Industrial Casters

Selecting the Right Industrial Caster – What’s Right for Your Application?

Industrial caster selection can be overwhelming. For most, the biggest challenge is where to start!  Follow along as we highlight different caster applications to help you decide which dolly caster is right for you.

Step 1: Calculating the caster’s capacity.

It’s essential to know how much weight your industrial dolly casters can hold, as well as the weight of your cart. For safety, we suggest estimating the total cart load over three casters to ensure adequate support. When dealing with uneven floor conditions, you can assume not all casters are contacting the floor. So, ensuring that the load can be supported by three out of the four casters allows for adequate safety.

Step 2: Understanding the application.

Answering a few questions can help you determine the best caster selection and design for your situation. Such as, are there height or width limitations? If so, you may need to use a dual wheel dolly caster which offers the highest possible capacity at the lowest overall height. Do you need to protect the floor, or is the floor uneven or rough? Our polyurethane treads and our spring-loaded casters are designed for a variety of these types of conditions.

Step 3: Selecting your casters.

Once capacity and the caster application are understood, caster selection is next. Once you have a better idea of the dolly casters you need based on your answers to the questions above, now comes decisions on specific caster types, such as if you need a spring-loaded caster or what type of swivel section you need for your swivel caster. The standard swivel sections are kingpin, kingpinless, and maintenance free. You would rarely select a kingpin caster unless you have a well-planned caster maintenance program or a unique application. The most common option would be a kingpinless caster, which covers most applications. The third type, maintenance free, is best for ease of movement and eliminating routine caster maintenance.

Step 4: Selecting your industrial Caster wheels.

Selecting your industrial wheels is next. This step is heavily influenced by your caster applications. For high-temperature settings, steel or high-temperature plastic casters are best. If maintaining floor conditions is priority 1, you will want a softer polyurethane. For heavier loads, you can use a larger polyurethane wheel or a Twergo™ Ergonomic Caster. To keep the overall height down, steel and Nytec caster wheels handle heavier loads in a smaller size.

Step 5: Caster Add-Ons.

Choosing your options comes next. Caster add-ons such as brakes, swivel locks, and toe guards are also options to consider.
– Brakes lock the wheels in place to prevent the caster from rolling.
– Swivel locks will lock the swivel section in place to help maneuverability.
– Toe guards wrap around the caster to prevent injuries from rolling over the operator’s feet.