Product Review: Leveling Casters for Equipment Carts & Work Stations

Leveling casters are quality, affordable casters that provide both mobility and stability in application, making them great for equipment carts and work stations. Having casters on a working station is great for easily transporting tools and supplies needed for your job. Maybe you’re a mechanic and you need your tools easily accessible regardless of the girth of the car in your garage – leveling casters give you that mobility freedom. The best part? They also make it easy to keep your equipment level once your carts in place. There are plenty of work stations that can benefit from leveling casters since they provide for easy and safe access to necessary job supplies. These casters can be found on work stations in the medical, computer, communication, woodworking, automation and other industries.

When not needed for mobility purposes, these casters offer stability for the machine by sitting low to the ground with a rubber foot pad to help make them stationary. Not only does the foot help stabilize carts, but it acts as a counter to vibration. Whether sawing or writing, you’ll love the firm stationary use of your leveling casters.

Buycasters’ low profile leveling casters meet the requirements for a number of uses and offer a good balance between price and functionality. These are durable and efficient casters offered in a variety wheel sizes and other options. Leveling casters are available in a variety of wheel sizes: 1.65, 2, 2.5, and 3 inch. The multiple sizes accommodate various weight loads and dimensions of attached machines and equipment. Each of the leveling casters is made with a die-cast, powder-coated aluminum frame and a swivel head of steel. This combination of materials provides for rugged and durable use with a long life, while virtually eliminating the need for maintenance. The non-marking, ultra strong wheels make movement a snap.

Our leveling casters are available at low cost in a wide variety of options. Call 1855-WHEEL11 to ask about discounts in bulk order pricing for larger quantities.

Top Food Industry Uses for Casters

In the food industry, speed and portability are two of the biggest elements of success. Delivering delicious food in a timely, convenient manner will earn you some serious respect from your customers, and they'll be back again when they're hungry. Casters can be highly useful in a food service environment. Catering and food industry casters and wheels are typically placed on the bottom of something to make it easily mobile. Food industry businesses benefit from this idea tremendously in several ways.

• Service Carts - Perhaps the best way to serve meals to a table is with a caster-wheeled cart. Carts can allow a server to deliver food to multiple tables quickly. There is also virtually no risk of a server dropping the meals, since they aren't the ones physically carrying them. A clean cart with some simple coverings can also make you look more professional. Choose locking swivel casters for increased mobility and the ability to secure the cart while removing items from it. With the locking ability, a lot of restaurants use carts with these casters to add service area to a buffet line. Great for weekend brunch or dim sun, this is definitely something that beefs up any restaurant's image. 

• Catering Services - Casters can also be beneficial to catering services. Casters for catering carts are faster and more convenient for the catering workers to set up. By using sturdy, maneuverable casters on a cart, it makes it possible to easily diversify the setup of catering displays. As many successful catering businesses know, appearance and display mean as much as the taste of the food itself. If using casters for catering make sure the wheels are suitable for a variety of floor surfaces and establishments. Sometimes the cart will begin outside and need to be wheeled into a venue with nice hardwood floors or even carpet. It’s important to be ready for any type of environment. 

• Storage and Transportation - Casters also aid food industries by providing easier methods for storage and transportation. What if you have a bunch of chicken that needs to be stored in a freezer? It's much easier and faster to just load all the chicken on to a caster-ready cart or shelving unit and simply wheel it into the freezer than pick up handfuls of it and walk into the freezer. It's also easier to push a cart on to the back of a truck using a ramp than walking up and down the ramp a bunch of times. Sturdy, locking casters are best for this type of use. 

• Vending Appliances - Though many vending machines are stationary, they are fitted with casters for occasional movement and stationary placement. That’s why OEM and OE replacement casters are best for vending purposes. These casters are sturdy and will fit directly and easily with your vending appliances. Many of these casters are fitted with a locking feature to ensure that once your vending machine is where you want it, you can lock it in place to prevent any accidental movement. 

• Kitchen Appliances - Wheeled casters can also help you move appliances around a kitchen or back room safely and quickly. If you're preparing a bunch of food, you need your appliances to go with you wherever you go. Casters on the base of large appliances or such as a dishwasher, grill or large deep fryer help get work done anywhere. 

These are just a few of the common uses of casters in the food industry. Interested in learning more or finding casters to aid in your food service business? Visit buycasters.com or contact us at 1855-WHEEL11.

5 Unexpected Caster Applications

Casters are ideal units to add to anything that needs to move easily. Common examples include shopping carts and dollies. There are however, some unexpected yet helpful uses for casters in everyday life.

