Weight and balance are important factors in many industries today. In fact, products like lead counterweights are very popular and serve a wide range of uses. Here are some of the benefits of these weights and a few reasons why lead is still the most popular choice.
Why Choose Weights Made from Lead?
Suppose you need a counterbalance weight for a lift truck design. It’s important to use the heaviest material, but you also need something that doesn’t take up a great deal of space. After all, your truck is designed to have a specific wheelbase length, and if it’s too large, customers will choose smaller trucks from other sources that have the same lifting and hauling capacities.
Lead is one of the densest materials you can buy. In fact, denser metals like tungsten are just too expensive to use. Lead helps to save space and here is an example. Suppose you want to use a solid cubic foot of iron for weight. However, you also have a cubic foot of lead. The iron weighs about 500 pounds, and the lead is a little over 700 pounds. You would need nearly one and one-half times the iron to equal one 700-pound lead counterweight.
Lead is a popular choice for weights in the maritime industry. Not only does it take up less space and is cost-effective, but it also has excellent corrosion resistant properties. When you have vessels or materials exposed to moisture and salt, you need something highly resistant to corrosion.
Applications
Besides ships and lift trucks, lead counterweights are used for manufacturing elevators. They are also used for test weights, industrial scales, bridges, and in the aerospace industry. To get the best materials at the most affordable prices, it’s a good idea to choose a lead supplier that specializes in manufacturing lead counterweights for commercial applications.
