You naturally have safeguards in place to protect the health and safety of your employees when your business handles corrosive materials, but have you considered how these elements affect the lifespan of your equipment and the costs associated with repairs and replacements?
Weigh scales are one of the most common tools used in industry, but their lifespan tends to be short. This generally isn’t because they’re poor quality, but because they’re being used in a harsh environment that they weren’t designed for.
This guide will show you what you should be looking for in a scale that must be used in a corrosive environment.
WHAT’S PROTECTING YOUR SCALE?
While a simple steel or stainless steel platform may be adequate in a mildly corrosive environment, harsher ones will require you to look for a scale with additional protection. This generally comes in the form of a resistant coating that’s applied to the platform.
Yet not all coatings are created equal. There are certain variables that make some coatings preferable over others. For instance, the protective material must be able to tightly bind to the platform and resist the wear and tear of load scraping against it.
Many companies will advertise an additional corrosion resistant coating on their scales, but that’s often not what you’ll actually get. Most often, this coating is just a basic enamel-based paint. The problem with this type of coating is that:
1. It’s fairly easy to scratch and will eventually flake away with repeated use. Once it’s gone, the platform is exposed and just as vulnerable as if the coating had never been applied at all.
2. It can hide severe damage. Since these enamel paints don’t bond to the surface well enough, corrosive materials can migrate between the platform and layer of paint, causing damage to an area of the platform that’s still covered. It can even get inside the scale and affect its internal component. So you may not know that you have a problem until it becomes serious.
CHOOSE SPECIALLY FORMULATED CORROSION RESISTANT COATINGS
Avoid all scales with an enamel-based paint. If you’re not sure what kind of coating the company is offering, continue your search. Find a manufacturer that offers different kinds of coatings. Be sure to ask what the benefits are.
At Arlyn Scales, we use one of two specially formulated epoxy coatings that provide a double layer of protection from corrosive elements and a sound platform for weighing any size load.
For especially corrosive environments, we generally recommend a stainless steel scale that can be purchased with our polyamine epoxy. This epoxy creates a hard, abrasion resistant surface that acts as a chemical and moisture barrier.
It provides excellent resistance to alkalis, water, organic and inorganic acids and solvents. It’s resistant to even the most extreme caustics as well as petrochemicals, alcohol and brine.
And while many other coatings will be affected by sunlight, which strips away the material’s protective properties, our epoxies will not be as severely affected even after years of exposure.
You may notice some discoloration, chalking or powdering of the surface and lose the glossy finish, but the epoxy and its protective qualities will remain intact and continue to protect your scale.
LOOK FOR ADDITIONAL CORROSION RESISTANT FEATURES
Unlike other manufacturers who try to save costs by importing aluminum or plated steel load cells, we’ve adopted a factory-direct business model and machine our own.
During this process, we use a special heat-treated stainless steel alloy to manufacture our load cells and apply a thin silicon coating to its electronics.
This protects the load cell from corrosive elements while making it inherently more accurate and lowering the overall profile of the scale to the lowest in the industry.
When a load is easy to move on and off the platform, there’s less chance of gouging, scratching and abrasion to the surface.
IF YOU’RE A OSHA CLASSIFIED HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENT
Sometimes the corrosive materials you must work with can become an explosion risk. If you’re a Class I, II or III location, you must use equipment that has been tested and approved for use under the conditions you work in.
Our line of Arlyn Guard bench, platform, floor and cylinder scales have been tested and approved as OSHA compliant. They can be used in an impressive range of locations including Class I, II and II, both Divisions in all groups A through G. The scales are approved for use in hazardous environments and they’re approved as intrinsically safe.
CONSIDER YOUR BUDGET
When choosing a corrosion resistant scale, you’ll also want to factor your budget into the final equation. While most business in this industry is done through dealers and intermediaries, you can save a significant amount by working directly with a manufacturer.
Our factory-direct business model eliminates the costs associated with third parties and we pass those savings on to you. We’re located right here in the US and manufacture all of our products in our Long Island, NY factory. This allows us to ship our products quickly, efficiently and for much less.
OTHER BENEFITS OF FACTORY DIRECT
Aside from lower costs, you also have access to the team that designed and manufactured your scale. This means we’re always available to answer questions and troubleshoot any issues should you encounter them.
We even offer custom design and development services for companies that need a unique weighing solution.
Don’t waste time trying to get the scale you want from a catalog. Contact Arlyn Scales and we’ll guide you to the right corrosion resistant scale for your needs.
