit inside a large tank, with the ability for the baskets to be stacked. The basket needed triangular hook attachments and no sharp edges. It would be exposed to extreme heat for short periods of time.

And oh yes, it had to be able to hoist up to 600 pounds of metal alloy parts.

It was an experimental design, but Marlin Steel Wire Products pulled it off with economy and speed as the customer's stated priorities.

A producer of cylinders had an issue: As it experienced increased demand, it needed a more effective racking system to wash the cylinders. Photos of its existing system showed that the cylinders sometimes leaned to one side as they rode a conveyer through the wash system. That made it tougher for the cleaning jets to reach inside to clean them thoroughly.

The customer sought out Marlin Steel Wire Products to design a new racking system that would work more efficiently thru the wash cycle. The design challenge was heightened by the fact that the basket dimensions were restricted by the opening of the washer. The baskets also had to be designed to withstand a bath of acid and caustic cleaners used to sanitize the cylinders, as well as a heated drying process.

Marlin created a lid and tray system that could quickly accommodate cylinders of different sizes. Marlin designers devised a quick-release latch system that held the bottles in place more securely and maximized the number that could be washed per cycle. The latch system also ensured that the cylinders remained completely vertical so the cleaning jets could reach more thoroughly inside the cylinders. They needed 200 to 300 and Marlin delivered in full on functionality, speed, cost and appearance.

The baskets had to be stackable, up to four of them at a time, with handles on the sides that wouldn't interfere with stacking. The slides had to be protected from excessive shock or vibration as they moved along the assembly line.

Marlin Steel Wire Products of Baltimore put its designers to the test. The wire size needed was much smaller than Marlin's standard wire gauge requests. The designers also had only about a millimeter or two of tolerance to work with within the baskets or the slides wouldn't have fit securely onto the holders.

The baskets had to be resilient enough to withstand a lot of handling and movement on carts and dollies, while cushioning about 14 pounds worth of pistol slides inside. Marlin's designers relied on simple, but effective u-shaped pins to hold two dozen of the 9.3-oz. slides snugly in place.

Marlin quickly devised a solution that was simple, cost-effective and durable in being able to transport the slides security and to help keep Beretta operating smoothly.