Electromagnetic Peel

[FoodSim]

Disclaimer: This does not exist and would be ridiculous if it did.

I was cracking up a while ago as I read through some of the more creative solutions for non-stick peels on this board, and thought wouldn't it be great if a peel could use electromagnetic flux-compression to achieve the field density necessary to diamagnetically levitate a pizza? I believe it needs to be on the order of 1450 tesla for a 12" pizza, which is more than any laboratory has demonstrated.

If anyone has fabricated their own low-friction peel they feel is as good as, or better than, any commercial offerings, do tell.

[Pizza_Not_War]

Never made one, but have thought about an air hockey table surface with the holes and air pump. Levitation peel! Sounds like an IPA name.

[Jackitup]

Never made one, but have thought about an air hockey table surface with the holes and air pump. Levitation peel! Sounds like an IPA name.

Finished weight of peel may by killer, but solid idea!!

[TXCraig1]

You might find it difficult to control a levitating pizza. Too little friction is not necessarily a good thing; at least if you're not expecting it. Caputo gluten-free pizza flour on a metal peel results in so little friction, it's surprisingly easy to send a pizza flying in an unintended direction if you're not careful - or in my case, straight into the fire 

[Rolls]

I remember seeing this a while back:




Rolls

[FoodSim]

Finished weight of peel may by killer, but solid idea!!

The weight of the peel should be quite manageable. In the simplest design, the peel only requires welding tiny channels to the back of the aluminum blade to carry air from the handle where a CO2 cylinder and triggering mechanism are housed.

If you want to get fancy and make it even lighter, use carbon fiber.

If you want to get lazy, use a corrugated plastic board where the channels are already built-in. Just drill the holes, seal the ends, and don't use it to retrieve the pizza from the oven.

Perhaps the idea of it being too heavy is provoked by all the mechanics of a game table, but you aren't playing hockey with your pizza, so a long continuous stream of air isn't necessary. A pulse of about 1-3 seconds is all that would be required. This is simply a more sanitary version of insufflation to help move the pizza off the peel.

Overall it's a rather good idea. There is just one inconveniencing challenge: particulate matter from your pizza clogging up the holes. The problem isn't insurmountable, but whether you chose to deal with it as the engineer or the baker, you will likely have to devote some extra time and frustration to it.

[FoodSim]

You might find it difficult to control a levitating pizza. Too little friction is not necessarily a good thing; at least if you're not expecting it.

Being an electromagnetic peel, obviously you can attenuate the field strength to control the friction. It's the very last problem to have with this concept in a very long chain of problems.

That's good advice on the type of flour to use.

[Jackitup]

The weight of the peel should be quite manageable. In the simplest design, the peel only requires welding tiny channels to the back of the aluminum blade to carry air from the handle where a CO2 cylinder and triggering mechanism are housed.

If you want to get fancy and make it even lighter, use carbon fiber.

If you want to get lazy, use a corrugated plastic board where the channels are already built-in. Just drill the holes, seal the ends, and don't use it to retrieve the pizza from the oven.

Perhaps the idea of it being too heavy is provoked by all the mechanics of a game table, but you aren't playing hockey with your pizza, so a long continuous stream of air isn't necessary. A pulse of about 1-3 seconds is all that would be required. This is simply a more sanitary version of insufflation to help move the pizza off the peel.

Overall it's a rather good idea. There is just one inconveniencing challenge: particulate matter from your pizza clogging up the holes. The problem isn't insurmountable, but whether you chose to deal with it as the engineer or the baker, you will likely have to devote some extra time and frustration to it.

Guess I was thinking along the lines of a handle full of D sized batteries and not a little Co2 cylinder!

[FoodSim]

Guess I was thinking along the lines of a handle full of D sized batteries and not a little Co2 cylinder!

Yeah, when Pizza_Not_War mentioned "pump," I knew some overengineering was destined to happen in the imagination. The analogy of an air hockey table served its purpose though. It gets the basic idea across.

