alternative to expensive "canned air"

Buy yourself an air compressor!

If you need to have a portable source of compressed air, fit a schroeder valve to an old canned air can, so you can re-pressureise it using the air compressor. The schroeder valve fittings are usually made of brass, so are very easy to solder into a hole punched in the can.

You would have to be careful not to put too much pressure into the can because of the risk of explosion, but it wouldn't matter that you cannot store very much air in each can, just re-fill them when you get back to the workshop.

A schroeder valve is a car tyre valve.

Pip

There are also off-the-shelf canned air bottles that come with a re-pressurizing schrader (schraeder?) valve in the base. Google for "RR6000" for an example. That's the "ReAir Refillable Duster" from Read/Right.

"Schroeder valve"

What do you do about the gradual accumulation of water in the canister?

...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | |

I'll take your word for it but I only get 65 hits on google for "schroeder valve" (w/quotes), 1690 for "schraeder valve", and 6300 for "schrader valve." Also just 5 for "schröder valve" and 90 for "schräder valve." If I was a betting man I'd go with schräder as the original.

Maybe that's another reason to prefer presta valves on the bike. I'm a rotten speller in the best of circumstances... ;-)

They recommend tossing it after about 100 refills for just that reason. Of course that could be modified if you're filling it from a source with a moisture separator but you'd probably not get their liability insurance carrier to agree to that.

It *looks* like the valve body can be unscrewed from the base of the can so it might be possible to dry the inside that way. And, of course, if it's a standard schr[oe|ae|a|ö|ä]der valve the stem is removable.

When buying parts for my bike I see it spelled with an "A". Some googling reveals that the valve is named after George Schrader, who invented it in the late 1800s. The company founded by his father August Schrader is still around as Schrader-Bridgeport:

I'd bet that the Schrader family name was originally Schräder though.

I converted an old vacuum cleaner motor and impeller to "blow" rather than "suck" by increasing the outlet ports on the blow side and mounting it inside an old joint compound bucket. Originally I built this as a leaf blower but I now use it to blow out electronic stuff I'm working on. It is better to do it outside because it does make a big cloud of dust. I also plan to scale it down for smaller work. Just about every week I run across a vacuum cleaner someone is tossing. I've repaired many that just had their impellers clogged with cat hair!

Richard

I converted an old vacuum cleaner motor and impeller to "blow" rather than "suck" by increasing the outlet ports on the blow side and mounting it inside an old joint compound bucket. Originally I built this as a leaf blower but I now use it to blow out electronic stuff I'm working on. It is better to do it outside because it does make a big cloud of dust. I also plan to scale it down for smaller work. Just about every week I run across a vacuum cleaner someone is tossing. I've repaired many that just had their impellers clogged with cat hair!

Richard

difficult

schroeder

air

are

cannot

to

I used to do that with spray cans. I had two spray cans soldered together so that I had double the volume. But one time I pumped it up past 120 PSI, and the bottom turned inside-out! Whoa!

If you can filter/dry the air or don't care that it is dirty, use a compressor from a fridge.

Make it blow through a piece of the capillary tube you also get from the fridge and you'll have a very nice blast of air.

However, these things spew oil and the air will not be dry. Some filtering may be needed - and don't breathe those fumes.

Thomas