Best Casters For Concrete Floors?

[Julie Moriarty]

I'm looking to replace some really crummy casters on some cabinets in my shop. The floor is concrete. The cabinets are heavy.

I was thinking rubber wheels wouldn't be the best option because the weight would flatten the bottom of the wheel when it sits for too long.

Any suggestions?

[Jeff Johnson]

Depends. If your floor is very level and clean steel works, but it's very unforgiving of irregularaties, so you'd need to have a very smooth clean floor to make rolling easy.

Most Rubber wheels are fine -just get them sized up for the weight. Most people under-size to save a few bucks. If you are very concerned about them taking a set, you can phenolic wheels, which roll somewhere between steel and rubber.

[Jay Rasmussen]

Julie,
I've gone with Polyurethane and have been pleased. I have some cracks and these work well maneuvering over them.
Jay

[Jay Park]

I like polyurethane casters. These work well and are cheap.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/3-Red-Polyurethane-Swivel-Caster/D2607

[Julie Moriarty]

I've seen the polyurethane wheels in a number of catalogs. I just don't know if they compress like rubber. The floor has no cracks and is level but stuff always falls to the floor, but it can be swept up. The biggest issue is flat spots. The casters I have now are like that, and they are too small. So I am looking to upsize to 4" or 5" wheels. Just not sure which I'd need. But as long as the wheels won't develop flat spots after sitting a while, I'll be happy.

[Erik Loza]

Julie, I installed some poly-tired casters (Harbor Freight, most likely...) under a few wire shelving units and every tire developed a flat spot. On the other hand, I installed some large casters with hard plastic wheels (also Harbor Freight) under a very heavy cabinet and they have been fine. The poly deforms, in my experience. I would stick with either hard plastic or metal casters for shop cabinets and machines. Just my 2-cents.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Ed Labadie]

I've been using Wagner's from Reid Supply for years now, they have a urethane wheel and don't flat spot (even under my Unisaw). Also, the total lock version locks up nice and tight with no wobble. IIRC, I think I've got 5 machines on them.

http://www.reidsupply.com/online-catalog.aspx?pgno=388&ret=sku/WC-73/

I use the WC-73 & WC-75 part numbers.

Ed

[John Downey]

I've been using those red ones from Woodcraft for years (the better ones, not the house brand). I think they are urethane wheels, no problems with flat spots. I tend to look for casters with good bearings more than wheel material. Most of my machines are old, so I don't really know the weights, in the 300-600 pound range at a guess. Using 4 casters rated at 400# each guarantees smooth operation. If you're buying a 400# rated caster, the wheel won't develop a flat spot, and it will roll and swivel nicely.

I recently bought a 1300# machine, not sure what I'm going to do about that yet :D

EDIT: I just went and looked, those ones I'm thinking of are rated 300# not 400. Principle of over doing it on the load rating still holds though, load the casters way under what they are supposed to take, and you get nice smooth operation. Four casters rated at 100# each might work for a cabinet saw, but in my experience it ends up being like a 400# shopping cart! :D

[Dan Hintz]

Polyurethane, Julie... can't go wrong. I have several on the cabinet that my CNC sits atop... no flat spots whatsoever after a couple of years. All equipment I made after that (another roll-around cabinet for my lathe supplies) use the same wheels. As said earlier, though, size them appropriately for the weight you intend to put on them.

[Cary Falk]

+1 on the ones from Woodcraft. They go on sale 3 or 4 times a year.

[Alan Lightstone]

+1 on the ones from Woodcraft. They go on sale 3 or 4 times a year.

+1. And couldn't agree more about the oversizing them plan. Has always worked well for me.

[Jim Neeley]

One consideration in selecting casters: virtually all "flat" floors aren't as a caster sees it. With four casters on a rigid base, even when evenly loaded, when you roll it there will be times when most of the weight will be on 2 casters in opposite corners.

That's why many caster vendors tell you to size each caster for half of the total weight.

Just my $0.02.. YMMV.

Jim

[Julie Moriarty]

Looks like polyurethane is the way to go. Thanks for all your help! Now it's time to start looking for sales. :D

[Dave Zellers]

Looks like polyurethane is the way to go. Thanks for all your help! Now it's time to start looking for sales. :D

Quite often the sale price at a place like Woodcraft is the regular price at a caster mfg.

