Having been around for almost a half century ......... oops! a little
longer I've seen bunches of stored or manufactured pressure devices.
One if the coolest was the FLAT super shrunk spare tire. It came with a
co2 cylinder about the size of a caulking tube and was a wonderful thing.
It could be refilled and re used or if you needed a good cleaning you
could buy a new one.
If you've ever had a Snapper riding mower you know that they ship
$1600.00 mowers with $2.00 tires that stay flat and must be refilled for
each round with the lawn.
I used one of these cylinders and got a year supply of air for my mower
out of it. Next go around was a cheap 12v compressor, last only 6 months
but you can put the fill valve cam over devises on your bicycle pump and
keep a truckin'.
If you're one of the folks that never wants to change a flat you can put
60 psi in your spare tire and fill your flat from it with a jumper air
line.

Stan Wilder
Been There Done That for all of above.

On Tue, 25 Feb 2003 11:57:45 -0600 Open Wheel Racing
<openwhel@BELLSOUTH.NET> writes:
> Hello List,
>
>     I noticed one member suggested one of these cheap12 volt
> portable
> compressors. Bare in mind there not cheap, they are like a Timex
> watch. The
> most expensive watch made (because you must replace it every six
> months).
> These will fill a tire or even an air mattress or two before they
> burn up.
> Not to mention how noise and slow they are. The compressor's in them
> are
> junk. If you want a better (IMHO) 12 volt type system, try this. It
> wont run
> air tools, but it will fill tires much faster and live much longer.
>     I made an onboard air system for our shop truck some time back
> using
> some junk yard parts. Most upscale cars, Cadillac, Lincoln,
> Oldsmobile's,
> etc. have some type of air ride system as an option. These systems
> use
> either air shocks or air bags to level or help carry some of the
> lead in
> their ass. The big difference is the quality of their compressor.
> The fact
> that they are almost sound-less tell you everything you need to know
> about
> there quality.
>     I found one from a wreaked Cadillac, mounted it to an old air
> tank,
> added a water drain to the tank, bolted the tank in the bed of our
> shop
> truck. I put fifty feet of 1/4 inch plastic "springy" type hose,
> making sure
> to check all the joints with soapy water for leaks. I used a cut off
> switch
> from a regular air compressor, set to cut off at 140 pounds as a
> regulator.
> I wired through that switch, to key on power, using a 30 amp Bosch
> relay.
> This way it only runs when the truck is running. As it cuts off at
> 140 lb's
> it is always ready with air, without having to be monitored. I built
> this
> with a little scrounging for about fifty bucks. It has never failed
> in
> several years of use. Best thing is we can pick up any car with four
> flats,
> that we can get to within fifty feet of.
>     If I were wanting to put something like this in a bus. I would
> mount the
> compressor in an out of the way place. The compressors are about the
> same
> size as the cheepos. Use a large piece of pipe ( about 3 inch
> diameter - 3
> feet long ) caped off, as a tank. Attach an air line to the "tank"
> from the
> compressor, and tap in a quick connect fitting in a convenient place
> on the
> pipe/compressor for the supply hose.
>     Anyway you get the idea, so I will close this very long winded
> rant. If
> you want to build one give me a yell, and I will try to answer any
> questions.
>
> Howard
>
>

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