Custom Welded Equipment Table for Autoclaves at a Pharmaceutical Testing Lab: Nelson Laboratories
Nelson Laboratories needed its autoclaves lifted twelve inches off the floor in Salt Lake City, Utah. Labs USA built a welded custom equipment table sized to the machines, topped with one inch lab grade phenolic resin and a four inch curb so loading, cleaning, and service all get easier.
The Situation
Nelson Laboratories runs testing work in Salt Lake City, Utah, and sterilization is at the center of it. Autoclaves cycle continuously in a lab like this, and the people who operate them spend a large part of the day loading trays, unloading hot loads, logging cycles, and cleaning around the machines.
The problem in this room was height. The autoclaves sat directly on the floor, which put the chamber opening low enough that every load became a bend and a lift. That is uncomfortable on the first cycle of the day and genuinely hard on the twentieth. It also puts the operator’s hands and forearms below the chamber mouth when a hot load comes out, which is the opposite of what you want around steam and hot metal.
Floor mounted equipment creates a housekeeping problem too. A machine sitting flat on the floor traps condensate and spilled water underneath, leaves an edge that a mop cannot reach, and makes the area around it difficult to keep to the standard a testing laboratory has to hold. Service access is no better, because a technician working on a unit at floor level has nowhere to kneel and no clearance to reach fittings underneath.
What the lab wanted was simple to describe and less simple to buy: a stand that raised each autoclave exactly twelve inches, was strong enough to carry the machine’s full working weight without any flex, and had a surface that would tolerate steam, condensate, and cleaning chemicals for years. Off the shelf laboratory tables are built at working height, roughly thirty to thirty six inches. A twelve inch tall table sized to a specific machine footprint is not a catalog item.
The Solution
Labs USA built the table to the machines rather than trying to adapt something standard. The result is a welded custom equipment table measuring thirty four inches wide by twenty two inches deep by twelve inches high, sized so the autoclave sits fully supported with its footprint inside the top and its controls at a comfortable working height for the operator.
The frame is welded rather than bolted, which matters at this height and this load. A bolted knock down frame relies on fasteners to resist racking, and fasteners loosen under repeated thermal cycling and vibration. A welded frame is a single rigid structure from the day it lands, so the machine on top does not rock, shift, or walk during a cycle.
The work surface is one inch thick lab grade phenolic resin in a black crystal matte finish. That material was chosen for the environment rather than for looks. Phenolic resin handles moisture, steam, and heat far better than laminate, does not swell at the edges when water sits on it, and stands up to the disinfectants and detergents used around sterilization equipment. It is also dense enough to carry a heavy machine over a twenty two inch depth without deflection.
A four inch high applied curb runs along the back of the top. On a sterilizer stand that curb does real work: it contains condensate and drips instead of letting them run off the back edge onto the wall and floor, and it keeps a hot tray from sliding off the back during a transfer. The top and curb are bonded with a chemical resistant epoxy adhesive so the joint is sealed rather than caulked, which means there is no seam that degrades and starts holding residue.
Because the table is a purpose built assembly and not a modified stock item, it shipped on a production lead time in the eight to ten week range, crated and freighted to the Salt Lake City site. It was set in place as furniture. No plumbing was moved, no casework was cut, and the room kept running while the change was made.
Features
Advantage
The usual improvised answer to a low autoclave is a pallet, a pair of blocks, or a general purpose cart. Each of those fails in a predictable way. A pallet is not level and not cleanable. Blocks put point loads under a machine that was designed to be supported across its base. A cart adds casters and therefore movement, which is the last thing you want under a pressure vessel that heats and cools.
The other common answer is to buy the tallest catalog stand that will fit and accept whatever height it happens to be. That works only by accident. Autoclave loading height is an ergonomics problem with a specific answer for a specific room and a specific machine, and in this case the answer was twelve inches. Building the table to that dimension is the difference between a stand that solves the problem and one that moves it.
Specifying through Labs USA also means the surface is chosen for the application instead of for the price list. Around sterilizers, the failure mode of a cheap top is always the same: water sits on it, the substrate swells, the edge lifts, and within a couple of years the stand looks worse than the floor it replaced. Phenolic resin with a sealed curb avoids that sequence. Browse the full laboratory tables and workbenches range and the wider lab furniture and casework line to see how equipment stands fit alongside standard bench runs.
Benefits
- Loading and unloading happens at a height that suits the task, so operators bend and lift less on every cycle.
- Hands and forearms stay clear of the chamber mouth when a hot load comes out.
- The floor under and around the autoclave is open, so it can actually be cleaned to laboratory standard.