I get mine here:

https://www.sescasters.com/scripts/index.php?area=user&intrface=products

[David Winer]

Looks like polyurethane is the way to go. Thanks for all your help! Now it's time to start looking for sales. :D

Sales are good, good advice is even better. You will find excellent advice for your specific needs at Caster City (http://www.castercity.com/). I've been very pleased with their advice and casters.

[Greg R Bradley]

Sales are good, good advice is even better. You will find excellent advice for your specific needs at Caster City (http://www.castercity.com/). I've been very pleased with their advice and casters.

I second the recommendation on Castor City. Also, you will probably end up with Polyolefin for your spec instead of Polyurethane. It depends on the load and how long the load stays in one place. If the cabinets are heavy, you probably won't be able to size Polyurethane to keep them from flat spotting. How heavy is heavy and will they sit still for weeks or months? The point is that places like Castor City will give you very good prices and the right castor for the job.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Polyurethane, Julie...

Ditto.

Definitely not steel - under load, damaged concrete. But in a home shop, you wouldn't really see that effect. But - they will bump on joints, and be hard to push over/past any slight obstacle.

At the company I work for, I have had built 100 or so material handling carts in the past 9 months - for wood. Understand that my design allows for loads of 2,000 # or more - more than the guys can push, and not what you would need. But the logic may be of use to you.

I exclusively use 8" dia polyurethane wheels - with excellent, greaseable bearings. Except for some special applications where I go to 10".

They do not deform. They won't get a "flat spot" if you leave them sitting under load for a long time. But - in the factory, we don't have that issue. At 150 lfpm, a cart is full every 12 - 15 minutes - pushed back for the packaging guy to do his job, empty cart rolled into place, keep stacking, because we darn sure aren't stopping the infeed guy from shoving lumber in the front end.

I would suggest 6" dia for a home shop application, if you are talking any serious weight - like 100#. The rolling resistance improves in your favor dramatically as you move up in size.

[Bill White]

Urethane for wheels any day. BTW, isn't polyurethane a finish? :)
Bill

[Dan Hintz]

Urethane for wheels any day. BTW, isn't polyurethane a finish? :)
Bill

Here ya go, Bill :)

http://www.differencebetween.net/object/difference-between-urethane-and-polyurethane/

[Ed Weiser]

Try Footmaster from Great Lakes Caster (and others.) Since they have a built in leveler, the weight is not on the caster except when you're moving the cabinet or tool. They have models rated to over 2000 pounds IIRC. Work perfectly on smooth concrete. Not cheap, however.

[Erik Christensen]

+2 on caster city. in general the larger the wheel the more indifferent it is to an uneven surface - so if you can handle the extra height bigger is usually better. when I wanted my new hand tool work bench mobile (1,200# + with tools) I got 4 900# swivel casters from them - for the rating not that expensive - I remember ~ 40$ each. the bench rolls great but is so long & awkward that it really takes 2 to navigate without hitting something but when not in use I just leave it on the wheels for weeks at a time and the wheels have zero flat spots

[Mike Goetzke]

Looks like polyurethane is the way to go. Thanks for all your help! Now it's time to start looking for sales. :D


Julie - you have a place close by to pick these up plus they are currently 30% off - Woodcraft. I have a rough concrete floor in my garage and have these on my Unisaw that has a RT/cabinet in the extension. Work great.

Mike

[Dick Strauss]

+1 for SES Casters (Thanks Matt Meiser!).

They used to have an ebay store with prices that beat Woodcraft sale prices by quite a bit. If you called them directly instead of using their ebay store they used to match the slightly lower prices listed on ebay versus their web prices. I've purchased 25+ of their 4" Total Lock T31 series casters with absolutely no failures or issues for use on machines up to 1000 lbs. I'd suggest 4 or 5" so that they roll over debris without any issues.

Be safe,
Dick

[Mark W Pugh]

Orange ones from HD. I have them under a very, used loosely, heavy table. No problems thus far. And cheaper than other places.