I never knew how versatile wire baskets could be, and, I know I’m not the only one. I’m figuring there are many more out there like me that really never knew how many industries utilize wire baskets and how many different jobs they can do. Of course wire baskets will contain things, they are baskets after all! But, they can hold many specialized pieces of equipment and help them through processes that couldn’t be completed without these durable yet permeable containers.
Wire baskets can be created in pretty much any shape or size. A company that makes wire baskets, like ThreeMTool (threemtool.com), for example, will usually offer many types of wire baskets, as well as a custom design service. As a result, no matter how unique your needs, a wire basket can usually be created to suite all of them!
They are so adaptable that you can use wire baskets for delicate parts, such as those used in watch making or more tough parts like those of a jet propeller. Even parts that need to be treated very gently, like circuit boards often use wire baskets at some point in their productions, especially during the cleaning process. One of the reasons wire baskets are great for cleaning parts is because you can clean them and allow them to dry in the same basket.
There are many different types of materials you can choose from to make your wire basket. When you consider what material will be used there are trade offs between things like weight vs. strength or cost vs. corrosion resistance. Stainless steel wire baskets are probably the most common because stainless steel has properties that are good for many applications and it is easy to work with to create almost any type of custom wire basket.
Depending on your needs, your wire basket can be dipped in a plastisol dip coating, which creates a soft vinyl type surface, or several different types of powder coatings can be applied. If you choose a powder coating it will generally be applied evenly and then baked, to form a smooth surface on the material. Other design considerations might include a lid (with hinges or without!), or a handle (for manual, hoist, robotic, and other types of lifting). Or, you can even add partitions to create pockets or divide areas within a basket.
Because of the multitude of possibilities with wire baskets, they are used in many different industries. Aero Space, Commercial Food Service, Optical Manufacturing, Medical and Pharmaceutical are just some of the wide array of industries that use wire baskets in some form or another. There would be quite a few products that would be more difficult to make. And, jobs like ultra sonic cleaning delicate surgical tools, or high pressure cleaning of automotive parts wouldn’t be so easily done without wire baskets. Pretty impressive don’t you think!
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