ToughButterCup Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 I'm about to make make a 'cart' or trolley on which to store timber off cuts. There are many videos on YT. which are extremely helpful. Thinking it through, I reckon that the weak point in my eventual design could well be choosing the wrong casters. I think the eventually weight will be about 100kg to be distributed over 4 or 6 casters; the cart will be stored in a dry container with a level floor. I need to be able to turn the cart round on its own axis - lack of space is the issue. Any advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 (edited) Get castors with the biggest wheels you can, that have ball bearing thrust bearings on the pivots and that are rated for around 2 to 4 times the maximum you think you may load them with. My experience has been that castor load ratings from manufacturers are very optimistic, and that small castors are hard to move even on a smooth surface. 100mm is the minimum wheel size I'd use for something like this. The dollies I made for moving our airframe and wing jigs around use 150mm solid rubber tyred castors, and they worked OK on an dead-level epoxy coated factory floor, moving steel jigs that weighed around 100 to 200 kg. By contrast, my toolbox has solid rubber tyred castors that are around 50mm in diameter and it's a pain to move around on anything but a dead smooth floor. Edited January 18, 2018 by JSHarris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 Swivel casters all round for easy shifting. A couple of those being lockable ones if you ever bring it inside the house. Nylon wheels are cheapest but noisy and can mark some floors. Something like this: http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemDescV4&item=183012234509&category=26224&pm=1&ds=0&t=1516081030000&ver=0&cspheader=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 Biggest wheels possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 (edited) Bolt the castors on using nyloc nuts rather than screwing them on. Edited January 18, 2018 by Onoff nylic! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiehamy Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 I bought two trolleys from Aldi and just screw on osb to suit what I'm carrying. Although that's only for inside. They have carried our 200kg bath without a grumble and probably more in tiles. My friends kids loved racing them when their dad borrowed it...! Used them for Windows too, a godsend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted January 18, 2018 Author Share Posted January 18, 2018 2 hours ago, Onoff said: Bolt the castors on using nyloc nuts rather than screwing them on. Hmmm. Do you mean get casters that have a single central threaded bar and bolt as it's attachment method, or substitute four machine screws and nylocks for the supplied screws? If the latter, then I will have to make some bigger pads on which to fasten the casters, and maybe sleeve the machine screw Thinking about it, I'll bet you mean four machine screws and nylocks don't you.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 30 minutes ago, recoveringacademic said: Hmmm. Do you mean get casters that have a single central threaded bar and bolt as it's attachment method, or substitute four machine screws and nylocks for the supplied screws? If the latter, then I will have to make some bigger pads on which to fasten the casters, and maybe sleeve the machine screw Thinking about it, I'll bet you mean four machine screws and nylocks don't you.... Option 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijay Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 shopping trolley castors?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 13 minutes ago, Vijay said: shopping trolley castors?? They are usually reasonably good, about the right size, and they have ball bearing swivel thrust bearings, but they are welded on and not easy to re-purpose. The same size and type of castor with a flat plate mount and four bolts to fix it is better. If you have room I think it's a good idea to have two of the four with brakes, as it's often handy to be able to lock a trolley in place. I have a metal band saw mounted on four 100mm diameter swivelling castors and have brakes on all four castors, which does make it more stable, but nine times out of ten two of the castors will be at an angle where I can't kick the brake lever down, and I'm sure it would be just as stable with just two castors fitted with brakes, as most of the time only two of the brakes are used anyway. One thing to watch it how much higher the trolley will be with your chosen castors fitted. Castors with brakes may well be a bit taller, and in my experience the lower you can make a trolley the better. I made a pallet truck to move heavy pallets of stone up our paved drive, and for that I nused sections of channel with solid nylon rollers around 3 1/2" wide at the ends. Although those rollers are only 2 1/2" in diameter, I was able to move ballets weighing around 1/2 tonne with it OK. I just jacked the pallets up at the roadside with a car jack and blocks, slid the trolley/pallet skate underneath, lowered the pallet using the jack and blocks then towed it up the drive using the car. It was a lot quicker that unloading that pallets and handballing the stuff up to where I wanted to stack it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijay Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 shopping trolley ones can easily be removed with the right spanner, they are bolted on I agree ones with a flat plate fixing might be better though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 This any good? http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00324/tool-cart-300kg/dp/TL1058087?ost=tl1058087&ddkey=http%3Aen-CPC%2FCPC_United_Kingdom%2Fsearch Or a bit cheaper but more lightweight http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d01982/plastic-dolly/dp/TL1489787?ost=tl1489787&ddkey=http%3Aen-CPC%2FCPC_United_Kingdom%2Fsearch If you really must make your own, it won't be a lot cheaper http://cpc.farnell.com/search?st=castor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now