Caster Foot for Ikea Melltorp table by callmelightningjunior

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

These are replacement feet to allow casters to be added to an Ikea Melltorp table. The Melltorp table has a sturdy tubular steel base. I purchased one to use as a small work surface. For my use it was convenient to have it on casters to be easily movable.
These feet allow inexpensive swivel casters designed for 3/8" holes to be added. Remove the old foot from the leg. Hammer the caster socket into the new foot and then tap the new foot into the bottom of the leg.
I printed this with the bottom flange upwards. No bottom layers -- this makes the foot a little more flexible for fitting into the leg. The overhangs are small and do not need support.
Update:
After over two years of using these on a table, I went to move it and one cracked. I looked and two of the others were cracking. The flat end was deforming and separating from the section that goes inside the leg. this was probably my fault as I hammered the casters into the part to try to get teeth on the casters to engage the foot. But I decided to try to improve the design and print. I went about this in a 'belt and suspenders' way.
The belt: improving the design. I added a bevel to the joint between the plate and the spigot. This insures that there is a surface on this area, even if you omit the top in the slicer. This is the version 2 stl.
The suspenders: I printed this heavier. 3 shells and 35% triangle infill.
See the new photo for a modified piece.