UMHW as a replacement for casters?

[jcuempire]

Has anyone used UHMW as a way to move set pieces around? I had never heard of this plastic until this morning listening to an Adam Savage podcast where said he's used in the theater. Looking it up, I have seen it as bearings and the like, but I am intrigued by the possibilities of less noise when moving sets . Does anyone have any experience with it? Thanks

 

[rsmentele]

I would say that as long as the floor is smooth, it should work great. I have also used carpet stapled to corners of lighter wight set pieces. This method is nice as it makes them easy to push, yet static enough to forgo the use of platform brakes. I would be very interested to hear other user's experiences with UHMW plastic as an additional alternative.

 

[sk8rsdad]

We've use it from time to time on some lightweight pieces. It's OK. I wouldn't say it makes less noise than a good quality caster. We've also attached carpet tile to the underside of the set piece for similar projects. It makes a higher frequency swoosh sound.

 

[Dionysus]

Ive used it a couple times (I don't do much carpentry) for light setpieces to get them to slide. Also used it to make something slide in a channel, worked great (the channel and the sliding piece had UHMW feet against UHMW).
When smooth this plastic has less friction than a number of other materials, which is why it helps things to glide well. Its also fairly strong, and harder to cut than some materials.

There will still be friction to the ground, if you round the edges it would help other than square edges. Of course this means that it won't be silent. As sk8rsdad said not really any less noise than a really good caster that has been installed properly.

 

[bobgaggle]

Its great for the set pieces that are too small or weird to fit casters in. It cuts and machines easily and is far more durable than carpet, but you pay for the benefits. Its not cheap stuff. We use it a lot on pieces that slide across a marley, and it works well. And definitely chamferl or roundover the edges. A square edge will hit the smallest ridge on your deck and stop the whole set piece.

 

[jcuempire]

Excellent. So it depends on the application. That makes sense. I want to test it at least. I just cringe when I hear set pieces clunking across the stage. Especially when there are actors in front of the curtain. It kills the magic! We don't ever use a marley floor. We should, though, also invest in modern casters. Believe me, we have some ancient ones. Thank you all for the information.

 

[Chris Rigby]

What a strange coincidence. I was actually going to ask the very same question after hearing it from the same place. Thanks jcuempire for beating me to it.

 

[techieman33]

It works great for rocks. My brother has a truck that he offroad and we used some old heavy duty cutting boards from the grocery store to put under his rock sliders, and a couple other places. Even thought it lowered his clearance some we found he was less likely to get hung up on his sliders with those on them. The UHMW being a lot slicker than the steel tube. My main point for sharing this is that you could try hitting up your local grocery stores for pieces of it. They are required to replace it every so often for food safety reasons and they just throw it away.

 

[What Rigger?]

Use it for moving 4 cases that are a couple hundred pounds each. Make sure you get a bolt or screw in the UHMW that will be able to withstand the shearing force that will still be present.

 

[jcuempire]

What a strange coincidence. I was actually going to ask the very same question after hearing it from the same place. Thanks jcuempire for beating me to it.

You know what they say about great minds...

 

[jcuempire]

It works great for rocks. My brother has a truck that he offroad and we used some old heavy duty cutting boards from the grocery store to put under his rock sliders, and a couple other places. Even thought it lowered his clearance some we found he was less likely to get hung up on his sliders with those on them. The UHMW being a lot slicker than the steel tube. My main point for sharing this is that you could try hitting up your local grocery stores for pieces of it. They are required to replace it every so often for food safety reasons and they just throw it away.

That's a great idea. Thanks

 

[kicknargel]

Yup, it can work, but things don't move as smoothly as on casters. It's a choice when casters won't fit, or you want something not TOO easy to move, like a piece of furniture. The trick is the coefficient of friction; it still takes some oomph to get a heavy piece moving. I'd say your best bet is better casters. Get some with a soft rubber wheel (like Colson Performa).

 

[jcuempire]

Yup, it can work, but things don't move as smoothly as on casters. It's a choice when casters won't fit, or you want something not TOO easy to move, like a piece of furniture. The trick is the coefficient of friction; it still takes some oomph to get a heavy piece moving. I'd say your best bet is better casters. Get some with a soft rubber wheel (like Colson Performa).

Yes, I agree. But UMHW clearly has some potential in the right situations. It's just nice to have alternatives when budgets are small. Thanks

 

[venuetech]

An other possibility is to use two casters and one or two uhmw skids. I did this on a couch that had to move in and out. The casters carried most of the weight but the couch was solid as soon as you stopped it on spike.