I'm looking to make a dolly for a 1000 lb 3-point mount wood
chipper,using 4 swivel casters.
Do I need 4 1000lb casters or would 4 250lb casters work?

-- John

On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 08:23:17 -0400, John Raymond
wrote:

I'm looking to make a dolly for a 1000 lb 3-point mount wood
chipper,using 4 swivel casters.
Do I need 4 1000lb casters or would 4 250lb casters work?

If I was just moving the thing around the shop on a smooth concrete
floor, I'd use (4) 250's. [though I doubt kicking them up to 500 would
break the bank-- and I'd 'weigh' the balance of disaster vs a few
bucks more for 1000lb ones]

If I was going to be using it while it was supported by the casters
I'd probably get 4 2000lb casters.

Jim

On 6/15/2012 7:23 AM, John Raymond wrote:
I'm looking to make a dolly for a 1000 lb 3-point mount wood
chipper,using 4 swivel casters.
Do I need 4 1000lb casters or would 4 250lb casters work?

If it were uniformly distributed load, each leg would support 250lb,
yes. But you would still want cushion/margin over that, of course.

But since it isn't going to be uniform, you need something that has a
fair amount of cushion over that minimum; you'll have to guesstimate how
much imbalance that might be and go from there.

--

On 06/15/2012 08:56 AM, Jim Elbrecht wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 08:23:17 -0400, John
wrote:

I'm looking to make a dolly for a 1000 lb 3-point mount wood
chipper,using 4 swivel casters.
Do I need 4 1000lb casters or would 4 250lb casters work?

If I was just moving the thing around the shop on a smooth concrete
floor, I'd use (4) 250's. [though I doubt kicking them up to 500 would
break the bank-- and I'd 'weigh' the balance of disaster vs a few
bucks more for 1000lb ones]

If I was going to be using it while it was supported by the casters
I'd probably get 4 2000lb casters.

Jim
I Should have mentioned that this is for in the barn on a smooth
concrete, I want to use it for storage of the chipper. Having it on
casters will make hooking it up and storage easier.
I found some 660lb casters at HF.

--John

"John Raymond" wrote in message
t...
I'm looking to make a dolly for a 1000 lb 3-point mount wood chipper,using
4 swivel casters.
Do I need 4 1000lb casters or would 4 250lb casters work?

-- John

The 250's will carry the load if it is even. I'd add some safety margin
too. Just as important is the type of caster. Larger rolls smoother than
small, especially if there may be wood chips around. I'd look for 6" or 8".

Check out the differences in material at Grainger or McMaster to make your
decision. Both have good information on that type of thing.

On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 07:56:15 -0500, dpb wrote:

On 6/15/2012 7:23 AM, John Raymond wrote:
I'm looking to make a dolly for a 1000 lb 3-point mount wood
chipper,using 4 swivel casters.
Do I need 4 1000lb casters or would 4 250lb casters work?

If it were uniformly distributed load, each leg would support 250lb,
yes. But you would still want cushion/margin over that, of course.

But since it isn't going to be uniform, you need something that has a
fair amount of cushion over that minimum; you'll have to guesstimate how
much imbalance that might be and go from there.


As a retired str. engineer, you and Ed are correct. Likely the weight
is not evenly distributed for a couple of reasons. I agree with
others that I doubt 4-1000s are necessary but I would go with
something greater than 4-250s for safety as others have already said.
Keep in mind the 250s will carry a safety factor in their design
capacity but I wouldn't try to make use of it here.

On 6/15/2012 11:48 AM, Doug wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 07:56:15 -0500, wrote:

On 6/15/2012 7:23 AM, John Raymond wrote:
I'm looking to make a dolly for a 1000 lb 3-point mount wood
chipper,using 4 swivel casters.
Do I need 4 1000lb casters or would 4 250lb casters work?

If it were uniformly distributed load, each leg would support 250lb,
yes. But you would still want cushion/margin over that, of course.

But since it isn't going to be uniform, you need something that has a
fair amount of cushion over that minimum; you'll have to guesstimate how
much imbalance that might be and go from there.


