Casters

[ahaidet]

Anyone have a good source for good cheap casters? How are the harbor freight ones? Any one had good luck with anything from HD or Lowes?


This is for a workbench I am building. I will post pics when its finished. The casters will not hold the load all the time as it has legs with threaded feet that it will rest on 95% of the time. Then when I am ready to move it I will screw the feet up and in and then the casters will touch allowing it to roll around to clean behind it or move it out to work around something.

 

[Defender Chassis]

www.castersupply.com

 

[rieferman]

Then when I am ready to move it I will screw the feet up and in and then the casters will touch allowing it to roll around to clean behind it or move it out to work around something.

There are a bunch of clever designs that would eliminate the need to screw up feet. Similar to the aisle stairs in HD or Lowes where you step on a lever to engage the wheels.

Anyhow, the stuff I found at my local HD is plenty heavy duty. 4 inch casters, swivel, locking, rubber coated wheels.. I forget the weight rating but it was plenty. Pack of 4 casters for $30 I believe. Since they lock, you might even be able to skip having the leg/screw down idea depending on your application

 

[ahaidet]

Defender have you ordered from them before? did it go smoothly?

Looks like a good company prices are pretty reasonable and they have alot of selection.. Thanks for the link.

 

[ahaidet]

Rieferman

Yeah I thought about some of the more clever ideas to eliminate screw up feet. But for the robustness I was looking for and the cost the feet seemed like the way to go. I already bought the feet and welded the bracket on for them. I was not even sure I would want casters on it at first but for the sake of making it easy to move if I ever do I figure I might as well add that option now before I load it up with stuff.

I will have to check out Home Depot on the way home. I have looked at lowes for them before and was not overly impressed with there options. I found ones at Tractor supply I liked but the cost was close to $15 a caster.. little out of my budget for this project.

 

[Defender Chassis]

Defender have you ordered from them before? did it go smoothly?

Looks like a good company prices are pretty reasonable and they have alot of selection.. Thanks for the link.

I have not ordered from them but have used their caster before. They sell casters made by Bassik. I have a set of 8" double lock Bassik catsres on my weld table and I like them a lot. I got them on ebay for a considerable discount otherwise I would have ordered from them. I have p[lans right now for a project to use their expandable stem casters. They will slip into the end of a piece of 1-1/2" tubing.

 

[rsanter]

for basic stuff the HF casters are good enough. I always recomend to get bigger and heavier than you think you need

for a work bench you have to decide how it will be used. I have a steel table that I use as a welding/metal working table. because I will pound on it and work it had I got some casters from a surplus center that were rated for 700# or 800# each to account for the impact load

castersupply was mentioned and they are good, I have also gotten some from IPS (online) as well as a couple other online places

bob

 

[Torque1st]

Figure the actual load rating on any caster is half of what they advertise for a commercial caster supply. Figure the rating is 1/4 for the cheap imports. Beware the places that list load ratings per pair or for 4 casters.

 

[PurdueSD]

Ive had very good luck with casters from mcmaster.

I put 4 on my weld table that all have wheel locks and and swivel locks. No need for the screw down feet...

item number: 27075T72

They cost me 20bucks a piece, but its a lot cheaper than replacing a tool that got thrown across the room in a moment of fury after ruining a precise job.

 

[jake00]

I've bought from this place
http://www.accesscasters.com/standard-plate-size-casters.aspx

 

[jdkenyon]

This is the brand I stick with. http://www.colsoncaster.com/ I have a supply house locally that handles them. I tried the home depot variety before and couldn't move the cart after adding the weight. I replaced them with good casters and now can push it around with a couple of fingers. Huge difference in quality and not much worse for price.

 

[bimmer1980]

the type of caster will also dictate how easily it rolls. The urethane or rubber coated casters take a lot more effort to roll. The plain steel ones roll the easiest on concrete. Of course the diameter and weight loads make a difference as well.

I've gotten some of the 4" casters at HF when they were on sale. They work ok for smaller work benches. I have a 2 1/2' x 6' work bench that I used their casters for. It is not loaded overly heavy....

I had built a welding table and used some 6" casters on.... but those I bought off ebay....

 

[brownbagg]

HF are good depending on what you want, they have many different sizes. I like the bigger wheels for rough terrain, even the small wheels are hard on a shop floor where there might be a wire or welding rod laying around

 

[kbs2244]

The HF casters are one of the things they do right.
I like their 4 inch dia., full swivel, cast iron spoked wheels with solid rubber tires.
I have them under a number of my roll around stuff.

 

[logical]

I've bought from this place
http://www.accesscasters.com/standard-plate-size-casters.aspx

Me too but through their E-bay store. I had one issue where they sent the wrong thing (one pnuematic 6" instead of 4 smaller ones i ordered). They sent the right ones right away and told me to just keep the big one since shipping it back and handling would probably exceed their wholesale cost of the part.

 

[Defender Chassis]

www.castersupply.com

Made in USA

 

[jwith68]

The HF casters are one of the things they do right.
I like their 4 inch dia., full swivel, cast iron spoked wheels with solid rubber tires.
I have them under a number of my roll around stuff.

I agree. I have 2 swivel and 2 non-swivel under my welding table, and get along well with them. I have a scissor jack from a Dodge minivan permanently mounted to the end with the swivels for stabilizing/leveling - works good.

 

[michiganworkbench]

We've been using the 4 inch Easy Glide casters from McMaster-Carr.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-casters/=s8d4bw

There are many options at McMaster based on your main goals...

Did you ever post photos of your work bench?

 

[reman]

I have had good luck with snagging casters off ebay.

 

[Saw]

Phenolic casters also work well on concrete.

McMaster Carr has a vast selection of casters and step brakes that work well, if you anticipate moving your bench, work station very often, I would recommend spending a little extra on casters, you won't regret it, you might not even notice the amount of load you are actually moving with proper sized casters.

 

[southalabama]

We've had good luck with hf casters and rubber tires. I think their price must be some kind of Chinese subsidy to put others out of business.

 

[catalytic]

Call EZ-Roll caster. I've ordered from them a bunch of times. Last time, I got 4 double locking poly-on-steel non-marking 1200lb cap. EACH casters with grease zerks for like $11 each. I called 31 caster places to request quotes last year when I was welding a bunch of machine bases, and they won hands down. I've used them a lot since (they're under a 1000lb band saw) and I love them.

By the way, go with 2 double locking swivel and 2 rigid with brakes, poly-on-steel, and as much wheel diameter and weight capacity as you can (way more weight cap. than you think you need). Each time I've gone with manufacturer's recommended weight capacity casters under a machine (rather than over-sizing), I've regretted it.