Here are 5 unexpected ways that you can use casters to make your life easier:

1. Garbage and Recycling Bins – Do you have several heavy garbage and recycling bins that need carried out the curb each and every week? Add a couple of swivel casters to the bottom of the bins so you can easily roll them out to the curb. Swivel casters will help you easily maneuver the bins across sidewalks and other surfaces. Moreover, a small pallet fitted with casters could act as a cost effective garbage and recycling cart to haul cans and bins around. 
2. Kitchen Appliances – Put kitchen appliances on locking casters. Apply locking casters to the refrigerator, dishwasher, and stove in order to easily move them away from the wall when it comes time to clean. Afterwards they could be safely locked back into place. While this may not be ideal for some kitchens, it would certainly also work in the laundry room. Washer and dryers alike would become an easy move once fitted with casters and provide an easy way to grab that pesky lost sock. 
3. Garage Shelving & Storage – Use casters on garage shelving and storage units. If your garage is full of storage, why not make moving it a little less of a struggle? Mounting casters on the bottom of a shelving unit would allow for items to be easily accessible from all sides of the unit. Additionally, rearranging storage to accommodate for an alternate garage set-up would be a breeze. Do you need to move some items out of you garage? Just roll the shelves out into the driveway and load your item right into a car or truck. Make sure the casters you choose anticipates not just the load of the shelves, but the items that you plan to store on them. 
4. Large Sports Equipment – Do you have a soccer goal or basketball hoop that you don’t enjoy leaving outside overnight? Just add some casters and wheel it out of storage when your friends come over for a pickup game. When the game is over, simply wheel it back inside. Locking casters would be ideal for this application in order to keep the unit in place while using. 
5. Desks – Add casters to your computer desk at home or at the office. Some office desks come with wheels already attached, but if you're the unlucky one who has no wheels, an upgrade might be in order. Adding casters to the desk at home or at the office makes peripheral cable management easier. Just simply unlock the casters, pull out the desk, and plug in your new peripheral. 

Do any of the above ideas have you thinking about what you have around the house or office that you've been struggling to move for years? Find casters and wheels at www.buycasters.com and get moving!

Product Review: Multipurpose Hand Trucks

Hand trucks are an essential multipurpose device that can be used for nearly any application. With rugged construction and aluminum composition, a hand truck is a tool that will last for a long time. The heavy duty nature of the material allows for a hand truck to hold hundreds of pounds, which makes it perfect for anything from moving sound equipment to moving boxes of heavy materials.

The tough materials used in constructing a hand cart allow for it to last a long time, even with repeated and extended usage. While these carts are well-constructed, they are also lightweight and extremely portable, generally weighing in at less than fifty pounds. Hand carts have a wide body which allow for superb cart stability. Even off-balanced loads can be handled on a cart so long as care is taken during transportation.

Convertible hand trucks with rugged, pneumatic air filled wheels can be used on a vast range of terrain. These hand carts can be used upright for moving bulky items or for convenient storage. They can also be lowered and used for transportation of many different materials, with multiple options for handles. One type of handle system incorporates dual grips, which are especially useful for pushing the cart. Another type of handle system is a continuous handle, which is beneficial for applications that involve pulling a hand cart. There are many handle system variations that can be matched to any need. The conversion from two wheels to four wheels is extremely easy, as in the conversion from four wheels to two wheels.

Buycasters.com carries a wide selection of affordable hand trucks from top name brand Wesco. Find the hand truck perfect for your carrying needs today.

How to Choose Casters & Wheels

Moving furniture and heavy objects, from cabinets to industrial supplies, can be a heavy burden without wheels or casters. Casters include bearings, casings and wheels attached to a fastener to allow movement of heavy objects across a set distance. Whether you’re in need of casters for your business or your home, choosing casters takes the consideration of several factors, from possible weight loads to everyday versatility.

Here are some important things to remember when choosing casters:

