b'Productive Timesin them, and it starts not to look soWhat theyre doing is more ofair bag and floor, creating a nearly good. a rigging move, he said about GFfrictionless film of air. At that point, Massenburg said rollers are anMachining Solutions. the load literally is floating on a even less appealing option. TheirAir casters, on the other hand, fitcushion of air.steel wheels cause epoxy to flake,under an object to be moved andHe said air casters also distrib-eventually destroying it as they di- use the same basic principles thatute the total weight of a load over rectly contact a floor while carryingpower a game of air hockey or aa large surface area, producing low heavy, concentrated loads. hovercraft but scaled to move in- floor loading. The net floor load Although a damaged area can bedustrial-sized machines that weighwith air casters usually is identical stripped and epoxy can be reap- up to 6,350 kg (14,000 lbs.), Massen- to the load generated by a person plied, the odds of the match beingburg said. Operators use standardwalking across a floor.good enough not to tell are prettyshop compressed air to fill a flexibleWith a friction coefficient of 1 or much zero, he said. doughnut-shaped air bag attachedless, air caster systems typically re-Inaddition,Massenburgsaidto each caster. As a bag inflates, itquire as little as 0.45 kg (1 lb.) of cranes were not logistically practi- lifts a machine by about 51 mm (2")force for every 454 kg (1,000 lbs.) of cal because they have limited reachand forms an airtight seal with aweight to be moved, or only one-and therefore still require a machinefloor. Once a bag reaches capacity,tenth of the force needed to move as to be moved across a floor. excess air is squeezed between thewheeled casters, Massenburg said.Workers at GF Machining Solutions prepare a machine to be moved with AeroGos air caster rigging system.AeroGo58JULY 2020 ProTimes.indd 58 6/16/20 9:28 PM'