If you need a supply of low pressure air – let’s say enough pressure to ensure a constant supply but not enough to describe as “Compressed air” with a straight face – what do you do? Many people will reach for an aquarium pump, after all that represents a readily available and relatively inexpensive source of bubbles.
But not [truebassB], instead he built his own air pump from first principles (YouTube, embedded below) using PVC pipe. It’s a straightforward design in which the cylinder is a length of pipe with a disc of flat PVC glued to its end, and the piston is fabricated from a short piece of the same tube with a section cut out to reduce its diameter. An adequate seal is achieved using a piece of rubber cut from an inner tube, and the gudgeon pin is cut from a piece of wire. The connecting rod is another longer piece of wire, and the crank is a wooden disc with an offset hole. Power comes from a DC motor taken from a dead power tool. A couple of ball check valves are used for air input and output.
The resulting pump isn’t the prettiest of pumps, and it could probably do with a bit of balancing as it rattles somewhat. But it’s a pump, and it obviously cost next-to-nothing, so that in our eyes makes it a neat build. He’s posted a video of the build which we’ve placed below the break.
We’ve not featured many such simple pumps here. Perhaps this peristaltic pump comes close.
i am wondering if any piston slap will result in friction that will fuse the piston with the cylinder.
Neat hack!
Neat. These are called diaphragm air pumps by the way and there are several different ways of creating them, including ones to pull light vacuum. The mechanism also looks somewhat like a certain type of adult oriented product that produces linear motion from an electric current. Or so I have been told by friends.
I thought that diaphragm pumps generally use a vibrating or compressed diaphragm instead of or in addition to a piston.
Wouldn’t the PVC quickly deform due to the friction heat?
Ahh. I retract my previous statement then. I had assumed there was an actual diaphragm in there. It looks like it’s just a piston. Interesting approach but yes, that would make it not a diaphragm pump if there is no diaphragm. Commercial ones that are similarly styled typically use a diaphragm.
These are not diaphragm pumps, this is a piston pump. A diaphragm pump uses a flexible membrane to provide displacement.
Nope this is a piston pump. Your embedded video is a diaphragm pump.
More of the top one but they are basically identically designed. Honestly though, they both need more mechanical guarding. Not sure if these would qualify as OSHA approved in the US.
Some even have clever methods of allowing for variable stroke lengths on the fly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fucking_Machines#/media/File:Fucking_Machines_device_example_Intruder_MK_II_cropped_to_machine.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sLr2SY7CfQ
Here’s a tutorial to make something similar out of cheap, off the shelf components.
nb4 zomg PVC and air pressure!
I doubt this makes more than a few PSI at all and it can’t store any pressure either. So less of a concern with this build.
Just use a fan!
Or dont use a fan and build that instead
flip it around and use stored compressed air to generate electricity
Thanks Borat !!!!!