self leveling casters

[Bill Carey]

I'm building a 2' x 4' oak kitchen island that needs to be mobile. I was going to hide the wheels (which do not need to lock) behind a short skirt at the base of the island. Then discovered that the floor is seriously out of level and humped. The difference between the parked location and the spot where it will be used is about an inch at one wheel and 1/2" at another. Anyone know of any self leveling (shock absorbing?) casters that might work. Going to be a heavy piece - 200 lbs or so. I really don't want the wheels visible, so work bench type casters that need to engaged and disengaged are not solution.

All suggestions welcome and appreciated.

[Terry Tjaden]

I built a similar island and used furniture slides. There are various versions on Amazon. We only move it for cleaning and it slides easy on a tile floor.

[Mike Heidrick]

What about a removeable magnetic kickplate and footmaster style pad leveling casters?

[Brian Deakin]

Please see

http://www.mjvail.com/carrymaster.htm

Please note

You may find the castors cheaper on e bay

From memory I think the load carrynig capacity of the castors is 50% of the figure given if you plan to move them around

regards Brian

[Jamie Buxton]

I've never seen self-leveling casters. How about using just three casters? All three would be in contact with the floor at all times, so the island would not teeter-totter on the odd floor.

[Bill Carey]

brilliantly simple Jamie - thanks. I may try that. I forgot about the KISS principle.

[johnny means]

A rectangular island on three wheels will rock.

[Bill Adamsen]

The small radius leveling casters Brian referenced might work, I have seen alternative sources with reasonable prices. Trying to visualize the application makes me think there are numerous obstacles to success. How does one achieve adequate stability? Either the island is very wide, or with a hidden caster and the need to inset the caster to provide a swing radius, instability becomes a very real risk. Also, if the caster is truly hidden, how does one adjust the leveling? A threaded stem adjust caster (leveled from the top inside the cabinet) might be a solution.

[Jamie Buxton]

On a badly non-flat floor, a four-caster island will rock, and a three-caster island will not rock. On the four-caster island, two casters on opposite corners will be touching the floor. The roll axis is a line connecting those two casters. It runs through the middle of the island, which is also (approximately) where the center of mass is. This means that it doesn't take much force to make the island to rock. In contrast, on the three-caster island, all three casters touch the floor at all times. The roll axes are lines between the casters, and they don't go near the middle of the island. This means that it takes much more force to make the island start to tip over. In most use, the three-caster version doesn't rock, but the four-caster version does.

There's one more helpful design tweak. This island is going to have skirts or something to conceal the casters. The bottom edge of the skirts can be set so they're just a little bit above the floor. They will then limit how far the island can tip over. So if somebody does something extreme, like sit on a corner of the island, the island will start to tip over, but won't go very far. The sitter may be startled, but he won't dump the whole island over. In fact, being startled might teach him to not sit on the island.