At Heavy Duty Casters, we specialize in providing wheels and casters to help you move the equipment in your facility. We have been working in this field for many years, and we have a long history of working with clients in the original equipment manufacturing as well as the food and pharmaceutical industries. You can count on us to help you find the perfect casters for your needs.
One question you will need to answer when choosing casters is whether you need a heavy-, medium-, or light-duty casters. In this article, our team explain how to choose between these three options.
- Know the Weight Ratings – First, you will need to know the different weight ratings for each grade of caster. Light-duty casters are rated for loads of up to 500 lbs, medium-duty for loads of 501 to 2,000 lbs, and heavy-duty for loads of more than 2,000 lbs.
- Know How to Interpret the Weight Ratings – Next, you need to understand what the weight ratings mean. The rating is for each individual caster, not each set of casters. In other words, each of the light-duty casters on a cart is rated to hold up to 500 lbs. This will affect your calculations, as we’ll explain below.
- Know How to Calculate the Weight of Your Load – To determine what kind of casters you need, first take the weight of the load you need them to carry, then add the weight of the cart itself. Then multiply that total by 1.3-1.5 to create a safety margin. Then divide that total by the number of casters on your cart to figure out which type you will need. For example, if you need to move a 1000-pound load on a cart with four casters, light-duty casters will be fine, because 1000 divided by 4 is only 250, which is well below the threshold. (And even with a safety margin of 50% extra weight, which comes to 1,500 pounds, the average is still just 325, still below the limit.)