[TheForge] air table

Thu Mar 13 22:45:50 EST 2008

You're moving sheet metal, not paper or fabric, right?  And you're moving it 
in large pieces, not little hockeypucks.  You don't need 1000 holes.   You 
may not even need 100. You may need only 20.  In big elaborate stage 
productions, very large pieces are moved over large surfaces by means of air 
casters.  These are essentially discs about 6" OD with a hole in the center 
of the bottom, through which compressed air is forced, lifting the disc off 
the floor.  An incredible amount of weight can be lifted on just three or 
four of these things.  Turn this system upside down, and instead of one mass 
moving over a large surface on three or four air cushions, imagine the large 
surface moving over the mass, still on three or four cushions.  The point 
is, you only need a few air holes under the sheet of metal at any given 
time.  Another way of putting this is to ask, how many holes are under that 
air hockey puck at any given time?

To move say a four-foot square around an 8x8 table, I am suggesting that  If 
you put a hole at every 16"  within the 8' square, excluding the perimiter 
edge,  that makes 25 holes, and you cant position that 4' square anywhere on 
the table  without at least 6 holes under it. You only need three to lift 
the piece.

ANd when you get the piece positioned, turn off the compressore, turn on the 
vacuum, you have a hold down.

keziah

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Craig Schaefer" <craig.schaefer at verizon.net>
To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 10:23 PM
Subject: Re: Re: [TheForge] air table

> Yeah, you're exactly right.  I don't know why I said 'compressor'.  Even 
> if you only had 1000 holes in your pegboard, if they were 1/8 inch each, 
> you'd have over 12 sq inches of hole to put air thru.
> Check my math for me.   Seems like a hell of a lot of 'hole'.     1000 * 
> (.0625)^2 * 3.14159 =  12.27
>
> CraigS
> Gresham, OR
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David E. Smucker" <davesmucker at hotmail.com>
> To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 6:21 PM
> Subject: Re: Re: [TheForge] air table
>
>
>> Think blower, not compressor.  Most industrial flotation systems and 
>> conveyors that I know about are powered by blowers, not compressors.  You 
>> want higher volume, lower pressure. (They still require a lot of air).
>>
>> Dave Smucker
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: <craig.schaefer at verizon.net>
>> To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>; "terry l. ridder" 
>> <terrylr at blauedonau.com>; "Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer" 
>> <artgawk at thegrid.net>
>> Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 6:34 PM
>> Subject: Re: Re: [TheForge] air table
>>
>>
>>> Pegboard would require a hell of a compressor to create enough volume to 
>>> lift anything with a large area.  Pegboard holes are pretty big.
>>>
>>>
>>> CraigS
>>> Gresham, OR
>>>
>>>>From: Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer <artgawk at thegrid.net>
>>>>Date: 2008/03/13 Thu PM 03:31:42 CDT
>>>>To: "terry l. ridder" <terrylr at blauedonau.com>,
>>> Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
>>>>Subject: Re: [TheForge] air table
>>>
>>>>Terry...
>>>>almost any perforated rigid surface ought to suffice,with an
>>>>adequate compressor supplying air to a plenum below....even in
>>>>bursts from a storage tank while you do the actual moving.
>>>>Would masonite pegboard do?
>>>>Drilling all those holes with a dremmel will drive you nuts and
>>>>wear out the dremmel.
>>>>On the other hand, a swinging overhead trolley and rail, set up
>>>>like a jib crane, with your lift and magnet dangling below, would
>>>>not cost all that much more to make and be much more versatile.
>>>>
>>>>terry l. ridder wrote:
>>>>> hello;
>>>>>
>>>>> i have been brainstorming about how to move sheets
>>>>> of sheet metal around easily since i do not have the
>>>>> ability to either brute force them around or leverage
>>>>> them around. the idea of using an air table came to
>>>>> me while in farm and fleet looking for pop rivets when
>>>>> i saw an air hockey game for sale. i have looked around
>>>>> and do not find any viable canidates for an air table.
>>>>>
>>>>> a friend suggested getting some countertop 2nds from
>>>>> lowes and/or menards and using the dremel tool drill
>>>>> the air holes then just make a sheetmetal plenum. attach
>>>>> a blower to the plenum.
>>>>>
>>>>> i was thinking of using a sheet of rigid nylon and
>>>>> perforating it with holes.
>>>>>
>>>>> would anyone have hints, suggestions, comments concerning
>>>>> air tables?
>>>>>
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