Why Use Stainless Steel for Furniture?

When you think of home furniture, you probably think about materials like wood, upholstery and other comfortable or aesthetically pleasing materials. If you’re in an industrial setting though, then you want stainless steel furniture that will serve your everyday needs without breaking down.

Most industrial, manufacturing and laboratory settings work with materials that common materials can’t handle. For example, you might be working with corrosive, reactive or hazardous materials. You need furniture that is nonreactive, noncorrosive, nonporous and durable enough to withstand any accidents or spills. It also needs to be easy to clean so that you don’t need to worry about cross contamination.

Stainless steel does all that and more. Not only does it offer every property we just listed, but it’s also fairly easy to work with. This allows us to make many different items, and we can even produce custom items as needed.

What Industries Use Stainless Steel Furnishings?

RDM Stainless Steel Ergonomic Lift Table – Model A-107P-SS-CLG-DROP-TRESP includes Drop-Leaf Extension Table Surface(s), shown here with one on each side. Also shown with Optional Casters (Wheels).

There are many industries that use stainless steel tables and other furnishings. Laboratories are probably the most common because they need stainless steel lab tables that can withstand hazardous or corrosive chemicals, require a sterile environment, need equipment that can be thoroughly cleaned and must have the environment completely under their control. Stainless steel has all these properties.

Manufacturing and industrial settings have many of the same requirements. These often work with even more hazardous materials, but stainless steel is still able to provide workers with protection. Unlike some materials that might react to certain chemicals, stainless steel provides a safe environment for technicians and employees to do their job.

There are other industries that also require stainless steel. Many companies that work with electronics require stainless steel workbenches. That’s because this material won’t discharge static. Imagine the harm one static shock could do while working with expensive electronics. Hours of work and thousands of dollars could be lost to one small shock.

The food industry also uses stainless steel furniture. Due to its nonporous and easy-to-clean nature, stainless steel is ideal for this setting. This is especially true when working with allergens as this industry is highly regulated. This material ensures that workers can thoroughly clean their environment so that consumer safety is safeguarded.

Most Common Types of Stainless Steel Furniture

While stainless steel is very tough and durable, our manufacturer direct service is able to produce a wide range of items. Not only that, but we welcome our customers to request custom items, such as extra large tables, thicker steel, more storage space and so on.

Stainless steel can be turned into nearly anything. Stainless steel carts, workbenches and tables are incredibly common. These all give you a flat surface to work on projects while giving you the protection of stainless steel. Tables are fairly basic, carts have casters and wheels and workbenches can have lighting and places to store equipment.

Stainless Steel Lockers

There are also stainless steel lockers. Not only are these durable, but they also provide the static-free and easy-to-clean environment your lab, cleanroom or manufacturing plant needs. Large storage cabinets can also be produced to fit equipment, manufactured items, personal belongings and more.

While these are the most common items, our quality designed furniture can fit all your furnishing needs. Everything is proudly manufactured in the USA and factory direct.

Key Features and Benefits of Stainless Steel

Many people know that stainless steel is tough and durable. While these are qualities that industrial and manufacturing settings need, the benefits of stainless steel go far deeper than that.

Not only is this material resistant to most bangs and hits, but it’s also resistant to many acids and chemicals. You need furniture that won’t react or be entirely destroyed by small accidents. Stainless steel resists most chemical reactions, ensuring safety and protecting your investment. It’s also nonporous, which prevents chemicals from wearing away or latching to the surface.

Stainless steel is very easy to clean. That might not seem like a huge benefit, but it really is. Imagine that harm that could be done if a chemical or allergen remained stuck to the table’s surface. This could lead to cross contamination, unexpected chemical reactions and numerous other threats.

The last major benefit is that stainless steel doesn’t build a static charge, which is essential for many businesses that need a controlled environment. You don’t need electronics destroyed or chemicals activated by a small static shock.

What to Know Before Making a Purchase

There are several things you should consider before making your stainless steel furnishings purchase. The first thing we suggest is mapping out the environment and finding out what furniture you need. Consider overall sizing and general requirements.

