Sunday 27 December 2015

Factors To Consider When Looking For Heavy Duty Casters

By Edward Jackson


A caster is a simple wheel mounted on a fork so that the axis of the wheel rotation offsets slightly in relation to the mounting. The simple engineering concept helps the wheel to always be behind the shaft in respect to the direction of movement. Due to this ability to rotate or swivel around, it is possible to turn an object around its axis thus can be useful in cluttered spaces. The heavy duty casters have found their applications in the transport carts, aerospace building, ship and heavy industries too.

There many materials in the modern day material science field that bare hardness, strength and durability in making products. There many metal alloys and plastics capable of making casters for heavy duty works. It is therefore true that the better the mechanical properties of a material, the better the caster will be. A good example is steel that is both strong and durable and can therefore make a strong and durable caster.

When buying a caster, one should consider whether to get a swiveling or rigid one. Each has its merit and demerits. Rigid caster machines are more like to carry more weight since they do not have many joint and are safer in controlling them. The swiveling casters are more applicable in areas wheel there need to be lots of movements since they can turn at one place without taking much of a space.

Caster fluttering is the rapid swaying sideways of the gear during movements. This oscillation can also be referred as shimmying. It occurs at certain critical speeds at which the wheels start to wobble. It is caused by weight and the distance between the axle and the steering axis or what is called trailing distance. A solution to this issue is getting the speed limits to the specific casters and its weight limits to avoid it going out of control when in use.

Long time operations and use of caster driven cars or carts can cause injurious effects to the user. Therefore, better research on improvement and enhancement has been one of the projects for the design engineers. This includes the improvement on caster wheel tires and padding, getting the best length of trailing offset to avoid fluttering, brakes and steering system to ease control. All these improvements are aimed to make the casters more efficient and effective in their applications.

Wheel diameter, size and their tandems affect the effectiveness and efficiency of the caster gear. The bigger the wheel diameter, the easier it gets for it to ride over uneven surfaces with the least effort and vibrations. One can also increase the weight carrying capacity by having tandems that tend to distribute the weight over bigger surface area.

The working conditions of a caster put to a limit and restriction of certain material and their service time. Exposure to chemicals and liquids calls for a caster that is inert and can work in such harsh conditions, more loading calls for more strong casters. Also the amount work dictates that the caster be of durable material in order to service the purpose.

There are several types of caster wheels found in the market. They are each specific to the surface of use. For example, a flat caster is to be used in flat surfaces. If there is flooring, the caster gear need to be padded or have tires. The tapered, v-shaped and u-shaped casters are used in railings. They provide movement in a straight line following the rails to move objects or carts.




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