Steely Products firmly believes that tubular steel is the best material to manufacture material handling and storing equipment.
A trolley can be made from several materials, such as wood, hard plastics, galvanised steel sheets and more. At Steely, we have chosen tubular steel welded to create high-quality equipment. Tubular steel is strong, which is of great importance when equipment needs to be used to carry heavy loads.
Hollow
Tubular steel is hollow, and a cross section of it can either be round, square or rectangular. Round tubular steel is often called pipes, but is used to construct equipment that is generally thicker than the pipes used to carry water in your house. At Steely, the tubular steel we use is usually square.
Why square?
Steely equipment is made by welding square tubular steel, and the shape is very efficient for situations where the load is exerted in multiple directions. The uniform geometry of the square-shaped tubular steel means that the steel can stand forces equally from all directions.
There are various grades of tubular that can be used. The grade that equipment manufacturers use is dependent on the expected loads. We use high-grade steel as our customers want their equipment to be very strong, especially when carrying heavy loads every day.
How square tubular steel is made
Flat steel plate is shaped into a round shape and the edges welded together to form the mother tube. This tube is then run through a series of shaping stands that change the round shape to the final square shape.
For construction work, the square tubular steel is sometimes filled with concrete to improve its robustness. We tend to avoid this though as it would make the equipment too heavy, yet we still make stell strong enough to be used for heavy equipment moving and storing.
Bending
One quality that tubular steel has over other materials is that it can easily be bent to form shapes. For example, the Steely Products split rail has a single section of tubular steel that is bent to form a single rail with two levels for hanging both short and long garments. Steel is bent using special equipment and will keep its shape during use.
Coating the steel
To prevent rust and make the tubular steel look its best, it needs to be coated. Tubes can be coated in plastic or PVC or painted with rust-resistant coverings. We use uncoated tubular steel which is then coated in-house at our Manchester base.
Businesses mainly buy Steely Products’ equipment for its practicality, but aesthetics matter too, especially if the equipment is displaying items in a retail space. This is why we coat our tubular steel with a range of attractive coloured coatings.
When we started in 1970, our competitors were mostly using wood or plastic for their handling and storing equipment. Steely Products pioneered the use of tubular steel, and still relies on the material to create strong and well-designed equipment.
Talk to Steely Products to discuss how equipment made from tubular steel can be useful to your business.
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