Castor Questions?

Re: Castor Questions?

John Foster

Just a few thoughts

1) larger wheels roll easier, but.... When you change directions and your swivels have to flip around, one of two things happen. Either both wheels swivel the same way and your machine kicks out one way as much as the offset of the swivel , which is generally more with bigger castors. Or the swivels swing opposite ways, which will make it momentarily push so hard that you will think you left the brakes on.

2) wheel surface width and material also makes a difference. In theory on a smooth concrete floor a narrow steel castor would be best. This may not be so desireable on a wood or very rough concrete floor. My stock lumber cart is on a concrete floor, I bought very heavy duty castors, but they have a fairly soft urethane "tire" on them, it is an ugly beast to push around.

3) yes, the rating is per castor.

Don't buy anything but a steel wheel

Dick Coers

Anything that has rubber or urethane will not last. The cheap casters that come China with a urethane wheel degrade horribly. I've seen some where chunks of urethane actually fall off. If the caster says rated for 600 pounds, that is each.

Re: Castor Questions?

John K Jordan

If it will fit I haven't found a base better than the Sawstop industrial. I bought one to put under a milling machine. It has a foot-operated hydraulic cylinder to effortlessly raise a machine, high quality casters.

JKJ

Re: Castor Questions?

John in NM

Can you weld? If so mobile bases are very easily made from angle iron and flat stock.

Weight rating is per caster. I use a 4x rule of thumb just to make sure it will role nicely (so if the machine weighs 400 lb, I buy a 400 lb caster). This is probably part of the reason I have no trouble rolling machines around on urethane wheeled casters.

I have two machines that weigh in the neighborhood of 400 lbs - a powermatic pm100 planer and a General 690 bandsaw. Both do fine on 3" casters from Woodcraft. Wheels are urethane on a hard plastic hub. I like 4x swivel too, for a small shop it's convenient to be able to spin a machine in its own footprint, but due to the caster action it can be a bit harder to steer one or get it rolling if all are not pointed the same way. In general harder wheels will be easier to get rolling.

Re: Castor Questions?

Don Stephan

If you buy caster wheels, find the closest distributor of commercial caster wheels. The one I always used purchased all the parts, then built the caster wheels for each order, making the best possible combination of parts for each situation.

Re: Castor Questions?

JL

I have several different mobile bases.

My 18" band saw is on a Rockler base that you make from their corners and parts and 2" x 2" pieces of lumber. Works well - but I wouldn't recommend it for your application.

My cabinet saw (400+ lbs) is on the HTC 3000 Universal mobile base. Works well - but the wheels are a bit small. They work great on my shop floor (which is concrete) - but I wouldn't go over any thresholds.

My 14" band saw is on a Delta mobile base (50-274) which works great - but is too small for your application.

I think any of the better mobile bases would work for you. If they can handle a cabinet saw, they should be able to handle your sander.

tipping hazzard

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I put a top heavy 13" Delta planer on casters. It tipped over and broke my wife's leg.

Did you at least make her a splint?

Barry Irby

Good thought though. I will be careful.