I saw a guy use a standard rechargable Coleman inflator on his LEI thru an adapted hose. He said it then took just 6 more strokes from the hand pump to fully inflate it.

Quote:

Originally posted by wannabekiter so I have a (slightly) off topic question. Would this: http://www.cyclaire.co.uk/index.php/vmchk/Cyclaire-Inflator/... work to pump up an LEI? I'm sure there's a nozzle that fits

very interesting. it looks like it should do an LEI nicely!

... what about a bottle of compressed air? I got a compressor at home and could charge it easy ...
Zero - would probably do to get it started, but to get it up to pressure you'd have to finish with the pump again I reckon ...
... inertia reel on a fan ... hmm ...

sweet... as long as it's sand resistant :P

Quote:

Originally posted by Kamikuza ... what about a bottle of compressed air? I got a compressor at home and could charge it easy ... Zero - would probably do to get it started, but to get it up to pressure you'd have to finish with the pump again I reckon ... ... inertia reel on a fan ... hmm ...

It uses a dual action piston, not a fan...
how it works
You might be right though, you might need to top it up with lower volume higher pressure like the usual LEI dual action pump. Too bad you could not switch it to a high pressure stage at the end of pumping.

They make a cool high pressure pump for bike tires up to 80psi or 120psi. But it has the normal valve end on it.


and the fine powder sand we have at home would likely be an issue.

I was thinking more for the arcs, an inertia reel on a fan would be more effective
Nice bit of gear though ... most people here use a manual pump but there's one guy with an electric pump about the size of a car battery plus a bit more.
I'd rather have an arc :D

Quote:

Originally posted by Kamikuza I was thinking more for the arcs, an inertia reel on a fan would be more effective I'd rather have an arc :D

Hmm... Nice idea.

I've got a spare of my RC car with about a 15cm pull ... on a 120mm fan ... bet I'd look a right tosser

Quote:

Originally posted by wannabekiter so I have a (slightly) off topic question. Would this: http://www.cyclaire.co.uk/index.php/vmchk/Cyclaire-Inflator/... work to pump up an LEI? I'm sure there's a nozzle that fits

Looks like someone has tried it on a kite and it broke after 2 minutes. It couldn't handle the back pressure when topping off the kite. He was able to fix it and it is usable again but not for a kite. I suppose sand would be an issue too.

first test of my prefiller in no wind. you can see that it takes approx. 2 minutes to fill my 10 sqm synergy.

pros of the DIY prefiller compared to the Coleman quickpump:
* cheap
* silent
* lightweight
* high air volume - fills fast

cons:
* filigrane
* not much air pressure
* non water resistant

the biggest drawback of the DIY prefiller is: though it has a high air volume throughput, it does lack air pressure. the kite does NOT fill as TOTALLY as with the coleman quickpump.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayhcDKJzqYw

Nice!!

:bigok:

Was that a chocolate-hazelnut pudding shroud on that fan? Yummy !

exactly hazelnut cream ! tasty ! and just fitted the diameter of the fan.

btw, a german kite friend told me that it is more clever to put the prefiller into the deflate zipper. that way the kite fills more evenly and the tips fill better. also, it might be better to have the fan outside pressing air into the kite, instead of having it inside sucking air in. dont know if it would make a big difference, but could be some percentage faster. needs to be tested.on the other hand, my version is safer for the fan (colliding of the blades with other objects etc)

another Idea:

if you are brave enough to cut away the grid before the middle air inlet, you could make a prefiller with a smaller tube, that you stick directly into the vent. now you could just walk to the bar, hook in and wait a minute or so till max prefill and launch. no need to close zippers etc. the prefiller would simply fall off the air inlet during launch (provided it is heavy enough due to the batteries)

question: is the grid important to keep the shape of the leading edge? or does it just keep dirt out ?

Yeah I use the same muffin fan to fill my Big Phat Phanny 18m which only has a center zip. But when you are forcing air with even that fan, it does not matter where you put it. It reaches max pressure and stops but it is enough to launch fine in the low end of the wind range for land- like around 4-6 mph steady.

