Aluminum Caster Backing Plates
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 9:37 pm
All:
A while back I did a nice, quick project on the Shark, to help me construct roll-around carts that will LAST. I put them together using the Kreg pocket-screw system in table-saw cut plywood. But, when it came time to put casters on the bottoms of them, I wanted something a little special. They were going to be pretty heavy, and I drives me bonkers when I see a caster, years later, all bent and misshappen because they didn't attach it strongly enough. To solve this, I designed a simple backing plate that takes the place of the washers someone might use. The larger area helps keep from crushing the wood, but still gives lots of strength to keep those 4 bolt tight.
Design on this on is like most others: Fusion360 to BobCAD to Shark. Here are some of the resulting parts. 1/8" thick 6061 aluminum, 3" wide, cut into 2.625" long pieces, then machined using a 3/16"D 2FL 0.625LOC 0.020R stubby endmill, over a scrap piece of acrylic for waste-board. Came out way better than good enough, but still some flaws.
Cheers and Regards,
Thom
A while back I did a nice, quick project on the Shark, to help me construct roll-around carts that will LAST. I put them together using the Kreg pocket-screw system in table-saw cut plywood. But, when it came time to put casters on the bottoms of them, I wanted something a little special. They were going to be pretty heavy, and I drives me bonkers when I see a caster, years later, all bent and misshappen because they didn't attach it strongly enough. To solve this, I designed a simple backing plate that takes the place of the washers someone might use. The larger area helps keep from crushing the wood, but still gives lots of strength to keep those 4 bolt tight.
Design on this on is like most others: Fusion360 to BobCAD to Shark. Here are some of the resulting parts. 1/8" thick 6061 aluminum, 3" wide, cut into 2.625" long pieces, then machined using a 3/16"D 2FL 0.625LOC 0.020R stubby endmill, over a scrap piece of acrylic for waste-board. Came out way better than good enough, but still some flaws.
Cheers and Regards,
Thom