Castors - An Introduction

By Author: Groshan Fabiola
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Casters are used and form an important part in an integrated material handling system. Castors are actually an un-driven - single, double, or compound wheel that is mounted on the chosen object to enable smoother and easier movement. As you are ordering casters, ensure that you are choosing castor dealers who will offer for high quality products along with exceptional quality service.
Casters are either fixed to roll in one direction, or are mounted on a pivot. They are attached or fixed in a manner that allows the wheel to automatically swivel, and align itself to the direction in which it moves. Swiveling casters are on few occasions also found attached to handles, which helps the operators to turn the casters into any direction at their will.
Casters are used in a variety of industrial applications. There are these heavy duty and high capacity casters, which are used on things like, platform trucks, carts, and tow lines in plants.
Casters are nothing but a wheel which is mounted to a fork, with an additional offset steering joint. This joint allows the wheel to rotate freely in 360°. This in turn allows ...
... the objects to turn easily without having to change the direction of the chassis that the casters are mounted to. To achieve different types of performance with casters, the joints are adjusted at certain angle and distance of the wheel axles.
Casters are typically used on carts and furniture and are mounted underneath these platforms. Casters are advantageous for moving vehicles or platforms in both straight and turning motions. Supermarket shopping carts are a good example of castors used on wheels.
Castors are designed in a wide range of sizes and materials depending on its use and application. In majority of cases they are made from rubber, plastic, nylon, aluminum, or stainless steel. Ti should be known to the frequent users of castors that they operate smoothly on smooth and flat surfaces.
While we are talking about advantages and uses of casters let us also discuss the disadvantages along with the way to overcome it. One of the major disadvantages of the casters is flutter. Generally, flutter occurs at high speeds. Caster flutter or oscillation occurs naturally at certain speeds which disturbs the movement in terms of speed as well as direction of the object on which it is mounted.
Castor flutters depend on the weight on casters and the distance between the wheel axle and steering joint. Increasing this trailing distance can help you overcome or eliminate flutter at least at moderate speeds. A common example of castors flutter is a supermarket shopping cart, when one caster rapidly swings side-to-side. To remove or minimize casters from fluttering, you can increase the friction of the swivel joints.
We do hope that this basic introduction to casters helps you understand about the uses, strength and functions of casters clearly.

For more resources regarding Castors or about Casters please review this page http://www.bil-castors-and-wheels.co.uk.