Castors For Legs?

[Derek Arita]

OK...I made a planting table for my wife. Now says she wants wheels on it and she wants the wheels to go right on the ends of the legs. The table has 1 1/2" square legs and the table is made of redwood/cedar, not quite sure. Does anyone make castors that will work for this application?

[Dave Richards]

You can get casters with stems and plastic inserts that retain the caster stem. Drill a hole in the bottom of the leg, insert the plastic insert and add the caster. 1-1/2 in. square isn't very big though for that sort of thing.

You might have a look at http://darcor.com/find-a-caster/ for some ideas anyway.

[Victor Robinson]

I'd install threaded inserts and stemmed casters. Just be careful when you are driving the inserts into end grain...especially in end grain of softwoods, it's easy to crack the leg. Use appropriate size drill bits, and if anything, drill slightly oversize and epoxy the insert into place.

[Derek Arita]

I'd install threaded inserts and stemmed casters. Just be careful when you are driving the inserts into end grain...especially in end grain of softwoods, it's easy to crack the leg. Use appropriate size drill bits, and if anything, drill slightly oversize and epoxy the insert into place.

Think that's what I had in mind...a metal threaded insert that would take a threaded castor stem. Good idea about epoxying the insert into place to help keep the legs from splitting.

[glenn bradley]

It is the addition after the fact that could cause you some trouble. In that soft material, if I had been expecting stem casters I would have just made the leg larger or incorporated a foot detail into the design. At his point you are being setup for failure; not immediately but, in the future after the item has been moved around a bit.

I would determine if the requirement for the stem type caster at the end of the current leg is important enough to the wife that she is OK with being very, very, careful when moving the table. If she wants to move it freely and often I would go for a side mount caster or another solution altogether. JMHO ;-)

There are many variations but, here's a for instance:

side mount caster.JPG

-or-

side mount caster 2.JPG

[Derek Arita]

It is the addition after the fact that could cause you some trouble. In that soft material, if I had been expecting stem casters I would have just made the leg larger or incorporated a foot detail into the design. At his point you are being setup for failure; not immediately but, in the future after the item has been moved around a bit.

I would determine if the requirement for the stem type caster at the end of the current leg is important enough to the wife that she is OK with being very, very, careful when moving the table. If she wants to move it freely and often I would go for a side mount caster or another solution altogether. JMHO ;-)

There are many variations but, here's a for instance:

side mount caster.JPG


-or-

side mount caster 2.JPG

I agree with what you are saying. Where did you find that side mount castor on the bottom?

[Doug Garson]

If you use the stem casters I would reinforce the base of the leg by wrapping it with say 1/4" to 1/2" thick wood to match the leg material but with the grain running horizontally mitred corners and glue. Alternately you could wrap the leg with bent steel flat bar if you don't mind a little metal working.

[Keith Westfall]

Or wrap the leg with some small (picture?) wire or a light nylon carpenter string, and then epoxy over it. You could even then attempt to paint or stain to match...

[Jamie Buxton]

"planting table" suggests that this table is going to be rolling around outside, likely over a patio or some other surface with big cracks or holes in it. You want wheels big enough to roll over any obstacles the table is going to encounter.

[pat warner]

Will not undo itself.