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What Are Wire Mesh Trays?

Suzanne S. Wiley
Suzanne S. Wiley

A wire mesh tray is tray formed mainly with wire or wirelike mesh. The tray usually has panels or a sheet of wire mesh connected by thicker rods made of the same material, although larger trays may have identical rods bent to form a basket or tray on their own. Like other trays, a wire mesh tray is supposed to hold something, from small office supplies to papers to industrial cables. Larger industrial trays are also called cable trays. Wire mesh trays can range in depth from shallow to having very high sides.

The mesh in the trays is usually stiff enough that it doesn’t sag when users place items in the tray. The amount of space between the wires in the mesh varies depending on what the tray is meant to hold. Wire mesh trays in offices usually have very small spaces to prevent items like push pins from falling through, while a wire mesh tray meant to hold cables together in a factory could have very large spaces because there’s no danger of a cable falling through. Trays meant for office and home use are often stackable, and those meant for industrial use can be custom-made to suit the needs of the individual company.

Man with a drill
Man with a drill

Wire mesh trays have some distinct advantages over solid trays. One is that air can pass through the mesh and reach even the items on the bottom of a tray. If the tray holds cabling or electrical items that become hot with use, the spaces allow the items to air out instead of building up heat in a stack. Users can look through the underside of a tray that is holding a stack of materials to see which items are at the bottom of the stack.

A disadvantage of using a wire mesh tray is that dust can still fall through the spaces in the mesh and onto the surface below. Items on stacked trays could end up becoming quite dusty if users don’t regularly clean the area. Dust will also collect on the wire itself. The quality of the tray can vary, just like it can with any other item, but wire mesh trays can have sharp parts due to inaccurate cutting or inferior materials that have broken. Buyers should be careful picking up a tray until they have inspected all of its parts.

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    • Man with a drill
      Man with a drill