In the world of hygienic stainless steel and precision tubing, a single scratch during handling transforms high-value inventory into scrap metal. Stop risking your 32 µin Ra surface finishes with outdated forklift maneuvering. It’s time to switch to a system designed for overhead cranes and zero-impact accessibility.
For a Steel Service Center or a manufacturer dealing with high-purity stainless steel tubes and components, the warehouse floor is often where profit margins bleed out. The traditional method of floor stacking or using standard static cantilever racks creates a logistical nightmare known as "honeycombing."
When your saw cutting machine needs a specific heat number of 316L stainless bar stock that is buried at the bottom of a stack, your operators are forced into "secondary handling." They must move the top three bundles to get to the one they need. In this process, forks scrape against tubes, and bundles collide. For industries requiring ASME BPE standards, that surface damage is unacceptable.
Traditional storage often leads to unsafe aisles and inefficient retrieval processes.
Furthermore, this digging process takes time—often 15 to 25 minutes per retrieval. During this time, your expensive laser cutters and CNC machines are idling, waiting for material. This is the invisible cost of static storage.
The Telescopic Cantilever Rack changes the physics of storage. Unlike static racks that require forklifts to drive into narrow aisles, this system functions like a heavy-duty industrial drawer.
Each level can be extended 100% out of the rack structure. This seemingly simple mechanical shift completely alters your retrieval strategy. By exposing the entire length of the tube or profile, you can utilize an overhead crane (bridge crane) with nylon slings or vacuum lifters to pick the material straight up.
Operators can manually crank out levels to access specific bar stock without moving other bundles.
This "pick and lift" motion eliminates the horizontal friction of forks sliding under bundles, effectively guaranteeing damage-free storage for sensitive loads like polished stainless steel or aluminum profiles.
Managing a diverse inventory of tube fittings, elbows, and varying diameters of pipe requires strict organization. The roll-out cantilever system allows for high-density storage without sacrificing accessibility.
With features like adjustable dividers, you can separate different SKUs on the same arm level. This is critical for preventing cross-contamination between carbon steel and stainless steel stock—a vital requirement for maintaining the integrity of hygienic components.
Orange dividers ensure secure separation of different bar stock and tubular products.
Top-tier metal fabricators are no longer viewing these racks merely as storage; they are treating them as machine feeders. By placing a crank out cantilever rack directly next to the laser cutting table or saw, a single operator can retrieve a 20-foot bundle, load the machine, and return the rack to a closed position in under 3 minutes. This keeps your machine uptime high and your labor costs low.
This is not light-duty shelving. We are talking about structural steel profiles designed to hold thousands of pounds per arm. The system is anchored securely to your concrete slab, ensuring stability even when fully loaded with solid bar stock.
Secure installation using heavy-duty anchors is essential for the stability of loaded telescopic racks.
Whether you choose a manual crank system for occasional picks or a fully electric system for high-volume manufacturing, the goal remains the same: safe, dense, and accessible storage that respects the value of your material.
| 1. Can this rack system protect the surface finish of my polished stainless steel tubes? | Absolutely. This is the primary use case. By using overhead cranes and slings instead of forklifts, you eliminate metal-on-metal contact during retrieval. We can also provide UHMW (plastic) liners on the cantilever arms to prevent any scratching from the rack itself. |
| 2. Does the rack require special flooring or foundations? | Since this is a high-density storage solution, the point loads can be significant. We generally require a standard reinforced industrial concrete floor (typically 6 inches depth). We will provide specific point load calculations based on your stored material weight to verify with your facility engineers. |
| 3. We use 24-foot raw lengths. Can the telescopic rack handle this? | Yes. Our systems are modular. For 24-foot (approx 7.3m) lengths, we would configure a system with 4 or 5 structural columns to ensure the material is properly supported and does not deflect or sag, which is critical for precision tubing. |
| 4. How much space can I actually save compared to my current floor stacking? | Most Steel Service Centers see a floor space recovery of 50% to 60%. By moving from floor stacking (which uses zero vertical space) to a 4 or 5-level rack, and eliminating the wide forklift aisles required for turning 20-foot loads, you drastically reduce the footprint required for storage. |
| 5. Is the electric operation necessary, or is the manual crank sufficient? | The manual crank is geared to be mechanically efficient—a single operator can move a 6,000 lb load with just 15-20 lbs of cranking force. Manual is standard for most warehouses. Electric is recommended for very high-frequency cycling (e.g., feeding a high-speed laser cutter continually) or for extremely heavy loads exceeding 5 tons per arm level. |