As a retired str. engineer, you and Ed are correct. Likely the weight
is not evenly distributed for a couple of reasons. I agree with
others that I doubt 4-1000s are necessary but I would go with
something greater than 4-250s for safety as others have already said.
Keep in mind the 250s will carry a safety factor in their design
capacity but I wouldn't try to make use of it here.

There's no doubt that 4-1000s are not necessary...

The 250-rating would be highly likely to have enough strength owing to
its safety margin in design (altho from HF or such ilk who knows how
much faith to put into the ratings themselves???) as you note. I would
go w/ the oversize simply owing to the fact that many will become
difficult to move when loaded at or near their rating while the cost
differential isn't all that great in general and the ease of use is
markedly improved (and I think at least one other said essentially the
same thing as well ).

--

"John Raymond" wrote in message
t...
I'm looking to make a dolly for a 1000 lb 3-point mount wood chipper,using
4 swivel casters.
Do I need 4 1000lb casters or would 4 250lb casters work?

-- John

It all depends on what you are going to roll it on. In any case, safe
working load is 3x the weight on a lot of safety issues. I like to build
things so that they are near indestructible by the stupidest person in the
world, because eventually, they will show up and use it.

Steve

On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:09:56 -0500, dpb wrote:

The 250-rating would be highly likely to have enough strength owing to
its safety margin in design (altho from HF or such ilk who knows how
much faith to put into the ratings themselves???) as you note

With HF doesn't the design margin work in the other direction. They
don't want to give you more than you pay for, so they underdesign it,
figuring it will likely be stronger than the design, and everything
will come out right.**

Plus the OP should make allowances for when people lean on the chipper
while it's stationary or being moved.

**just kidding.

.. I would
go w/ the oversize simply owing to the fact that many will become
difficult to move when loaded at or near their rating while the cost
differential isn't all that great in general and the ease of use is
markedly improved (and I think at least one other said essentially the
same thing as well ).

On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:09:56 -0500, dpb wrote:

On 6/15/2012 11:48 AM, Doug wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 07:56:15 -0500, wrote:

On 6/15/2012 7:23 AM, John Raymond wrote:
I'm looking to make a dolly for a 1000 lb 3-point mount wood
chipper,using 4 swivel casters.
Do I need 4 1000lb casters or would 4 250lb casters work?

If it were uniformly distributed load, each leg would support 250lb,
yes. But you would still want cushion/margin over that, of course.

But since it isn't going to be uniform, you need something that has a
fair amount of cushion over that minimum; you'll have to guesstimate how
much imbalance that might be and go from there.


As a retired str. engineer, you and Ed are correct. Likely the weight
is not evenly distributed for a couple of reasons. I agree with
others that I doubt 4-1000s are necessary but I would go with
something greater than 4-250s for safety as others have already said.
Keep in mind the 250s will carry a safety factor in their design
capacity but I wouldn't try to make use of it here.

There's no doubt that 4-1000s are not necessary...

The 250-rating would be highly likely to have enough strength owing to
its safety margin in design (altho from HF or such ilk who knows how
much faith to put into the ratings themselves???) as you note. I would
go w/ the oversize simply owing to the fact that many will become
difficult to move when loaded at or near their rating while the cost
differential isn't all that great in general and the ease of use is
markedly improved (and I think at least one other said essentially the
same thing as well ).


I think we all are pretty much in agreement but that doesn't mean the
OP agrees with us but he asked for our opinion. I don't know the
availability of casters nor am I familiar with his item nor the price
of casters. That said, I'd like to say I'd go with perhaps 4-400 lbs
rated casters. That should give him a buffer of about 600 lbs in
case he has to add something to his item while on the dolly.

I also think you make a GOOD point too to go with higher capacity
casters because the 250's at capacity may be a little difficult to
move. That alone would make me go for the greater capacity .
Good Point !!!

