casters

[Gordon Davis]

I am working on a base for my DC-380 planer and came across some casters that were rated 175lbs each . would using 4 of these be ok for 400 lb load?

[Don Morris]

Yep! And a little more.

[Gordon Davis]

Thanks Don

[Dave Zellers]

Not so fast. If the load is always going to be equal and every caster is going to only going to be carrying 1/4 of the load, then OK.

But those suckers are heavy! I have one and unloaded it from my van alone so I know all too well.

But if all the weight is shifted to 2 of the casters because of an uneven floor, then maybe not so much.

I'd move to a higher rating.

[Art Mann]

I have used lots of those red urethane casters with the double lock and I have seen some failures. I have never seen a failure due to weight. I have seen multiple failures of the swivel lock due to poor design or fabrication. My experience tells me to buy a better quality caster rather than one that is excessively oversized.

[Michael Mahan]

+1 design trumps oversized .
but to be on the safe side I like to keep the weight at double the quartered rate so myself I'd look at
+200lbs rated
a model that has large area ball bearing races (that's that large area above the wheel , below the mount )
& I like the wide wheels they go over small bits of debris on the floor better

[Gordon Davis]

Thanks for info,by the way what would be a good height from floor to deck?

[Thomas Canfield]

I had to replace some Woodcraft red poly casters on a jointer several years back after multiple failures. I bought the replacement from Caster City USA and discussed the casters with them. The recommendation was to not exceed 1/2 of the rated and even then, long periods of sitting load could cause the "tire" to start to fail under heavier loads. Larger wheels also seem to hold up better, and now I try to use 3" as minimum and prefer using 4" for easier rolling.