American supplier Hamilton Caster is well known for making heavy duty industrial casters  – and now, one of the biggest.  Hamilton recently designed and built the Colossus: four 45,000-kg capacity casters requested by a federal contractor.  Fully assembled, each caster is 1.32 m high and weighs more than 3,600 kg. Together, they represent Hamilton’s highest payload capacity ever: 180 t. Hamilton produced a behind the scenes video showing just how it was built. “Everything about this job was colossal,” said Ralph Stampfli, Hamilton Caster’s truck team leader. “From the springs to the ball bearings. We even had to use a 30-t crane, 6,000-lb forklift and 3/8th-inch chain just to move it out of our factory.”

Each Colossus caster was designed with a spring-loaded suspension system to absorb shock.  The swivel construction consisted of 813 and 457 mm diameter raceways flame hardened to 55-60 HRC with a total of (96) 38 mm diameter bearing balls.   Each caster also featured an eight position swivel lock for directional control, a huge 178 mm diameter oscillating axle to accommodate uneven surfaces, and a foot-operated braking system.  The massive payload required 914 mm diameter by 508 mm wide extreme duty press-on tyres with 114 mm diameter tapered roller bearings.   Hamilton’s Cart and Trailer division designed and fabricated the integrated towing system weighing over 2,040 kg for the two front casters.

“This is what Hamilton Caster does,” said Dustin Manz of Service Caster Corp, the distributor that sold the casters. “They are the best out there as far as custom products go, and we needed that on this project. They really came through in a big way.”

“We’re very proud of Colossus,” said Mark Lippert, Vice President of marketing. “It embodies everything Hamilton stands for: innovation, durability, precise engineering.