On Sat, 16 Jun 2012 06:08:38 -0500, "Doug"
wrote:

On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:09:56 -0500, dpb wrote:

On 6/15/2012 11:48 AM, Doug wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 07:56:15 -0500, wrote:

On 6/15/2012 7:23 AM, John Raymond wrote:
I'm looking to make a dolly for a 1000 lb 3-point mount wood
chipper,using 4 swivel casters.
Do I need 4 1000lb casters or would 4 250lb casters work?

If it were uniformly distributed load, each leg would support 250lb,
yes. But you would still want cushion/margin over that, of course.

But since it isn't going to be uniform, you need something that has a
fair amount of cushion over that minimum; you'll have to guesstimate how
much imbalance that might be and go from there.


As a retired str. engineer, you and Ed are correct. Likely the weight
is not evenly distributed for a couple of reasons. I agree with
others that I doubt 4-1000s are necessary but I would go with
something greater than 4-250s for safety as others have already said.
Keep in mind the 250s will carry a safety factor in their design
capacity but I wouldn't try to make use of it here.

There's no doubt that 4-1000s are not necessary...

The 250-rating would be highly likely to have enough strength owing to
its safety margin in design (altho from HF or such ilk who knows how
much faith to put into the ratings themselves???) as you note. I would
go w/ the oversize simply owing to the fact that many will become
difficult to move when loaded at or near their rating while the cost
differential isn't all that great in general and the ease of use is
markedly improved (and I think at least one other said essentially the
same thing as well ).


I think we all are pretty much in agreement but that doesn't mean the
OP agrees with us but he asked for our opinion. I don't know the
availability of casters nor am I familiar with his item nor the price
of casters. That said, I'd like to say I'd go with perhaps 4-400 lbs
rated casters. That should give him a buffer of about 600 lbs in
case he has to add something to his item while on the dolly.

I was looking for casters for a desk chair, and one particularly cheap
brand had reviews in Amazon that said it actually fell apart with
months. These were under 10 dollars for a set of 5, but they probably
make inferior ones at other weight levels too. Ended up taking the
casters off the previous chair. (And after all that, the used chair
didn't recline right, and seemed to tip forward all the time. I never
saw that before.)

I posted here a while back about repairing casters that wouldn't roll,
and people said one couldn't pull the dual plastic wheels off. They
were right. And no hair or fabric fiber was visible anywhere. I
don't know what happen

I also think you make a GOOD point too to go with higher capacity
casters because the 250's at capacity may be a little difficult to
move. That alone would make me go for the greater capacity .
Good Point !!!

"micky" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:09:56 -0500, dpb wrote:

The 250-rating would be highly likely to have enough strength owing to
its safety margin in design (altho from HF or such ilk who knows how
much faith to put into the ratings themselves???) as you note

With HF doesn't the design margin work in the other direction. They
don't want to give you more than you pay for, so they underdesign it,
figuring it will likely be stronger than the design, and everything
will come out right.**

Plus the OP should make allowances for when people lean on the chipper
while it's stationary or being moved.

**just kidding.

. I would
go w/ the oversize simply owing to the fact that many will become
difficult to move when loaded at or near their rating while the cost
differential isn't all that great in general and the ease of use is
markedly improved (and I think at least one other said essentially the
same thing as well ).

I would say the main consideration is the actual performance of casters. On
hard concrete, you can get by with smaller casters. In the convention
industry, we used four wheel dollies with quality ball bearing casters that
were about 3" in diameter. At times, we would load a 1,000# crate on just
one, if it was balanced properly, and no problemo. But that was on polished
concrete flooring. Any time you hit the smallest obstacle, that wheel would
immediately stop and skid. Smaller casters just do not do as well as larger
ones that will just roll right over the same piece of wood, nut, stick, or
whatever.

For stability, as the OP asked, if I was to build the same thing for the
same function, I would choose some of the larger wheels, say in the 6"
range, and even go with solid material (rubber, neoprene, etc.) to avoid the
inflation problem. A barn with a concrete floor may be a nice area, but it
would have some inherent hazards that could stop a small diameter wheel. A
larger wheel would just roll right over it.

MHO, YMMV, and all that.

Steve