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making an air tank?


idosubaru
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have a tank I want to make into an air tank.

 

1. need a fitting to fill it with air?

2. need a connector/fitting that acts as a valve but i can plug a hose onto

 

is there something that does 1 & 2?

 

I guess I can get a T-fitting and screw in a valve to fill in one and a valve/coupler/fitting to the other side?

 

Never really messed with plumbing so unsure about matching threads and sizes and such.

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Hm most portable air tanks I've seen have a schraeder valve so you can plug on a normal tire filling chuck thing to fill, but it's kind of a pain to have to hold the chuck on there for several minutes to fill it.

 

Then to plug a hose on, probably use a quick disconnect fitting that has a shutoff in the fitting. I think even Walmart probably sells those fittings. The 1/4" size is what most home things use. Some different quick connect fittings are compatible, but some are a little tricky. I've noticed the Harbor Freight ones don't seem to work with fittings from Sears as an example. So most of that stuff will have 1/4" NPT thread on it.

 

I'm sure you already checked this out but it really needs of course to be a true air tank because if the thing has 100 psi in it and it explodes or fast fractures obviously that's going to be a bad day.

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Just out of curiosity, what was this tank used for previously? Do you know the pressure rating of the tank?

 

If you don't know or know the pressure you're going to be filling with could exceed the rated tank pressure, you should install a relief valve of some kind so the tank is not overpressured.

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Oh that should be able to take it, I think those tanks run 1600psi+ full.

 

So that probably has whatever style CGA connector a helium tank has I don't know what that is offhand i.e. CGA580 for nitrogen CGA540 or oxygen and so on. So mcmaster or any welding place would have so you could adapt that to say 1/4" NPT, and then you could thread on your tee/quick connectors/etc.

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Oh ok, hm check this out, it came up when I was looking at what pressure they run, he shows how he modified it to be refillable: http://www.instructables.com/id/Reusing-a-Disposable-Helium-Tank/

 

Looks like 260psig is what they supposedly run. Being that they say its disposable though I wonder if the metal and welds are really high enough quality to handle many pressure cycles without fatiguing?

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Or if you can get a normal refillable helium cylinder, it looks like they make those in small sizes too, that would probably work with the right CGA fitting to NPT adapter.

 

Harbor Freight sometimes has their portable air tanks on sale, I think sometimes for less than $30 depending on the size. You know one time maybe 10 years ago I was at Sears, and those 10 gallon portable air tanks they had, normally like $59 maybe I don't remember, they had them listed for $19.95 on closeout. Or it might have been a Black Friday special. I think I have seen them sell 5 gallon air tanks at that price on sale in recent years.

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Just some kindly offered advice. Do make doubly sure it will take the pressure and hasn't been degraded from moisture on the inside. Portable air tanks have expiration dates on them and they can easily kill you if they burst :eek: Air horn tanks from big trucks are great for this too.

 

Agreed, use caution with these.

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might want to check at a scuba or paintball shop. if your just storing compressed atmospheric they have small 50cc or even smaller tanks that store at fairly high pressures (my paintball tanks run 4500 psi).

 

expensive new, but I have seen used setups go for $50, but that was with fill stations. just for a small tank it might be cheaper.

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