Merry Christmas from Conveyer & Caster

As the holidays descend upon us, and we look forward to a new year, I find it appropriate to extend a hearty thank you for a wonderful year.

We celebrated quite a milestone this year, our 50^th anniversary.  And as part of that celebration we felt it important to give back to the community that has supported us.  We challenged our associates to give as much as they could.  We provided a match of their gift to a charity of their choice.  Also, as a team, we chose the Salvation Army Harbor Light Complex to be the recipient of our corporate and team gift.  On December 9, 2011, we presented Beau Hill, Executive Director of Salvation Army Harbor Light, a gift of $5,000.

I hope that this holiday season finds you and your family happy, healthy, and warm; and that the New Year brings you happiness and success.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year,

Jeff Stohr

P.S We're encouraging all who can to give a little to the Salvation Army Harbor Light Complex.

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New Catalog!

We've been working hard on our new catalog.  It's finally done.  It's off to the printer right now for a press proof and then it's off to the races.  But for now, you can grab a sneak peek through our Issuu copy below:



To download the entire catalog in one big old pdf, click here.

Hard Wheels, Soft Wheels; Round Wheels, Flat Wheels

Last month we talked about wheel size in relationship to rollability.  Big wheels, assuming they are sized properly for the application, are easier to roll than small wheels.  Today we’ll look at the tread material, where the rubber meets the road.  (I apologize for that). 

Wheels come with a variety of tread materials: Forged Steel, Cast Iron, Phenolic, Polypropylene, Polyurethane, Thermoplastic Rubber, Neoprene Rubber, Mold-on Natural Rubber, just to name a few.   We could spend days going over the advantages, disadvantages, concerns, and general properties of each tread material; we like wheels.  But to spare you, and hopefully keep your attention, we’ll stick to the basics.  For most caster users, it’s not important to know each wheel and each wheels unique characteristics.  We can group this in two ways: Tread Hardness and Tread Flatness. 

First let’s talk about hardness.  A hard wheels is much easier to push than a soft wheel; this is due to deflection.  As the load on a soft wheel tread increases, the tread material flattens out.  When this happens a greater surface area of the wheel comes in contact with the floor.  In order to break static friction you have to push pretty hard.  A hard wheel doesn’t deflect under load, and therefore the added force required due to an increased load is reduced.  But don’t go out and buy forged steel wheels right away. There are other implications of a hard tread material, like a lack of floor protection.  We’ll cover that in the next issue.

Now let’s get to tread flatness.  Our casters come with flat, crowned or round tread wheels.  A flatter tread, generally speaking, is harder to push than a rounder tread.  This follows a similar principle to tread hardness.  A flat tread has more surface area in contact with the ground than does a round tread.  A round tread caster, more or less, has a single point contact.  With a single point of contact, overcoming the force of friction is nearly effortless, even under a heavy load.  But that being said, a round tread wheel has a lower capacity than a flat tread wheel.  That’s why we have crowned tread wheels.  They offer small surface contact but similar capacities to flat tread wheels. 

Each application is different, and has different requirements.  But for most a crowned tread, harder wheel, will perform excellently.  Consult our caster experts with your application to get the right caster the first time.

Bigger is better, right?

The Right Wheel Size Matters

I’m sure you can remember a time when this happened to you:

You’re at the grocery store getting soda for the big family picnic, you’ve got 8 cases in the cart and you are ready to head to the checkout line. Hands on the handle bar, feet firmly against the ground, you push and nothing. The cart doesn’t budge. You pull back, it starts to roll, finally, and you are on your way.