• Weight or Load Capacity - Before you decide on any caster based on material, diameter or attachment point, you have to determine the weight of what you’re trying to move. Each caster holds a maximum load capacity and this includes not only the object that you’re trying to move, but any cart or equipment weight that will also be the burden of the caster. Once you know the total weight of your load, you’ll be able to do divide that by the number of casters and wheels you’re using to find out the load capacity per wheel. Add more casters to heavy pieces to distribute the weight evenly and safely. Casters and wheels can fail and possibly injure you if not analyzed correctly for weight loads. Even when analyzed for proper load capacity, you’ll have to be cautious not to overload your casters. Try to move your load across an even surface at a steady, slow pace. 
• Attachment - Two attachment strategies are available from most caster manufacturers. One type is better for movement whereas the other is better for larger, stable objects. 
• Post/Stem casters use a long peg that fits directly into a machined orifice in the piece. A 2-inch chrome/gray rubber stem caster, for example, affixes to the object being moved to create a locking connection point. As you move around, the stem remains stable within the construction. 
• Plate casters use screws to attach the fastener to the object's base. 
• Wheel Type - Choose caster and wheel materials that match your strength and durability needs. As a cost saving tip, increasing the height and width of a caster and wheel will increase your load as long as you’re keeping your wheel materials consistent. Moving to a larger 10”x2” phenolic wheel from a smaller phenolic wheel will increase capacity, but moving to a 10”x2” Polyurethane wheel from a smaller phenolic wheel will not. 
• Plastic is an inexpensive choice for lightweight applications since it is a softer material. For example, rolling a lightweight cart across a warehouse does not require a strong caster material. 
• Select all steel wheels for heavy duty needs, such as moving heavy cargo loads on a cart. Phenolic wheels are also a stronger compound that may be beneficial in heavy duty moves. 
• Office applications, where you need to protect the flooring from scuffs, require polyurethane or rubber casters. These soft materials keep the floor shining brightly, but they can’t handle the same heavy load capacity as a steel or phenolic wheel. 
• Surfaces – In general, the larger the wheel diameter of your caster, the easier it roll across any surface. Anti-friction bearings will also help improve the smoothness of your ride. Of course, there are many different types of wheels and caster materials that are specially designed. 
• If you have a slick floor surface, choose casters with specialized teeth. Typically applied to hard rubber materials, these locking teeth hold the wheels in place when you activate their mechanism. 
• Wheels with soft rubber treads will help protect certain floors like softer tiles or hardwood floors commonly found in homes. 
• If you need to increase load capacity across a softer floor, choose a Polyurethane tread. 
• Regardless of your surface and wheel type, if you’re repetitive moving your load across the same path and surface, you will eventually see wear on the surface.
• Direction - Some of the objects you move need to be moved in a basic straight direction, including food carts. Other applications, such as electronic mobile cabinets, require precision movement with 360-degree casters. Swivel casters allow you to move the in almost any direction instantaneously. A 2-inch black/black poly stem caster is an elegant-looking wheel that blends in with black electronic cabinets for a professional appearance. 
• Specialty Casters - You may have certain caster needs that are outside generic contours. For medical industries, look for anti-bacterial wheels to prevent germ spread throughout a building, such as on crash carts. Shock absorbent casters are also available for sensitive electronics, including medical instruments. 

Casters are built to move items large and small. Consider your object’s specifications and select wheels that fit the indoor space. From elegant to industrial designs, casters are meant to make life easier when it comes to transporting items. Still need help finding the casters and wheels that are right for you? Contact Buycasters at info@buycasters.com or visit our resource page on choosing casters.

Product Review: Gate Casters

When you have a gate or door that requires a caster to assist in its operation, there are several things that you should consider so that you can buy the appropriate caster for your application.

Here are the 4 S’s of choosing the right gate caster

• Size & Weight: You can quickly determine the size of the wheel needed for your caster by determining the load weight of your gate/door as well as the actual size of it. BuyCasters’ products are designed to accommodate gates/doors that range in weight from 400 to 500 pounds of load weight. These high quality gate and door casters come with large 6” and 8” wheels which make them easier to move than smaller types of wheels. We recommend a 6” caster wheel when the space between the ground and the gate is less than 9-1/2”. Use an 8” caster wheel when the space is 9-1/2” or greater.
• Surface: You must also check the ground conditions that the wheel will be operating on. The rubber wheels on aluminum casters as well as the rubber on nylon casters are designed to be used on concrete and asphalt surfaces, whereas the polyurethane wheels are designed to be used only in smooth areas. 
• Slope: When choosing casters, it is important to take into account the slope of the surface that the wheel will be traveling on. These casters are designed with a shock absorbing compression spring that actually supports the weight of the gate/door even on slopes up to 1 inch so that you get a smoother, much easier operation of the gate or door. Be sure to check for that slope when choosing your product. 
• Scene: What about the environment? These casters are designed to work in any temperature and are rust resistant, however, the wheel bearing grease will start to harden at around 20 degrees Fahrenheit and prevent optimum operation of the bearings. There is bearing grease available for extreme temperatures but you will need to make that need known. 

BuyCasters.com’s casters are high quality products designed to function well in any application. Our gate casters and wheels are designed to be lightweight and quiet when riding. As long as you take time to make the appropriate selection for your needs, you will have a wonderful experience with Buy Casters' products.