All around us we can see industrial cabinets that hide wiring, servers, or other sensitive contents. Access to industrial cabinets must be quick and easy. Cabinets must also be securely locked and resistant to environmental ingress. 

Tilt levers and rotary locks are most often used to lock industrial cabinets. The cabinet locking mechanism should be chosen based on the size of the cabinet. 

How to find out the solution you need?

For larger cabinets, the use of tilt levers is certainly more appropriate for several reasons. The advantage of locking with tilt levers lies in the three-point cabinet locking mechanism, which is tight around the entire circumference of the frame. 

Tightness is provided by rods that lock the cabinet at the upper and lower edges of the frame. As the rods move in fixed guides mounted on the cabinet door, when the seal is used correctly, the cabinet is tight evenly around the entire circumference. 

Rotary locks are built mainly on smaller cabinets, where single-point locking is sufficient. For larger cabinets, single-point locking is insufficiently tight around the entire circumference. This can be avoided by using several single-point locks on a single cabinet, but this is usually highly inconvenient for the operator and significantly more time-consuming. 

Another option is to use the rods in combination with a point lock—but here lies a problem with the mechanism itself, as we must have a key to overcome the force needed to unlock the cabinet, which may break the key when used repeatedly. Thus, this alternative is much more difficult to operate and so does not meet the requirement of simple and fast use. 

Rotary Lock Designs

Rotary Locks come in several options. They can be operated with a T-shaped handle and an L-shaped handle (both types of handles can be additionally lockable with a key) or a wide range of mechanisms (square, triangular, Doppelbart, etc). Each type has its pros and cons. The choice of a specific solution depends on the customer’s individual requirements. With L and T-shaped handles, the lock is easier to operate with no risk of breaking the key. 

On the other hand, this type of mechanism extends further into the cabinet, and it may be more susceptible to damage or take too much space. All these types of rotary locks are also available in various material designs.

Tilt Lever Designs

Tilt Levers differ in dimensional and material design. They can also be locked with a traditional key or other key form (square, triangle, Doppelbart, etc).  

Dimensionally, it is not possible to say exactly say whether the former or latter alternative is more suitable for a particular cabinet size. Each application has its own specific, material, and other requirements. Therefore, it is best to address each application individually—and we will be happy to assist you at Setro.