Finding The Right Casters for Your Job

Finding the right casters for your job can be a tricky situation, you know you need some industrial casters, and you know you need to get them from some industrial caster manufacturers, but the big question is, how do you pick the right casters.

When looking at industrial casters, you need to consider a few things because not all casters will work well in all situations:

• How should the industrial caster attach to the furniture or equipment?
• What type of load-bearing does your caster need?
• What kind of movement is required, linear or multidirectional?
• What type of flooring will the caster run across?
• Do you need any special features, like locking casters?
• Are looks important for your industrial caster?

These are all important questions that you need to answer so that you can pick the right type of caster. Luckily, we’re industry-leading industrial caster manufacturers. Our team is here to help you all along the way.

How Should Your Caster Attach?

There are only two primary types of industrial casters, Stem (Post) casters, and Plate (Screw-On) casters; with stem casters, you are generally inserting a stem insert so that you can clip or screw the stem caster into the cavity. With plate casters, you attach the plate to the bottom of your furniture or equipment with screws.

Both work as great casters; it will depend on the equipment or furniture that requires casters to see which kind will work the best or be installed the easiest.

How Much Weight Should Your Caster Take?

Understanding the weight of your equipment or furniture and how much extra weight could be added through equipment or people sitting on the furniture will help determine what type of caster could be best, or at least allow you to calculate which ones are unacceptable for the task. Consider how much weight crane casters need to handle, going from just the frame up to 2 tons in some situations.

Calculate the weight of your equipment, any materials that will be added to increase that weight, and then calculate if your caster(s) can handle that weight. So find the maximum weight of 1 of the casters that you like, multiply that weight-bearing capacity by however many casters you will install, and then ensure that the caster weight-bearing capacity is higher than your equipment and materials weight.

An interesting scenario would be if somebody sat on a chair that had a weight capacity of 400 lbs, and the person and chair were just under 400 lbs; however, what happens if that person rocks in the chair or tips it back or to the side, not all of the casters will be bearing the load, and it could collapse due to doubling the load of two casters when two are not being used.

Your casters and design need to account for how the equipment or furniture could be used. You also need to double-check with your industrial caster manufacturers which of them can handle the biggest loads. Some may not be producing heavy-weight-bearing industrial casters in the types that you’re looking for.

Contact us for the best help. Most people OVERESTIMATE their caster weight loads.

What Movement Is Required, Linear or Multidirectional?

Consider what the equipment or furniture will be doing; if it’s just moving items from point a to point b, then it just needs industrial casters that can perform linear movements. However, if you’re setting up a desk chair or crash cart for a hospital, then you need a swivel casters that can easily handle moving in all directions with no delays.

What Type of Flooring Will Be Used?

Your flooring and how you want to treat it can impact what casters you’ll need. If you have delicate flooring that you need to protect, then rubber or polyurethane casters will be better options as they won’t damage your floor like some other casters will do.

Even if you’re on heavy duty casters, you’ll find polyurethane industrial casters are a better option to move around smoothly and not cause chips out of the concrete. While steel casters are great for concrete when not moving too much but heavy load-bearing is required.

If you’re on heavily carpeted floors, then you want the harder casters that can deal with that, and the higher the carpet, the bigger the actual wheels on the caster should be.

You’ll also have to determine if you’re on a slope or flat surface, as different materials can grip better on slopes depending on what the flooring is made of.

Overall, polyurethane casters are one of the better all-around options, except where heavy load-bearing is required, like in crane casters, and then you need steel or iron casters to take on the task.

Do You Need Special Caster Features?

Industrial casters often need some special features, even if it’s just locking mechanisms. You may even find that some of your casters need shock-absorbing features, or if you’re in a hospital or high-tech facility, then you need anti-microbial casters or anti-static casters.

So consider what features would make your casters work better, and you’ll probably be able to find various types of industrial casters that will meet your needs; you just have to think about what your needs are.

If you’re trying to move highly delicate equipment or materials, then you may need to consider things like pneumatic casters that are designed for low-speed manual movements, with air-filled wheels that provide a cushioned ride, shock absorption, and quiet operations. These types of industrial casters would be ideal for transporting delicate computer equipment or medical testing materials.

You may even need casters that won’t roll on floors but will go along inverted angle tracks, and then you’ll need to be looking for v groove caster wheels.

Not all industrial caster manufacturers allow all of these features either, so it’s important when you’re looking at features and the casters you’re looking into actually offer what you need. Talk to our team and we can help you make the right decision!

Do Looks Matter with Your Caster?

Does it matter what your casters look like? Do you want them to look a little nicer, or does it not matter in a machine shop what your crane casters look like? Matching your industrial casters to your environment may or may not be important to you.

If it does matter, you can get colored casters or decorative casters or pick a type of caster that matches your environment. Such as shiny chrome casters for medical environments or tech offices. You can even modify the size of the casters to be bigger or smaller for a more or less prominent view of them.

You should be able to get a full range of colors from your caster manufacturers, along with a good range of decorative options if that’s what you’re looking for. Which is exactly what we can do. Shop our selection today to find out more.