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I. Floor conditions compatible with air bearing moving
Floor Levelness
Floor Sealant
Floor Finish
Floor Local Discontinuities
Floor Cleanliness
II. Temporary floor modifications for Occasional load moving using air bearings
Floor Levelness
Floor Sealant
Notes:
Floor Finish
Notes:
Floor Local Discontinuities
Small floor chips up to about ½ inch in size can be temporarily sealed with a piece of tape. Wider floor chips can be filled in with bulk material (sand beads or plaster of Paris etc.) then sealed with a piece of tape (note the tape packing must be able to withstand air caster pressure (maybe 30 PSI).
Floor Cleanliness
III. Permanent floor repairs for frequent load moving using air bearings
Unleveled or unflat or rough floors should be resurfaced to meet the specifications identified above. Unsealed/porous floors should be sealed.
Local chips should be further chipped to a minimum depth of ¼ inch (with steep not feathered edges), air blown free of dust, filled with epoxy (Devcon 13120 or Epoxy Systems Inc - patch 24) mixed 1 to 5 (one epoxy five sand) with dry silicon sand, and sanded smooth.
Settling Cracks should be cleaned, air blown free of dust, filled with epoxy (Devcon 13120 or Epoxy Systems Inc - patch 24) mixed with Spackle, and sanded smooth.
Expansion cracks should be cleaned, air blown free of dust, filled with resin (Devcon Flexane 80 or Epoxy Systems, Inc. 11), and sanded smooth.
FLOORS COMPATIBLE WITH AIR BEARING/AIR LEVITATION MOVING
Floor Flatness
The floor surface should be a flat plane within ¼ inch within 10 feet as measured with a 10 foot straight edge placed randomly within the moving area. Unflat floors diminish air caster effective "rise height" (which is typically 3/8 inch to ¾ inch). As an example, if a rigid 10 foot square load pallet using ½ inch rise height casters tried to traverse a floor area that was unflat by 5/8 inch within 10 feet; then one of the casters landing pads would drag on the floor.
The floor surface should be level within ¼ inch in 10 feet as measured with a 10 foot straight edge (with level attached) placed randomly within the moving area. A load traversing an unleveled floor tends to swing or sway (the near frictionless load) in a direction downhill in addition to the desired direction of movement.
The floor surface cannot be significantly porous to air pressure to the limit of the air bearing pressure (about 30 PSI). A concrete floor should be sealed preferably with an epoxy concrete sealer (such as Devcon 12560 or Epoxy systems Inc 850). A porous floor wastes air supplied to the air caster plenum area (air flows right through the concrete).
The concrete floor should be finished to a "trowel finish" per ACE standards 301-99. Rough floor finishes interfere with the necessary one to two mil "sealing closeness" of the flexible membrane and the floor. At best air supply will be wasted and at worst, the membrane will drag on the floor and possibly stop movement. Textured / nonslip floor coverings can be problematic.
The floor surface should be free of all cracks, chips, holes, and steps. At best, air supply will be wasted by these imperfections and at worst, the membrane can drag on the floor and possibly stop movement.
The floor surface should be free of all sharp objects such as metal chips, broken glass, nuts, and screws. Sharp objects can cut the membrane as it rides only a mil or two above the floor surface.Floor Flatness
The pallet or transporter structure can be designed and manufactured with a built in compliance to allow the caster membranes to keep levitated as the local floor undulates. Use of High Lift Air Casters compensate for floor flatness by lifting the product higher preventing frame dragging and allows casters to tilt to floor slope.
A heavy levitated load traversing a nonlevel floor will continue trying to swing or sway downhill. If safe, an employee or multitude of employees can manually push or pull on the load to oppose the downhill forces. Alternately, the bottom of the load can be affixed to guide wheels and/or brakes to keep the load moving in the intended direction. Guide and Stop, Econohalt, and IntelliCaster are such products designed to keep the load moving in the desired direction, and compensate for downhill drift.
Porous floors / textured floors can be covered with thin sheets of metal (such as .040 inch aluminum 4 foot by 10 foot sheets), and the air bearings can be levitated upon the sheets.
Rough floors (even carpeted floors) can be traversed by air bearings if the floors can be covered with thin sheets of metal (such as .040 inch aluminum 4 foot by 10 foot sheets), and the air bearings can be levitated upon the sheets.
Floor cracks up to about 3/16 inch wide can be temporarily sealed with a strip of tape. Wider cracks can be filled in with bulk material (sand beads etc.) then sealed with a strip of tape (note the tape packing must be able to withstand air caster pressure (maybe 30 PSI).
The floor path of movement should be swept and/or vacuumed free of sharp chips, screws, broken glass, washers, etc. If it is possible that after sweeping sharp objects can still be present, one should consider using the SweepCaster product option. The patented SweepCaster brushes aside foreign material in the path of air bearing movement during the transport.Floors that are to have air-levitated loads moved over them frequently should be permanently repaired to avoid use of metal sheets, taping etc.