[SML] Air bladder system for pushing down casters....

[Stuart Wheaton]

We have used the Air Pux brake system on a lot of scenery.  They are 
great, almost zero maintenance, reliable.  Yes they have a pretty good 
price tag, but they are infinitely re-useable and the systems are tight, 
no air leaking.

As to whether you go brake or caster, which failure mode can you live 
with?    Something that moves when it shouldn't or something that you 
can't move when you need it to? Also I think about what percent of the 
time it would need air pressure compared to the amount of time it wouldn't.

Muffler systems are quite good, so you won't hear a lot of air, but it 
often takes more air pressure to lift a heavy unit onto it's wheels than 
it takes to push a rubber pad against the floor hard enough to hold it 
still.  So if you move something a lot, or it is very big or heavy, you 
either need a bigger tank, or brakes.

Stuart

On 8/5/2024 10:58 PM, Greg Bierly via Stagecraft wrote:
> Rose Brand sells just such an item but very expensive. 
> https://www.rosebrand.com/product3896/Pneumatic-Lift-Triple-Swivel-Caster.aspx?tid=2&info=air%2bcaster
> Our first round of air lift casters were octagonal boxes made out of 
> 2x6 framing with some surplus 1.25” plywood sandwiching small wagon 
> type inner tubes.  They worked but were large and clunky.  We waxed 
> the moving parts to keep them from binding and used triple swivel 
> casters.
> I found any time you are lifting like this, triple swivels work the 
> best otherwise you tend to side load a standard single swivel.
> Our next set used FABCO pancake cylinders to push the triple swivels 
> down.  Eventually we used spring return cylinders eliminating 
> duplicate air lines to retract the casters.
>
> I had stumbled onto a pneumatic locking caster being sold by Spoon 
> Group a number of years ago at USITT.  I was able to reverse engineer 
> them and make my own for about 1/2 the price.  They are based on the 
> 4” Cartmaster Caster sold by Rose Brand.
> 4" Cartmaster Caster from Rose Brand 
> <https://www.rosebrand.com/product2877/4-Cartmaster-Caster.aspx?tid=2&info=caster>
> rosebrand.com 
> <https://www.rosebrand.com/product2877/4-Cartmaster-Caster.aspx?tid=2&info=caster>
> 	apple-icon.png 
> <https://www.rosebrand.com/product2877/4-Cartmaster-Caster.aspx?tid=2&info=caster> 
>
>
> <https://www.rosebrand.com/product2877/4-Cartmaster-Caster.aspx?tid=2&info=caster>
> We CNC’ed the fitting to hold the caster and include a low profile 
> pancake cylinder.  They work very well on smaller scenery.
>
> I have never seen the Spoon Group caster for sale again (thus the 
> reverse engineering) I did find the patent for them and have 
> considered reaching out and seeing if they are for sale anywhere.  I 
> feel every theater should have a dozen in their stock as useful as 
> they are.
> PastedGraphic-1.tiff
>
>
> Greg Bierly
>
>
>> On Aug 5, 2024, at 5:01 PM, Jon Ares via Stagecraft 
>> <stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
>> Has anyone tried building a system using something like these,
>> commonly available today?
>> https://www.amazon.com/IMPROVED-Commercial-Professional-Alignment-Inflatable/dp/B09F34QGB6/
>
>
>
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