We have dedicated a lot of time to figuring how how we could guide these walls along the floor successfully. We thought about different materials like plastic, metal and wood. We had ideas about flanged wheels that could ride in a groove of some sort. There was also the idea that we could cut a wide strip into the concrete and lay in a type of U-channel for the wheel to ride in. It seemed like for a while every idea we came up with had at least one or two problems that involved either wear on the material or simply having the tools and abilities to achieve what we wanted done. We have come up with a solution that we are pretty sure will work. In the next day or so we will be mocking it up in a small version. Essentially, there is a 3/4 inch metal piece in width that is welded to the underside of a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch piece of metal angle that would run the entire length of the track systems. We will cut a 1/8 inch strip in the concrete down the length of the track for that to rest in. The track with the wheel will look something like this….(Excuse the saw dust covered screen).
As you can see, the track system sinks into the floor grade with the ability of being removed when the wall is not stretched out to its outward setting. The wheels we will be using are one direction caster wheels that are made out of a hard and durable plastic. We will set each wheel on the lathe to carve out the v groove that will sit on a ride along the track. For my next post I should have more info and pictures of the mockup to discuss what successful or unsuccessful results we will achieve.