Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Fundamentals About Heavy Duty Casters

By Marla Mills


Heavy duty casters are made in a wide range of properties that it requires some knowledge to be able to choose one that achieves the function properly. This writing outlines some major basics about these items that one should keep in mind when shopping for them. First, a caster refers to a form of undriven wheel that could be compound, double, or single. It is intended for mounting on bigger objects usually called vehicles. Their major function is to ease the movement of the vehicles on various terrains.

Casters come in a variety of sizes, colors, and building materials. Materials commonly used include rubber, nylon, aluminium, plastic, and stainless steel among many others. The vehicle onto which they are mounted vary from shopping carts and office chairs to material handling equipments such as those used in surgery theaters. High capacity, heavy duty models are utilized in several industrial applications like assemblies, tow lines in firms, carts, and platform trucks.

These objects are intended for running on flat, smooth surfaces either in outdoor or indoor environments. The materials utilized to make them are usually resistant to rusting, corrosion, and effects of chemicals. They are weather proof and also rigid in structure. Rigidity helps in offering stability.

Currently there are numerous types of casters being sold in the market. The diverse versions can either be fixed so that they travel along straight courses, or they could be installed on pivots. Those fixed on pivots are very flexible and can automatically align themselves to the track of travel. Some of the most commonly known kinds consist of braking and locking, swivel, and rigid casters.

A rigid caster as suggested by the name tends to limit the movement of vehicles so that it is only in one direction. It is consisted of wheels, which are installed on forks. The orientation of forks is fixed relative to vehicles they are mounted on. These models were formerly used much on shopping carts prior to being replaced by swivel models.

A swivel caster is more like the rigid model with the exception that it includes an extra swivel joint over the fork. The additional swivel joint allows the wheel to rotate through an angle of three hundred and sixty degrees. This allows the wheel to roll in any direction rather than in a single direction only. The vehicle can be moved in any direction without necessarily having to change its directions. Some swivel models incorporate a handle for manually setting the orientation of wheels.

A braking and locking caster is similar to a swivel caster but it has a wheel lock at the base. The wheel lock can be operated by foot or hand. The lock holds the wheels hence preventing them from moving. It should be noted that the locking mechanism may be a separate entity that can be applied on almost any kind of swivel caster. There are many versions of the braking models of caster such as the total lock model.

Heavy duty casters have several applications in many diverse fields. They are a bit expensive than standard models, although their high quality is worth the cost difference. They could be purchased from any store that deals with related products anywhere worldwide.




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