----- Original Message -----
From: "Kerry Bernstein" <kbernste@us.ibm.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2001 1:48 AM
Subject: [MV] How NOT to add 90W
> Well, in case you need a good laugh -
>
Thankfully it was a laugh, rather than a fatality. . . . . . .
> I got my cases filled with 90W this afternoon, but what a stinkin'
> mess - the cheapo handpump which I hoped your recommendations
> would avoid came apart in my hands, so I built what I thought
> would be the ultimate home tool - a plastic bottle fitted
> with a compressor fitting, and an outlet tube reaching inside to the
> bottom of the bottle.
>
> This would have worked well IF I remembered to turn
> down the pressure of the compressor output.
>
Everyone should remember that pressurising things that shouldn't be with an ad
hoc lash-up is like making an effective bomb or hand grenade, you are investing
the thing with many horsepower/seconds of energy from your compressor that may
well be released instantaneously.
I make no apologies for length, officially documented injury No.1, and
concerning a real MV part; I was nearby too being employed in the same place and
for my sins specially approved to operate 4000psi (well scary) test equipment as
it happens.
A major defence contractor - Investigation was needed to check deflection of
warship magazine equipment cabinet doors, meaty things of 1/2" alloy casting
with milled and continuous O ring seals having loads of captive stainless
retaining bolts and measuring 5' high by 2' wide. British warship equipment
cabinets have a 1.5psi vent valve and these particular doors should deflect no
more than 1 thou at that pressure.
Engineer clamps two together, back to back, with several G clamps and a dial
gauge on the centre, using the very accurate air test panel in a protective test
cell he pumps these up via the threaded desiccator hole to a calibrated 1.5psi
several times and reads the dial gauge.
After several cycles and readings, we're only looking at one and a half psi
here, to check for elasticity, the lash-up of clamps lets go as he's bending
over to read the dial gauge. One door is squarely stopped by his head and its
off to hospital with a seriously fractured skull, lucky to be alive really.
But its only 1.5psi. . . . . . .perhaps, but 5' is 60 inches and 2' is 24 inches
making an area of 1440 sq in; at 1.5psi this is now a pent up force of 2160 lb,
close on a ton to me.
Case No 2 (of many on the Govt files), garage man has a 50 (60 US) gallon drum
of oil engine oil drained from customers cars, as is common here the garage hot
air blower uses old oil or any combustible fuel gravity fed from a tank in the
roof, how to get 50 galls up these easily ? Ah, pipe connection and hose in the
1" air vent drum union and braze an air line connection in the large screwed
hole plug; 150psi, high volume garage line should do the trick quite quickly.
It certainly did, until the last few gallons when the drum exploded, took out a
wall and minced the owner standing over it. The Fire Brigade were there for
hours separating oily body parts from shrapnel and brick rubble.
Please don't blow yourselves up with your li'l ol' compressor, its no fun at
all.
Richard
Southampton - England
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