Light Air Tank

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George Jets

George Jets

1967 Dart 2 Door
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Made up a light weight, easy to carry air tank for airing up low tires.

A defunked soda blaster from harbor freight. Was going to thow it out on the steel scrap pile.

But instead screwed on some new fittings, and now it is a useful handy tool that is easy to carry around.

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The Harbor Freight aluminum tanks are light and real handy too. Use mine a lot.

But I think they raised the prices a bit a while back.
 
Nice, how many tires could you air up on one tank? I am curious, because I have a trailer that is stored in a remote spot and two of the tires are flat. I was thinking about just such a tank.
 
Always see dead propane tanks behind abandoned motor homes in one of the parks I serve. Gonna grab one, cut the top off and make a forced air AL smelter
smelter.jpg
 
SpikeWills69 said:
Nice, how many tires could you air up on one tank? I am curious, because I have a trailer that is stored in a remote spot and two of the tires are flat. I was thinking about just such a tank.
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A complete flat tire to the rim will take my whole 7 gallon tank.
 
SpikeWills69 said:
That answers my question, thanks.
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I actually bought one from tractor supply. I've put 75#'s of air in it and with the tire off of the ground( so I'm not working against the weight of my truck) I can usually get two tires done. I think I paid $43.00
 
A56 said:
I actually bought one from tractor supply. I've put 75#'s of air in it and with the tire off of the ground( so I'm not working against the weight of my truck) I can usually get two tires done. I think I paid $43.00
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Fantastic, that would work then. Thanks.
 
A56 said:
I actually bought one from tractor supply. I've put 75#'s of air in it and with the tire off of the ground( so I'm not working against the weight of my truck) I can usually get two tires done. I think I paid $43.00
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I was working with the weight of the vehicle on the flat. Mine in 20" x 9". The sticker is off it that says the gallons. It's 15 years old from Harbor Freight. Don't know if they are the same size still.
 
A 15 inch tire 10 wide is about 6900 cubic inches of air in volume. So to fill a 15" tire to 30 psi would take 1.2 cubic feet of air at 100 psi. To completely fill 2 15" tires to 30 psi would take a standard 20lb propane tank pressurized to 320 psi. Even though propane tanks are rated at 960 psi burst, their service pressure of 240 is never achieved as their blow off valve vents at 200 psi. Your better off with a 30G tank at less pressure.
 
The title "Light Air Tank" brought back memories from my childhood. The gas station that my dad went to in our small farming town had a yellow aluminum ribbed tank that we called an air bubble. I always wondered why that tank was so light. I didn't find out till many years later when I got interested in WW2, that they were air tanks from the bombers and I suppose other aircraft of the day.
 
lemondana said:
The title "Light Air Tank" brought back memories from my childhood. The gas station that my dad went to in our small farming town had a yellow aluminum ribbed tank that we called an air bubble. I always wondered why that tank was so light. I didn't find out till many years later when I got interested in WW2, that they were air tanks from the bombers and I suppose other aircraft of the day.
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They're oxygen tanks, still used today on some military planes. Holds up to 450 PSI.

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You guys need to think here. Old tanks can be dangerous. If you insist on using this rig yourself a backyard HYDRO (that's water, not air) pressure test. I'd go at LEAST 2x or preferably 3x the air pressure it will see. Fill it completely with water, then use "some other method" to generate the test pressure. Air/ CO2 whatever is safe once the tank is full

Consider buying a CO2 bottle. CO2 is liquid and therefore contains, effectively, a LOT more volume.

Small air tanks don't fill much in tires. Something like a 50lb freon tank will fill 2 typical flat passenger tires enough to move it but certainly will not take both to full highway road pressure.
 
pishta said:
Always see dead propane tanks behind abandoned motor homes in one of the parks I serve. Gonna grab one, cut the top off and make a forced air AL smelter
View attachment 1715626500
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I love old propane tanks. Make nice portable grills too. I unscrew the valve and fill them completely with water before cutting, in order to drive out any residual gas. Don't need any unplanned explosions. Build a good charcoal fire in them then to drive off anything, they tend to stink of gas if not. I cut this one in half and use it as my melting pot for smelting lead wheel weights and pure lead flashing, into smaller ingots. Got through 200+ pounds this last weekend. That will make a lot of bullets and jig heads. The shroud/handle on top was buzzed off and cut then welded back on as a set of handles for the lower half of the pot.

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Nice, that's the setup Im going to attempt but with a forced air inlet to get some higher temps for aluminum.
 
gzig5 said:
I love old propane tanks. Make nice portable grills too. I unscrew the valve and fill them completely with water before cutting, in order to drive out any residual gas. Don't need any unplanned explosions. Build a good charcoal fire in them then to drive off anything, they tend to stink of gas if not. I cut this one in half and use it as my melting pot for smelting lead wheel weights and pure lead flashing, into smaller ingots. Got through 200+ pounds this last weekend. That will make a lot of bullets and jig heads. The shroud/handle on top was buzzed off and cut then welded back on as a set of handles for the lower half of the pot.

View attachment 1715628148

Is that burner a turkey hot oil burner?

View attachment 1715628149
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Yeah. It’s a nice heavy duty propane turkey fryer. Handled the weight of the lead pot no problem 60-75 lbs at a time. If it were made from bent flat bar I would weld in reinforcements.
 
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