- Condensate and drips are contained by the curb instead of running onto the wall and floor.
- Service technicians get clearance to reach fittings and connections underneath the machine.
- The welded frame does not loosen, rock, or need retightening as the machine heats and cools.
- Phenolic resin tolerates steam, spills, and disinfectants without swelling, staining, or lifting at the edges.
Raising sterilization equipment changes three things at once: operator ergonomics, cleanability of the floor, and service access underneath the machine.
Return on Investment
The return here is mostly measured in bodies rather than dollars, and that is the expensive kind. Autoclave loading is repetitive manual handling performed dozens of times a day by trained staff. A task that requires a deep bend and a lift at floor level is a recognised strain risk, and strain injuries in a testing laboratory cost far more than furniture: lost days, restricted duty, and the disruption of covering a trained technician’s workload.
There is a throughput return as well. When a machine is at a workable height, a load goes in and comes out faster and with fewer awkward repositioning movements. Multiply a small saving by the number of cycles a sterilization area runs in a week and the difference is real, without adding equipment or headcount.
Cleaning and audit readiness improve at the same time. Open floor under equipment is faster to clean and easier to defend during an inspection than a machine sealed against the floor with water trapped beneath it. And because a welded steel frame with a phenolic resin top has no wear parts, no consumables, and no calibration, the cost is paid once and the stand keeps working through the life of the machine and, usually, its replacement.
Project Process
Measure the Equipment
Record the machine footprint, weight, clearances, and where the controls and door sit.
Set the Target Height
Establish the lift the operators actually need, in this case twelve inches, from the loading task.
Design the Frame
Detail a welded frame that carries the full working load across the footprint with no deflection.
Specify the Surface
Select material, thickness, finish, and curb for steam, condensate, and cleaning chemicals.
Build and Deliver
Fabricate to drawing, crate, and freight to site on an eight to ten week production window.
Place and Verify
Set the table, level it, position the equipment, and confirm the working height in use.
Serving Laboratories Across Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front
Nelson Laboratories is in Salt Lake City, Utah, which is also home ground for Labs USA. That proximity is useful on a project like this one, because a custom equipment table starts with someone measuring the real machine in the real room rather than working from a specification sheet.
Labs USA supplies laboratory casework, fume hoods, work surfaces, equipment tables, and exhaust ventilation to laboratories across Salt Lake City, Murray, West Valley City, Sandy, Draper, Lehi, Provo, Ogden, and the wider Wasatch Front, and works on laboratory projects nationwide. The Salt Lake valley has an unusually dense cluster of testing, medical device, diagnostics, and pharmaceutical laboratories, and equipment height problems like this one turn up in most of them at some point: the building was designed around benches, and then the lab bought machines.
Related work in the same space includes laboratory fume hoods for chemical handling, lab tables and workbenches for weighing and instrument stations, and exhaust snorkels for capturing vapor or steam at a specific piece of equipment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why raise an autoclave off the floor at all?
Height changes three things: operators load and unload without a deep bend, hands stay clear of the chamber opening when a hot load comes out, and the floor underneath becomes open and cleanable instead of a trap for condensate.
How much lift does an autoclave stand usually need?
It depends on the machine and the people using it. The right way to decide is to look at where the chamber opening sits and where the operator’s hands want to be. On this project the answer was twelve inches.
Why a welded frame instead of a bolted one?
A bolted frame relies on fasteners to resist racking, and fasteners loosen under repeated heating, cooling, and vibration. A welded frame is one rigid structure, so a heavy machine on top does not rock or shift over time.
Why is phenolic resin used for a sterilizer stand top?
Phenolic resin handles moisture, steam, and heat without swelling, and it resists the disinfectants and detergents used around sterilization equipment. Laminate tops in the same position tend to swell at the edges and lift.
What does the four inch curb do?
It contains condensate and drips at the back of the top instead of letting them run onto the wall and floor, and it acts as a stop so a tray cannot slide off the back edge during a transfer.
Can a custom equipment table be added to a lab that is already running?
Yes. It is free standing furniture, so it is set in place and levelled with no plumbing changes, no casework modification, and no construction downtime.
How long does a custom laboratory equipment table take to build?
This class of welded custom table runs on roughly an eight to ten week production window once dimensions and finishes are confirmed, plus crating and freight to site.
Does Labs USA build stands for other laboratory equipment?
Yes. The same approach applies to washers, incubators, ovens, centrifuges, and other floor standing equipment that needs to be raised, supported, or repositioned for ergonomics or cleanability.
Need Laboratory Equipment at the Right Working Height?
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