Steerable castors

[AdeV]

Some time ago, I dropped on a proper eBay bargain, and snagged 18 5" castor wheels for a measly 20 squids delivered:



A few more squids were handed over to Bearing Station in return for a set of axial needle roller bearings; and the lathe was fired up for a bit of turning malarkey. The results are now in:



The red plate had a 25mm hole bored in it, followed by a 42x1.5mm recess for the bearing. The "spigot" was turned from a remnant of steel bar I had left over, and was turn to be a close sliding fit through the plate & bearing, and also through the centre hole of the castor plate. Drilled & tapped for an M6 bolt, which, in conjunction with a big washer, is used to hold the castor in place. It's not particularly tight, just tight enough to remove any slop.

Assembled:



The castor now swivels wonderfully The only problem is, because the axis of rotation is directly above the centre of the wheel, it's not self-steering.... No problem, Mk2 will be 2 plates sandwiching the bearing, with the castor bolted on at an offset, so it will steer exactly like a shopping trolley (i.e. anywhere but where you want it to go!  )

[Mike Cole]

They look like good strong castors, are you planning to do all 18 and put your workshop on wheels .

[Jonny]

Aaagh you had them, i bottled out couldnt lift more than 5 1/2"
A trip to the local woods proved even cheaper.

[AdeV]

Mike:  I think I'd need a few more than 18 to move my workshop....

In fact, I only wanted 6 (to put under a heavy engine) & later thought of a use for another 4; I ended up with 18 because at 99p for 9 (2 auctions), I couldn't just ignore them... but some sod (Jonny?  ) bid 9 quid on one of the 2 batches, which basically doubled the price I had to pay 

Still, at just over a quid each delivered, even a Yorkshireman ought to approve.

[Pete.]

You know an easy way to make those self-steering would be to cut the forks off near the top of the flat section at say 10 degrees angle then flip them round and re-weld.

[Jonny]

Dont think i actually bid Ade.

By the way the 2 supermarket trolley wheels were welded on to two plates, 4 each end, trouble is i cant left it to even get something under. No room to swing a cat.
Two weeks and back on the lathe setup.