Casters and wheels can be very effective in providing mobility to a variety of things such as office furniture, medical equipment, and much more. The right combination can help you quickly move heavy material from one place to another and stabilize the material wherever you wish. To do this in a safe and efficient manner, it is important to choose the right combination of casters and wheels. Douglas Equipment is the largest provider of high quality casters in South Florida. We have been in business since 1955 and have led the industry with our expertise and the variety of our products. We believe that our knowledge of the material handling industry, the hospitality industry, the hotel industry, and restaurant industry allows us to sell our casters to many other industries with confidence. Not only do we handle industrial clients, we handle residential clients, as well. Everyone needs to be able to move material in a quick and safe manner. We make sure we provide high quality casters at an extremely affordable price.When you wish to purchase casters and their various wheel options, it is important to consider several very important factors.
Floor Surface
One of the greatest factors in order for your caster and wheels to grab the floor correctly is the surface of the floor. Some wheels work better on certain surfaces. For example, if you have a concrete floor, you don’t want to use wheels that are cast iron or steel because they will cut into the concrete and damage it. You may want something like a hard or soft rubber or polyurethane because it will provide shock impact for whatever material is riding on the caster. The Encore Dolly caster uses a thermoplastic wheel that can handle medium sized objects like hand trucks, stock carts, and dollies. Typically, these would be for objects with a maximum weight of 260 lbs.
Floor Damage
Additionally, you can not only damage the structure of the floor, but the surface. Normally, this means scuff marks, skid marks, and scratches. While this is usually just cosmetic damage that can easily be fixed or cleaned, sometimes this can become permanent. Therefore, we provide a number of wheels that will not scuff or otherwise mark the floor. Polyolefin wheels and the aforementioned rubber wheels will provide smooth and efficient transportation and keep the floors clean. Our Baron Caster office casters can be used for office furniture and moving office equipment without causing cosmetic damage in the office environment.
Environmental Temperatures
The temperature of your working environment can create significant problems. Should you need your casters to work in frigid environments, like refrigerated compartments or hot environments like the steel industry, you’ll want to pay particular attention to the type of casters and wheels you need to maintain traction. We recommend using a performa rubber or phenolic resin wheel on a caster in these environments. These wheels can withstand a low temperature of -45 degrees F or a high temperature of 180 degrees F. An example of a caster that can function in such an extreme environment would be our 8 Series Enforcer Kingpinless Top Plate Swivel Caster. It’s highly mobile and has a multi-temperature grease that can lubricate the caster in extreme temperatures.
Caster Mobility
Your caster and wheel combination should also be considered from the perspective of ease of transport. You may find yourself needing casters that will allow you to move large pieces of material around tight corners on a linoleum floor. A Contour Solus caster with a hard rubber wheel may be exactly what you need. Not only does it have enhanced mobility due to the swivel, but it also has a foot brake that can lock both the wheel and the swivel. This allows you to control the forward motion and lateral motion instantly. For heavier equipment like office computers or refrigerators, you may wish to consider a Business Machine caster. This caster has a low profile that allows you to quickly place material on the caster. The low profile means your material will have a lower center of gravity enabling you to control the mobility. As with the Contour Solus caster, the Business Machine caster can come with a Sure-Lok Brake allowing the operator to quickly stop the motion of the caster.
Caster Capacity?
The amount of capacity can also determine the type of caster and wheels you need to use to get the best traction and increased mobility. Should you need to use office furniture, you could use the Baron Caster, if you need to move something extremely heavy that weighs about 6,000 lbs., you can use the 8 Series Enforcer Kingpinless Casters. Should you be in a warehouse environment, you can use harder surfaced wheels like steel. A steel wheel can take an unbelievable amount of abuse. It can withstand high shock impact and is almost unbreakable. However, if floor protection or noise level is a concern, you will want to consider something like Urethane on Aluminum. These materials have a high load capacity and offer excellent floor protection. We also offer a number of other wheel options such as cast iron and v-groove wheels, and moldon rubber.
The Right Customer Service for Optimal Customer Satisfaction
We have just scratched the surface as far as casters and wheels are concerned. We have an incredible variety of both. We also have a great customer support staff that is highly trained and very knowledgeable about our highly diverse product line. Our representatives are more than happy to discuss your needs and expectations for casters and wheels. After that, we can show you different options and explain the strengths and weaknesses of each of them. Should our standard designs not quite align with your needs, we are happy to discuss more tailored solutions as well. Contact us online or, if you are local to South Florida, call us at 305-888-3700. National customers can call us toll free at (800) 451-0030.
