OT: Urethane covered V-Groove casters?

Just draw how you want your wheel and get a urethane casting company to make it. Most of the urethane covered wheels I do are specials.

Albion or Colson has a urethane caster that may work for you. For us they machined in a 'V' groove for the same cost as the painted steel V groove caster we were looking to replace. The painted version looked good out of the box, but as soon as it was installed and rolled on the floor, all the paint would chip off and leave red marks all over the floor. The vendor of the casters' (name with-held) response to this was quote "Oh well, that's just the way it is."

How much does the rolling machine weigh ?? The only time I've seen this type of arraingmet was in heavty automation (engine assembly and such). With a rubber coated grooved wheel you're putting "shear" stress on the rubber as well as compression. Most rubbers don't handle this very well. Also, the relative surface speed of the conical contact with the rail varies with the diameter. Most of this surface will be "wiping" instead of rolling. I would imagine the rubber would get abraided away rather quickly.

Regards

Mark

Thanks for the input folks, the machine weighs about 1400 lbs. I'd envisioned the 'rubber' coating just the OD of the caster, while the V-groove would be bare steel.

Custom would be an option, but this thing needs to be on a boat to China in about 5 weeks

I think we've come up with a good 'Plan B', using standard 'rubber' coated casters and adding a locating devise to align to the rail...

Happy Friday!

Try Sun Ray. They have off the shelf and customs. Low cost and quick turn around.

V-groove wheels (not casters), with polyurethane coatings are used on elevator doors. You might be able to swap the wheels with a caster, to get what you want. The wheels are about 3" diameter, and kinda light duty (good enough to support an elevator door). I think they use urethane because it's quieter.

McMaster Carr even offers a few variations of these type of casters.

How about making a V-Grooved Caster from an industrial grade plastic like Rulon (bearing properties) or a fiberglass composite. If you need the strength of a ferrous metal core, press fit steel core to plastic V-Grooved ring (fasten mechanically or with adhesive).

Kman