DIY question - putting casters on wooden leg chairs

[carnivorousplant]

@Gary_T

Figured this was tongue in cheek,

Yep.

[Isilder]

@CC

The only thing I can find on line about this matter suggests drilling a hole in the leg and inserting the post of the caster, with its attendant locking cylinder. I’m afraid that the leg will split with the various forces - heavy sitter, dragging/rolling it across a thick carpet, etc.

Actually if the chair isn’t designed for casters then its a bad idea.

If you are worried about the leg being fragile, its fragile no matter what add, short of replacing it totally up to the seat ( horizontal structure.)

But then modern office chairs are 5 point for a reason… it places the point of rotation outside the seat structure. stability… see as soon as the chair on rollers starts to lean due to rotation, the rollers allow feet of the chair to slide out from under the leaning chair… the first bit of lean over and its a spill over.

With solid legs, the first bit of lean over, and the person on it just notices the movement and has enough, usually? , time to adjust themselves to rebalance it. Its not much difference but its surely a trap to put rollers onto a light 4 leg chair.
(heavy chairs may well start to roll on all 4… like the piano seat that you sit on the edge and you realise its going … so you grab the piano and stand up… then sit down more centrally and its fine then.)