Wheels have moved our society forward and helped make some impossible things possible like large-scale production and the industrialisation of our world in many aspects. But wheels also play a role in simpler solutions such as load-handling equipment.
In this case, they come in the form of casters which are essentially free-rolling wheels that allow you to push a platform without much force. They make it rather easy to move around heavy loads and they don’t require electricity for it. This makes them quite reliable and versatile especially if you go for plate mount casters.
Benefits of Plate Casters
Strength
A plate mount caster is far stronger than its single-stem counterpart as it relies on four bolts to hold the wheel to the platform. This may not appear as a superior solution but, in fact, it is since a single component can’t do the job of four. If you want a safe plate caster a plate mount one is the way to go for.
Installation
Despite having more parts than stem mount casters, plate-mount casters are actually quite easy to install as long as you go for a compatible load-handling platform. Just fasten the bolts at the required spec.
Weight Distribution
Being supported by four bolts instead is as you’d expect better at making a more stable loading platform. This, in turn, helps make for better weight distribution as the caster is able to handle large loads and especially shifting loads a lot better.
Options
Although plate casters have a simple design they are available in different styles because of that. The plate comes in different shapes and the casters can have locking wheels and even brakes.
Types of Plate Casters
Kingpin
The most conventional type of plate mount caster is a kingpin caster. This is essentially a bolt that connects the top plate to the raceway allowing the whole rig to swivel around easily. This simple design makes it an affordable solution that is used on most platforms that need to be hand-pushed. Keep in mind though, that if the kingpin fails the same goes for the caster which is a downside of kingpin plate mount casters.
Forged
Because of a kingpin caster’s simplicity, there is one heavy-duty variation known as a forged kingpin plate mount caster. This type of caster is larger and more robust than a standard kingpin caster which makes it usable with platforms that have high load-bearing capacities. This makes them more expensive but more reliable and easier to maintain.
Kingpinless
As you’d expect, a kingpinless plate mount caster is one that doesn’t have a kingpin. Instead, this design is made up of ball bearings which make it more reliable than a standard kingpin caster. Kingpinless castors are also more versatile than kingpin plate castors since their simplified design allows them to be used in more applications and across a wider range of industries. The only thing you’ll worry about kingpinless casters is greasing the bearings and it will stay working at its best.
Maintenance-Free
If you don’t want to worry about ever greasing your plate mount casters then you should go for maintenance-free ones. They can be either forged or kingpinless casters which have the bearings sealed for life and thanks to lifelong grease inside you don’t need to open them up and put some, in fact, you can’t. This way you won’t have to worry about wearing the caster prematurely in case you forgot to put grease in it.
What Matters in a Plate Caster?
Capacity
The weight capacity of a plate caster should either match that of the platform or be higher than it. It’s much safer to go for a set of casters with a slightly higher weight capacity since it’s a lot safer but the material the caster is made of also affects this – more on that later.
Floor
The type of floor you’ll use the plate-mount casters on determines the hardness and size of casters you go for. Softer floors require the use of softer plate castors and vice versa while rougher surfaces require the use of larger wheels as they absorb imperfections better than smaller wheels which allow for easy manoeuvrability.
Caster Material
There are different materials casters are made of can vary from certain metals like stainless steel and iron to nylon, rubber and polyurethane. As you’d expect metal casters are more durable and made for rougher surfaces while plastic and rubber ones are made for more gentle ones. Rubber casters are best in quiet environments since they don’t make any noise and are quite comfortable.
Conclusion
No caster is the same no matter the type of mounting solution it comes with. Even plate mount casters vary since there are so many that are part of their operation. Whatever you need plate-mount casters for make sure they are compatible and capable as that’s what matters the most.
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