4 Ways Aerospace Companies Can Use Stainless Steel Carts

June 18, 2019 | Stainless Steel Carts

Marlin Steel circular float for moving airplane engines and aerospace partsAerospace companies often have to move and maintain parts that are extremely large, extraordinarily delicate, or both large and delicate at the same time. Stainless steel carts for aircraft parts can be an integral means of safely moving these bulky, yet sensitive, components from one process to the next.

How can aerospace companies use stainless steel carts? More importantly, what should they look for in an aerospace industry cart?

Using Stainless Steel Carts to Protect Large Parts

One of the biggest challenges in aerospace manufacturing is safely moving delicate parts from one process to the next. Large parts such as jet engine turbines are often too delicate to be held with a hoist, but too big to be carried by hand.

So, one use for stainless steel carts on wheels is to help move large and delicate parts in between manufacturing processes. When strapped into a round cart, larger parts can be moved with ease without having to worry about them getting scratched up. In fact, Marlin Steel makes round stainless steel carts with neoprene liners (or other coatings) that prevent metal-on-metal contact—keeping parts from getting damaged during movement.

In addition to using thick coatings to prevent metal-on-metal contact, Marlin's stainless steel carts for aerospace applications have a robust design with thick side walls to protect parts from collisions with other objects. This keeps parts safe so aerospace manufacturers can reduce rejection rates from surface flaws.

Having Stainless Steel Carts to Hold Parts for Assembly

This removable pusher is used to manually move Marlin's circular floats without creating a permanent obstruction.When putting together engine or turbine assemblies, it helps to have all of the parts nearby. Aerospace manufacturers can use stainless steel carts with wheels to move larger parts into place for final assembly—helping to save a bit of time when hoist capacity is limited. Instead of having to use the hoist system to carry large parts the entire way, the parts can be brought to the assembly site as the hoist is used to help install other large parts in the proper order.

Marlin's circular floats (pictured at the top of this article) use a removable "float pusher" assembly (pictured here) to make them easy to move without creating an obstruction to loading the stainless steel cart. Using a removable handle makes the circular floats easy to load and move.

This helps to save a little time when hoist capacity is limited.

Using Stainless Steel Carts to Dry Off Large Parts

After a parts washing process, it will likely take considerable time for a large turbine blade or other aircraft component to dry off properly. Using an open-topped stainless steel cart with a mesh bottom can help speed along the drying process.

The open-top design of a circular stainless steel cart allows for plentiful air flow, which speeds along the drying process. Having a mesh bottom allows any fluids or other runoff from drying or remanufacturing processes to fall through the bottom easily—preventing extended contact with the larger parts which might otherwise cause scratching or surface contamination.

Moving a wheeled stainless steel cart can further enhance the speed of the drying process—minimizing downtime between processes.

Reducing Strain for Manually Moving Parts

Using a stainless steel cart with wheels helps to minimize the strain put on employees as they move large aircraft parts from point A to point B. For example, Marlin’s circular stainless steel carts have a 30-pound pull ratio that is ideal for manual movement.

Making it easier to manually move parts through your aerospace facility helps to minimize the risk of injury to your employees—particularly strains from trying to move heavy loads unassisted. This employee safety improvement can help to minimize downtime from on-the-job injuries.

What to Look for in a Stainless Steel Cart Manufacturer

So, what should you look for in a stainless steel cart manufacturer (or, as some of our clients from across the pond might call us, an aircraft trolley manufacturer)?

Here are a few things to consider when choosing a manufacturer for your stainless steel cart:

  1. Can They Create a Custom Cart for Your Needs? Does the manufacturer offer a custom-designed stainless steel cart specifically made to address your needs? Or, do they take a “one-size-fits-all” approach? It can help to order a custom stainless steel cart for your aircraft parts to ensure you have the best cart for your needs.

  2. How Quickly Can They Fulfill Your Order? Is the time between accepting your order and the manufacturer shipping out a completed product measured in days, weeks, or months? While every manufacturer will need some time to tool their manufacturing line, odds are you have your own deadlines to worry about. Finding a manufacturer who can go from zero to done in a couple of weeks is crucial for making sure you can meet your own timetables.

  3. How Consistent is Their Quality? Does the manufacturer rely heavily on manual labor to make their stainless steel carts, or do they use advanced factory automation to ensure micrometer-precise consistency from one cart to the next? The more consistent the manufacturer’s custom wire forms are, the better off you’ll be.

Here are some examples of Marlin's stainless steel carts for aerospace applications:

Cart
Description

Coating
(100% no Metal on Metal Contact)

Diameter
(Inches)

Left-to-Right Width
(Inches)

Front-to-Back 
(Inches)

Height
(Inches)

Ratchet Straps

Marlin
Part #

Circular Float Truck Bed Liner ASTM D4060 36 n/a n/a 11.8 Included 2320003
Circular Float Truck Bed Liner ASTM D4060 48 n/a n/a 11.8 Included 2320028
Circular Float Truck Bed Liner ASTM D4060 60 n/a n/a 12.8 Included 2320004
Pusher Works with Any Float n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2320006

Storage Rack
(Holds 5 Floats)

Blue Powder Coat n/a 70 70 70 n/a 2320061

Storage Rack
(Holds 5 Floats)

Blue Powder Coat n/a 70 70 140 n/a 2320062
Rectangular Float Truck Bed Liner ASTM D4060 Custom Custom Custom Custom Included Custom

If you want a set of custom stainless steel carts as soon as possible, and need them to meet consistent quality standards, reach out to the team at Marlin Steel today! The Marlin team specializes in delivering “Quality, Engineered Quick®” for customers in all industries.

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