Twin wheel casters are iconic in the caster industry. They are a staple on office chairs and classroom equipment and are easily what comes to mind when the word “caster” is mentioned. Twin wheel casters can be referred to as office chair casters or furniture casters and can be used interchangeably between these titles. For me, I would say that twin wheel casters are most famous for their presence on a mobile office chair, which you probably have at home, in your office or are currently sitting in while reading this post. The dual wheel caster has taken on various other shapes and designs over the years but it is still widely popular heavily used in its standard design.
Starting with the most basic office chair caster, an all nylon twin wheel caster is designed for economical mobility solutions. The most common items that these casters are used on are store fixtures, furniture, display units, utility carts, office equipment and medical equipment. Brakes are available and are activated by the lever seen on the back of the brake caster. Moving up the ladder, higher end office chair casters come in metal body designs along with different color finishes to change their look.
The wheels on these casters come with two separate options – Nylon and Urethane tread. If your chair is going to be rolling on carpet, you will want the hardest wheel surface available to make it as easy as possibly to roll your chair on the soft surface. This is where the nylon wheel comes into play. Nylon is a very hard material which is good for soft floor surfaces but can be damaging to harder floor surfaces such as hardwood or tile. On the harder floor surfaces, we recommend the urethane tread wheel. A thin layer of polyurethane lined around the nylon core of the wheel provides a smooth role with superior floor protection as well as reduced noise while rolling.
An all-black caster body and wheel design is the most typical color combination you will see on these casters. However, there are many manufacturers who got creative and have redesigned the furniture caster with different color schemes or totally new styles for a more aesthetically appealing look. Bright chrome, brass plate, satin chrome and Windsor antique are four finishing options just to name a few. Furniture chair casters also come in two distinct styles which can differentiate them – Hooded and Un-Hooded. If it is un-hooded there will be no surface area covering the wheel tread so there will be no options for any of the finishes mentioned here.
Standard mounting options for these twin wheel casters come in a wide range of threaded stems, grip ring stems and top plates:
- The threaded stems range in diameter from 1/4” to 1/2” and range in length from 1/2” to 1-1/2”.
- A grip neck stem has a diameter of 5/16” and usually needs to be mounted with a “wood stem” socket insert.
- The grip ring stems are slightly thicker than the grip neck stems and come in either a 3/8” or 7/16” diameter with lengths ranging from 7/8” to 1-7/8”.
- The top plates for these casters come in four different sizes:
- 1-3/16” x 2” with a bolthole pattern of 1-3/16” x 1-9/16”
- 1-1/2” x 1-1/2” with a bolthole pattern of 1” x 1”
- 2-5/8” x 3-3/4” with a bolthole pattern of 1-3/4” x 2-3/4” to 3”
- 2-9/16” x 2-3/16” with a bolthole pattern of 2” x 1-5/8”
Your mounting style choice will depend on the piece of equipment and the style of equipment you are looking to mount these casters on. These mounting options are separate and interchangeable on the caster body.
