"Spare Air" clone, SMACO mini tank with hand pump fill to 3000 psi

[herman]

3K is possible but its a LOT of work. I have used one designed for air guns (supposed to be pumped to 3k), I got to around 2500 psi before the work was too much. I simply didn't have the body mass to force the handle down any more and it took a long time to get to that pressure. The volume was maybe half of what a spare air is and I didn't want to pump it any more. I can assure you the videos of a small person easily pumping one to full capacity is pure BS. Can a hand pump generate 3k, yes, is it easy, hell no, will the $80 pump work, probably but not for long........My buddy got a scuba tank adapter for his gun.

 

[Popgun Pete]

With so many sellers offering different sets of these SMACO breathing cylinders and hand pump units for a range of prices that all hover around the low hundreds, depending on which options are selected, then buyers will soon be finding out! Using a super high pressure hand pump to fill a pellet/BB gun is one thing, but to breathe the contents underwater is another. How pure the air is and what is it laced with in terms of the make-up of the gas is a concern when the lubricant used in the pump is all important. Not for nothing are breathable air compressors multi-stage and lubricated with safe lubricants for pressurizing cylinders. For hookah units it is a different story as pressures only need to be a hundred or so psi, same as intermediate hose pressure for scuba regulators.

 

[BRT]

With so many sellers offering different sets of these SMACO breathing cylinders and hand pump units for a range of prices that all hover around the low hundreds, depending on which options are selected, then buyers will soon be finding out! Using a super high pressure hand pump to fill a pellet/BB gun is one thing, but to breathe the contents underwater is another. How pure the air is and what is it laced with in terms of the make-up of the gas is a concern when the lubricant used in the pump is all important. Not for nothing are breathable air compressors multi-stage and lubricated with safe lubricants for pressurizing cylinders. For hookah units it is a different story as pressures only need to be a hundred or so psi, same as intermediate hose pressure for scuba regulators.

You are probably right but I don't think I'd worry about breathing the tiny amount I could pump by hand.

 

[Popgun Pete]

Some more info on the hand pump. Looks like vegetable oil is used after you use up whatever the pump is supplied with. Upon watching the video again it is silicone oil in the supplied bottle.

 

[herman]

What a joke.
I counted 17 strokes just to pressurize the hose, imagine what it takes to fill even a small tank. Then there is the oil. In the long distant past I worked on sewing machines and it was not uncommon to get one in oiled with cooking oil....oil is oil right? That was the gummiest mess you can imagine and they didn't generate much heat. Often it were so gummed up it would not move. It took a lot of time and solvent to get them back in running condition, they were cast iron and steel with no rubber seals or small passages. I can only imagine what the interior of the pump looks like after just a little use with cooking oil as a lube.

 

[Popgun Pete]

The genuine article have some black stuff that is a thin coating which you only see when you pull the pump handle up which is covering the exterior of the intermediate or second pumping barrel, FX advise you not to wipe if off as it is some special lubricant formulated for these pumps. As their patent does not say what that stuff is the Chinese have probably just made their best guess. Adiabatic heating takes place in these pumps and the faster you pump the hotter they become.