Boosters

[ScatterPlot]

So people have been doing cool mods and stuff for paintball GUNS and all, but so far nobody has really done anything for any other stuff- some masks here, some hoppers there, but nothing real out there.

I think it would be fun to build a booster for filling your own tanks. I mean it can't be THAT complicated now can it? All you would need really would be 2 pneumatic cylinders with appropriately sized areas and some fittings and stuff. Wouldn't be too terribly hard to make.

I'm thinking that the 2 cylinders be placed end to end, with the bigger bored one driven by an air compressor and the smaller one used as a pump. Now granted you'd need to find some cylinders that can handle 3000 PSI, but hey hydraulic systems go to that high pressure easy don't they?

The sizes wouldn't be all that hard to figure out. Say you wanted to use, oh, a .75" pump-piston bore. The output force of the big bore and the input force of the small bore would have to be the same, and the output force is pi*r^2*air pressure, so you have
(3.14*.375^2*3000)=(X*110)
where X is the area of your input bore and 110 is standard shop air supply (about). That gives you an X of about 11 square inches. Since we know pi(r^2)=A, then R would have to be 1.87 resulting in about a 4 inch shop-air actuator, putting us a little on the safe side.
I would guess we could find us some old hydraulics off an excavator or something in a junkyard or even Ebay- I got 3 3"x10" hydraulics/pneumatics off Ebay for like 20 bucks. Now this would take a while to fill a tank, but it would be pretty cool to be able to do it yourself and all.

Any thoughts on this idea? Don't think anyone's ever done it before, and as long as I'm semi-careful with this I don't think I'll blow myself up (famous last words ) I dunno, it's late. Put up what ya think- give it the 3 P's-Is it Possible? Is it Probable? and is it Practical?

[ScatterPlot]

Oops, gotta respond to my own thread here- if one were to use 2 smaller pneumatics both pushing to give the output force of a larger cylinder, it should work and be cheaper. But enough for now- you guys let me know what you think.

[undescriptive]

I remember seeing somewhere online that was selling hand pumps that you could compress upto 3000psi....

now, if I could get one like that, that I could attach to my fill nipple on my tank and get a free fill, I'll be a happy bunny! (no more travelling 40 miles to get my tanks filled)

[noahyay]

i saw that on ebay too, they were like 200 bucks and the seller seemed legit but i cant find the product anymore

[ScatterPlot]

You know I do think I heard about those. They took like 20 minutes of pumping to fill a tank IIRC. Of course, you could get like 5 of them and a lawnmower motor and go to town on some filling. Anybody know where we can get one or more of these guys?

[SlartyBartFast]

DO NOT DO THIS ON YOUR OWN!!!!

You can get yourself killed building HP pneumatics without knowing what you are doing.

Plenty of boosters are avaialble from many different manufacturers.

If you're feeling foolish and want to part with a ridiculous sum of money, some boosters have been rebranded by paintball companies.

[SlartyBartFast]

I remember seeing somewhere online that was selling hand pumps that you could compress upto 3000psi...

No, a booster is NOT a hand pump.

A booster uses the pressurised supply air, or an independant presurised air source, through pistons to increase (multiply) the output pressure.

[ScatterPlot]

The thing is boosters are like a thousand bucks- I could probly make one for under a hundred. And no, I wouldn't make instructions for everyone else to be able to do it, and yes I know they can blow up (hehe). But I think it would be something cool to try and make, as there wouldn't be hardly any parts that you couldn't just go out and buy from somewhere. Anything used would obviously have to work at a minimum of like 4000 or so. I'm not just gonna use some macroline and call it a day

[ScatterPlot]

No, a booster is NOT a hand pump.

A booster uses the pressurised supply air, or an independant presurised air source, through pistons to increase (multiply) the output pressure.

I think his point was to show another way you can pressurize your own tanks.

[Papabyrd]

Hand Pump

The hand pump is called the Hill Hand Pump
for charging air rifles..

http://www.pilkguns.com/hillpump.htm

I spoke with them about the pball application. They said you could
only pump it 50 times, then due to internal heating, you would have
to wait.

Could take a while to do an 88 cu tank.

[ojhspyro89]

The hand pump is called the Hill Hand Pump
for charging air rifles..

http://www.pilkguns.com/hillpump.htm

I spoke with them about the pball application. They said you could
only pump it 50 times, then due to internal heating, you would have
to wait.

Could take a while to do an 88 cu tank.

Ever thinking of submersing the bottom half in ice/cold water? When the scuba places fill tanks they submerge them in water for good fills. Then it wouldnt get as hot. Then when you took the tank off for a while the pressure would increase because the cold air would expand. If you cooled the air that went in you could also reduce your pumps a little i beleive.

[SlartyBartFast]

Ever thinking of submersing the bottom half in ice/cold water? When the scuba places fill tanks they submerge them in water for good fills. Then it wouldnt get as hot. Then when you took the tank off for a while the pressure would increase because the cold air would expand. If you cooled the air that went in you could also reduce your pumps a little i beleive.

Wet SCUBA fills are NOT a good idea. When done correctly they do nothing, when done wrong they can cause problems.

Cooling the PUMP on the other hand is a good idea. A motorised version of the air gun handpumps is water cooled.

[phyregod]

How about this, its big, bulky, and cavemanish, but it would certainly work.



Ok, the image is not to scale. at all. just a demonstration so you get the general idea.

It takes 3.55 cu ft of air to fill a 68ci tank to 3000 psi.

So, if the ram and cylinder had 3.55 feet of travel, and a diameter of 1 foot, it would take one stroke to fill a tank.

Of course that would be HUGE.. so to make it smaller, you could have a 3 inch ram, and a 6 inch cylinder with a one way valve in the hose that leads to the tank. then it would take two strokes to fill a tank. Not too bad, and half the diameter, but still like 7 feet long...

so we could half the length of the ram and cylinder and fill the tank in 4 strokes..

that, all total, would be around 4 ft by 8 inches, and would weigh somewhere around 60lbs.. I think.. That is somewhat portable. ah well, the idea is out in the open anyway.

I am certain a hydrolic ram can handle the pressure with no problems at all, would be a walk in the park for it.

[ScatterPlot]

The piston would not need a DIAMETER of 1 foot (or whatever), but an AREA of 1 foot. That would change things.

[SlartyBartFast]

I am certain a hydrolic ram can handle the pressure with no problems at all, would be a walk in the park for it.

The hydraulics wouldn't be the problem, the generated heat would be.

Have you done a calculation on what kind of hydraulic pump you'd need?