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A Survey of Air Compressors |
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| Standard air compressor This design, from the Advanced Pneumatics Set, is powered by the standard (old type) 9V motor through a large pulley. The small pump is driven by the small engine crankshaft. Note the distance between pivot point of the small pump and the axle of the crankshaft is 5 Lego units. |
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| Mini air compressor This is my implementation of the Tiny Lego Compressor by Michael Powell. It's also powered by the standard 9V motor through a large pulley. The small pump, however, is driven by the medium sized pulley (or wedge belt wheel). Note the strengthening around the motor by the use of half beams (1x5 liftarms). |
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acting air compressor This is my rendition of the Technic double-acting compressor by R Hempel. This design uses the new 9V gear motor driving two small pumps via 24-tooth gears. When one piston is pumping, the other is drawing. Note the use of the single-bend beams to hold the structure together. |
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| Building instructions rendered by LPub | Bill of Materials |
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| Air
compressor using the large hand pump The question is often asked: Is it possible to make an air compressor using the large hand pump? Of course! The box of the Mindstorms RIS shows an air compressor using the hand pump (with the spring intact) on the Recycler robot. Here is my implementation of an air compressor using the hand pump - with and without the spring. |
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 with spring |
 and better without |
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| Note that the large hand pump requires
considerable power to operate, even with the spring removed. So it has to be driven by the
new gear motor (the standard motor will not work) and the structure has to be well braced
to prevent it from being ripped apart. Well, the air compressor using the large pump works but it is slow and does not seem to offer much advantage over the compressors using the small pumps. Besides it is occupying more space. |
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| For some time I have been trying to figure out how to objectively assess the performance of the various air compressors. Both power and speed will have to be taken into account. Read on to see what I've come up with. | |
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Dual Large Pump Compressor & Another Pump Tester by Charles Steadman |
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