Casters - Caster Concepts

Casters

How to select the right industrial caster.

Selecting an industrial caster can be overwhelming. For most, the biggest challenge is where to start!

Step 1: Calculating the caster’s capacity

It’s important to know how much weight your caster can hold. This also means knowing the weight of your cart. For safety, we suggest estimating the total cart load over three casters to ensure adequate support. When you’re 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 for your situation. Such as, are there height or width limitations? If so, you may need to use a dual wheel 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 application are understood, caster selection is next. Once you have a better idea of the caster you need based on your answers to the questions above, now comes decisions on specific caster type, such as if you need a spring-loaded caster, or what type of swivel section you need. The standard swivel sections are kingpin, kingpinless, and maintenance free. You would rarely select a kingpin caster unless you have a well-planned maintenance program or a unique application. The most common option would be a kingpinless caster which covers most of your applications. The third type, maintenance free, is best for ease of movement and eliminating routine maintenance.

Step 4: Selecting your wheel

Selecting your wheel is next. This step is heavily influenced by your application. For high-temperature settings, steel or high temp 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. And to keep the overall height down, steel and Nytec caster wheels handle heavier loads in a smaller size.

For a more in depth guide on selecting your caster wheel, click here.

Step 5: Caster Ad-ons

Choosing your options. 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.

 


V-Groove Casters

Steel V-Groove wheels and Iron V-Groove wheels are commonly used in industrial environments such as production lines and manufacturing. They V-Groove Casters




Spring Loaded Casters

Spring Loaded casters are designed to absorb shocks and minimize the impact to the cart, resulting in smoother movement, reduced risk of Spring Loaded Casters



61 Series Pneumatic Caster

Pneumatic Wheel Casters

Pneumatic wheels are designed to mimic car tires. Essentially, they are rubber wheels fitted around a metal hub. Many are Pneumatic Wheel Casters




Maintenance Free Casters

Our line of maintenance-free casters are designed to reduce the force exerted to turn, or start rolling when all of Maintenance Free Casters




Flanged Wheel Casters

Flanged wheel casters are constructed of premium cast iron, ductile iron, or forged steel for high strength and long wear. Flanged Wheel Casters



55 Series Caster With Twergo Wheel

Ergonomic Casters

Ergonomic casters are designed to create less friction with the ground. This benefit can significantly reduce the force exerted to Ergonomic Casters




Dual Wheel Casters

Dual wheel casters are beneficial for applications where height is an issue, as they offer the highest possible capacity at Dual Wheel Casters