[Closed] Home brew Air Shot!

just buy the air shot. It works, it's cheap and it's not spazzy like whatever you'll end up with.

[url= https://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&safe=off&q=site%3Asingletrackworld.com+ghetto+inflator&oq=site%3Asingletrackworld.com+ghetto+inflator&gs_l=serp.3...4082.7540.0.7721.15.15.0.0.0.0.336.1421.12j2j0j1.15.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..0.0.0.7n0T_xz8ohg ]Here[/url], but I'd just buy one, unless you love a project

Nobby on here made one I think

[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ghetto-tubeless-inflator-mk-vii ]Nobby's Ghetto tubeless Inflator[/url]

I had the same idea too, found a few how-to's (cant find them now!), and started looking for an old fire extinguisher, was going to get fittings (about £5 I think from when I looked) once I had one and knew exactly what sizes I needed, but then I got an Airshot as a present so abandoned the whole idea 🙁

Get cracking though, basically you need and old Fire Extinguisher or other appropriate pressure vessel remove the existing nozzle/gubbins, then put T-piece on the exit with a valve for input air, and then a hose for output. So you either need a T-piece with an integral tap or fit one in-line on the hose, then use a chuck/valve head from a track pump on the end of the hose.

the biggest headache was going to be getting things in the right thread/diameter to fit my FE, which is why I was waiting until I had one in my hands first.

EDIT - Nobbys how-to is even better as he made use of the existing fittings - do that!

Lol, can't use google to search but wants to build an air powered bomb.
I think you should just buy one and save yourself an A&E visit 🙂

Lol, can't use google to search but wants to build an air powered bomb.

Lol, when you put it like that, making an air powered bomb sounds even more fun! Will it be safer if it's charged in a metal tin? 😆

In Nobbys thread how did he fit the presta valve?

Surely he has to put a thread in the plug he unbolted as well as just drilling the 6mm hole?

Am I missing something though? Highly likely!

Years ago when I first got myself a track pump I exploded a 2l coke bottle. I can't remember the pressure but she went off with a hell of a bang.
I had the bottle inside the shed and I was on the other side of the door. My ears eventually stopped ringing last Wednesday 🙂

And thanks for the Nobby link; will probably follow that path. Wish me luck with A&E!

I don't have pics but mine is really simple- it's a big red extinguisher, I unscrewed the pressure valve on it, drilled it out and fitted a tubeless valve into it (this was a fiddle but not difficult- I did a wee bit of prettyfying in a lathe but it's not necessary, hand drill and probably a knife and sandpaper is all you need). That all make it refillable.

And I chopped the end off the hose, and found a compressed air fitting the right size to squeeze into that, then attached a topeak valve off a floor pump to that. TBH this needed a little thought but nothing too clever, just assembly stuff.

And that's it. Mine is a 27 litre, which is fairly ridiculous, it's bulky and it takes a long long time to charge it up with a pump. I keep thinking I should do a smaller one for the car. But it'll inflate a lot of tyres once filled. I obviously don't usually discharge it fully (once it's up to 50 or 60 it's useful, and you can just recharge it by a few psi every time; once it's empty it's useless and you need to reinflate it all the way back up to 50 or 60)

Cost a few quid. The airshot's a nice bit of kit but mine has a better valve and is ALL POWERFUL.

(aside; I had a 3 litre coke bottle inflator, didn't get on with it at all, no better than a good pump imo)

[quote=weeksy ]just buy the air shot. It works, it's cheap

You clearly have more spare pennies than me if you think £50 is cheap compared to the adapted lemonade bottle I use and spent ~£5 on. Would probably do a fire extinguisher, or maybe a pressure sprayer now if I was making a new one, but a lemonade bottle seemed the obvious thing to try when I made that >10 years ago (way before any threads were posted on here). I thought about adapting the pressure sprayer I have given that never really seems to have got used much for intended purpose of bike cleaning, but realised what I have works fine.

They're £42 in the On One sale at the moment.

[url= http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TOASTLIN/airshot-tubeless-inflator ]Here[/url]

I'm just in the process of doing one with a freebie redundant CO2 extinguisher. Not got beyond ordering a bit of hose, a three way tee and a topeak chuck but hoping to get it up and running this weekend. Coke bottle lives in the garage where the kids roam, and I'm fearful one day they'll have trodden on it, weakened it and it'll go bang in my face! I botched together the coke bottle solution with nil expenditure at all (valves cut from old inner tubes, no chuck on the end of the hose, hose was a very short length of expanding foam filler hose which came off an out of date tin).

The only thing I'd criticise in Nobby's otherwise fine project is that the bit he drills through to fit the presta valve is actually the pressure release valve. Whilst I doubt I'd get the cannister anywhere near up to dangerous pressures, I'm happy to leave the PRV in place as something of a safety feature.

just buy the air shot. It works, it's cheap and it's not spazzy like whatever you'll end up with

I'm sorry, are we still in the 80's or something?

I'm pretty sure that most of the western world had agreed that 'spazzy', or other variations, was pretty unacceptable as a descriptive term.

Or am I just being too PC for my own good.

[i]Or am I just being too PC for my own good.[/i]

It's the STW effect.

Just as I thought 😆 I'd still tell off one of the kids if they used it though. In the same way that I'd bollock them for calling something 'Gay'.

That Nobby ghetto air shot is genius...will be making one soon. Cheers to whoever posted the link and Nobby...

On my Home made inflater I didn't drill the prv for filling, I just have a tee off the outlet with a presta valve fitted to that and a shut off valve before the track pump hose.
Just hold the handle on the extinguisher open with a band during filling. It means no modification to the CO2 valve and easy replacement in case of damage .

