[SML] Air Casters/Brakes

[Jon Lagerquist]

I have not had an issue with the piston spinning, either it does not 
matter (put a round thing on the end), or it is constrained by the 
attachment. A bit of lock tight and snugging a jamb nut against the 
piston while securing the piston with the wrench flats works great.

It sounds like you are looking at moving both casters and brakes. Most 
of the time you only need one type on a unit. I have settled on having 
casters hard mounted and using feet that are built into a box to take 
the side load that can be created. By regulating the pressure to just 
under what will lift the unit you avoid having the wagon shift when they 
are applied. This also uses less air. My next generation of them would 
be spring return to further reduce the air (although a five gallon tank 
would run a set of four for a performance without issue) and be fail 
safe if the air ran out for any reason. The plumbing drawing shows two 
regulators for a unit with very different loading so you can have more 
pressure under a wall unit and less at the other side where there might 
only be a chair. It also shows plumbing to use two valves so you can 
have more than one control point like light switches at either end of a 
hallway. Flipping either valve will toggle the status of the cylinders.

On 2/9/2024 8:18 AM, Rick Clever via Stagecraft wrote:
> Playing around with air lift casters/brakes. Casters I got no problem.
> Found stemmed casters that fit in the threaded end of the piston rod.
> Brakes are a different story. The piston rod has inside threads for a
> 3/8 bolt. My thoughts so far are to make brake pads with plywood or
> tubafours, countersink a bolt and connect it to the rod. Problem is
> the pad spins. The rod is circular on the outside with two straight
> cuts on the side to put a wrench on. I don't even know what to call
> that connector. Is there an adapter or connector I can get that would
> use those to keep the brake pad from spinning or would I have to end
> up welding/making my own?
> 
-- 
Jon Lagerquist
--
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