Custom casters are engineered for your specific design requirements by Caster Concepts.
Unique material handling challenges require custom solutions- solutions that are built to exact specifications. Depending on your needs, customization can be a complete custom design or be as simple as changing the mounting pattern, the overall height of the industrial caster, the swivel lead, the bearings, or other straightforward changes.
Because we laser cut, form, weld, and assemble casters as ordered, more superficial customizable changes are usually considered modifications and don’t add to lead time. This is due to our unique investments in one piece flow and in house design & engineering capabilities. These modified caster options apply to both our stock and custom casters, such as adding a brake or a toe guard to improve safety.
For more information on our custom heavy duty caster design and manufacturing capabilities, read our blog: What is a custom caster and why would I use one?
Caster Concepts can design a fully custom caster from scratch for various applications. Our customers tend to go the custom route when trying to retrofit casters into a legacy operation. This usually happens when the original casters are unavailable or must maintain unique mating heights.
Custom casters are also popular in the aerospace industry when moving cumbersome, complex loads that require particular floor loading stress and shock absorption properties while meeting strict safety factors.
Whether a simple modification or a fully customized design involving our experienced in-house engineering and manufacturing teams, we aim to solve your specific requirements. Our abilities include but are not limited to:
Can’t find what you’re looking for, or need to modify an existing part number? Our CAD Configurator streamlines the process and allows you to design the exact caster you need. The configurator allows us to design and produce the optimal caster for your material handling challenges and applies the changes immediately, providing an instantly viewable and downloadable model.
The CAD Configurator creates 3-D CAD models of heavy duty casters in the below categories available for download in more than 150 formats and CAD files for more than 20,000 standard models. For convenience, you can customize and configure parts by changing heights, leads, and mounting patterns.
When deciding on a customized caster, there are some essential factors to consider which will affect the overall costs. Using a standard swivel section helps control costs since standard swivel section forgings are optimized for efficient manufacturing. A custom bolt-hole pattern is another area that can add cost due to the particular machining required. However, once the lot size exceeds 15 pieces, setup costs approach the cost of a standard bolt-hole pattern.
Most caster companies also have a slate of standard wheel castings essential to controlling costs. However, if circumstances dictate that the core must be made from a billet of metal or fabricated from a tube and plate, it is significantly more expensive.
The type of bearing used in the wheel can also dramatically impact pricing. Branded bearings offer higher performance than imported bearings but come at a cost premium – usually 2-4x the cost of imported bearings. Adding wheel brakes, swivel locks, toe guards, etc., also increases a caster’s price. Most brakes and locks have standard designs to control costs. If your application requires unique components to meet a particular design, this could take a $50 option and turn it into a $500 option.
By keeping the above points in mind, other customizations like overall height, swivel radius, etc., can be implemented with minimal impact on your project.
