Not all wash and finish processes are created equally. While many parts washing and finishing processes use machines that slot in a basket into a chamber, some other processes rely instead on carrying baskets by suspending them from a hook on a conveyor belt, whether that is because the contents would be too heavy for manual handling or the environments too caustic for regular damage. For those processes that need to carry baskets in such a way, Marlin Steel has extensive experience in creating hoist baskets to hold parts through the motions of a conveyor system.
Some notable examples of our work with hoist baskets include the following:
The #00719020 Stainless Steel Barrel Basket
Crafted from grade 304 stainless steel, this hoist basket was designed to hold dozens of long, narrow cylindrical objects through a heavy-duty wash process. By using grade 304 stainless for the wires and frame of the basket, the basket is able to effectively balance cost of manufacture with useful life.
The “barrels” that this basket was designed for are held in place with three rows of carefully spaced wire mesh. The upper two rows are perfectly aligned to hold the cylindrical shapes and prevent them from moving from side to side during the wash process. The bottom row, on the other hand, is slightly offset from the other two, holding the barrels in place without covering up the narrow opening for the hollow core of the objects.
To help support the weight of a fully-loaded basket, the bottom of the 00719020 is reinforced with several square metal bars shaped from folded sheet metal. Using folded sheet metal instead of solid lengths of steel allows these bars to provide weight distribution without adding too much to the load on the basket.
Instead of using a single eyebolt to suspend this basket from a single hook, this basket was designed with four eyebolts. The particular process that this basket was originally designed for accommodated multiple eyebolts, a feature that was used to the advantage of the basket’s final design. With four eyebolts, the basket would be held from numerous hooks, improving the stability of the basket itself during the wash process. With each eyebolt being rated for up to 2,150 lbs. of load, any one of them could hold the weight of a loaded basket with ease.
On top of everything else, the #00719020 basket was also designed to be able to fit inside of the 00719022 basket for easier storage.
The #00443012 Stainless Steel Wire Hoist Basket
A simple, but effective design for holding heavy loads through a wash process, this nylon-coated stainless steel wash basket is built to last.
The basket itself is a simple reinforced steel wire cage with thick tube metal framing to hold over 200 pounds of weight from a single eyebolt through the wash process (we tested it for 300 lbs. of weight, just to be sure it was tough enough). At 200 lbs. of weight, using an automated method of moving the basket from one wash process to the next is mandatory, as that is far too much weight for manual handling to be done in a safe and time-efficient manner.
Even if the basket didn’t hold 200 lbs. of weight, the sheer size of it would make manual handling difficult. At a full 38.42 inches tall and 36 inches wide, this is one big basket. This is a part of the reason why this particular basket was designed as a hoist basket. Handles might work for smaller baskets, but when it comes to industrial-capacity loads, mechanically moving baskets from point A to point B is safer and faster.
While the grade 304 stainless steel alloy that forms the frame is a high-quality and durable material, it was determined that, for the parts to be washed and the process that the basket would be put through, it was best to reinforce the lower portions of the basket with a nylon coating to protect both the basket and the parts to be washed from damage.
Designing a Hoist Basket to Meet Your Needs
As with any basket design, the design of a hoist basket needs to take into account several key factors, including:
- The parts to be washed.
- The wash or finish process itself.
- How the baskets will be moved or handled between processes.
- Storage conditions.
Knowing the size, shape and weight of parts is a key piece of information to have. Without that, customizing the design of the basket to best accommodate your parts is impossible. Knowing the specifics of the wash process, such as what chemicals, mechanical actions, and temperatures the basket will be exposed to and for how long is key to being able to choose the right basket materials and coatings to best survive the wash process.
Storage conditions is another important consideration for choosing basket materials and coatings. Sometimes, the storage environment of a basket is just as potentially hazardous to the structural integrity of a metal form as any chemical bath (just ask anyone who has used plain steel in open air environments in a coastal city, salty air can kill a metal frame).
Using this information, and the precision of automated manufacturing techniques, Marlin Steel’s engineers set to design, testing, and building the perfect parts handling hoist basket for your needs.
Curious to learn more about parts washing hoist baskets? Talk to one of our degree-holding mechanical engineers today!
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