In ,
Tim Douglass spewed forth:
On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:46:55 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:58:52 -0700, Tim Douglass
wrote:

I have in my possession 3 old swivel desk chairs. one dates to the
1940s, I think, another to the late '20s and the third is documented
to 1898. They are all in mostly good condition with a few notable
issues. The biggest issues is with casters, since every type of
caster I have tried that looks even remotely appropriate falls
apart after only a few months in use. Normally what happens is that
the cheap metal socket that goes into the leg deforms and the
casters start leaning, from there the ball bearings for the swivel
quickly deteriorate and the caster is worthless. This is even with
casters supposedly rated at 200 lbs. I have tried every source I
could find for something reasonable, but the only ones I can find
that look solid are rather modernistic in design - chrome and clear
plastic. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to deal with this
short of just buying the casters by the gross and replacing them
every couple of months?

If it is the metal inserts that are causing the problem, get a
machinist friend to rurn out a set of good thick ones that won't
deform and install the best caster you can find that looks good.

Yeah, I think the inserts are the real culprit, but I'm not sure what
to do about it. They are tapered (which is why they waller out the
hole) so you can't make them fit snugly and they have to have some
spring to them so that they grab the stem of the caster. At the
moment I live about 400 miles away from any of my machinist friends,
so that is likely to be a solution of last resort.

yes you can make them fit snugly and they have to, to work properly.
the taper has nothing to do with it
The holes have obviuosly wallered out to much and need to be filled and
redrilled.
You will not find a antique type caster that will hold up, most are for
decoration only.
For daily use, try these, The Regency
http://www.ou****ercatalogs.com/lg_d...aster/page/164
I've installed hundreds of these and have never experienced the problems
your describing