Clay Bin Dolly

[Benzine]

In my classroom, I use a large Rubbermaid "Brute" container, to hold our reclaimed clay.  I bought a dolly with it, made by Rubbermaid, that is made to fit those types of containers.  I bought both from my ceramic supplier, several years ago, and they held up the first couple years.  Last year however, the dolly gave out.  I discovered this, when I went into my classroom, and the clay bin was laying on its side.  I had taken all the clay out of the bin, a couple weeks before, and rewedged it all to mix it.  I threw it back in the bin.  I weighed it out as I went, to figure out how much clay the bin holds.  I totaled conservatively 500lbs., and the bin wasn't even full.  Turns out, the dolly is only rated for 350lbs....  I assumed, that a bin and dolly sold from a ceramic supplier, would be able to take the weight of the max amount of clay, the bin could hold.  Obviously, I shouldn't make such assumptions.

 

Anyway, last year, the bin sat on the floor, stationary.  All year, I was planning on building a dolly myself, out of some heavy duty casters, and lumber.  I never got around to it, last year.  So I was going to have it be a Summer project.  However, in my search for some casters, I found a dolly online.  It's made from a rubber coated fiberboard.  It says it can hold 800 lbs.  I don't doubt that it can, but as it seems to be made for moving large items, I question whether it can continually carry the weight?  I realize there is a difference, between holding something for a short while, and holding something indefinitely.

 

What does everyone think?  Will it be able to hold, around 500 lbs, on a fairly consistent basis?

[Judy_in_GA]

Is there a manufacturer listed that you could check their FAQ?  Or maybe just a customer svc contact?

[Benzine]

Possibly, I just happened across it on Amazon.  I haven't started pursuing it any further.  Thought I'd pose the question here, in case someone here used something similar.

[Dale pots]

Benzine doesn't your school have a metal shop that could do a project for you (or woodshop)? 

[TJR]

Ben;

I am looking at some dollies from Princess Auto. They are under $20.00, four wheels, just a frame of hardwood, designed for moving furniture. I have a big plastic garbage can of EPK, and one of whiting, that I want to use these for.

i never have bins of clay sitting around in my class room. I process as I go.

I explained this in a previous post once.

TJR.

[Benzine]

Dale,

 

We do have Industrial Tech, and I could probably have them build it for me.  Honestly, that's not really the problem, because I could build something myself fairly easy.  But for the cost of the lumber and casters, I could just as easily buy a pre-made dolly.  I just wasn't sure if they were designed to take a constant load.

 

Tom, how much would you say your garbage can of EPK weighs?

[DirtRoads]

Back when I did a lot of shows in my other business, I found Rubbermaid moving aids to be useless for heavy loads because they always tore up.  I ended up buying 2 commercial flatbeds that hold up to 2000 pounds.  I still have both of them and they have moved everything ... outlasted all the rubbermaids and things from Home Depot.  What you want is something that is weight certified for like 1000 to 2000 pounds.   You want at least 2X the weight you plan to carry.   I would buy from a trusted company like Grainger or U Line.

 

Something like this http://www.uline.com/BL_723/Heavy-Duty-Steel-Dollies

 

$139 and you never replace it.   For sure you want the hard wheels.   2K pounds ... maybe overkill.

 

Something like this, certified to 1000 pounds and only $54 a bit more budget friendly.  At 1K pounds you won't have to 2nd guess.

 

http://www.uline.com/BL_1827/Solid-Top-Dollies

 

Those better known mail order companies have years of sorting out faulty products.   I've bought a lot of items over the years and have found U Line and Grainger to always provide quality.  They will have the Rubbermaids but will offer better alternatives.   I've haven't had the best of luck with items bought on Amazon from lesser known companies.

 

Steel > Wood > Rubbermaid.   I checked and saw a Brute.  Only certified for 250 pounds and costs about the same as the wood one above.  The stress on the Rubbermaid would be a lot greater than the stress on wood.  If I was buying one I would get that wood one with the 4 inch wheels.  In fact ... I might order one for my recycled clay I will soon be moving around when I get my pug mill Thanks for the idea. 

[oldlady]

ooooh!  do not hold the reclaim around, put it into the pugmill daily.  having a big container allows the mind to think, "i can pug it tomorrow".

[Mark C.]

Dirt Roads nailed it Benzine-get one that is 2x rated.

Mark

[neilestrick]

Watch the type of wheels they have, too. Soft wheels will get dents in them if they sit from long periods with heavy loads. Personally, I would just glue up two layers of 3/4 plywood, seal it with some old spray paint I have laying around, and get some casters from Harbor Freight.

[Benzine]

Dirtroads, Neil, thanks for the input.  That's why I posed the question.  I figured that people here, would have some experience with such things, good or bad.

 

I didn't think of getting something that was rated double the amount.  And I was unaware that the softer wheels are prone to denting.

 

Neil, my initial plan, was just to build one myself.  But for the cost of some decent casters, it seems I can just buy a quality dolly.  I haven't decided either way yet.

[Joy pots]

I use wheels from Princess Auto screwed onto a 3/4" plywood board.  The wheels say they hold 350 lbs. each.

Joy

[neilestrick]

The nice thing about building your own is that you can make it to fit the bucket perfectly, so you don't waste space.

[perkolator]

Are you using one of these?

 

Do you roll this bin around frequently?  Also, how do you store clay inside - do you mix it and just deposit it inside, or is it bagged up?  

 

If you're "digging" out your clay from a walled tub, that's gotta get old real quick - I'd suggest you get a new system that allows access to the sides of the clay.  Could be as simple as a platform/furniture dolly with a big storage bag sitting on top (that's what we do, only it's scaled up to 4ft pallet size)

 

Consider ditching the casters and let it sit on the ground (or mounted on a pallet) and move it around with a pallet jack.  Heavy ceramics is going to need a pallet jack at some point, might as well get one.  

 

Otherwise, try and fabricate a new base from metal and put the best casters you can afford under it, maybe even 6 casters instead of 4.  Steel wheeled casters tend to hold the most weight and guess what, they don't flat spot. I can't see it rolling on its own unless you have sloped floors, so no brake is necessary, just wheel chocks.  Overkill is always best, so definitely make it hold 2x your intended mass.

 

We use trash cans to store reclaim clay - they get rolled around dirty floors, cracks and seams in the concrete, etc and hold over 350# each I'd guess.  The caster base is VERY simple and could easily be fabricated to fit a variety of containers.  Casters can easily be swapped out to a different style/brand/size/etc.  The ones below are at least 30yrs old and going strong.

 

I've noticed in general that the Rubbermaid/Brute tubs don't really hold up due to the weight of ceramic materials and because they flex.  We do have a few rubbermaid cans currently, but you can see they're no longer on the bases made for them.  One shallow nick or cut on these cans usually ends up in a replaced container within a year, that's why the rest of our cans are metal and going on 40-50yrs. The only issue with the metal cans is over time the galvanized metal can possibly flake off.  A good alternative might be a thick rubber livestock water trough/stock tank.