Rubber wheels

[teleskopjo]

Do you use rubber lined wheels for your obsy roofs .. and have you noticed any 'flat spots' on the wheels when the roof is not in use for extended periods?

I need to choose between rubber or hard nylon.. . but I would like to keep the noise down at 3am !

thanks!

[red dwalf]

I have nylon wheels and they are slightly noisey but more importantly they break easily, runnder don't last to long with weight on them so I'm upgrading to Polyurethane wheels as they last alot longer.

[Fordos Moon]

Do you guys run your wheels along wood or metal?

[teleskopjo]

I was going to go with a galvanised steel stud/channel as used in plasterboard wall construction

http://www.jewson.co.uk/building-materials/plastering-plasterboard/channels-studs-tracks/products/BGM10134/gyproc-extra-deep-flange-channel-72-edc-60-3600mm/

[Tinker1947]

Rubber pneumatic tryes/wheels would be quieter, they won't get flats on them the size might be a problem.

http://www.componentforce.co.uk/category/421/red-plastic-wheel-pneumatic-tyre?gclid=COXy9u_8hLwCFabLtAod3GYAtA

[red dwalf]

i`m looking at these at the moment for my replacements

http://www.abbeypowertools.co.uk/general-hardware/castor-wheels/showitem-9446.aspx

2" diameter ones, also looking for some trunking to use as a guide for them although my other option was to put a strip of wood along the inside edge where the wheels run to help keep them running in a straight line. 

these look interesting also, although they are rubber,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-42mm-RUBBER-NYLON-FURNITURE-FIXED-CASTORS-WHEELS-Channel-bracket-/151149354881?pt=UK_BOI_Industrial_Supply_Material_Handling_ET&var=&hash=item2331341f81

[callump]

I used mini-scooter wheels, running on steel angle - did not have any trouble with flat spots developing.

/callump

[mhard26339]

Hi,

Just finalising my planning stage and I intend to use these from Screwfix  www.screwfix.com/p/rubber-tyres-fixed-50mm-pack-of-4/94751  Understand that they have been mentioned a number of times on these forums.

Regards

Mike

[mhard26339]

Oh and by the way intend to run them allong Alluminium channel or angle but prefer channel. A company called Metals4u do a good line even up to 6M in length but a bit pricey.

Regards (again)

Mike

[ollypenrice]

I've got three roll offs on rubber and two on some kind of nylon/plastic. All are reliable, the oldest now ten years old. However the nylon are certainly better since the rubber do get stones embedded and they get nibbled at by any contaminants that land in the rails.

Four run in metal channels, one on wood.

Quite honestly I'd go for metal wheels on half round rails ideally, though. ( ie male rails, female wheelrims.) I just couldn't find any, but they are made for rolling garden gates.

Olly

[red dwalf]

I too wanted to go down the metal rails on metal wheels route, but i too could not find any unless willing to pay hundreds of pounds for gate.rails and wheels. Sooner stuggle and spend it on the nice bits.

[callump]

V wheels on T rails were popular, but the wheels need to be machined.

Callum

[Helen]

Gate wheels and rails for me - worth every penny for the ease of rolling and alignment (I had rubber on my mark 1 roof).

Helen

[SnakeyJ]

Mine are rubber on steel hubs, I think a standard item from Screwfix - these run on wood runners and are very smooth and reasonably quiet at night.   No sign of any flat spots, but wouldn't take long if they seized up, but suspect I would feel this pretty quickly.     How about roller blade wheels as a possible alternative, nice and narrow for a channel, polyurethane and generally decent bearings - easily sourced/replaced in future if you do get any uneven wear.

[Gina]

I'm using 100mm rubber tyred wheels on timber rails ATM but these don't provide any sideways guiding so I'm changing to acetal wheels 80mm OD with V groove running on aluminium angle, with the 90 degrees angle upwards ^ for the V groove of the wheels to run on.  More info in my relevant obsy thread.

[Bizibilder]

I use Screwfix 50mm rubber tyred wheels on wooden runners.  The trick is to use enough wheels so that the loading per wheel is kept at a sensible level. I have 10 wheels on a roof that weighs around 150Kg - so only 15Kg per wheel and they are rated at 40Kg each if I remember correctly.

[ollypenrice]

I had a link to some affordable gate wheels but it's no longer functional. Pity. Another possibility, which I haven't tried; fix the wheels pointing upwards onto the tops of the shed walls and put the steel channels on the roof pointing downwards. You might need a few more wheels but they're cheap and the channels won't fill up with water, which is the drawback. You'd probably need to contrive a chamfer to help the channels ride up over the next wheel but that would be easy.

Olly

[continuum]

On my recently built Obsy I used the Screwfix rubber rimmed wheels mentioned above, but my roof is very heavy and they are already showing signs of flat spots.

Consequently I have bought 50mm Polyurethane tyred wheels on Ball bearing  hubs. These were obtained on Ebay from Atlas Packaging. I have not installed them yet due to the appalling weather here in Devon, but as they are harder I am hopeful that they will prove to be much better. By the way both run on Aluminium angle.

Ron

[Clockwork_Orange]

Hi

I've used these from machine mart think I paid about £1.80 each plus the VAT. I needed 10 of them in total, but my roof is very light and moves nice and smoothly and quietly in the ali channel

They run in Aluminium channel that I picked up from a local stock holder size was 5mtrs long 30mm wide and 15mm deep. I only needed 2 lengths and it cost £42.00 inc the VAT. there are various web suppliers try Aluminium Warehouse, I was lucky that the stock holder was only 5 mins from my work.

Regards John

[jackrussell0232]

I bit the bullet and bought the galvanised steel half round track (4x3m lengths) and 6 metal wheels, probably 300 quid all in (ebay).  I thought this was expensive, but worth it as one of the key functional components of the build.

I've just automated it with a garage door opener and it is almost silent while moving, I was genuinely amazed - no noisier than an EQ6 on max speed.  When I ran the wheels along the rails before I assembled everything, I thought 'mmm this might be a bit noisey - metal on metal (brass on steel)', but I guess now it's all mounted, the wooden supports for the rails dampen the sound really well.

Wasn't cheap, but before I motorised it, you could easily slide the 8x8 apex roof on and off with an index finger - without straining it.

Not sure if this helps,

Jack

[yesyes]

This is my solution. Quite happy with it so far but I haven't yet completely finished my build.

I have 3 of those on either side of the roof.

[Gina]

Same principle as my new wheels

[ollypenrice]

This is my solution. Quite happy with it so far but I haven't yet completely finished my build.

mini-IMG_9372.JPG

I have 3 of those on either side of the roof.

Although all my sheds use a different principle and are generally fine, I think you have the best way forward. This looks very convincing.

Olly

[teleskopjo]

yes i think it is the best way of ensuring that all the wheels are making contact thus the roof weight is being evenly shared (no hanging wheels!)

[rwg]

I went with the sliding gate track and wheels, which run very quietly and smoothly.

The track and wheels vary a lot in price, so shop around - I saw basically the same 3m lengths of track for between just over £20 to the better part of £40. In the end I got my track from a company called FH Brundle (http://www.fhbrundle.co.uk/groups/13SW__Wheels_Tracks) for about £18+Vat each length.

The same company also sell the wheels at a decent price, but they didn't have the ones I wanted which have are pre-mounted in a steel frame - these I got from ebay from a shop called 'quality handling' for about £13 each.

4 wheels and 9m of track came in at £120 or thereabouts - well worth it.

cheers,

Robin