This story is repeated day in and day out all over the place. Not just in grocery stores, but in factories, warehouses, and offices. The reason for it is simple, the wheels just aren’t big enough for the load. This month’s tip focuses on wheel size selection in respect to application.
Wheel size selection is critical when specifying a caster. A wheel has many dimensions by which we measure it, but for today’s discussion we’ll focus on one: diameter. We could keep this short and sweet by saying, “A big wheel is easier to push than a small wheel.” But that isn’t the entire story. It’s true, but it’s not the right answer.
It is true that a bigger wheel is easier to roll than a small wheel. But, if that were the only consideration, you wouldn’t be seated on a chair with 2” or 3” diameter wheels; you’d be sitting on 12” diameter wheels. Imagine getting in and out of your chair! It would most likely end up on the other side of your office. Beyond that it would weigh getting on a  couple hundred pounds! What this tells us is that application matters just as much as our rule of thumb. A small office cart does not need 8” x 2” medium duty industrial casters with polyurethane on iron wheels. It most likely needs a 3” or 4” diameter wheel in an institutional rig.
The size of the cart matters as well. A small cart needs small wheels, a big cart needs big wheels. That’s a rule of thumb we can go with. It’s pretty true and correct most of the time. An office mail cart, as stated before, needs 3” or 4” wheels. An 8’ long cart for moving aluminum automotive wheels will probably need 8” or bigger wheels. There is another size that matters too, height. If you have a high cart that is on a narrow or short base, consider smaller wheels. A larger wheel will raise the center of gravity up from the ground. A higher center of gravity increases the likelihood of the cart tipping over.
So when selecting your wheel for an application, consider that wheel size should be in proportion to load and cart dimensions. There rarely is one right answer for a caster application, but some answers are more right than others, just think of the 12” diameter wheels you are not sitting on right now. When you’re faced with selecting casters for a cart, give us a call at 800-836-0630, we’re here to help make this simple and easy. Our trained sales staff has experience with nearly every kind of caster and cart.

Check out our new online Caster Store

Earlier this week we turned on our newest addition to our web presence, www.casterspecialists.com. With new functionality, added information, and a whole new look and feel, we think it’s ready for the world.

To celebrate the launch, we are offering 15% off your first order from Caster Specialists, now through April 30,2011!  Just use promo code LAUNCH15OFF at checkout. 

Let us know what you think of it by using the Contact us link at the top of every page.  We appreciate any and all feedback.

Boy is that cart hard to push!

We’ve all had it happen, a cart is loaded up, you go to push it, and nothing.  It ended up taking a lot more force to get the cart rolling than you thought it would.  It’s not an incorrect estimation on your part; it’s most likely that casters on the cart are misapplied.  There are a few quick ways to solve this problem.

First things first, try to lighten the load.  Sometimes this is easier said than done.  But, when you consider the consequences of pushing too hard, it may be worth two trips.  If that’s not an option, we have some alternatives.

If you can’t lighten the load, consider changing the casters, if it is an ongoing problem.  Generally speaking, there are two rules of thumb with casters and wheels regarding what we call “rollability”.  First, the bigger the wheel - the easier it is to push.  Second, hard wheels roll better than soft wheels. So, if you’re cart has, say 4” wheels, consider going to a 6” wheel.  If it has thermoplastic gray rubber wheels, consider a polyurethane tread wheel. 

If you already have a big, hard wheel in the caster, it may be the bearing.  Bearings, in relation to rollability, fall in this order (best to worst):

• Precision Ball Bearing
• Roller Bearing
• Delrin Bearing
• Plain Bore
• Tapered Bearing

A precision ball bearing is incredibly easy to roll, sometimes too easy.  So if your casters have roller bearings, a change to a precision ball bearing may help you out.

Finally, your rigs may be over loaded; specifically the swivel rigs.  Swivel sections have ball bearings and when the load is too high, the ball bearings cut into the raceway, making it hard to move; also it can permanently damage the rig.  Heavier applications require heavier duty rigs.  

Take a look at our whitepaper on the Ergonomics of Material Handling in our Technical Library.

If you are experiencing these problems, give our trained sales team a call at 800-836-0600.  We’ll be happy to help you figure out a quick solution that will fit your budget.  

Spiffy New Product in Stock from MedCaster!

We’ve partnered with MedCaster to stock some great products, which are just now arriving at our warehouse.  MedCaster’s product was originally developed for the Medical Industry, as their name might suggest.  But, they have been found to be an excellent fit in institutional, office, food service and light manufacturing. 

Take a look at this handy brochure!

You can buy them online today, as well!