We offer many options, so be sure you consider your needs. For example, let’s say you need stainless steel workbenches. Do they need adjustable height, casters, storage shelves, lighting or extra thick steel? Consider your needs and check our features. If you don’t see a feature listed, then ask us about it. We often accommodate custom requests.

You should also check safety guidelines. You may want to save money by getting thinner material, but safety guidelines might require specific features. It’s also a good idea to consult your team and see what they feel is necessary for operations.

Conclusion

Stainless steel furniture is ideal for many manufacturing, laboratory, industrial and food settings. Not only do we offer a wide range of options and features, but we also help answer questions and work with custom orders. We at RDM Industrial Products would be happy to help with your stainless steel furnishing needs. Contact us today about any questions you have.

The post Industrial Duty Stainless Steel Furnishings – It’s Not New! appeared first on RDM Industrial Products.

At first glance, work tables seem like such simple tools. At the bottom, pretty much just a work surface and perhaps a few racks or drawers for extra storage capacity. But this initial impression can be quite deceptive. In actual fact, they are far more versatile, far more customizable, and far more interesting than many might be led to believe. They’ve always been popular in all kinds of workplaces. However, because of their extraordinary utility, that popularity continues to rise all the same.

RDM has been manufacturing industrial furniture and lab equipment of all kinds for more than four decades. Our quality-designed industrial workbenches and work tables are among our most beloved products. Let us tell you about the many kinds of workstations we have to offer. As well as what you can use them for and the variety of ways that we let you customize them to your needs, we hope to be able to show you why.

What Kinds of Industrial Workbenches Do We Manufacture?

RDM Double-Sided Industrial Workbench – Dual Utility Drawers.

Since this is a tool with an impressively diverse array of uses and applications, we can only hope to scratch the surface of the kinds of industrial work tables that RDM can make for you. Since the selection is so large, they can also be classified in many different ways. Here are some of our most important industrial workbench classifications and a few of their most salient features:

• Materials: Perhaps the clearest way to look at our different industrial benches and tables is through the materials of which they are made. Most commonly, they are made of stainless steel. Aluminum frames, thanks to their durability and reliability, are also rather common. Our most high-end heavy duty workbenches are made of these metals. And if you need something lighter and simpler than heavy duty workbenches, we make models out of wood as well.
• Surface Type: When we speak of surface type, we don’t just mean the material of which the work surface is made, but also of the texture and topography of that work surface, In addition to the standard smooth surfaces, we also make factory-direct ball transfer surfaces across which it’s easy to swiftly move all manner of objects.
• Shape: Most of our models are either square-shaped or rectangular, though we also offer L-shaped models. Within the parameters of these shapes, you also have a pretty wide latitude to specify the sizes that you need.

Some Customization Options For Your Industrial Workbenches:

To further add to your array of choices, here are a few of the many ways in which we allow you to customize your benches and tables:

• Lights: In some cases, seeing exactly what you’re doing while you work is indispensable. For those times when that’s especially important, we can make factory-direct work tables for you that are outfitted with whatever kinds of lights you require. Our main types here are our industrial light tables. The light source most often comes from below the work surface. However, we also have benches and tables with overhead lights attacked to a rack. The lights used are fluorescent lights, so you can be confident about having maximum illumination.
• Tilts: A flat, vertical work surface isn’t always the ideal thing for every situation. For times when it isn’t, we can also design laboratory workbenches for you whose surfaces can be tilted in a variety of directions and left at an angle.
• Racks: Attach a rack to your work table and you’ll have a convenient place to hang some important tools that you might need throughout the day.
• Drawers and Cabinets: If you’re going to be doing the lion’s share of the day’s work at your desk or bench, it’s important that you have everything you need within your reach as you sit there. Racks are good for keeping a few important tools close at hand, but they aren’t appropriate for everything. For everything else — whether it be important files or key chemicals for all of your experiments — you can outfit benches and tables with either siding drawers or storage cabinets beneath the work surface.
• Flame, Static, Chemical, or Rust Resistance: If you use a work table to perform any kind of experiments or conduct chemical reactions, it’ll be bound to take some abuse over the years. To make it better able to cope with that abuse and keep lab personnel safer, we offer you the ability to have benches with flame, chemical, rust, and ESD static-resistant properties.
• Hydraulic Lifts: If workers can vary in height, why shouldn’t tables or benches? A workbench with a hydraulic lift whose height can be adjusted to all kinds of workers — whether short or tall, sitting or standing — can save your lab money just on account of its versatility. We’d be happy to outfit an industrial-quality workbench with a hydraulic lift for you. To set the height you desire, there will be an easy-to-use crank.
• Ergonomic and Comfort Options: Even in something as eminently practical as industrial workbenches, utility can’t always be the only consideration. Comfort matters as well. That’s why RDM has developed a number of different ergonomic workbenches with worker comfort in mind. The most prominent feature of our ergonomic workbenches is probably their height-adjustability. But other accessories can be used to add to your comfort as well. These include things like monitor and keyboard arms, wheels for mobility, footrests, and overhead or under-surface lights.

