Floating our machines on air

[Frank Pellow]

The hover pad recently announced by General International looks interesting. See http://www.general.ca/pagemach/machines/10824_929.html

I am looking forward to someone (else) being the one to bite the bullet and purchase a pad, trest it, and post their experience here.

[Bob Reda]

Frank,

On a much larger scale, we use these (much bigger of course) to move 85 ton super heaters around and through power houses to replace them. More prep work than actually moving but worked slicker than sh*&

Bob

[Bill Turpin]

We have a double bag unit at work that moves a 15' x 8', 10,000# kiln car. Floor must be flat, smooth, and CLEAN. I would not use on anything but poured concrete. A piece of trash the thickness of a dime and half it's size will hang up the travel and let the air out. The floor must be clean. Other than this it works wonderful. One worker can move this object with one hand! Ours is six years old and is used 4 to 5 times a week.

Bill in WNC mountains

[Mack Cameron]

When the installers came to lay a new floor in our kitchen, they used a mat very similar to this to move the fridge. No marks on the new floor when they moved the fridge back in it's place. Worked slick!
It reads like smoothness is the governing factor here, Probably wouldn't work on my basement floor.

[Frank Pellow]

...
Floor must be flat, smooth, and CLEAN. I would not use on anything but poured concrete. A piece of trash the thickness of a dime and half it's size will hang up the travel and let the air out. The floor must be clean.
...

I guess that it would not work well in my shop then. Oh well, it had to be too good to be true.

[Brent Smith]

Hi Frank,

I think it will have limited sales in the home woodworker market. As everyones pointed out the floor has to be pretty much perfect for it to work. I know mine isn't and I'm pretty sure the majority of HWWers are in the same situation. Pads like that are good for moving something every once in a while, but most of us have mobile bases because we have to move things almost every day to get the room we need to work. Who's going to want to clean the floor 6 times a day so they can move their machines around, assuming of course that they have that perfectly flat floor to start with.

Brent

[Ken Garlock]

Frank,

On a much larger scale, we use these (much bigger of course) to move 85 ton super heaters around and through power houses to replace them. More prep work than actually moving but worked slicker than sh*&

Bob

Bob how about 'snot on a glass door knob?'

[Jamie Buxton]

Hi Frank,

I think it will have limited sales in the home woodworker market. As everyones pointed out the floor has to be pretty much perfect for it to work. I know mine isn't and I'm pretty sure the majority of HWWers are in the same situation. Pads like that are good for moving something every once in a while, but most of us have mobile bases because we have to move things almost every day to get the room we need to work. Who's going to want to clean the floor 6 times a day so they can move their machines around, assuming of course that they have that perfectly flat floor to start with.

Brent

No, what others pointed out was that the giant industrial versions expect a flat floor. The trash tolerance probably has to do with how much weight you're lifting, and how much air you're willing to blow through it. Heck, military hovercrafts fly over ocean waves and sand dunes. General markets to woodworkers with home shops. They've probably tuned their version to deal with the kinds of floors which we have. I wouldn't give up on this one immediately.

Of course, like Frank, I'd cheerfully be willing for somebody else to try it first!

[Brent Smith]

Of course, like Frank, I'd cheerfully be willing for somebody else to try it first!

Hi Jamie,

I think that's one point we can all agree on . But here's a clip from the website

"The Hoverpad™ will fly over smooth, hard, airtight surfaces. Flatness doesn’t matter, but smoothness is critical. Test by applying a suction cup to the floor – if it sticks even slightly, it will work."

I know my shop floor isn't a smooth airtight surface. I have to wonder how many home shops are.

Brent

[Art Mulder]

I also heard about this pad this morning and found it interesting. As I read this thread I was puzzled by the conjecture until I realized that most of you probably haven't seen the video.

The general.ca website unfortunately does not have a video of it in action. However, this website does.

http://www.hoverbench.com/

Looks like fun.

best,
...art

[Bruce Page]

I also heard about this pad this morning and found it interesting. As I read this thread I was puzzled by the conjecture until I realized that most of you probably haven't seen the video.

The general.ca website unfortunately does not have a video of it in action. However, this website does.

http://www.hoverbench.com/

Looks like fun.

best,
...art

Pretty slick! I don't think it would work on my floor though.

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks for the video pointer Art. But, now I am almost certain that one of these would not work well in my shop.

[Bill Turpin]

The lifter I referred to earlier has two 2' x 8' pads fed by a true 3/4" hose pushed by 400 HP of compressors at a continuous 125 psi. The pads actually hover with only a few thousands of an inch of clearance. More clearance than a dime will over load the air supply and then the whole mess drops and you can't move it. If you compare the lineal feet of perimeter gap vs the air supply and now think about these smaller pads fed by a 1/4" quick disconnect (actual orifice of about 1/8") the lift can still be only in the neighborhood of a dime's thickness. What is the actual opening of a crack 0.020" x some 100 inches long. Can you maintain enough air pressure to lift a 200-300# machine.

The concrete in this part of the plant has 1/4" expansion joints about 1/8" deep. We had to caulk these joints with silicone seal to bring them level with the concrete. They let too much air out and the device dropped the load.
The amount of weight is not near as important as how much air can you keep under it!

Bill in WNC mountains

[Jamie Buxton]

Here's the system I've seen moving appliances into a kitchen. In the installation I saw, it went over a change in floor height of about a quarter inch. http://www.airsled.com/index.html

[Matt Meiser]

The first thing that comes to my mind is the theme song to TV's "Greatest American Hero" show from the 80's. http://www.tvtunesonline.com/lyrics/...drama.asp#Hero

It looks like a good idea that won't work for most of us. I've got a bump in my floor between two separate slabs that sounds like it would create a problem.