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Saturday, January 25, 2014

Learn Something About Stainless Steel Casters

By Grace Rivas


Stainless steel casters are certain undriven, double, compound, or single wheels meant for mounting at the base of bigger objects also called vehicles. Their primary function is to make the motion of the vehicles they are mounted onto easier. They may be made from other materials like nylon, rubber, aluminium, and plastic apart from stainless steel. Some latest models combine various materials.

These products have a variety of uses in different settings. Some the settings in which they are applied include office chairs, material handling equipment, shopping carts, and theater and hospital equipment among many others. The high capacity, heavy duty models are used in industrial environments for a number of uses such as assemblies, platform trucks, and tow lines in firms. It is general knowledge that they work well on smooth and flat surfaces.

Stainless steel casters appear in a variety of makes including braking and locking, swivel, and rigid wheels. A caster may be mounted in a manner as to roll on a straight path. In such a case, they are mounted on a stationary point whose direction does not change. Some models are fixed onto a pivot so that they change direction automatically to align themselves in the direction of movement.

Rigid models comprise of wheels that are mounted onto a motionless fork. The orientation of the fork is determined at the time the caster is being fixed on the vehicle. Normally the orientation of the fork is relative to the object it is fixed on. This product tends to limit vehicle travel so that it only moves on a straight path. The wheels normally resist any change in direction of movement and may need some force to do so.

A swivel caster is same as a rigid caster in every way with one simple modification incorporated to the joint right over the fork. The added swivel joint permits the fork to rotate freely through three hundred and sixty degrees. This lets the wheel to revolve in all directions therefore making it simpler to move the body vehicle in all 4 directions without modifying its orientation.

Some casters incorporate braking mechanisms to prevent wheels from turning and/or moving. Braking mechanisms are made using levers which push against brake cams. Brake cams in turn push against the wheels hence stopping them from revolving. Modern makes come with braking mechanisms that stop all the wheels from rotating at once as contrasted with old ones where one had to move around them locking every brake mechanism separately.

Flutter is a key drawback on any caster. Flutter is the rapid side to side swinging movement of a single wheel during motion. This condition happens at certain speeds relying on the amount of mass the wheels are supporting and the length from the steering axes to the wheel axles.

Distance between steering wheel and wheel axle is referred to as trailing velocity and increasing the distance may remove flutter at moderate speeds. Stainless steel casters can be bought from any store around the world. Spoilt wheels can be replaced with new ones or can be repaired.




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