Casters will be the death of me!

[Squeegee]

So we have these soft flats that are 10' high and we attached a piece of 3/4"ply wood 2' long behind them on their width (that varies) and on the bottom we put 2 rotating casters (up against the flat) and 2 nonrotating casters (in the back of the 2' platform base thing). My cast and crew is complaining. They don't move very well and they're very loud. We made it so that the casters lift the flats above the ground just enough to move it easily so that it actually rolls. It also has a 5' hypotenuse aframe jack thing in the back to hold it level and at 90degrees. Any suggestions to make it quieter/easier?

[ricc0luke]

get better castors. that simple.

what type are you using?

[Foxinabox10]

Yeah, investing in some good soft-rubber casters will really benefit you. We spent $300-400 the first time we went for really good ones and it's amazing how much it helped and now we keep using the same ones over and over.

[Footer]

Good casters make all the differance. You do not need to go with tripple swivels, but getting some good soft rubber casters will safe you a ton of time in headaches.

[Squeegee]

Yeah... we're a [reallyreally] low budget high-school and we'd be lucky if we had half of $300. We're using the ones from Homedepot with ballbearings. I don't think I'm worried so much about the noise as I am about the maneuverability. Should we change the wheels around or would it be easier if all 4 wheels were the spinny kind rather than only two?

[Footer]

If the units are going strait on stage from the wings and back off, and they do not have to turn at all, go all fixed casters, but odds are you are going to want to move it around backstage or onstage on more then one plain. Your best bet in that situation is to go all swivel. Rarely do I ever mix and match casters on a unit. Remember though with fixed casters half of the work in getting it moving is moving it enough to get all the casters swiveled into the same direction. If you can plan out movements onstage to where the casters are allready set in the direction that they need to be when the unit is taken to its spike, you will be able to get it going much faster.

[Squeegee]

We're doing a fairly complicated set where the flats are reused in a different scene in a different location so they need to move around all over the place. There's about 11 of them. When I designed them the idea was that they move like a car and you have to "steer" them and you cant just turn them you have to like push and turn them. Less noise, less money, but I didn't think it would be more of a problem.

[jonhirsh]

I think it has allot to do with the action of the set piece. Some times like a gear cart its simpler to drive with swivels on one side and fixed on the other
x = swivel
o = non swivel

x ---- o
x ---- o

crude drawing i know ... does that make sense that set up means one person can drive and push the the truck with the flat on it.

[Footer]

Originally Posted by Squeegee

We're doing a fairly complicated set where the flats are reused in a different scene in a different location so they need to move around all over the place. There's about 11 of them. When I designed them the idea was that they move like a car and you have to "steer" them and you cant just turn them you have to like push and turn them. Less noise, less money, but I didn't think it would be more of a problem.

Go all swivel, cars don't belong onstage enless you are doing grease, and if you are doing grease go work somewhere else.

[Squeegee]

Originally Posted by Footer4321

Go all swivel, cars don't belong onstage enless you are doing grease, and if you are doing grease go work somewhere else.

lol
But then we wasted money and we don't like to do that. WE don't like to waste it and we don't like to spend it either... I'll talk to my director about it.