Framing
Framing is the aluminum structure your line is built on and the guarding that keeps people out of it, and the two are one job: the same extrusion that frames a conveyor holds the guard panels, and the guard is only compliant when the safety devices behind it are specified to the risk.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG
The cost shows up later
Framing looks like the simple part, so it gets bought on profile price and assembled, and then the safety assessment finds the light curtain is the wrong resolution for the reach, or the guard door has no interlock, or the frame flexes where a person leans on it.
Guarding is a compliance item that a risk assessment has to sign off on. The extrusion and the safety devices get specified together or you rebuild the cell after the audit.
HOW TO CHOOSE
Match the technology to the job
The structure follows the load and the guard follows the risk:
- Machine framing, conveyor stands, enclosures → aluminum extrusion profile sized to the load and reconfigurable when the line changes. mk's four profile series (25 light-duty through 50/60 heavy machine-framing) share over 250 profile shapes, the same building kit that frames the conveyors. (mk North America.)
- Perimeter guarding, fenced cells, access doors → guard panels on extrusion framing with interlocked access, specified to the cell layout. (mk North America.)
- Presence sensing at the opening: reaching into a cell, a robot work zone → safety light curtains and area scanners sized to the resolution and reach the risk assessment requires. (Omron.)
- Stopping the hazard when the guard opens → safety relays and controllers that tie the interlocks and curtains into a monitored stop. (Omron.)
- Operator workstations, machine bases, robot mounting → built steel structures matched to the task and the ergonomics, height-adjustable where the operator needs it. (Ryze.)
Framing and guarding are one purchase, and the guard is only as good as the safety devices behind it. We carry the extrusion, the safety hardware, and the workstations, so we aren't talking you into a fenced cell when a light curtain and a relay do the job cheaper, or the reverse. The guard follows the risk assessment; if yours is simple, we keep it simple.
WHY M6
One source, sized to the application
The extrusion vendor doesn't spec your safety devices and the safety vendor doesn't build your frame. We carry both, plus the workstations, so the guarded cell gets designed as one thing and supported across Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia.
You leave with the frame and the guard specified as one system, sized to the load and signed off against the risk assessment, instead of a cell you rebuild after the audit.
WHAT WE CARRY
The lines we rep for this application
- mk North America: aluminum extrusion profile (Series 25 through 60, over 250 profile shapes), machine framing, guarding, enclosures, and workstations, the same building kit that frames the conveyors.
- Omron: the safety half: light curtains, area scanners, safety relays and controllers, and guard-door interlock monitoring tied into a monitored stop.
- Ryze Industrial: custom steel workstations (powder-coated height adjustment, 200 to 500 lb, gyroscopic obstruction detection), machine bases, and application-specific tables built to the task.
Machine building, assembly, packaging, robotics cells
THE EQUIPMENT
What this looks like on the floor
THE COST OF WAITING
An automation project gets approved with two numbers
One is the equipment quote. The other is what doing this by hand costs you every month, and only you can add it up:
Labor on the task. Hours per shift, at your fully loaded rate.
The rate ceiling. What the manual step caps your throughput at.
Scrap and rework. What manual variation costs you per thousand parts.
Changeover. Time lost every time the part changes.
The hiring problem. Turnover, training, and the weeks the job sits open.
Exposure. Repetitive lift, pinch points, and what one recordable costs you.
We will get you the equipment number and a budget range early, so your request goes up with both.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Common questions
What areas do you support framing and guarding in?
M6 Revolutions supplies mk aluminum extrusion framing and guarding across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and California, along with the Omron safety devices and Ryze workstations that complete a guarded cell.
What safety devices does my guard actually need to pass a risk assessment?
The risk assessment decides, device by device: interlocks on access doors, light curtains or scanners sized to the resolution and reach at each opening, and safety relays that tie it all into a monitored stop. We spec the guard and the devices together, because a guard that passes the eye test can still fail the inspection.
Light curtain, area scanner, or fixed guard for my cell?
Fixed guarding where nobody needs access, a light curtain at an opening where hands reach in, an area scanner where a whole zone needs watching. Cost and cycle time usually pick between them, and sometimes the cheapest compliant answer is a panel and an interlock. We'll say so.
Can the same framing hold my conveyor and my guarding?
Yes, that's the case for the mk system: the same Series 25 to 60 extrusion frames the conveyor, holds the guard panels, and builds the workstations, so the line and its structure come from one building kit.