Has anyone here ever used them? Not talking about an air filled tire type caster. The air cushion type, it seems like alot of outfits selling them, but haven't found any prices yet. I'd like to know the approx cost of them, for an up to 24k lbs capacity. I guess they use quite a bit of cfm.
I have a set. Mine do up to 16,000lbs or so per skate. I have 4. I've used them on a couple jobs. You have to have a smooth no crack surface. I've laid down 4x8 smooth sided hardiboard on top of concrete and taped it down, and all the joints. The air casters won't go across a saw cut in a concrete floor without losing its air cushion, and they won't go up and down undulations. You don't want to take off down a ramp with anything really heavy either, there's absolutely no resistance on a down hill slope- things can get away from you really fast. On a level surface you can move 15,000lbs by just laying your hand on it. 15,000 will also naturally glide to a low spot in the floor. Its kind of a trick to get them all floating nice. Have to play with the air pressure- too much and it all exhausts out or they can get jumpy, not enough air and it sinks down. Once you get the item your moving up- it doesn't take anything to move it. I've mostly used mine moving heavy items in a building that we couldn't get equipment (forklift, etc) into, to move the item on a regular set of skates. It takes a lot of time to build a "road" out of smooth hardiboard or linoleum, and tape all the joints so you can move the item. As far as air- I've rented the sandblaster type diesel air compressors to run mine in the field, they will work on my shop air with a 100 gal tank and my 10hp 3 phase air compressor. Takes big air lines and chicago fittings. I bought my set used, I think new like mine, run around $5,000 per skate plus the control manifold. What are you wanting to move around on the skates?
I've used mine to set MRI machine in a clinic and transformers in a hospital mechanical building. Standard alligator or nylon wheel skates are much simpler and faster in any situation where you can use them.
Don't have one yet, but an almost 20k pound Machine tool, I want it portable, I like everything to be on wheels and some wheels depending on the weight they carry can be bad on floors. Never know when its going to be in the way.
It would be a pain to regularly move a item like that on air skates, unless you specifically pour a new floor with mirror finish and with no saw cuts/ expansion joints in it. Just to move that item on. When they show them moving items in a factory on air skates every day, its on a floor specifically poured for that purpose. Nylon wheel skates are much less likely to damage floors than steel skates. I usually put down thin steel sheets on top of the concrete before I skate over top with any mechanical skates. I have 2'x8' sheared steel like 20 gauge that I use just for that. Similar to building a "road" for the air skates, but just flop down the steel sheets and skate away. Do you have forklift or overhead crane access to the machine? Because 20k is tough to get going by hand on mechanical skates.
Yeah have f lift not 20k, problem with any kind of non air filled wheel is very concentrated pressure point of contact, no seems but don't know thickness, cracks here there some filled, would not be an everyday move.