Designed by Airfloat®, air skates or air skid systems allow safe, nearly frictionless movements of large loads or machinery. They come in various sizes and capacities and are lightweight and durable. Airfloat® designed these skates to compete with systems and solutions that are far less flexible, including heavy-duty casters and rollers.
The Airfloat® air skates stocked by LGH utilize a 100% urethane diaphragm material with superior wear resistance. When pressurized, the diaphragm will stretch uniformly and closely follow the contours of the floor, maintaining a consistent air film. This is evident with lower drag forces and less air consumption. Additionally, Airfloat® air skates utilize a powerful mechanically rolled edge seal for diaphragm attachment. Other manufacturers depend upon staples or adhesive bonding methods.
The air skates bearing diaphragms are mounted onto slide-out steel trays. This allows users to remove the diaphragms for inspection or replacement without removing the load from the skates. Each air skate system includes four or six air skates, a control package with on/off valves and individual flow control valves, and four or six air hose assemblies with quick disconnects.
Our customers often utilize air skates for industrial and heavy commercial projects. They’re especially popular with mechanical contractors and riggers who require specialty equipment to transfer heavy components across short or long distances.
Given their omnidirectional ability, air skates save time and labor when you need to make adjustments such as turning corners. Whereas traditional skates would have you stop, jack up the load, and manually rotate the skates before proceeding around a corner or tight area.
We’ve recently seen air skates used for unloading large vessels in the heavy-haul industry as well. They’re ideal for floor loading because they spread the load over a larger surface area than the traditional point-loading that gantries or fork trucks offer.
Watch Moving 5,000 lbs with One Hand to see the air skate system in action.
Efficiency: Air skates allow you to move 10,000 lbs with approximately 100 lbs of force. Additionally, their omnidirectional capabilities enable you to easily turn a load in any direction and safely operate in confined spaces.
Ease: Air skates offer easy operation with little-to-no maintenance and high reliability.
Flexibility: Air skates are designed to handle a wide range of weights and complex moves and come in a variety of systems and tonnages. Additionally, users may space the skates in various configurations and bolt or place them under existing machinery for easy movement.
Less Impactful Floor Bearing Pressure: Since the effective area of an air bearing is larger than a traditional piece of equipment used for the same task, the actual PSI is often much lower. This is not only good for the floor, but it will put a smile on your engineer’s face too.
The “Wow” Factor: End-user customers are always impressed with this piece of equipment. Plus, they tend to value contractors who take advantage of the latest technologies to improve efficiency. As a bonus, it’s pretty cool to watch a piece of equipment not much bigger than two inches tall move heavy machinery on a very thin layer of air.
To request a quick quote for the air skate system click here.
For additional information about air skates or other lifting and rigging equipment, please click to chat with a live rental support specialist or call 800-878-7305 now.
