What makes a good castor?

[cgallery]

I was at my local HF store yesterday and noticed that they have a selection of castors. I am going to need some castors to build a stand for my new-to-me 16-32 sander.

But I've never purchased castors before. They had what looked like sealed bearings for the swivel part of the castor, but it didn't look like they used bearings for the axle? None of their castors looked like they had axle bearings? The ones I was looking at looked pretty decent at about $5 per. They were rated at 125# each.

But I don't know what to look for to find a decent castor. And I don't know what to expect from a non-decent castor. I don't plan on moving the sander very much, in fact.

Any input?

[iceman61]

Make sure that 2 of them are locking casters. Machines with high speed moving parts have a tendancy to "walk" when they are sitting on casters.

[DonHo]

I'd checkout casters from elsewhere before I decided to buy HF casters. Not saying the HF casters might not work on a light load but I've used them with a mobile cabinet with a 12" drill press on top and they didn't work well. I found the swivel casters from Hartville tools to be a good value.
http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/11883

Almost all my tools and even my workbench are mounted on these casters, most on the 3" but the workbench on the 4". I also found having all 4 casters to be swivel locking casters to be a big help. Makes moving the tools much easier. Another point is the swivel should lock as well as the caster, makes things much more stable.

Good luck,
DonHo

[Alex Franke]

I just picked several of these guys from Grizzly for my bench tool storage shelf and they're great. I actually got four of the double-locking casters because I thought the extra maneuverability would be important.

Woodstock International H0695 4" Red Polyurethane Swivel Caster w/ Brake (the photo at this link is incorrect (no brake), but the product shipped is correct. Referral credit to BT3Central.)

The 4" wheels are great -- so far no problems with hang-ups (on chips of wood for example) or anything. The "tires" are oblong so it's not very thick where it hits the ground. They roll very smoothly, quietly, and effortlessly supporting hundreds of pounds.

I can roll the fully loaded shelf around with a single finger. I can even move it by pushing at the top (that's not what I do -- I'm too short for that -- I just tested this to see if the thing would tip over).

The double-locks are not independent, but they are very solid. You either have nothing locked or both the wheel and swivel locked. It would be nice if you could independently lock those parts, but I haven't seen any casters yet that can do this.

[cgallery]

Okay, thanks for the help. But my machine is only 100# and I don't plan on moving it much. But I'm still squeemish about them. So I'll ask another question...

Are the mounting plates for different size castors standardized? So, for example, if I use the HF castors and find them to be crap, can I reuse my holes in my stand to install a different brand?

[jonmulzer]

Not that I know of, but how hard is it to just drill a few more holes? If you are putting HF casters on it, it is not fine furniture so don't fret so much.

[LinuxRandal]

I believe I saw something at Castercity, that dealt with searching via the mounting bracket size.

There are lot's of different size brackets.

As for the Hartville tool casters, they are decent, inexpensive, out of stock often, casters. BUT they don't lock as solidly as their Woodcraft/Peachtree counter points (two locking points verses something like five).

If you need total lock (don't want the tablesaw to move under you), look at that, before you go inexpensive.

[Pappy]

For quality casters that will be under a heavy load I buy Darnel-Rose. My tool table/cart rides on their 4" poly swivels. At almost 400# loaded, I can still steer it from one end. My 14" Griz band saw, 8" Rockwell jointer, and Jet Mini lathe are all mobile on 2" hard rubber casters. They custom make their casters. All have double row swivel bearings. Several options are available on plate size, wheel type, and axle bearings. If you want to find out more, check the sales rep section of casters.com and give Joe Mauro a call. He is a woodworker, has been with them for over 30 years, and will take the time to work with you.

The drill press cabinet and router station both ride on Grizzly red poly wheels since the weight isn't that much.

The caster I hve bought from HF and Lowe's all either went back or in the trash. The load ratings are way above what they should be. Biggest problem is with the swivel bearings not working under even 1/2 the claimed ratings.