Water Rocket Forum

thanks Guys,

Im not going after those pressures just yet. For my immediate needs to fill my rockets I have invested in a TOPEAK Joe Blow Ace Pump. This will do for a while.

I agree with the consensus that the small 12V pumps cant handle the pressures they advertise. I will see how well the TOPEAK pump performs. It has a dual cylinder and is supposed to reach 260psi. We shall see. Im more interested in getting the recovery system working reliably so I can send up an altimeter and camera. ONce that is working better I will turn my attention to the pressure bottles and go after altitude.

cya
-todd-
HHWRSA

thampson wrote:thanks Guys,

Im not going after those pressures just yet. For my immediate needs to fill my rockets I have invested in a TOPEAK Joe Blow Ace Pump. This will do for a while.

I agree with the consensus that the small 12V pumps cant handle the pressures they advertise. I will see how well the TOPEAK pump performs. It has a dual cylinder and is supposed to reach 260psi. We shall see. Im more interested in getting the recovery system working reliably so I can send up an altimeter and camera. ONce that is working better I will turn my attention to the pressure bottles and go after altitude.

cya
-todd-
HHWRSA

Thanks for the update Todd. When you have had some time to get familiar with the pump you bought I would really like to hear some kind of review from you with your thoughts. I am considering building some kind of linear actuator (hydraulic or perhaps motorized) that could operate a stirrup pump like this and automate the pressurization. We've talked about this in the past but nobody has really done anything and I think it would be a unique project that nobody else has staked a claim on yet.

ok sure, will update this post after I have a handle on it. I took a few pics of the pump from different sides which are on the blog slits

http://wrocket.hampson.net.au/?p=538

-todd-
HHWRSA

thampson wrote:ok sure, will update this post after I have a handle on it. I took a few pics of the pump from different sides which are on the blog slits

http://wrocket.hampson.net.au/?p=538

-todd-
HHWRSA

Thanks for the pictures. That looks like a very promisiing pump for Water Rockets!

Quick question: Does it pump on both the up and down strokes of the plunger?

Just the downstrokes. I attached it up to my launch tubing and abort valve to check all the connection. The gardena quick relase I use has a one way valvie in it, so I can pressureize the tubing and check all the connectors without using a bottle. I pressurized up to 150psi with no leaks.

The pump uses both pistons and full stroke and is easy up to 60psi then it get hard, flip the switch to 120psi and it switches to 1 piston and only half a stroke, so the second half of the downstroke is when the air is pressurised, it again was easy up to 120psi then it got hard to pump, switched it to the 200psi and it uses maybe the bottom 1/3 or 1/4 of the stroke but again its easy to pump it up to 150psi. I just decided not to go any further as I didnt want to blow the abort valve.

-todd-
HHWRSA

thampson wrote:Just the downstrokes. I attached it up to my launch tubing and abort valve to check all the connection. The gardena quick relase I use has a one way valvie in it, so I can pressureize the tubing and check all the connectors without using a bottle. I pressurized up to 150psi with no leaks.

The pump uses both pistons and full stroke and is easy up to 60psi then it get hard, flip the switch to 120psi and it switches to 1 piston and only half a stroke, so the second half of the downstroke is when the air is pressurised, it again was easy up to 120psi then it got hard to pump, switched it to the 200psi and it uses maybe the bottom 1/3 or 1/4 of the stroke but again its easy to pump it up to 150psi. I just decided not to go any further as I didnt want to blow the abort valve.

-todd-
HHWRSA

Thanks for the description. I was wondering how it worked from the photos. Now I get it.