[TheForge] air table

Thu Mar 13 22:53:29 EST 2008

I'm not moving anything.  I'm just commenting on the use of premade 
pegboard.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Hirst" <saltydog335 at aol.com>
To: "Craig Schaefer" <craig.schaefer at verizon.net>; "Sponsored by ABANA" 
<theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 8:45 PM
Subject: Re: Re: [TheForge] air table

> 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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