DC Graves Co., Inc. – Material Handling Blog | your source for all things material handling

Industrial Steel Cart Know How

Posted on February 6, 2013 by dcgClint

Industrial Steel Carts

An industrial steel cart can serve an integral part of any facility in regards to the transportation and movement of material to various locations. Not only does a cart offer transportation solutions, it can also improve efficiency and worker productivity. When selecting a cart for your facility it is imperative that you carefully consider many important factors that will lead you to choose the correct size and configuration that best suits your application. We will outline these factors in the following sections.

Construction

Our carts utilize a fully welded construction using 12 gauge steel shelves and 3/16” thick corner posts with bolt-on casters. This superior design and construction ensures a heavy duty, rugged cart that will last for years. Many carts on the market today use lighter gauge steel and are of a bolt-together design, while these carts may suit light duty transportation, our carts will outlast and outperform others many times over throughout the lifetime of the cart. To state in simply, our carts are built like a tank!

Because our carts are fully welded, they will arrive at your dock fully assembled, ready to roll off the skid. There will be no down-time or installation necessary when you order an industrial cart from DC Graves.

Shelf Size and Lips

Selecting the proper shelf size will ensure that your cart can handle your material properly. We offer shelf sizes in various sizes, our smallest being 18” x 24” up to our largest size 36” x 72”. Please keep in mind that shelf size refers to the useable inside dimension of the shelf. When you order a cart with a 24” x 36” shelf size, the actual useable shelf is 24” wide by 36” long. Therefore, your overall dimensions of the cart will be slightly larger than the selected shelf size.

Please keep in mind that all carts ordered 36” wide will NOT fit through standard doors.

Our 12 gauge steel shelves have a 1-1/2” lip on all four sides. The shelf can be welded into place to create a shelf with 1-1/2” lips up for retention of material or can be welded in opposite for a smooth, flush work surface. Many carts will have a flush top shelf and lips up on the bottom shelf for retention. This shelf configuration can be modified on most carts to cater to your needs. In addition to the 1-1/2” lips we offer a variety of carts with lips 3”, 6”, or 12” deep for the ultimate in product retention.

Casters

Our casters are of the bolt-on variety meaning they can be removed and replaced with ease. Many carts on the market today have the casters welded onto the cart directly. So, if one of your casters happens to be hit by a fork truck and damaged, then the carts are essentially rendered useless. DC Graves casters are bolted onto caster channels underneath the bottom shelf. Should one of your casters ever be damaged or need to be replaced you simply have to remove them and bolt-on your replacements. This ensures an extremely long life cycle of the carts.

The standard caster for most carts we offer is a 5” diameter x 1-1/4” wide tread urethane caster. The standard set comes with two swivel casters and two rigid casters. The two swivels ensure easy maneuvering around corners and other obstacles while the two rigid ensure a straight ride when going down long hallways or corridors. Caster sets can be upgraded to an all swivel configuration which allows the user even more maneuverability when navigating tight spaces. Although the all swivel configuration allows for superior turning and handling, it becomes more difficult to maintain a straight path when moving down a corridor. In addition to all swivel, you can add wheel brakes to two or all four casters to stop your cart and maintain its position.

We also offer our casters in a wide variety of sizes and wheel types. Our smallest caster is 4” x 1-1/4” all the way up to 12” x 3”. Some standard sizes include, 5” x 2”, 6” x 2”, and 8” x 2”. Please keep in mind that the larger the caster, the easier your cart will be to push.

As stated before the urethane caster is the standard on many carts. Some other wheel types we offer include, Thermo-Rubber, Mold-On Rubber, Phenolic, Steel, Full and Semi-Pneumatic. Please call us anytime to discuss the ideal caster for your situation.

Lead Time and Shipping

All of our standard carts fall under our QUICK-SHIP program. Any standard size cart, quantity 1-5 will ship in 1 week from receipt of order. Quantities 6 and above will ship in 2 weeks. This fast turnaround ensures you will receive quality material in a timely fashion.

Our carts ship fully assembled shrink wrapped on a skid. Because of the weight and size of the carts they are too heavy to ship UPS or FedEx and must be shipped via common carrier (LTL) on a truck. We do offer some models that are small enough to be shipped UPS, this includes some vertical panel trucks and our small package line of carts designed to ship in a box via UPS or FedEx.

Please call us anytime to obtain a shipping estimate or if you have any questions.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged carts, casters, industrial steel carts, steel carts | Leave a comment

ESD Safe Divider Totes

Posted on June 7, 2012 by dcgClint

ESD Safe Divider Tote Boxes

Divider totes boxes are the perfect solution when you need to separate a tote box into individual compartments. ESD safe or conductive divider totes, add the ability to protect electronically sensitive materials from electro-static discharge. When combined with an ESD safe cover, a Faraday cage is created protecting your valuable components inside. Other features of our conductive totes are displayed below.

Strong stacking ridge and innovative ribbed walls ensure high performance and strength.
Inside compartments can be divided on 1-1/4” centers. Dividers can be added or removed as your conditions change.
Each tote has a load capacity of 40-lbs.
Totes stack only; do not nest into each other.
Compatible with many types of rack, shelving, etc…
Anti-static label holders available for easy product identification
Two available lids snap on heavy duty or lay in.
13 different sizes available, always in stock.
Made from a black carbon based polypropylene material.
Surface Resistivity (ASTM D257) less than 10 to the 5th ohms/square.

ESD safe totes are suitable for various applications including but not limited to industrial, commercial, electronics, and healthcare markets. There are many reasons to use divider totes in your processes, we will cover three major points in the following paragraphs.