With all of these customization options and accessories in mind, check out the full selection of our industrial work tables and pick out whatever you require.

What Sorts of Industries Use Workbenches?

With so many options available, it shouldn’t be surprising that laboratory workbenches are popular across many different types of industries. Here are just a few of these:

• packaging and shipping companies (ball transfer surfaces are especially popular here)
• engineering and architectural firms (tilted surfaces and light tables tend to be in wide use here)
• scientific laboratories of all kinds
• art schools and studios
• hospitals, medical schools, and medical offices
• industrial production firms and factories

Conclusion

Like most of our other lab furniture and tools, RDM’s industrial workbenches are proudly manufactured in the USA. With our incredibly diverse selection, we’re confident that we have just the thing you need to put yourself or your workers comfortably to work, no matter what setting you’re in.

Despite — or perhaps because of — their intrinsically humble yet versatile nature, we’re sure that workbenches will long remain not only popular but necessary in workplaces the world over.

We encourage you to check out our full selection of industrial workbenches, work tables, and associated workbench accessories.

The post Rising Popularity Of Industrial Workbenches In Today’s Workspaces appeared first on RDM Industrial Products.

You shouldn’t let these wonderful features fool you into complacently thinking that stainless steel furniture is invincible and needn’t be handled with care, however. As with everything else, time, chemical spills, possible laboratory mishaps, and general accumulated use do take their toll on stainless steel carts, tables, lockers, cabinets, and workbenches. To maximize the working lives of all of these things, you’ll need a well-stocked cleanroom and a thorough, established routine of cleaning and maintenance procedures.

Here are 10 critical tips to follow in all stainless steel cleanrooms so that you can get the most out of your furnishings. Some of these will be suggestions about what to do, and others about what not to do.

1. Don’t Clean Your Stainless Steel Furniture With Chlorine

RDM Stainless Steel Casework is available in a variety of Stainless Steel Cabinet Styles: including Base Cabinets, Upper Cabinets & more.

One of stainless steel’s most useful features is its imperviousness to oxidation or rust. Ordinarily, stainless steel tables and other furnishings are made using an alloy of both steel and chromium, the latter of which works to prevent oxidation by keeping oxygen molecules from reacting with the metal. Chlorine and solvents containing chlorine strip away this protective chromium and expose the furniture on which they are used to the dangers of rust.

Do not use anything chlorine-based to clean your lab furniture. That means no acetone, mineral spirits or isopropyl alcohol, among some other things.

2. Stick to Cleaning With a Warm Cloth, Water and Detergent

As simple as it sounds, a good, thorough wipe using some warm water and a damp cloth will be sufficient to handle most mild stains that show up on your stainless steel cabinets or other types of furniture. That should be enough to remove dirt and other simple things. To make sure that the furniture isn’t plagued by any water stains, rinse everything with water once more and gently wipe it down with a dry cloth.

3. Use Solvents for Tougher Stains

If there are fingerprints, oil stains, chemical stains or anything else that’s more difficult to clean on your stainless steel surface, use any good detergent or dish soap to get the job done. In a pinch, baking soda, vinegar and even toothpaste can also be effective.

