Aluminum Low Profile Air Casters

Low profile air casters are used when certain circumstances appear with your load moving needs. The low profile air caster has a thickness of around an inch and is complemented by high-lift B-type air bearings onboard.

There are two basic situations where a low profile air caster would be used:

1. When you are looking to move heavy machinery that has a very low ground clearance. Most machines do have some type of ground clearance, and as long as there is over one inch the low profile modules should fit underneath the machine. The other alternative is to have the machine lifted onto the set of air casters by an overhead crane.
   
2. Apart from its obvious low profile properties, this type of air caster can also be used to apply a little extra lift height than the A-type air casters. With B-type air bearings onboard, this low profile caster offers extra lift height. Identified as high-lift air bearings, they have the capability of lifting a machine or load away from its base before moving the load to its destination. However, it is not recognized as a really high-lift, like, say, a forklift truck which can go up 6 feet or more. 

Here is a low profile air caster kit system

Pictured above is a low profile air caster kit system. Being low profile, it has a much lesser module height / ground clearance requirements than the standatd square aluminum or round steel air caster kits.

Read about B-type air bearings.

The low profile allows the load modules to simply slide under their loads - and only require a ground clearance of around 1.5 inches. Low profile air caster load moving kits also have a remote control unit included as standard.

Technical specifications:

Low Profile Module Air Bearing Weight Capacities 

The vertical lift data indicates the approximate additional height to which the module will rise when energized with compressed air.

For example: A low profile aluminum module with B12N air bearings on board will have an "Air Off" height of 1¼" but when the bearing is energized with compressed air, it will rise in height to 2".

Sometimes a machine or load with low ground clearance is not suitable to have an air caster placed beneath it. The area above the ground clearance area may not be suitable to be placed on an air caster. In such cases, we would recommend using an "air lifting bag" to lift the machine for you.

Read more on Hovair's air lifting bags.

The high-lift terminology reflects the relative high-lift in comparison to the A-type air bearings which only lift sufficiently to allow the load to clear the floor surface - usually a few millimeters. However, if the air caster is positioned properly it can lift a machine vertically away from its base before moving off. Talk to your Hovair Systems contact for further information on low profile casters and air bearings

Back to Air Caster Types.