I lent my 27lt fire extinguisher out - and it's not come back - I could use it to water rocket a 'water cooler' bottle.

-Will an air shot seat a fatbike tyre?

I made one from a garden sprayer and a valve from a dead inner tube in about 10 minutes. It's fantastic - 1000 times better than my old coke bottle version.

I made the fire extinguisher one following instructions on here before the Airshot was available, cost me the grand sum of £0 to do as I scavenged the parts from an old track pump, a knackered inner tube found on the side of the trail and the CO2 extinguisher came from work 😀

Made tubeless so easy and it's rather nice knowing I built it for nothing.

stuey - Member

-Will an air shot seat a fatbike tyre?

TBH that's going to depend on the rim and tyre. I have semi-ghetto-ish tubeless on mine with 4.8 minions and BT710s, they have a good tubeless retaining/sealing bead but they're quite fiddly to get the tyre to bead up in the first place. I can't reliably do it with anything but the compressor- it doesn't just need lots of airflow, it needs to do it for longer, so that I can fanny about.

(there's ways to improve this, foam and such, I just haven't bothered)

A guy on Pinkbike posted instructions and photos on his fire extinguisher set up.

http://www.pinkbike.com/u/bighitter/blog/how-to-make-a-not-so-ghetto-tubeless-inflator-for-less-than-15.html

One of Teresa May's underlings will be reading this thread now thanks to all the B words.

But seriously, having built and used all the DIY options, I now have one of these.
[img] [/img]

It is absolutely THE BOMB.

That pinkbike guide is great. Does anyone know where you can get used extinguishers? The £12 he paid isn't that expensive, but it does seem wasteful to buy a full extinguisher just to empty into a bin!

Gumtree and eBay, you can get them from a fiver

Cool, thanks. I might have a go at making one of these over winter 🙂

My local council tip has loads of them- I'd already bought one but they said they'd have been happy for me to pick one up.

My council tip doesn't usually let you take anything. I've not asked about fire extinguishers though so will ask them next time I am there. Cheers.

Have asked on here before with no joy - but worth another shot!

Whats the best / best value hose and pump head to get for dumping a lot of air quickly into the tyre for use on a home made inflator?

Cheers

Si

Pump head - Topeak Super Chuck, I got mine from SJS cyles. Hose was off an old and shonky track pump, as I know it would fit.

I ****ing hate the superchuck tbh, works on about half of my valves. I used the hose and head off a worn out floor pump. TBH a good pump head is make or break for me, it's not cheap but I'd say get the Topeak twinhead upgrade kit (£15, comes with a hose)

Cheers guys.

Might treat myself for Christmas!

TBH a good pump head is make or break for me

[quote=Northwind ]it's not cheap but I'd say get the Topeak twinhead upgrade kit (£15, comes with a hose)

On the basis of recommending what you have, I have a Topeak track pump with one of those and it works perfectly on anything I've tried it on (BTW I've seen it for a tenner without the hose, which seems better value). Though of course in the usual spirit my DIY inflator has the chuck from my old SKS track pump on it - very old fashioned and a bit rubbish, but it works OK for the job.

I made a home extinguisher version following Nobby's tread. Found what works 100% guaranteed is to remove the value core and then just put the tube from the extinguisher over the "coreless" valve which allows an unimpeded rush of air in to the tyre. Obviously it deflates when you remove the tube from the valve but doesn't matter as the bead is seated and air tight so once core is put back in the tyre pumps us easily with a pump. Also save the cost of a chuck.

I got a used old extinguisher on ebay for a pound a couple of years ago. The conversion is easy as described above.
It is all about the chuck head though. I've got a topeak twin from their big volume mountain pump. Honestly, the flow on that head is shocking. I keep meaning to find something else. Even in the pump itself it's hard work pushing air through it.
Is prefer a smaller air vessel so I don't need to put so much air in it to use it.
If I need to buy any more parts I think I'll just get an all in one pump thing.

I use an old garden sprayer. Comes with a suitable hose to go over the tyre valve, just drilled another hole and blocked the overpressure relief valve with the little cone you get when you cut the end off a sealant tube. Little g-clamp over the hose to hold and release the air. Hard work to get anything more than 45-50psi in it, but that does the job.

I do exactly the same as feed^. If you have the core to hand you can pull the tube off stick your finger over the hole then screw the core in quickly without losing much air. Top it up with track pump. If I know I'm going to be wanting it I fill it from compressor at work to about 120psi!!. It will stay charged for months too.

Are the powder extinguishers well rated as pressure vessels compared to the CO2 ones? My only complaint with the version I'll be building is that a 2kg CO2 extinguisher is of a decent size and a 1kg size would have been preferable (though seemingly unavailable). But I do know that it will readily take very high pressures.

I've got the power shot it works well on good wheels, but not all, has anyone just gone hog and bought a small air compressor on eBay such as a wolf or cobra for £75-85
They have 24L inflate to 116psi and use 2.5hp engine

Are they any good

I made mine from an old MIG welding CO2 bottle - 1/4 BSP fittings & I can charge from a track pump or one of those 12volt car tyre inflators.

[img] [/img]

To date I've been borrowing the neighbours cheap mini compressor, like you describe, the only issue was getting the flow/volume right for it to work well. Was fine once pressure was built up and I took the core out.

Time to sort my own solution now though; was planning to buy a mini compressor but after this and the Air Shot thread I'll follow the home made path now.