Castor wheel failure

[transatlantic]

This is the third set of castor wheels that has failed me now. It's always in the same way, .. the ball bearings start falling out. Admittedly, as it's a typical garage concrete floor that isn't really flat, they get a lot of stress put on them as you wiggle them around trying to avoid the bumps. Weight is always well under the limit. In my case, it's a job site saw. So about 40KG at most all in.

I tend to buy the ones like this :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-DSL-He...243023?hash=item215e8d5b4f:g:fJAAAOSwqbZdH1mp
So rubber wheels.

Would I be better off with the PU ones? as maybe the rubber ones are more 'frictiony' with the rough'ish conrete?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-Heav...566483?hash=item23c6e22bd3:g:nhoAAOSw6Uxe0Q9v

 

[Lazurus]

I have pu wheels on all my machines including a very heavy spindle moulder, no problems to date, around £15 for four off fleabay

 

[Keith 66]

I bought some last year from toolstation, swivel wheel 50kg capacity grey rubber wheels. Just the job for a light startrite table saw.
Put them on the base pushed it into its parking space. A week later went to use the saw pulled it out & the wheels just collapsed, tyre, wheel just disintegrated. They had lasted just long enough to roll 6 ft. Garbage.

 

[Cabinetman]

I have the grey rubber ones from Axminster but the floor is smooth OSB board they’ve been on for 10 years and one set had that huge desk top on it 18 stone weight for over a year, those ones now make a noise but they haven’t dropped to bits. Obviously there are varying qualities of wheel. Ian
Edit that’s 115 kg in new money.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

This is the third set of castor wheels that has failed me now. It's always in the same way, .. the ball bearings start falling out. Admittedly, as it's a typical garage concrete floor that isn't really flat, they get a lot of stress put on them as you wiggle them around trying to avoid the bumps. Weight is always well under the limit. In my case, it's a job site saw. So about 40KG at most all in.

The material of the tyres is only relevant if the tyres are breaking up.

It’s clear that it’s the construction/bearings that are the problem.
The wheels will be taking a much greater strain than just the weight of saw, probably at least double to triple the weight of the saw as you go over the lumps and bumps of the floor.

The alternatives you suggest are probably as likely to breakdown. You should probably be pay at least double the prices you are paying, the ones I’m buying are around 3 times the price of those, the failure mode for mine are that the softer tyres can breakdown, the bearings never fail.

You are buying wheels built down to a price, not up to a quality.

 

[transatlantic]

Fair enough. But when the saw itself is only £200, seems daft to pay £40 for some castor wheels. But I take your point. Having to buy replacements just adds up to the same.

What ones do you have out of interest?

 

[toolsntat]

Supermarket trolley wheels are great quality, just avoid the wobbly ones
Cheers Andy

 

[Cordy]

These are fitted to my wooden trolley; total weight about 60 pounds
Excellent ! -- used on a not too smooth concrete garage floor
Buy the four braked set, probably only require two in use but not much more in cost
LINK

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Fair enough. But when the saw itself is only £200, seems daft to pay £40 for some castor wheels. But I take your point. Having to buy replacements just adds up to the same.

What ones do you have out of interest?

How much are 3 sets of cheap wheels?
A good set will last a lifetime.

I doubt that my wheels are relevant but

I have these on my workbench, the problem is that they fall apart in a couple of years though the inner is still usable but the rolling lock won’t work, the rotation lock is still OK as are the bearings

these are good for a lighter load


lastly the Häfele wheels are excellent, I got a couple of sets in one of the sales so I would have to look up the catalog for details, they are the only ones that may be available in the U.K.

 

[Chris70]

I followed Peter Parfitt’s advice and bought from Coldene. The price was eye-watering, but ‘they’ll see me out’. I’ve just bought another set for a large bench I’m making for my small workshop. This quotation is attributed to John Ruskin, “It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.” Chris

 

[transatlantic]

I followed Peter Parfitt’s advice and bought from Coldene. The price was eye-watering, but ‘they’ll see me out’. I’ve just bought another set for a large bench I’m making for my small workshop. This quotation is attributed to John Ruskin, “It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.” Chris

£30 PER wheel? ... yeah .. but no.

I'm sure they're fantastic, but as I mentioned, previously, the saw itself was only £200.

 

[Ttrees]

I have some cheap castors and have no issue.
I did notice even a few hours was enough to really deform the rubber if it was holding some weight.

The solution is to disengage the casters onto feet after moving.
Carl Holmgren on youtube has some clever solutions, and I can attest the design in metal will lift heavy things like a 200kg tablesaw with very little force required.
One lever does it all and you can design it whatever way you like.

 

[novocaine]

I use skate board wheels. the problem for me is rarely the wheel bearing and often the slew bearing. If i can get away with fix wheels i use a u shaped bracked and a skate board eherl. If it needs to spin ill iften just put to slip washers above it.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

£30 PER wheel? ... yeah .. but no.

I'm sure they're fantastic, but as I mentioned, previously, the saw itself was only £200.

Totally false thinking. How much has each set of wheels cost? stop thinking of your sunk costs and either get something that will do the job or face keeping on buying wheels that fall apart.

alternatively design a multi-use mobile base that you can use for many items and get quality wheels for it

The two items, saw & wheels, are completely unrelated apart from the point that you want to use them together.

My planer saw combination was quite a lot less than yours the wheels were a significant percentage of the machine price, but that’s irrelevant they do the job they were designed for and the machine does the job it’s designed for.

FWIW there are wheels from coldene for £15 wheels that are easily more than enough for your project rated at

Load Rating	200KG, 250KG

just look through the site.

 

[DrPhill]

How about these for well priced: Apple Mac Pro Wheels Kit
Makes £30 look positively cheap......

 

[sometimewoodworker]

How about these for well priced: Apple Mac Pro Wheels Kit
Makes £30 look positively cheap......

That was positively evil heart attacks for people following the link?

 

[transatlantic]

Totally false thinking. How much has each set of wheels cost? stop thinking of your sunk costs and either get something that will do the job or face keeping on buying wheels that fall apart.

Not really false thinking. Simply that not everyone can afford to spend that.

And yes, buying the same thing again is false economy - hence the point of this thread. To find an alternative that is still within my budget.

oh, and I hadn't bought 3 sets for the same saw. I bought them for different machines at different times, and they've gradually failed. The previous was on my bandsaw which weighs a lot. But this time around it was on a relatively light tool.

 

[transatlantic]

I have some cheap castors and have no issue.
I did notice even a few hours was enough to really deform the rubber if it was holding some weight.

That's not really the issue. The problem appears to be when you're trying to push it around, and due to the floor not being flat, the wheel can get stuck in an orientation perpendicular to the direction you're trying to push it. And so you have to pull it back again, and try to push it in a different direction. And I think that this is the additional stress that causes them to fail.

My logic was that the PU ones are much harder and don't appear to be as flat, so might work better.

 

[Ttrees]

I can't argue there, harder wheels work better in that regard.
I still think rubber fatigue or should I say, tendency for rubber to take a shape, plays a part.
What size of castors have you got Transatlantic?
It might be worth considering 95mm ones, even softer wheels work well
for a 100kg(ish) machine on 4 swivel casters.
Tom

 

[transatlantic]

I can't argue there, harder wheels work better in that regard.
I still think rubber fatigue or should I say, tendency for rubber to take a shape, plays a part.
What size of castors have you got Transatlantic?
It might be worth considering 95mm ones, even softer wheels work well
for a 100kg(ish) machine on 4 swivel casters.
Tom

75mm. I might have to go up to 100mm.