Kitting

Kitting is the assembling of a variety of hardware, components, and parts with a common theme for manufacturing, distribution or shipping purposes. For example, let’s say you are a candy vendor. You have candy bars, bags of chips, etc…that need to be sent out each day to a wide array of customers. In the morning before your distribution runs you kit up your products into one or more tote boxes, depending on needs, for each customer. This allows you to properly store your bags of chips in one compartment, candy bars in another, etc…Additionally, your kitted tote boxes can be stored beforehand to maximize efficiency.

Product Protection

When storing and transporting electronically sensitive materials, protecting those parts is of the utmost importance. Improper storage or transportation of your materials costs you both time and money. In many applications it, especially with electronics, parts must be protected from foreign electronic-discharges and must not touch each other. Conductive totes are the solution for both. When an ESD safe tote is used in conjunction with an ESD lid, a Faraday cage is created, protecting all parts inside from any electric discharge. ESD safe dividers allow you to store each part individually within the container, without any parts touching each other. For example, let’s say you are a circuit board manufacturer. During your manufacturing process you need to move finished boards from one part of your facility to another. If this is done improperly, your circuit boards will be no good, can’t sell them. Conductive totes used with lids and dividers allow you to properly transport your sensitive parts to any part of your plant effectively and safely, assuring that your parts reach their end destination in good working condition.

Inventory Control

Creating ESD safe divider totes that can fit pre-determined product quantities and sizes greatly aids in the counting and identification of inventory. Let’s use the circuit board manufacturer example again. You have parts x, y, and z. You can design our conductive totes to fit a pre-determined number of each part. Using ESD safe label holders you can easily identify each tote and their contents, significantly reducing the number of hours spent managing parts in inventory. One box can fit a certain number of x parts, one box for y parts, and so on. Additionally, with dividers available on 1-1/4” centers you can design boxes to fit a certain number of various parts.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged conductive totes, electronic parts transportation, esd safe divider totes, inventory control, kitting, product protection | Leave a comment

What is Cantilever Rack?

Posted on June 1, 2012 by dcgClint

What is Cantilever Rack?

Cantilever rack is a freestanding storage unit with horizontal weight bearing arms extending from a single vertical column. The absence of a second support column on the outboard end of the arm allows for uninterrupted storage of long lengths of material, and easy loading / unloading with a forklift.

Cantilever rack systems are the perfect storage solution for furniture, steel bars and pipes, sheet metal, any type of lumber, and various other hard to store long products that must be kept off the floor. Cantilever rack provides instant accessibility to a single piece or an entire load. Modular in nature, cantilevered rack can be configured to fit just about any storage need and adjust to changing conditions. Additional arms, uprights, and brace sets are easily added or subtracted as needed.

Cantilever storage racks consist of three basic components arms, uprights, and brace sets. We will cover each in the following paragraphs.

Uprights

Cantilever uprights consist of a vertical column and a horizontal base which is connected to the vertical column. The horizontal base also acts as a storage level allowing the user to store material close to the ground level. In order for any cantilever system to work properly there must be at least two uprights. Uprights can be ordered as single or double sided. Single sided uprights allow for storage on one side only, perfect when space is an issue as the uprights can be placed adjacent to existing walls. Please note: arms should never be placed on the back side of a single sided system. Double sided uprights allow for storage of materials on both sides of the columns, in effect doubling your storage capabilities. One must take into account the floor space needed when choosing double sided cantilever rack systems. Make sure that you have enough room for the loading and unloading of your materials for both sides of the racking system.

Each edge of the vertical column is punched vertically on 3″ centers, allowing you to adjust your arms up and down the upright in 3″ increments.

Arms

Cantilever arms are the heart of the rack system. Offered as straight arms (generally used for storing stable loads such as lumber and sheet metal) and as inclined arms (for a cylindrical object such as PVC piping or other objects that tend to roll). As stated, arms can be adjusted on 3″ centers up and down the upright and are available in lengths as small as 12″ up to 60″ and available in various weight capacities. Proper arm selection is paramount to designing the correct cantilever rack system. We suggest you thoroughly read our section on how to design cantilever rack or talk to a sales associate to help select the proper arm. Arms are available with or without lips.

The hair pin keeper provides instant adjustability for the cantilever arm. A small pin is inserted through the arm and the vertical column and is then secured using the pin. There are no nuts and bolts needed, permitting instant height adjustability.

Straight arms up to 48″ in length have a 3/8″ pitch per foot to compensate for deflection. Arms 54″ and 60″ long have a minimum pitch of 5/8″ per foot. Inclined arms have a pitch of 20 degrees or approximately 4.36″ per foot.

Brace Sets

Braces are structural channel members that are bolted from one upright to the next and provide lateral stability to the cantilever system. Brace sets are measured from center to center of the uprights and are sold as sets rather than individual pieces.

Depending on the upright height and brace length, brace sets come in a variety of configurations. “2B” brace patterns are two horizontal channel members bolted from upright to upright, generally for uprights 6′ to 10′ in height. “3B” brace patterns are the same as the “2B” except they utilize three horizontal channel members instead of two, typically used in uprights 10′ to 14′ in height. “4BX” brace patterns, or otherwise known as X braces utilize the same two channel members with an X pattern in the middle, providing extra lateral stability for uprights 15′ to 20′ in height. “4BXX” use the same design as the “4BX” except they have a double X design for uprights 15′ to 20′ in height and brace lengths longer than 84″.

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