Hover Pad

[Ken Harrod]

Has anyone ever used one of these? $165 for the smaller one, $265 for the larger one. Seems a little steep on the price, but it sure looks like it is easy to move things on their video.

http://www.general.ca/pagemach/machines/10824_929.html

[Matt Meiser]

They played with one on the last episode of Ask This Old House. I noticed they put something over their regular wood floor so it would work. They put one of the guys on it and were pushing him around like it was air hockey.

[Keith Outten]

I was impressed with the video but the price is a deal breaker, especially if you had to purchase them for every major tool in your shop. You can buy a lot of wheels for the price of just one of their air mats. For a really heavy machine like a mill I would consider them cost effective but leveling might become an issue when the machine is moved.

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[Ken Fitzgerald]

While I have not seen it with my own eyes, I've heard of people moving MR scanner magnets with them in hospitals. The magnets typically weigh over 15,000 lbs. They were used to keep from damaging the floors within the hospital.

[Dave MacArthur]

Saw a test review, the floor has to be dead flat-- garage concrete was in some cases too uneven for it to operate without dragging.

I'd think you could build a torsion box yourself, drill a zillion holes in the bottom, hook it up to the air compressor, and do the same thing. Until it blew apart anyways

[josh bjork]

I was reading about them somewhere else. The drawback they brought up was the things don't have any friction. You could launch your cabinet saw across the floor.......

[Ken Harrod]

Maybe a sturdy perimeter with 1/4" pegboard in the center, then with a sheet of plywood or MDF on top along with an air hose connection would work for a home made version.

Flotation stand.JPG

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
Google - "human hockey puck"

Also check out this thread from here from a year ago:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...hockey+puck%22

Back when I saw that thread, I wondered why not use one for moving around shop equipment?
I don't see any reason why not with enough air and a heavy enough skirt.

[Kevin McIntyre]

Saw one being used at a woodworking show ,they moved a general cabinet saw with one finger ,nice but to costly.

[Mark Grotenhuis]

I saw a modern marvels episode on freight trains yesterday. They use the same air pad technique to move their huge freight trains while under construction at the factory. I don't remember how much they said the trains weighed, but I imagine its hundreds of tons.

[Ben Griffin]

I do have one to move my table saw - or more accurately to rotate my saw in place. I does give an excellent footing to rest upon and it is easy to move the machine when it is inflated.

The cons:
- cost
- balance = you need to make sure you have the machine's center of gravity in the center of the board. Right now my extension table is throwing it off, so I need to lift the table to move it. Someday I'm going to build a router station in the extension table, with some casters that can be raised.
- Air hose on top - The air hose to inject the air goes right in the middle of the top and then leads out with a small plastic hose. I ended up putting a piece of plywood on top of the pad with a channel for the hose since the cabinet saw didn't have any place for the hose to come out.

My surface is epoxy coated concrete, it glides well over it - until it gets to an expansion joint.

[Dan Schmidt]

I can't get over the vision of dust blowing all over the place as you push this across the room. Cough, cough!

[Craig Summers]

I have seen them used to move large expensive semi-conductor manufacturing machines, the riggers called them air-skates. They blow a nice stream of air.

I agree that you might be able to make a home made version, but keep in mind that you are blowing air, and that requires a decent compressor and a dust-free shop (is there such a thing?)

[Ken Harrod]

On the video they had a portable air tank used for one part of the video. It seems like they are using standard "shop air" pressures. I don't think the dust would prevent it from working right, it would just make a mess in the shop.