A Check List To Use When Purchasing Heavy Duty Casters

By Edward Jackson


By definition from the dictionary, a caster is a small wheel on a swivel attached under a piece of furniture or heavy object to make it easy to move. For the casters, they are designed for the toughest applications like ship and aerospace building many other heavy applications. Long life durability and strength is one criterion one should put into consideration while buying heavy duty casters.

Material used in the construction dictate the properties of the caster itself. If the strong and durable materials are used, a caster that has been engineered well would bare similar strength and durability. Therefore, it is important to get the casters made by the strongest and durable materials since they tend to offer the same when working with.

One should also consider if the caster to buy is a swivel or rigid. Swiveling is the ability for the gear to rotate on its axis over a few degrees to a whole turn. Rigid casters are more likely to be used in the heavy duty applications since they provide much steady movements. The swiveling comes in handy in some applications since they help ease movement in cluttered space for they can make easy turns.

During movements of any wheeled vehicle, at a certain critical speed the wheels tend to wobble. This is caused by the speed, weight borne by the vehicle and the trailing distance which is explained as the length between the axle and steering axis. This fluttering can cause issues in control therefore would pose a problem in bigger machines. Therefore, it is important to have information on speed limits on each caster in order to avoid accidents that may arise when the machine lose control.

Ergonomic casters are custom designed to suit the environment and situation they are working in. Long time to exposure to resisting caster gear can cause straining injuries to the operators. Therefore, it is important for design improvement and enhancement to help reduce such injuries to the workers. Such improvements include addition of brakes and steering to help in controls, putting toe guards to avoid the caster from running over peoples feet.

Wheel diameter, size and their tandems affect the effectiveness and efficiency of the caster gear. The bigger the wheel diameter, the easier it gets for it to ride over uneven surfaces with the least effort and vibrations. One can also increase the weight carrying capacity by having tandems that tend to distribute the weight over bigger surface area.

Environmental conditions where a caster will be used also dictate the type of caster to buy. The type must be able to work with maximum efficiency with the least maintenance cost. In high temperatures and moist areas, any caster made of metal prone to rusting cannot be advised. In such areas, aluminum and thermal plastics that can stand high temperatures are more applicable. If there is chemical exposure, inert materials like plastics can be used to avoid casters made of reactive metals.

Lastly, when purchasing the caster, one should understand his or her requirements based on the type if surface or rail he is going to use. Flat surfaces call for flat padded or tired casters so as to reduce vibration and floor damage. For the rails, u- shaped, v-shaped and tapered are more preferred since they provide grip on the rail thus avoiding derailing.




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