Turbo Inflator

[pyronaught]

This is related to the inflatable tube project-- a battery powered inflator that screws on to the deflation port of the plug. This thing has some serious airflow, I'm going to have to test it out on an inflatable mattress and compare the inflation time to a hair dryer.

The lid is MakerGear black ABS and the case is Hatchbox orange ABS.

Time from concept to finished working prototype-- 2 days. I'm loving this machine!

blower.jpg (363.26 KiB) Viewed 10902 times

[Dale Reed]

pyro,

Nooice! ( ref: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nooice )

What parts did you use for the fan, motor, etc.? I assume the rectangular compartment to the right is for the battery. I'm interested in doing a project that needs several fans with "serious" flow, so the fan info is of immediate interest.

Dale

[jimc]

Very nice!

I have never heard of hatchbix filament until the other day. You mentioned it here and i had to go check anither forum and see if it was the same stuff. Read this thread. Have you had issues with it?

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!top ... VddjK-Narw

[pyronaught]

<details removed, going to try selling these>

[pyronaught]

Very nice!

I have never heard of hatchbix filament until the other day. You mentioned it here and i had to go check anither forum and see if it was the same stuff. Read this thread. Have you had issues with it?

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!top ... VddjK-Narw

This is the first thing I've printed with Hatchbox filament, but I didn't have any issues and it made a very clean print. It dissolves in acetone just like other ABS, so not sure what the problem was with the stuff in that thread. It's pretty cheap at $21 per Kg on amazon, and comes packaged well in a vacuum sealed bag with the silicon moisture absorber pack inside (kind of redundant in a vacuum, but at least they take moisture seriously).

[jimc]

yeah it appears from your pic like it printed great. after reading through that thread i was just curious.

[jereywolf]

I have run through 8 spools of Hatchbox black ABS without a single filament problem.

[pyronaught]

Just tested the turbo inflator on an air mattress. A hair dryer set on high took 40 seconds to fill the mattress-- turbo inflator took 22 seconds. So it moves air about twice as fast as a hair dryer, and has the advantage that you can also use it to suck the air back out of the mattress. So you can deflate it really fast and get every last bit of air out.

Small size and cordless makes it great for filling air mattresses when camping

[pyronaught]

Here's the final Turbo Inflator design. Both ends are threaded with standard 2" PVC threads so you can attach things to it, plus there is a threaded adapter that allows attaching different nozzles on it. This unit becomes less efficient as the output diameter is restricted because it can not hold any back pressure. It is really only good for low pressure, high volume inflation applications. The tiny funnel that was originally designed to plug into the standard rubber valves that inflatable toys use is downright useless, so I'm going to scrap that. This won't work on tiny inflation valves, only larger ones. The second funnel that is about 1/2" diameter is functional but very inefficient, with lots of air being lost back out through the intake. What it lacks in pressure it makes up for in the volume of air that can be moved, which is 36 cubic feet per minute on full bore (no restriction on the output). The adapter can be threaded onto the intake end too so it can be used to suck the air back out of things. So not only does this unit blow, it also sucks!

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