Comments on: Refillable CO2 cartridges

By: Jdog

Jdog — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:45:14 +0000

I want to aquire higher powered CO2 cartridges. The highest powered CO2 cartridges I found for purchase were 12 grams. Are there higher powered CO2 cartidges out there? Can they be bought or made? Or would that max the cartidges tolerance and explode…? So, does anyone make HIGH POWERED CO2 cartridges and where do I get them?

By: Lee

Lee — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:26:11 +0000

Refilling these disposables is illegal. They are made with a thin wall under an exemption in the CFR49 (rulebook on gas cylinders)There is not enough meat in the wall to properly hold a valve. When filled with CO2, the inside pressure at 70F is 850 psi and at 120F can easily get to 3,000psi. All that is assuming it was filled exactly to the right amount. It is called filling ratio, the weight of the gas charge vs. the inside water capacity. You should never attempt to modify a disposable, instead, buy a small refillable. Safe and cheap. keep your fingers and eyes.

By: EdZ

EdZ — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:08:21 +0000

That looks pretty involved. Pity I don’t have a lathe handy: refilling one of these with N2O would be ideal for small hybrid rockets. Though it might just be easier to buy existing 8g cartridges (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nitrous_oxide_-_10_x_8g.jpg).

By: DEames

DEames — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:06:18 +0000

co2 will eat through rubber. If you replace the rubber seal with plastic, your valves will last alot longer.

By: browncrdboard

browncrdboard — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:37:42 +0000

i have always liked these canisters. Makes me remember back to when i was young and dumb [although i still am both]. Thank god i still have all 10 fingers attached – We used to take those little rocket engines pull the black powder and fill these empty co2 canisters to make mini grenades. Thinking back on how stupid this was i should have been smacked.

By: Standard Mischief

Standard Mischief — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:06:05 +0000

“…primary purpose of this is to make whipped cream…”

No, this is CO2 not NO2.

Quit huffing the tail-end of the whipped cream.

By: grey hat hacker

grey hat hacker — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 04:10:05 +0000

i been wrong all these years

By: hangsta

hangsta — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:53:46 +0000

clearly the primary purpose of this is to make whipped cream… right?

By: Xone God

Xone God — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:05:11 +0000

Excellent hack, (HACKADAY should cover more of these) There are endless uses for these canisters, once a valve is installed. He makes it look easy… then again he has a spiffy lathe. LOL. There was a guy who used to sell the canisters with this mod on Ebay… but I have not seen him post any in at least 2 years… (I wonder if its the same guy.)

@ charlie, Yes, there are several things you can do with empty Co2 canisters. From the dangerously illegal high power homemade fireworks to a micro-gas-cutting rig. If you need a small amount of compressed gas(es) to operate, actuate, or saturate anything, than this things are the solution. Your imagination is the limit.

@ jonored You should also note that the smaller the canister the longer it can go with out a hydrostatic test. Not to mention that steel canisters can go for far longer than aluminum canisters as they are less prone to metal fatigue. (12grm canisters are steel.) The danger is minimal as long as you dont over overload them… meaning you DO need a scale with the TARE function to load the 12grams they are rated to hold. If you where to put say 30 grams, and left them exposed to the sun, the valve could give out, leaking the contents of propelling the canister causing damage or in the most unlikeliest of scenarios, the canister could explode. But again, very very unlikely considering all the materials involved.

..X..

By: Standard Mischief

Standard Mischief — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:27:53 +0000

Oh, and to no one in particular, the easiest way to center something in a four jaw chuck is to use two allen wrenches at the same time.

By: Standard Mischief

Standard Mischief — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:23:11 +0000

@ jonored

I’ve have steel compressed gas tanks that were pretty old pass the hydro testing fine. In fact, I’ve never seen a steel tank fail short of letting it rust.

Steel tanks can last nearly forever.

If you want a cheap tank for welding or something, scrounge around at flea markets for old co2 fire extinguishers. It’s a standard gas tank with a special valve to dispense liquid. Assuming you don’t want to dispense liquid (like for paintball), get yourself a standard valve after it passes hydro-testing.

you can check welding supply places, total beverage suppliers, and fire extinguisher repair service places for a refill.

By: charlie

charlie — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 22:48:55 +0000

not something i plan on doing anytime soon. but cool. i do go through a lot of these little cartridges, and it seems there should be something cool to do with the empties. anybody seen any creative ways of recycling them?

By: jason

jason — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:07:56 +0000

basic info on his charging systems are here
http://www.ora8i.rivington-riflemen.org/StevesIntro.html
I agree that high pressure co2 is dangerous but after reading through his pages I think he knows what he is doing.
He also says “As for safety, in over seven years of experimenting with these cartridges I have not had any accidents or near misses”

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:55:01 +0000

IMO Sounds very dangerous. Compressed gasses aren’t something to be toyed with. A tank failing is an incredibly scary thing and even if these are small I would not want to be near.

By: jason

jason — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:14:02 +0000

I am confused why do you guys think the canisters are longer than stock don’t the last few steps show the complete canister it looks stock length to me
am I missing something ?
I would love to see some details of the refuelling rig for these.