At 360 Castors and Wheels, we are very aware of the issues with health and safety and the need to have products that appeal and adhere to the HSE (health and safety executive). So, we offer a range of stainless steel products that are made to AISI:304 grade, which is high-grade alloy chromium-nickel steel.

Why do we use stainless steel in the wheel and castor industry? Well, simply because of the longevity over standard bright zinc plated, steel and cast iron variants. With the industries that have the need to move equipment within a clean room environment, stainless steel castors show no sign of rust or oxidisation and are quite simply the castors you need. They are generally marked INOX or ROSTFREI.

The process that is used to do this takes raw material, which is firstly melted down in an electric arc furnace. Once the material is in a molten state, oxygen, argon and nitrogen are then blown through it. It is then put through a casting machine to produce a stainless steel slab. Each slab is then put through a surface grinding process to remove any defects.

Hot rolling is then introduced at this stage. The slabs are heated to in excess of 1200 degrees centigrade, then fed through the rollers at the required gauge, to be rolled into coils or flattened into plate. Then they are annealed and descaled to produce a no.1 finish which has a grey matt finish.

Once the material cools it is then milled and polished with an abrasive belt to produce a cold stainless steel shiny finish.

360 Castors and Wheels hold in stock sizes 50mm up to 200mm in all versions of brackets which include swivel, fixed and swivel brakes with both top plate fixings and bolthole fixings these are all available with nylon wheels, polyurethane tyred wheels, rubber non-marking wheels, and high-temperature bakery wheels; phenolic, thermoplastic and rubber tyred.

Because of the different environments that these castors are going in, such as food processing areas, autoclaves, laboratories, hospitals, operating theatres, veterinary hospitals, and bakeries, we can also offer different wheel axles options, such as plain bore (wheel is running on the bolt), stainless steel needle roller bearings (for easier movement and that initial push), and stainless steel ball bearings for heavier loads with more thrust.

As standard stock, we can offer load capacities of up to 350kg. For heavier loads, please contact our sales team on 01159 722782 for further help.

All our stainless steel products are made to EN standards and certification is available on request.

All 360 Castors and Wheels’ stainless steel products are available to purchase from our website.