Today’s office and home designers are incorporating mobile furniture into their projects. Desks, chairs, and storage containers that can move are a hot commodity since they can be placed anywhere, allowing for many uses of one space.
Mobile machinery is helpful for construction, road, and land maintenance, or even for the equipment you use in your garage or at-home workspace.
Any piece of furniture or equipment can be made mobile by installing caster wheels on the bottom. Caster wheels turn in all directions to make mobility a snap.
Not sure how to install casters? Here’s a step-by-step guide.
Table of Contents
1. Choose the Right Casters
Your first task is to choose the correct type of caster for the piece you want to mobilize.
For the average garage workshop project, swiveling, double-locking casters with solid polyurethane wheels, (2-3″ in diameter,) will work best. A load range of 200-300 lbs. will work for most workshop items.
For furniture, an office chair, or other home items, you will want a post (sometimes called a “stem”) caster. For office equipment, casters mounted with a metal plate are a better choice.
If you are not sure what types of caster wheels you need, or which type of caster mount is best for your project, consult a knowledgeable dealer like Colson Casters who can recommend the best caster system, and carry a wide selection of wheels and mounts for all types of applications.
2. Prepare the Corners
Depending on the piece you are mobilizing, the corners or ends where the casters will be placed may need extra “padding” to support the casters and their movement.
Adding plywood squares to each corner will stabilize those areas. You can glue the plywood to your piece, or better yet, screw the plywood on for even better stability. Then you are ready to attach your post or plate casters.
3. Installing Caster Wheels
For installing a plate caster system, first tip your piece of furniture or equipment over with the bottom up, for easy access.
Position the plate in the center of the area (or plywood you just installed,) and mark its place with a pencil or etching tool. Install the screws by first drilling pilot holes using a drill bit about half the diameter of the screw. Then, add the screws themselves, taking care that these screws land inside of any screws used to secure extra plywood. Repeat for all four wheels.
If you are installing post or stem casters, drill holes @ 1/4″ deeper than the post itself in the center of the corners. The post should fit easily. If you want it to stay put, secure it with nuts and bolts.
Now tip the bottom of the piece back to the floor and test that the casters can support the weight and are basically level on all corners.
Casters Make Mobilizing Easy
Installing caster wheels is an easy, DIY project, so, you can mobilize almost anything anywhere. Besides the standard plate and post caster systems, there are specialty caster wheels, mounts, and even castor kits for every kind of piece of furniture or machine you use.
Having mobile furniture, storage or machines allows you to clean and rearrange your space with less effort and gives you endless floor plan possibilities.
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