Filling a 6 cf pony by hand?

[Kharon]

Is there any hand pump setup that could be used to safely (need filter?) fill a couple of 6 cf bottles a couple times a year?

 

[northernone]

Short answer Yes. There's a few historic examples. Some Soviet manual compressors as well. In theory (not my experience yet) a hydraulic bottle jack, a piston, two one way valves and a filter would work. Link below.
IMPROVISED AND LOW COST HP GAS BOOSTERS a new book from Airspeed Press

 

[Rainer]

Just get a transfill whip and fill it off one of your larger cylinders. I did this for my "airgon" bottles.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I assume you have an AL 80 and want to fill the AL 6 as a really small pony bottle? If so all you need is a trans fill whip.

If you've got 3000 psi in your AL 80 and an AL 6, and you connect them, you'll end up with 2,700 psi in each tank - 70 cu ft in the AL 80 and 5.4 cu ft in the AL 6. Do the same thing the next time you fill your AL 80 and you'll have 2960 psi in each tank and they'll both still essentially be full.

That's basically how it's done with a Spare Air, except Spare Air has its own trans fill connection and is an even smaller tank.

You can probably find a hand pump to do it, but the problem with a hand pump is that you have zero control over the air quality, and that can be an issue depending on the lubricants used in the pump, contaminants in the hose, and how clean the air is you are starting with.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Been filling mine with a team still whip for years. Works great and hardly reduces the pressure in the donor tank.

 

[rhwestfall]

especially when you have an overfilled 3442 cylinder as your donor....

 

[TrimixToo]

Just get a transfill whip and fill it off one of your larger cylinders. I did this for my "airgon" bottles.

What he said. Really.

 

[Scuba Scott]

https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/01...-q=50&q=92&s=0967578ae15e057c2d13deafcf9c76f4

If you want to know how long it takes just watch the video to the end.

 

[herman]

There are pumps that will do what you want but your money is much better spent on a transfill whip. The pump will cost you as much or more than the whip and trust me, you do NOT want to do the work necessary to fill the tank. I have had some recent experience with these type of pumps used for airguns (pumped to 3000 psi). Its a lot of work just to fill one of the guns and it's tank is nowhere near 6 cf.
Get a transfill whip then be nice to your tank filler so he will go a little over 3000 and use that to top off your 6cf.

 

[Kharon]

My tanks are LP 2650 and small. I don't need a whip because I have a yoke adapter for my H2Odyssey's. To transfil I have to rent an 80 for each pony and It still comes out a bit short of 3K.

Rather than offering your "better way" to do it, you might consider answering the question I asked.