Industrial Safety Grating

  1. What is the difference between Safety Grating and Bar Grating?
    • DeckSpan®, Tread-Grip® and Open-Grip® are excellent slip resistant products that help prevent slips and falls in areas where moisture is present. All three patterns exceed Federal Specifications for slip resistance. The channels and walkways are manufactured by a cold forming process in their specific patterns. Bar grating is produced by connecting a series of bars together through welds or pressure fitting. Unless produced with serrated edges, bar grating has limited slip resistance capabilities. Bar grating generally costs more than safety grating and is heavier.
  2. Can Metalex run to special lengths or cut to size?
    • Metalex can run material to special lengths depending on quantities needed. Metalex has the unique ability to run Open-Grip® and Tread-Grip® in special lengths while maintaining end margin on the patterns. Metalex can also saw cut material if needed depending on quantities. Metalex recommends that DeckSpan® material have cuts be made on the diamond or half diamond. Our sales team can help you determine whether saw cut or running to special lengths would be the best solution.
  3. Can Metalex provide Safety Grating custom parts, mounting holes, slots and cutouts?  Do any welding?
    • Metalex specializes in providing a wide range of custom products to meet varied needs. Our unique ability to “interrupt” the grating pattern, provide end margins, wiped ends and leading edge holes offers our customers unlimited design flexibility. Additional value added features such as MIG, TIG and spot welding allows Metalex to supply a completely finished product, ready for application without further fabricating.
  4. What standard material/finishes and widths/lengths are offered for each Safety Grating pattern?
    • Safety Grating comes as pre-galvanized, stainless steel, aluminum and hot rolled pickled & Oiled (HRPO).
  5. Can Metalex provide engineering specifications for the ordering of Safety Grating?

Railroad Running Boards

  1. Does Metalex offer “round hole” (Open-Grip®) and “diamond pattern” (DeckSpan®) Railroad Running Boards?
    • Metalex can and does supply both Open-Grip® and DeckSpan® for railroad applications. Metalex feels that Morton Open-Grip® Running Board is the best solution. The round deboss holes prevent moisture build up and allow debris to pass through. The surface for Open-Grip® is much easier on the hands and knees than all other patterns.
  2. Is Metalex AAR approved for Railroad Running Boards?
    • Yes, Metalex complies with current Rule 53 AAR Standard S-226.
  3. Can I get a copy of the current Standard S-226 for running boards, walkways, brake steps and platforms?
    • Yes, you can download a copy of the most recent updated standards here.
  4. Do you have a list of Metalex Rail parts and PDF drawings?
    • Yes, you can find detailed breakdowns of our Morton Rail Products here.

Expanded Materials

  1. What is the difference between Standard and Flattened Expanded Metal?
    • Standard expanded metal is metal as it comes off the expanding press. The individual strands are not fixed horizontally, but instead are angled off the plane of the sheet, giving it a bumpy feel and appearance.  It is often superior in structural properties to the parent metal, and always to its equivalent flattened product. It also offers opportunities for a gripping surface. In addition, it can provide directional flow and light reduction.
    • Flattened expanded metal is simply what it calls itself, a standard product that has been milled until it is completely flat and level with all the ridges taken out.  Flattened is best used in instances where abrasion or appearance is an issue.
  2. What types of materials are suitable for expanding?
    • Carbon steel, aluminum, stainless, pre and hot dipped galvanized are standard, but copper, silver, nickel plus many other ferrous and non-ferrous metals may also be expanded.
  3. Why is the percent of open area important for expanded?
    • The open area is necessary in determining the passage of light, water or air.
  4. What do S W D and L W D mean for expanded metal?
    • Short Way of the Diamond (when ordering, the S W D dimension is written first)
    • Long Way of the Diamond
  5. How are the diamonds orientated to the sheet?
  6. What is the difference between Random Shearing and Bonded Shearing?
    • Random is expanded metal cut to size leaving open diamond edges.
    • Bonded is expanded metal cut to size leaving closed diamond edges.

Perforated Materials

  1. What materials can you perforate?
    • We can perforate just about any type of formable metal. These include but are not limited to carbon steel, galvanized steel, aluminum, stainless steel, pre-painted metal, brass, copper, Inconel, Monel and titanium. We can also perforate certain types of plastics and composites.
  2. How quickly can I get a price?
    • Standard sheets and coil inquiries are usually quoted within a few hours. More complicated inquiries can take a little longer. You will be provided with an approximate time frame for your quote completion at the time of your inquiry.
  3. Does Metalex offer toll processing?
    • Yes. If you prefer to supply your own material, we will be happy process your order on a toll-processing basis.
  4. Can Metalex provide perforated metal as sheets and coils?
    • Yes. We can run from coil to coil, coil to sheet, and from sheet to sheet.
  5. What are your lead-times?
    • On standard perforated products our “perf, roll and go” lead-times average 3 weeks ARO. Additional value-added processes may take longer. In any case, we strive to work with you to meet your specific requirements when a short lead-time is important.
  6. What is the widest material width that you can perforate?
    • We can perforate slightly wider than 60” wide. However not every pattern is available up to that width. If width is most important, we can often offer an alternate pattern from our extensive tooling inventory.
  7. Can Metalex manufacture special sizes?
    • Yes! We are the manufacturer, so we can produce very small parts up to quite large sheets. We have manufactured sheets as large as 60” wide by 196” long, and can actually accommodate up to 240” lengths, depending on the application. However, sheets up to 144” are our preference due to packaging and freight considerations.
  8. What hole sizes can you perforate?
    • We have tooling for round holes ranging from .020″ diameter to .75″ diameter.  We can also custom design and build a tool to meet your specific requirement.
  9. Do you offer fabricating and finishing?
    • Yes. In addition to our own extensive list of finishing processes such as corrective leveling, forming, notching, mounting holes, laser cutting, light stamping and shearing, we maintain business relationships with an array of companies that offer a specialized secondary processes such as annealing, anodizing, powder coating, zinc plating, and the application of protective films.
  10. What is the thinnest and thickest material you perforate?
    • The thinnest material we can run through our presses is about .010” thick, and the heaviest is .135” thick mild steel and stainless and .187” thick aluminum and plastic. On certain applications those limits can be exceeded.
  11. Can Metalex help me determine the best product for my application?
    • Absolutely! While we cannot engineer you application, we have many years of experience working with countless manufacturers, architects, product developers, contractors and entrepreneurs. We can advise you on the best options for your needs, or work with you to develop a new product.
  12. Can you perforate metal with non-perforated borders and blank spaces?
    • “Panel perforating” is our specialty. We can provide parts with solid borders (margins) on any or all sides, and we can provide margins within the perforated area. And because of our state-of-the-art presses, we can offer finished end patterns on most of our tooling designs.
  13. What if I don’t see the perforated pattern I am looking for?
    • We list only our most common patterns. If you don’t see what you are looking for, please call and speak with one of our associates. If we do not have the exact pattern you need, or an acceptable alternate, we can discuss building a new tool. We design, build and maintain all of our own tooling. We also offer sectional (turret) perforating and laser cutting where applicable.