4. If You Must Use Chlorine, Electropolish Your Furniture First

Let’s say that you’re in a bind. For whatever reason, your lab is fresh out of detergent, soap, baking soda and all other acceptable cleaning solvents. Also, all of the water at hand is dirty or unsuitable. The only thing within reach are those dreaded chlorine-based cleaners. What do you do then?

If you absolutely must use a chlorine-based solvent to clean your stainless steel furniture, it is essential that you electropolish the furniture first. Electropolishing is a process whereby minuscule jagged edges and stray ions are removed from a metal surface. In particular, electropolishing will remove metal ions from stainless steel workbenches or other kinds of lab furniture that would make that furniture vulnerable to corrosion, thus neutralizing chlorine’s chief threat.

5. Regularly Do Some Stainless Steel Passivation

Stainless steel passivation is a process whereby stainless steel can be made less generally reactive to external and environmental chemical influences, particularly to rusting. Oxidation can make your furniture weak and brittle, and you should obviously take steps to prevent it or arrest it. This is what passivation achieves.

The best and simplest way to passivate your stainless steel lab furnishings is simply to clean them with deionized water. You will probably also have to clean furnishings with a nitric acid solution or other mild oxidant to really kickstart the process. Doing this will lead to the formation of a passive film over the surface of your furniture.

6. Don’t Clean Against the Grain

All stainless steel furnishings, from simple cabinets to stainless steel tables with adjustable legs, have a wood-like grain to them. A close glance at any stainless steel surface will reveal that grain. When wiping down your furniture, always follow the grain. If you don’t, you will make it easier for dirt or chemical irritants to build up within the surface as the furniture experiences more and more use. That can cause damage in innumerable ways, from creating ugly and hard-to-remove stains, to cracking, corroding, destroying and breaking apart the stainless steel at its very foundations.

7. Try to Be Gentle

When dealing with particularly stubborn stains, some hard scrubbing may be warranted. Don’t overdo it, though. Scrubbing too hard will create scratches and abrasions on stainless steel’s surface, and these abrasions, however small, are openings through which chemical irritants can later seep in to cause yet further damage. You should therefore use only soft cloths made of materials like nylon or microfiber to wipe down surfaces. Do not use steel wool or any kind of abrasive cleaning pads, liquids or powders.

8. Get Special Stainless Steel Furniture for Cleanrooms

Even though your cleanroom is the place to clean your stainless steel casework and other furniture, the cleanroom itself can use certain stainless steel furnishings of its own. In addition to our quality-designed and factory-direct lockers, workbenches, carts, and stainless steel tables with adjustable legs, we at RDM also make special industrial-quality furniture that is specifically designed for use in cleanrooms. Among our stainless steel cleanroom furnishings are racks where you can store all of your various cleaning tools and solvents, stainless steel tables of various shapes and sizes to keep things close at hand and stainless steel lockers to store yet more critical supplies. Take a look at our stainless steel cleanroom furnishings here.

9. Make Sure to Keep Furniture Polished

A proper deep clean is always great, but to really put the finishing touches on your lab furnishings, you need to make them glimmer and shine. The glimmer of stainless steel is part of its allure, and you certainly wouldn’t want that to fade. To keep stainless steel lab furniture polished and shiny, we recommend using lemon oil, special sprays designed to let your furniture keep its undiminished luster, or any of the many commercial stainless steel polishers that are available on the market.

Truthfully speaking, polishing should really be the third step in a tripartite process. First, you wipe the furniture using some combination of clean water and a solvent, then you rinse it off and dry it with another cloth, and then you spread a few drops of polish onto the surface with another cloth — all moving with the grain.

10. There’s No Such Thing as Cleaning too Often

Cleaning, when done right, does no damage whatsoever to stainless steel furniture and does a great deal to prevent and even repair damage. You can clean your furniture as often as you like. How often to take things to the cleanroom is a personal decision for you to make, but we recommend doing it as often as possible unless some other pressing need prevents you. The more vigorous the work that goes on in your lab is and the more caustic substances and spills there are, the more often you should do so.