Quote:

Originally posted by herc exactly hazelnut cream ! tasty ! and just fitted the diameter of the fan. btw, a german kite friend told me that it is more clever to put the prefiller into the deflate zipper. that way the kite fills more evenly and the tips fill better. also, it might be better to have the fan outside pressing air into the kite, instead of having it inside sucking air in. dont know if it would make a big difference, but could be some percentage faster. needs to be tested.on the other hand, my version is safer for the fan (colliding of the blades with other objects etc)

Quote:

Originally posted by herc another Idea: if you are brave enough to cut away the grid before the middle air inlet, you could make a prefiller with a smaller tube, that you stick directly into the vent. now you could just walk to the bar, hook in and wait a minute or so till max prefill and launch. no need to close zippers etc. the prefiller would simply fall off the air inlet during launch (provided it is heavy enough due to the batteries) question: is the grid important to keep the shape of the leading edge? or does it just keep dirt out ?

Interesting idea. I think the grid is multi purpose. It keeps debris out. It shapes the LE. It keeps the sock from buldging out or blowing out completely.

How about adding a second container of hazelnut cream to the other side then have the tapered ends against the fan on each side forming a wind tunnel. Then using the deflate zip.

You better get at that second container... ;-)

The Coleman did a POOR job on it's 1st test ! Just doesn't push enough volume to do much to a 19m?

blade, sorry to hear that. its true, the coleman has not that much volume throughput compared to a highspeed pc chassis fan. did you try to fill a completely empty kite? normally, you can prefill with the wind at hand and just give the final max fill for a painless launch...
but what is imho the worst thing of the coleman: it is deafening noisy.

a tip to increase air volume for the coleman: shorten / don't use the flexible tube / hosepipe. it has small diameter and drastically reduces airflow.

what about modifying your coleman, so that you have some electrical connectors where you can wire a pc chassis fan on? so you have both: high volume prefilling with pc fan, final max pressurized fill with coleman.

Relax about the pressure thing. It's a kite not an air mattress :singing:. The muffin fan fills it plenty like a good breeze. What's your sleep number?

I thought about making a muffin fan unit like Angus' to inflate my Arcs. Then I bought a Coleman for $20 with free shipping at Amazon. Came with the wall wart charger.

Loud as all get out, but it filled a 13m Guerilla 1 in 3-4 minutes (guesstimate) from empty. Done by the time the bar and lineswas set up. Now the fact that wind was so low that I meant I couldn't even keep it flying -that's a different problem.

Angus - I made a couple of 4' long chain weights like you posted long ago. ~7 lbs each with 5/16" chain inside a neoprene wetsuit material sleeve. Work swell when their is no snow or sand to be had. I use one on an Arc tip or LEI and two when I need to hold down the TE of a foil.

krumly

Hey Krumly on the same idea I used 1 quart ziplock freezer bags and filled them with whole kernal dried feed corn. Then used ripstop scraps in bright orange and made bags for them. I made 6 in 20 minutes! They work great slide right off the kite as it launches. But 2 will hold down my Panch ace 5M in good wind.

Might as well add this one to the collection. The fan has a voltage range of 12-28V so I power it with with three 9V Ni-Mh rechargables wired in series. The batteries fit into a Mennen speed stick deodorant case nicely. The fan is rated at 40 cfm, it will inflate my 16m in 3-4 minutes and the batteries are good for about 10 fills, maybe more. I usually zip it into the deflate zipper. So far it works pretty good, not to bulky and the battery case is fairly water resistant.

Hmmm....it wouldn't take my photo, maybe this one?

I thought the size limit was 1 mb, my photo is 350 kb, what gives?

I'll try again...

and another...

bmor: nice one! but 12-24 v rating? i thought those chassis fans are all 12v ?

my fan is this one:



http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/026/sy1225sl_detail.ht...
SY1225SL12SH
1,900 rpm
37.00 dBA
110.31CFM
DC12V
0.53 A

maybe i can "overclock" my fan too ? currently, i am using 10 nimh AA accumulators. tomorrow, i will make a video filling my scorpion 16 and hopefully a first flight of my brand new synergy 10.

This is the spec sheet on the fan I'm using.

http://www.comairrotron.com/cgi-bin/dcfandatasht.pl?Pnum=030...

The chassis fan you are using may be designed to only use the constant 12V available in a pc system. Comairrotron makes fans for various applications. You may not want to subject your fan to overvoltage unless it's built for it. Most electrical equipment won't last long under those conditions.

Good reuse of a warn out product. I totaly respect the reuse proccess.

Finally found a cordless leaf blower here in Japan ... 2.2m3 per minute, cheap nasty looking thing. Guess how much ... $85. Oh and the battery and charger are sold separately for $125 a piece so that'd be $335 :ticking: