FIRST air cannon robots PVC??

[ChuckDickerson]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

Id recommend one of those portable tire air tanks you can get at Walmart for $60 or so. The ones you fill up at a gas station with compressed air. They are tested well above their rated pressure (rated at 120psi?), and they are steel, so if you drop one the seams wont burst open.

Another real cheap and SAFE option is to make your own steel air tank using an old freon tank. Go to a local HVAC service place and ask them for and empty freon tank. They always have one and you can probably get it for free. Then head to your local auto parts store and get a Freon tank conversion kit like this: http://www.redboxtools.com/detail.cfm?productID=1616. I have bought kits like this locally at NAPA for ~$10 but haven't bought one in a while. You just screw the adapter on the existing fitting on the freon tank and bam, instant safe steel pressure tested air storage tank. Freon tanks come in a couple of different sizes so if you prefer get a small one for the robot. Paint the tank to suit you needs.

BTW: My office is in a building next to a wet lab. The wet lab needs compressed air. Nobody wanted the air compressor near their office because of the noise so they installed the compressor out behind the building and ran the air feed line through the ceiling of the building right over my office to the lab. The installers used 3/4" PVC for the air line which is pressurized to about 120 PSI most of the time. I voiced my concerns to the installers about using PVC rather than some other pipe like copper tubing or black pipe or something and they said "don't worry about it, it is fine, we do it all the time, the side of the pipe says 600 PSI" or something like that. So far, the pipe hasn't blown up over my head but I still worry about it. I don't know why but I still have visions of the pipe exploding and showering me with a million little shards of white plastic one day.