Conclusion

High-quality stainless steel furniture is indispensable to research and development labs, factories and types of businesses that are too numerous to mention. RDM’s stainless steel furniture is proudly manufactured in the USA up to the very highest design standards, but even it needs to be cared for. Since you’ll be making a significant investment when you buy stainless steel furnishings, our advice on how to keep things functioning properly should help you get more bang for you buck.

The post Top 10 Tips to Maintaining Stainless Steel Furniture appeared first on RDM Industrial Products.

With all of these things working against you, it’s definitely a good idea to get the most durable furnishings for your lab that you possibly can.

That’s where stainless steel comes in.

RDM Laboratory Tops – Stainless Steel Furnishings

Stainless steel furnishings are tough enough to withstand large amounts of accumulated damage. Plus their longevity makes them a natural choice for lab managers who are committed to making sure that their laboratories stay running smoothly for years on end.

RDM Industrial Products offers a wide selection of industrial-quality stainless steel furniture to make your lab a more complete workplace. Please note also that we’re able to custom design much of this furniture according to your specifications.

Here is a brief discussion of some of the different kinds of factory direct stainless steel furniture  that we have waiting for you and your lab or industrial workspace.

Stainless Steel Furnishings:

Workbenches

Each researcher in your lab needs a workbench that’s comfortable, spacious and tough enough to withstand damage from the occasional spill. Our stainless steel workbenches are simply designed, but more than durable enough to serve any purpose you may require. In addition to their smooth, flat and corrosion-and-chemical-resistant surfaces, our workbenches come equipped with overhead racks where you can place important supplies that you need to have close at hand. The F-103P-SS is a single-shelf model and the F-103PL/DS-SS comes with two shelves.

We also have adjustable-height stainless steel workbenches like the A-107P-SS, which uses a hydraulic lift.

We allow you to customize the size and dimensions of each workbench to your needs. And you cal add on whatever additional accessories you require.

Tables

Stainless steel tables are similar to our workbenches, but usually have a set of sliding drawers attached to them rather than some overhead shelves. Various widths and depths are available, depending on the model in which you are interested. These can range from as little as 30 inches to as much as 72 inches.

If smooth-top models aren’t what you need, we also offer the A-109P-SS-PERF, which is a perforated stainless steel table. Small adjustable-height tables like the i-107P-SS are also available.

In addition to corrosion and chemical resistance, you can also outfit your tables with static-resistant ESD.

Cabinets and Casework

Stainless steel cabinets are a particularly essential piece of hardware for your lab. With all of the many volatile compounds and important tools lying around in the lab, you really can’t do without some good storage cabinets.

First, we offer a standard 84-inch-high cabinet unit with a wealth of customization options open to the customer. You can choose to have the steel on this model be either corrosion-resistant or both chemical-and-corrosion-resistant. Various cabinet widths are available in 6-inch increments ranging from 18 inches to 48 inches. Both 16-inch and 21.25-inch deep units are available. Furthermore, you can choose to have either stainless steel doors, glass doors or no doors at all. Both sliding door and swinging door options are also available.

The major piece of stainless steel casework that we offer follows the following basic design: a long, flat counter with an array of drawers and base cabinets beneath it to provide you with extra storage space. The counter will usually include a sink where you can conveniently wash your hands. The entire units — including both the counter and the base cabinets — can be made corrosion-resistant, chemical-resistant and fireproof. Since all of our equipment is factory-direct, you may request other features as well.

Lockers

Lockers are another excellent storage option. While are cabinets and casework are great for storing hazardous chemicals and other lab supplies, lab workers can store a change of clothes or some of their other personal items in a locker. Stainless steel lockers are durable and can reliably keep any belongings stored in them safe. The fact that they’re made of stainless steel also keeps them from rusting and adds to their longevity.

RDM offers stainless steel lockers in a number of different configurations. Each unit is 72 inches tall and can be made with single-tier, double-tier or six tier lockers. We can also make locker units and individual lockers of various widths.

