Shock absorbing casters for loads that cannot take the hit.

A rigid caster transmits the floor to the load almost perfectly. Every expansion joint, dock plate edge and threshold arrives as an acceleration spike inside the equipment. For most cargo that is noise; for precision instruments, electronics assemblies, medical devices and aerospace ground equipment it is damage — cracked solder joints, shifted calibration, fractured glass. Shock absorbing casters (spring casters) interrupt that path: the wheel rides on a spring-loaded linkage that deflects under impact and under sustained load, isolating the equipment from the worst of the floor.

The specification that decides everything: load per caster

A spring caster only works inside its deflection window. Loaded too lightly, the spring never moves and the caster is an expensive rigid one. Loaded too heavily, the spring sits bottomed-out and every impact goes through solid. The working specification is therefore load per caster — total loaded weight divided with the uneven-floor rule (divide by three, not four) — matched to a spring rate whose deflection range brackets your real load. This is the line where sending us accurate equipment weights matters most; a guessed weight produces a mis-tuned spring, and we will ask rather than guess.

Where this line earns its cost

• Instrument and test equipment carts — calibration survives the trip between labs.
• Electronics and server handling — shock-sensitive assemblies moved within plants.
• Aerospace and defence ground support — delicate assemblies on imperfect aprons and hangar floors.
• Medical imaging and device transport — heavy, fragile, and moved over thresholds daily.
• Glass, stone and display handling — brittle loads on industrial floors.

Spring casters vs soft wheels

A soft rubber wheel absorbs small, high-frequency harshness; a spring caster absorbs large, low-frequency impacts. They solve different problems and are sometimes combined. If your damage reports mention thresholds, dock plates and ramps, the spring is the answer; if they mention vibration on long smooth runs, start with the rubber wheel line. Tell us the failure you are trying to stop and we will specify against it — including telling you if a cheaper line solves it.

Because spring tuning is application-specific, this line is quoted per application rather than from standing configurations: send equipment weight, wheel size preference, floor conditions and the shock problem you are solving.

The specification we lock before quoting

A quotation is only comparable when the specification underneath it is fixed. For this line — as for every CASTOVELLA line — the written quotation locks these six variables, and the production sample is checked against them before bulk production is approved:

• Wheel diameter and width — width is both a performance variable and the US tariff classification variable; it is measured on the sample, not copied from a catalogue.
• Tread material and hardness — stated as a Shore hardness range, so the bulk shipment can be checked against the approved sample.
• Bearing type — plain, roller or precision ball bearing, named on the quotation; bearing swaps are the most common silent downgrade in this industry.
• Fork and top plate thickness — measured in millimetres and stated, because fork flex is where cheap heavy duty casters fail first.
• Load capacity and test method — capacity per caster with the test convention named (EN 12532 / ANSI ICWM), never a bare number.
• Finish and hardware — zinc plating, stainless grade or coating stated per component, not per marketing photo.