All our Air Press systems use vacuum technology to create the pressing force. From the low cost, portable bag press systems, to the more sophisticated membrane presses, the same technology is used to create a uniform pressure. To understand how this works it is first necessary to understand the concept of atmospheric pressure – or the weight of the air surrounding the earth. This layer of air is several kilometres thick and exerts a corresponding pressure on the ground of about 10,000kg per square metre.
To utilise this pressure, you simply evacuate the air from within the Air Press bag or beneath the Air Press membrane and as the vacuum is produced, the atmospheric pressure bears down to give a force so uniform, that components of any size or shape can be pressed with absolute consistency.
This also means you can laminate shaped components using only a one piece
former instead of costly male and female formers, resulting in a big saving
in development time. It allows you to veneer both flat panels and soft form
mouldings (radiused edges etc) without the need for large, expensive
machinery and thermoform acrylic and solid surface materials to compound
shapes. It also provides holding pressure for picking up heavy and awkward
objects and clamping components to a bench for processing.