Technical Design Solutions for Theatre

Comparing Four Plastics as Scenery Glides

Edmund B. Fisher

 

Plastic glides are often used instead of casters as aides in shifting scenery, especially when casters would be aesthetically objectionable. But not all plastics work equally well as glides.

This article presents a ranking of four plastics — Nylon, Delrin®, Nylatron GS®, and Virgin Teflon® — as glide materials. The four were chosen for a variety of reasons: Nylon, because it is often used as glide material: Teflona®, because it is often assumed to be more effective than Nylon; and Delrin® and Nylatron GS®, because local distributors suggested them as possible substitutes. The four materials are compared in terms of their cost, workability, and coefficients of friction.

The first ...