Now that the idea of a CO2 cylinder has been introduced into the environment, I'll be waiting for the peel to evolve into a stromboli cannon.

[ira]

I've though about building the air version, I think I'd just do it with a spring piston you just cock before launching and press the release button right when launching. Probably take some practice, but just enough air to pop it free and not float it away would probably be plenty.


Ira

[thezu]

How about a “non-chloric, silicon-based kitchen lubricant”?   

It creates a surface 500 times more slippery than any cooking oil.  When you launch your pizza off the peel it might just end up at Wal Mart. 

[jkb]

You might find it difficult to control a levitating pizza. Too little friction is not necessarily a good thing; at least if you're not expecting it. Caputo gluten-free pizza flour on a metal peel results in so little friction, it's surprisingly easy to send a pizza flying in an unintended direction if you're not careful - or in my case, straight into the fire 

Wasn't that a "Thread of Shame" entry?

[rascali]

The weight of the peel should be quite manageable. In the simplest design, the peel only requires welding tiny channels to the back of the aluminum blade to carry air from the handle where a CO2 cylinder and triggering mechanism are housed.

If you want to get fancy and make it even lighter, use carbon fiber.

If you want to get lazy, use a corrugated plastic board where the channels are already built-in. Just drill the holes, seal the ends, and don't use it to retrieve the pizza from the oven.

Perhaps the idea of it being too heavy is provoked by all the mechanics of a game table, but you aren't playing hockey with your pizza, so a long continuous stream of air isn't necessary. A pulse of about 1-3 seconds is all that would be required. This is simply a more sanitary version of insufflation to help move the pizza off the peel.

Overall it's a rather good idea. There is just one inconveniencing challenge: particulate matter from your pizza clogging up the holes. The problem isn't insurmountable, but whether you chose to deal with it as the engineer or the baker, you will likely have to devote some extra time and frustration to it.

Eh, too complicated. All you need is one airline to a center point release into radiating v-channels cut into the surface of the peel. You really need just a puff of gas. The handle pump should suffice, with patented* multi-pump capability to handle even the heaviest of pies...

And while we're giving away IP, what about a teflon covered peel? I understand that's not a great idea for metal peels at pizza oven temperatures, but what about teflon covered wood? Huh? Eh?

[FoodSim]

Eh, too complicated. All you need is one airline to a center point release into radiating v-channels cut into the surface of the peel.

I think you'll find that design even more troublesome to keep clean and functional. The open channels would be more susceptible to bench flour clogging the path for the pressurized gas. To overcome this you might be tempted to make the channels larger. However, this means using higher pressures, pressures that would sooner blow a bubble in the center of your pizza than levitate it.

You really need just a puff of gas.

That's what was being suggested.

And while we're giving away IP, what about a teflon covered peel? I understand that's not a great idea for metal peels at pizza oven temperatures, but what about teflon covered wood? Huh? Eh?

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with using fluorocarbons from an engineering standpoint. Some may take issue with the off-gassing though. Since a peel is meant for use in and around a potentially high-temperature oven, I'm not sure what guarantees you could offer the consumer regardless of the chosen substrate.

[ira]

Seems like you'd want to use a Teflon peel the same as wood, for launching only, then there is no heat concern. The only peel that gets very hot is a turning peel because it spends a lot of time in the oven, the others only go in for a few seconds.

[rascali]

Say what you will, but I'm going silent until my patent attorney answers my texts... lol

[FoodSim]

Seems like you'd want to use a Teflon peel the same as wood, for launching only, then there is no heat concern. The only peel that gets very hot is a turning peel because it spends a lot of time in the oven, the others only go in for a few seconds.

I assumed everyone understood that. Since intellectual property (IP) was brought up, I was talking about guaranteeing the safety of a product from a manufacturer's standpoint. As a manufacturer, you have to consider product usage beyond its specifications or recommend usage.

Off-gassing, or outgassing at high temperatures, might be a concern for consumers regardless of the specifications or recommended usage. It's more of a marketing obstacle than an engineering one. Some people just aren't going to use PTFE around a hot oven.