How to choose the right castor for your industry & application
Jun 18 , 2024To find the best type of castors for your industry application, take a look at our different types of castors.
In our product range, you can find different types of castors for a variety of purposes. In brief, we will summarize some of the most common types of castors and their applications.
Swivel castor or rigid castor?
Practically all castors are divided into two categories. You can either choose a swivel castor that is able to rotate in any direction, even when carrying a heavy load. If you need the wheel to move in a straight line you can choose for a rigid, also known as fixed castors, which can not be steered but can only move back and forth.
Locking castors with brake system
You specifically need locking castors when you need to move up and down a slope or when you want to prevent the load to suddenly move. In most cases, a castor with a lock is needed for safety, either to prevent the load from damaging or to ensure a safe working environment. The brake system is traditionally mounted on the swivel castor as it combines the braking of the wheel rotation with the braking of the horizontal “swiveling” rotation.
Castors with locks are often used on containers, platforms, scaffolding, furniture or containers. There are different castor brake types that you can use, you can choose for:
- A brake that presses only the spinning of the wheel, these are single braked castors.
- A double working brake that brakes the rotation of the wheel and the swivelling of the swivel castor.
- Or a brake that pushes on the floor and lifts up the platform or trolley, this can be levelling castors or floor brakes, also known as truck locks.
Plate castors, bolt hole castors or stem castors
Plate castors are used in a wide variety of applications and are available as both rigid castors as well as swivel castors. The mounting plate makes it easy to attach the wheels to the appliance which needs to be able to move. The mount plate consists of a rectangular steel plate with 4 drill holes to fasten the castor with. Depending on your preferences or requirements we can create various hole patterns on our top plate castors.
Stem castors are mostly used when there is little space to connect your castor on. The stem on these castors is the connection point for the wheel. These stem mounts are often threaded, but we can also provide them non-threaded in a round or square shape with mounting holes or expandable stems.
Bolt hole castors are a certain type of stem castors that you can fasten through the centre of a swivel head. These castors are often used on equipment like trolleys, carts or medical equipment.
