Reinforcing ribs are the key to increasing cage rigidity without significantly adding self-weight; their placement on bottom and sides has its own logic. For cages with the same wire diameter, well-arranged ribs raise load capacity by 30% while adding only a few kilograms of self-weight.
Bottom reinforcing ribs run along the short direction of the base frame, usually 2~3 cross braces, shortening the span of the base plate mesh to prevent mid-span sagging under loose material. When the span exceeds 600mm, ribs are mandatory; otherwise, at 500kg full load the base-plate deflection can exceed 10mm, affecting stacking alignment.
Side reinforcing ribs are usually vertical or diagonal steel sections welded to the back of the mesh, resisting cage deformation under side pressure. At workstations with heavy parts and cage-to-cage impacts, cages without side ribs bulge outward within half a year; adding one vertical rib noticeably improves corner impact resistance.
More ribs is not always better: too many ribs raise self-weight and cost and may occupy internal loading space. The correct approach is to place ribs at the heavily loaded bottom mid-span and cage corners, keeping the middle mesh unchanged, so that key areas are protected. Rib sections are generally 20×20 square tubes or equivalent angle steel.
On acceptance, observe the number and spacing of base-frame cross braces and press the center of the base plate by hand to check deflection; on the sides, check whether ribs are fully welded flush to the mesh. Nanjing Tongnuo Warehouse Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. matches the number of bottom ribs to load tier, with diagonal braces added at the four corners of heavy cages.