Furniture castors: the epitome of flexibility in the office

Quickly turn to your colleague or move the filing cabinet from left to right – that's flexibility in the modern office. Furniture castors and chair castors from our product range make this extra flexible particularly easy for you.

Is there a difference between office chair castors and furniture castors?

In principle, all office chair castors can also be used as furniture castors for mobile pedestals and the like. But this is not as easy the other way around. This is because castors for office chairs must comply with EN 12529 and accordingly must have ''load-dependent braking''.

This brake ensures that the office chair only rolls when someone is sitting on it. As soon as you get up, the castors rotate only slightly, thereby preventing you from pushing the chair backwards with the back of your knees when you get up. If this brake did not exist, there would be a great danger of ''missing the mark''. EN 12529 is, therefore, an important factor in occupational safety at work.

Furniture castors do not have to comply with this standard, but for this reason, may therefore not be fitted under office chairs as a replacement.

Do I need tools to fasten the castors in place?

It always depends on the type of fastening the rollers are provided with. For rollers with socket pins, you only need a little force, for threaded pins a spanner is sufficient, for castors with a mounting plate you need the corresponding screws and suitable tools.

How do I find furniture castors for laminate and the like?

When selecting castors, a basic rule of thumb applies: soft castors for hard floors; hard castors for soft floors.

Laminate and other sensitive surfaces such as tiles or floorboards are hard floors and therefore require castors with soft coatings. These protect the floor from damage caused by dirt particles etc. By the way, you can often recognise hard floor castors at a glance: They are usually designed with two colours, while the wheels of the soft floor castors are optically cast in one piece.

What material are good furniture castors made of?

The following applies to each castor: it must be suitable for the floor type. One single best material does not exist. Many castors for furniture and chairs are made of nylon, as it is resilient and durable. Soft running surfaces are often made of polyurethane, while thermoplastic solid rubber is used for furniture castors with a larger diameter.

Materials and castor types outside the standard range are available from us on request. You can find out more about the subtle differences in materials and castors in the purchasing guide to wheels and castors.

What details do I need to consider when choosing castors?

As with all wheels and castors, you should also know the basic formula for calculating the (required) load capacity per castor for office chair castors and furniture castors. This is:

(Net weight of furniture/chair + weight of body/load)/(Number of castors – 1)

The divisor (number of castors – 1) also factors in that furniture or chairs do not always stand on all castors at the same time for various reasons. By factoring in one castor less than required, you are ensuring that the load-bearing capacity is maintained even in the event of incomplete floor contact.

Otherwise, make sure that the spare part matches your piece of furniture when making your selection. This usually relates to the type of mounting, diameter and overall height of the roller. Experience has shown that it usually makes sense to replace the entire set of castors. This ensures that the castors fit and all have the same functional condition.

What does ''antistatic'' mean in terms of furniture castors?

Antistatic models for furniture castors, which we supply to you on request, are particularly important in medical technology, hospitals and the electrical and semiconductor industries. As a furniture component, they prevent the usual electrostatic discharges and therefore protect sensitive goods from damage, as well as employees from pain.

We will be happy to advise you personally on the different product categories that will get you moving with castors. This also applies, for example, to shelving systems or resources for presentation and moderation as well. Talk to us!

These products may also be of interest to you:

Transport device castors | Proroll wheels | TENTE wheels

Wagner Chair castors