Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Could you use a SCUBA air tank?

I have two that are out of stamp sitting in my shed...
Anyone want?

PJ.zook wrote:You could make one yourself to fit a custom space from RHS. I would test it properly though to make sure it can take the pressure.
I made my rear bar from 100x100RHS and built my swingaway tyre carrier into it, and deliberately made the RHS airtight with the intention of using it as a tank.

I charged it to around 140psi to make sure it can take a max pressure of 100psi under normal conditions. Then i soaped up my welds to check for leaks, and bobs youre aunty.

Not sure if I would be confident being near and checking for leaks on a homemade air tank with 140 psi of air!

Air holds a helluva lot of energy when compressed, did you have your bulletproof vest on?

Water is the safer way to go.

physh wrote:Could you use a SCUBA air tank?

I have two that are out of stamp sitting in my shed...
Anyone want?

they are drawn from a single peice of aluminium, the same as some fire extinguishers, I have a fire extinguisher bottle partly set up for an airtank, the one I have is out of test but was tested to 20Mpa (3002psi) it has a safety relief valve that is designed to blow at 190bar (2755psi)
Id say there is a fair margin of safety in the cylinders for use under a 4by

80's_delirious wrote:...it has a safety relief valve that is designed to blow at 190bar (2755psi)
Id say there is a fair margin of safety in the cylinders for use under a 4by

Heh yeah, I'd say running one in a vehicle at ~150psi compared to a tested 3,000psi is a "fair margin of safety"!!!

The SCUBA tanks are painted bright yellow though, and they're not small... lol.
But they're taking up my shed, and I want to get rid of them (I'm in Canberra) so if anyone wants to take them and modify them etc, drop me a line.

yamaha__308 wrote:

PJ.zook wrote:You could make one yourself to fit a custom space from RHS. I would test it properly though to make sure it can take the pressure.
I made my rear bar from 100x100RHS and built my swingaway tyre carrier into it, and deliberately made the RHS airtight with the intention of using it as a tank.

I charged it to around 140psi to make sure it can take a max pressure of 100psi under normal conditions. Then i soaped up my welds to check for leaks, and bobs youre aunty.

Not sure if I would be confident being near and checking for leaks on a homemade air tank with 140 psi of air!

Air holds a helluva lot of energy when compressed, did you have your bulletproof vest on?

Water is the safer way to go.

Thats not bad at all mate, if you pop/hit/puntutre it all its going to do is make a bit of noise. 140PSI is NOT that much pressure when youre talking about RHS, theres NO way it could explode etc etc, just a heap of noise. id be more worried about air fittings and making sure they have enough quality thread to hang on to.

physh wrote:

80's_delirious wrote:...it has a safety relief valve that is designed to blow at 190bar (2755psi)
Id say there is a fair margin of safety in the cylinders for use under a 4by

Heh yeah, I'd say running one in a vehicle at ~150psi compared to a tested 3,000psi is a "fair margin of safety"!!!

The SCUBA tanks are painted bright yellow though, and they're not small... lol.
But they're taking up my shed, and I want to get rid of them (I'm in Canberra) so if anyone wants to take them and modify them etc, drop me a line.

I was real keen on the SCUBA tanks at one stage as well and the local dive operator had a couple sitting around also but a mate and I checked one out at a swap meet a while ago and even though it was ally it still weighed a ton.

Probably alright for a ute application but under a wagon they seem too big and too heavy, unless you can get really small ones???

Many CO2 fire extinguishers are alloy and come in all sorts of sizes, there not hard to come by.

fester2au wrote:I was real keen on the SCUBA tanks at one stage as well and the local dive operator had a couple sitting around also but a mate and I checked one out at a swap meet a while ago and even though it was ally it still weighed a ton.

Probably alright for a ute application but under a wagon they seem too big and too heavy, unless you can get really small ones???

Yep, they're not small or light.
But with that level of safety and size, I guess it's not unexpected.
Two scuba tanks worth anything as scrap?


A fire extinguisher size would definitely be better for mine.

lump_a_charcoal wrote:

StarkRavingSimmo wrote:just spend my lunch break calling truck wreckers in my area.

Very few that are open on a Saturday, thats my main issue. Found one or two that are promising. One guy is open tomorrow and has 'em for $25 off trucks. Pick it yaself he said.

Share your info, I'm also after cheap tanks...

Sure thing man. My notes are at work though, so i'll try to remember to grab them tomorrow.

physh wrote:

fester2au wrote:I was real keen on the SCUBA tanks at one stage as well and the local dive operator had a couple sitting around also but a mate and I checked one out at a swap meet a while ago and even though it was ally it still weighed a ton.

Probably alright for a ute application but under a wagon they seem too big and too heavy, unless you can get really small ones???

Yep, they're not small or light.
But with that level of safety and size, I guess it's not unexpected.
Two scuba tanks worth anything as scrap?

A fire extinguisher size would definitely be better for mine.

You would think so wouldn't you but that same dive operator took 2 to the dump at about the same time. Mind you he had nowehere close that could have given him something for them.

StarkRavingSimmo wrote:

lump_a_charcoal wrote:

StarkRavingSimmo wrote:just spend my lunch break calling truck wreckers in my area.

Very few that are open on a Saturday, thats my main issue. Found one or two that are promising. One guy is open tomorrow and has 'em for $25 off trucks. Pick it yaself he said.

Share your info, I'm also after cheap tanks...

Sure thing man. My notes are at work though, so i'll try to remember to grab them tomorrow.

Sorry, its taken me a while to get back about this.

The place I went to was BL Japanese Truck Spares in Fairfield. 02 9632 1666. They're open on Sat and they have truck air tanks, both stainless and aluminium. I got two, one was three mini tanks in one and that cost me $20 and the other was a small tank on its own that cost me $10. Pretty happy with it. There were a bunch of other wreckers that had tanks for about $100 and i can point you in their direction if your interested but none of them were open on Saturdays, which i needed. Awesome.