Why Custom Design Wire Mesh Basket?

The first question most people ask is why custom baskets are worth it and why a business would go this route rather than choosing from pre-made commercial basket types.

The clearest indicator that your business needs custom stainless steel wire baskets is when you have an application process that could be improved with more precision. If your baskets are being used for parts cleaning, for example, you may need the parts to stay in place without movement. A custom basket designed to the specifications of the parts you are cleaning can keep the parts in place exactly, improving the efficiencies and outcomes of your process.

Of the types of stainless steel baskets, baskets lined with wire mesh are more affordable and are very cost effective for loose parts. For more part-specific baskets, individual rods can bend into almost any shape imaginable, allowing for extreme precision in locating and protecting parts.

Custom baskets also typically use higher quality steel, which is essential for applications like ultrasonic cleaning or enclosed vapor degreasing.

How Wire Mesh Baskets Are Made?

Wire mesh is a comprised of parallel rows and columns of intersecting wires.  There are many types of wire mesh, but the two most common types are welded and woven.

Welded wire mesh connects intersecting rows and columns of wires by welding them together where they intersect. The welded wires make welded mesh slightly more rigid than similar woven wire mesh, which can either help or hurt in basket designs.

Woven wire mesh is made similarly to woven cloth. Wires weave under and over the others perpendicularly to make a “plain weave” mesh. Woven wire mesh is flexible which allows us to press it into bowl shapes and shallow pan shapes when needed.  Woven mesh is also very durable, absorbing impacts from heavy part or sharp corners without tearing.

Benefits of Having Baskets Custom Made

Having wire mesh baskets custom made is simpler than many realize and can dramatically improve your processes. Here are three ways custom basket fabrication beats out-of-the-box purchasing.

1. Material Selection

Being able to choose from a variety of materials helps ensure you get the right balance of features and cost for your wire mesh baskets. Our factory uses multiple stainless steel alloys with other materials to make sure our customers have the most options when it comes to fabrication. Our engineers can help you determine the optimal mesh  type frame construction that fits your application.

Customizing each part of a basket allows us to design a frame structure that suits your exact strength, weight and size requirements.  Then we can choose the best mesh type for your exact part size and process.  Being able to mix and match materials for different types of wire baskets is one of the top benefits of custom fabrication.

2. Exact Fit

With manufacturing equipment, there is rarely any room for adjustments to processes or the equipment itself, creating a need for highly customized baskets in some cases. While it’s possible to make generic baskets work where they don’t quite fit, doing so will decrease the quality and efficiency of your processes and potentially lead to quality issues with the cleanliness or appearance of the final product.

When you need a basket to conform perfectly to the shape of one or more specific parts, custom fabrication is a must. For example, you may need one or more wire basket types with handles that swing, but find that the available options do not have the right compartmentalization width for your needs. In cases like these, custom fabrication is the way to get exactly what you need.

3. Optimized Liquid or Air Flow

When compared to solid sheet metal pans or totes, wire mesh baskets allow flow through the mesh’s open spaces between individual wires. That flow could be cleaning solvent to flush away dirt, rinsing solution flush out the solvents, or blasts of air to dry the parts.  The mesh wire spacing needs to be small enough to hold parts in place and wide enough to make sure the liquids used in cleaning or dipping parts can drain away quickly and completely afterward.

Custom wire mesh basket design can meet the needs of different industries and different purposes. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a message.