BillConnerFASTC
Well-Known Member
Marketing email from Aerogo on their air casters. From one of their videos:
Hmmmm
Hmmmm
Aerogo
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BillConnerFASTC
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Lasermike
Well-Known Member
We used Aerogo casters on 2 DVD molding machines in the mid 90's. They actually worked very well and took the abuse of sitting on a poorly made concrete floor while supporting heavy, leaky vibrating machinery. I always thought they were pretty cool and wondered why you didn't see them more often. Just occured to me that it's because they are UNDER things where you can't see them 
BillConnerFASTC
Well-Known Member
microstar
Well-Known Member
A semi-interesting story:
I used AeroGo casters to move a large scenic wagon up and down a raked stage for my Masters thesis project at the Univ. of Washington in Seattle in 1972. I visited the AeroGo factory and our scene shop ordered six 12" vinyl air casters (foggy memory on the particulars). For the low pressure/high volume air supply, we raided some air handling equipment in the basement of the theatre (the Showboat, long since demolished) scrounging up a multi-horsepower electric motor to which was appended an automotive smog-control pump from a car of that era. The contraption was so loud that it had to remain in the basement and the air piped up thru a hose to the scenic wagon. There was a slit in the raked stage for a steel fin that was attached to the underside of the wagon. A hand-line was attached to the the upstage and downstage ends of the fin and went over floor blocks under the upstage and downstage ends of the rake. A crew member sitting under the upstage end of the rake used the endless hand-line to pull the wagon up the rake or control its frictionless descent down the rake. If he had let go, the wagon would have crashed thru the end of the rake and ended up in the orchestra pit.
Thankfully it was not a musical.
During one rehearsal, one of the air casters got ripped landing on a protruding screw head. We jacked the unit up, removed the air caster, ran it thru a sewing machine, and put it back on the wagon.
Worked flawlessly the rest of the run. Apparently I was the first person in the theatre program there to use air casters. They were not that expensive but you need a very healthy low pressure/high volume air supply, something most air compressors cannot deliver on a sustained basis.
I used AeroGo casters to move a large scenic wagon up and down a raked stage for my Masters thesis project at the Univ. of Washington in Seattle in 1972. I visited the AeroGo factory and our scene shop ordered six 12" vinyl air casters (foggy memory on the particulars). For the low pressure/high volume air supply, we raided some air handling equipment in the basement of the theatre (the Showboat, long since demolished) scrounging up a multi-horsepower electric motor to which was appended an automotive smog-control pump from a car of that era. The contraption was so loud that it had to remain in the basement and the air piped up thru a hose to the scenic wagon. There was a slit in the raked stage for a steel fin that was attached to the underside of the wagon. A hand-line was attached to the the upstage and downstage ends of the fin and went over floor blocks under the upstage and downstage ends of the rake. A crew member sitting under the upstage end of the rake used the endless hand-line to pull the wagon up the rake or control its frictionless descent down the rake. If he had let go, the wagon would have crashed thru the end of the rake and ended up in the orchestra pit.
Thankfully it was not a musical.
During one rehearsal, one of the air casters got ripped landing on a protruding screw head. We jacked the unit up, removed the air caster, ran it thru a sewing machine, and put it back on the wagon.
Worked flawlessly the rest of the run. Apparently I was the first person in the theatre program there to use air casters. They were not that expensive but you need a very healthy low pressure/high volume air supply, something most air compressors cannot deliver on a sustained basis.
Wolf Trap uses air castors to move their enormous orchestra shell walls into place. Very cool stuff.
BillConnerFASTC
Well-Known Member
IIRC the large unitized orchestra shell at the Ordway was on air casters originally. Not sure if it still is or if they changed to steel wheels on steel rails, like the Overture Center shell years later.
Purchase College, SUNY in NY has a 19,000 lbs Flentrop pipe organ on a platform using air casters. This organ was originally intended for Carnegie Hall, but it was discovered that they actually had no place to store it !, Ooops.
So off to the new facility being built up in Purchase, where they added a wing to the new road house.
As the stage floor is trapped, they purchased a Marley floor to be laid down for the organ to move. 4 crew gets it moving out of the storeroom to up center stage, then we would quickly run around to start slowing it, it would take some work. Then we’d get it headed downstage and repeat then process to get it in place. I’ve no memory of how we finessed it onto centerline or even got it straight.
The TD at Purchase at the time - Alan Kibbe, would give us a 4 hr. work call to drag out the organ. He would then play for an hour and we’d push it back.
So off to the new facility being built up in Purchase, where they added a wing to the new road house.
As the stage floor is trapped, they purchased a Marley floor to be laid down for the organ to move. 4 crew gets it moving out of the storeroom to up center stage, then we would quickly run around to start slowing it, it would take some work. Then we’d get it headed downstage and repeat then process to get it in place. I’ve no memory of how we finessed it onto centerline or even got it straight.
The TD at Purchase at the time - Alan Kibbe, would give us a 4 hr. work call to drag out the organ. He would then play for an hour and we’d push it back.
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