Carts

Carts are a simple but excellent resource for your lab. If you ever find yourself needing to quickly and easily pass out supplies like gloves or safety goggles to scientists and lab assistants. Just pack a cart with whatever supplies you need and slide them across the lab towards whichever locations they’re needed in.

We sell a few different cards of stainless steel carts. Some models are essentially just flat stainless steel tables on wheels. We also sell a model with a protruding curb top that’s meant to keep all loaded items safely in place, even if the cart is being slid along at high speeds. Other models have both top and bottom-level surfaces, allowing you to load more things onto them. Still other carts are larger and have as many as four levels.

You’ll also have the option of outfitting your lab carts with sliding drawers which are also made of stainless steel. This is yet another add on to give your carts maximum carrying capacity.

As with all of our other manufacturer-direct stainless steel furniture, each cart model can be made into any of a variety of different sizes, making suitable for large labs as well as small ones.

Conclusion

What we’ve discussed here only just scratches the surface of what we can offer you in the realm of durable and reliable stainless steel furnishings. If you need specially-designed and/or very specific features for your cabinets, tables or workbenches, we’ve got you covered. RDM is open to answering your questions, and fulfilling custom order solutions for your lab. All of our products are proudly manufactured in the USA.

We encourage you to check out the full range of our stainless steel lab furnishings.

The post The Ins And Outs Of Stainless Steel Furnishings appeared first on RDM Industrial Products.

Type of Surface

Stainless steel worktables are known for having durable and easy-to-clean surfaces and scratch-resistant outer layers. However, stainless steel may not be the best option for metal to metal wear. Examples include repeated heavy contact with other metals or through the use of nuts, bolts or screws to connect adjustable elements. Over time, theses connected parts can fuse together. 

Another point to consider is that stainless steel, as the name implies, may be stain resistant, but it’s still vulnerable to acids. Over a longer period of exposure, they can also be vulnerable to industrial dyes.

Stainless steel workbenches come with different surface options. The 304 surface type is the minimum higher quality available while the 316 option is the best for corrosion resistance. The 316 option is also available in a variety of finishes including Brushed, Smooth, and Ultra-Smooth Electro-polished which offers a mirror-like finish.

Durability and Weight Requirements

It’s important to consider weight, amount of impact, as well as wear and tear. The level of thickness of stainless steel is measured in gauges. The lower the gauge, the thicker the steel. For example, 18 gauge Economy Work Tables are lighter and less expensive and can be used as general working space. On the other hand, 16 gauge Standard Duty Top Work Tables are more durable.  For heavy-duty requirements, 14 gauge Heavy Duty Top Work Tables are resistant to corrosion and can withstand heavy blows without dents.

Mobility

Sometimes it might be necessary to move the stainless steel workbench.  For example, to move equipment or to address space constraints. For these situations, stainless steel workbenches with handles and wheels – known as stainless steel carts – are an ideal option and can be moved around easily.

Adjustable Height Workbench                                      

Stainless Steel Workbench – Ergonomic Lift Table with hydraulic handle

If more than one person will be using the stainless steel table, then consider an Adjustable Height Workbench. In today’s health-conscious work environments, ergonomics play an important role and help to prevent workplace injuries. An improperly adjusted workbench can lead to musculoskeletal problems such as muscle strains. There is also increased awareness around the negative health consequences of both excessive sitting and standing.

Storage Possibilities

Stainless steel workbenches also offer a range of storage possibilities such as drawers, cabinets and shelves. If you are considering storage options, be sure to take an inventory of items. Be sure to include the shapes, sizes, and weights of instruments and equipment. Shelves and drawers are also available in various custom configurations depending on specific requirements. Other things to consider are ergonomics. You don’t want to have to reach in an uncomfortable or strained position to open drawers. Security is also important. For instance, what valuable items will be put inside the drawers or cabinets and should they be locked and secure?

Dimensions of the Stainless Steel Workbench

Stainless steel worktables are available in various heights, lengths and widths. It’s therefore important to consider the type of space where the workbenches will be located. For example, will the environment be crowded, or will there be a lot of open spaces? If limited space is available, then Free-Standing Stainless Steel Tables might be a good option.

For more information about stainless steel workbenches click here

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