Air Cushion Machinery Movers - How to build?
Do you have any experience with air casters?
I have a smooth concrete floor and need to create a way to move some big WW machinery (2500 - 3000 lbs). This will be a permanent fixture that will stay under the machine so height is critical.
A pallet jack or any type of machine rollers are out of the question.
Here's what I want to do: Fabricate an air cushion pad using a piece of 1/2" - 3/4" plate steel. Under this plate is a solid rim to hold the weight of the machine in the rest position. Then, when I want to move the machine (to cut long boards etc.), air pressure is applied creating an air caster. This is common practice in industry. One person can move many tons - providing they don't go down a hill....:eek: The overall size of the plate will be about 18" x 40" but the actual working parts of the air caster can be two separate pads located toward each end.
Under the steel plate is some sort of sealing device?, flexible material? or inflatable bladder? which provides a sealing surface to the floor. Any thoughts on exactly how to build this device????
From what I can tell, commercially available air casters are too thick for this application, and they are $$$$..... yikes.
Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions,
Rob
Rob, I have made air bearings
In the past that were very simple and easy to build. I used Phenolic plates about an inch thick (two 1/2" glued & screwed together). One side had a lot of 1/16" diameter holes drilled through and the other was vented to the holes. I attached an air fitting to it and used shop air pressure to each pad (you don't need a lot of pressure). One thing you have to watch out for is the mass you want to move won't stop easy so you have to be careful about that. Most garage floors are slightly slanted so you have to figure on that too. You will want to use a mounted air manifold with a valve to connect all your pads to and to meter your pressure. The pads need to be large enough (approximately 8 to 10" in diameter, 4 each) to get enough holes to provide the cushion of air. Round is better cause you have more surface area. We used this system to lift entire ring sections of the Saturn Moon rocket back in the 60's so why wouldn't it work for you?;)