sphere testing rig

Shane, have you removed the spheres from the back of a GS or CX lately? Fun, eh? Wouldn't it be easier to have a valve poking out the back that you can just hook a gas line onto? Yes, it would :D

burrinjuck, the valves are made by ATM (Automatic Turning and Machining) in New Zealand. I'm not sure who has the appropriate adaptors etc to hook up to them in Aussie, but I know some people use them here. I don't see why you can't just hook them up to the same kind of set-up that the NSW club already uses to re-gas spheres.

I've heard people complain that they leak -- they don't. My old car still had gas in the spheres after 4 years with those valves on, and pretty much any well-maintained cit in NZ will have them.

Just to expand a little, they're actually a screw-in valve + another plug that screws into the top of the valve. You can get a right-angle bend for tight situations (like some Ds).

Cheers,
Chris
 
chris said:
Shane, have you removed the spheres from the back of a GS or CX lately? Fun, eh? Wouldn't it be easier to have a valve poking out the back that you can just hook a gas line onto? Yes, it would :D

burrinjuck, the valves are made by ATM (Automatic Turning and Machining) in New Zealand. I'm not sure who has the appropriate adaptors etc to hook up to them in Aussie, but I know some people use them here. I don't see why you can't just hook them up to the same kind of set-up that the NSW club already uses to re-gas spheres.

I've heard people complain that they leak -- they don't. My old car still had gas in the spheres after 4 years with those valves on, and pretty much any well-maintained cit in NZ will have them.

Just to expand a little, they're actually a screw-in valve + another plug that screws into the top of the valve. You can get a right-angle bend for tight situations (like some Ds).

Cheers,
Chris
Click to expand...

Hi Chris,

I have no problem with whipping the rear spheres out of a CX or GS. It seriously doens't take long. You can't pressure test the spheres "in situ" prior to attempting a regass anyway. I reckon I could have the sphere off in 10minutes, and back on in 15 if all goes well.

I've been looking into making a proper sphere regasser that uses no valves. For the smallest nitrogen bottle is $40bux for gas, you can rent it daily (ie: I have about 6 cars with spheres, I'd regass 'em all and return the bottle the following day). It all falls apart when you realise you need a high pressure output regulator that will cost in excess of $600bux :eek: :eek: :eek:

Bottle pressure is apparantly 300+bar, you can't fill a sphere to 55bar using that sort of pressure, a regulator would be a necesity.

seeya,
Shane L.
 
Hey,

On the topic of spheres and LHM.......

How much does a bottle of LHM cost?

Cyas STalled
 
:confused: :confused:

If you plug a gas line with a gauge in it onto the top of a sphere, it tells you the pressure... no removal necessary. Testing the pressure by pushing on the other side with a hydraulic pump is a farily roundabout approach IMHO. Especially if you then turn around a put new gas in from the top anyway.

Any sphere that's been on a car for a few years is going to need more gas it in, for certain :rolleyes:

I'm just arguing for the point here anyway, I certainly don't have enough money at the moment to set myself up like that :cry:

Chris
 
STALLED said:
Hey,

On the topic of spheres and LHM.......

How much does a bottle of LHM cost?
Click to expand...

Depends who you buy it from! :D

The NSW club sells it to members for $10 per 1L bottle. I have heard (and am still chasing up details) that the WA club does it even cheaper.

On the other hand I heard of a dealer in Sydney who charged someone $98 for 4L recently :eek: :eek: .

Paul
 
chris said:
:confused: :confused:

If you plug a gas line with a gauge in it onto the top of a sphere, it tells you the pressure... no removal necessary. Testing the pressure by pushing on the other side with a hydraulic pump is a farily roundabout approach IMHO. Especially if you then turn around a put new gas in from the top anyway.

Any sphere that's been on a car for a few years is going to need more gas it in, for certain :rolleyes:

I'm just arguing for the point here anyway, I certainly don't have enough money at the moment to set myself up like that :cry:

Chris
Click to expand...

Yeah that will work, each time you "check the pressure" by opening the valve though you will decrease the pressure in the sphere as, as the gas will need to flow out of the sphere and fill your lines/guage with gas before you can check the pressure.

If you were to do this regually it sounds like a great way to let your spheres down manually :confused: :confused:

Craig is it still *only 15bux* to regass a sphere there. The minimum in Victoria is $25bux from Kirk. Doesn't sound like much difference does it :confused: Now lets say I want to regass the CX turbo, C-matic and Xantia (forgetting the others that aren't likely to be driven in the near future).

That is $525 to regass the spheres in Victoria, and $315 in NSW. Suddenly you see why I would like to be able to regass spheres myself. You would probably only have to do one other persons car to cover the bottle rental/gas costs too.

seeya,
Shane L.
 
Yes the CCC of NSW still only charges $15 per sphere which includes the replacement O ring under the sealing cap, expert advice and free swearing and BS as the job is undertaken. This price is for members only though.

For non members the costs are:

Metro $60 for the first sphere and $15 each after that
Country (o/s Sydney metro area) $55 for the first sphere and $15 each after that.

As a bonus, the first sphere includes one year's membership of the CCC of NSW.

Similarly, our LHM prices for non members are $55 for the first litre for Metro and $50 for the first litre for country.

Under Tax law, incorporations such as the CCC of NSW Inc can only sell products or services to members of the organisation.
 
Well Shane,

Your unit looks just like the one I described that Dave put a pic up right back at the beginning of this post. Just shows how things can work away in the subconcious and the wheel gets re-invented again. :blackeye:

At least I knew how to test spheres having worked it out for myself while watching the professionals do it. :wink2:

Well I suppose a regasser won't be far away now.

Ken W
 
Ken W said:
Well Shane,

At least I knew how to test spheres having worked it out for myself while watching the professionals do it. :wink2:

Ken W
Click to expand...

Hi Ken,

I couldn't figure out how to get it to work as the sphere I was testing with was *nearly* but not quite dead flat. This meant I could see the diaphram pressed against the inside of the sphere, yet couldn't get a reading. so what would happen is you would crank away for ages at the pump until the sphere was full of LHM, at that stage the pressure would rapidly rise to regulator cutout pressure :eek: :eek: Talk about confusing :confused:

As soon as I realised what was happening I chucked another sphere on and it worked perfectly. I don't think I'll build a brake fluid tester, Roger in Castlemaine is close enough, I can just go and use his :D (obvioulsy anyone in the Ballarat area can use/borrow mine for free too).

seeya,
Shane L.
 
UFO said:
Yes the CCC of NSW still only charges $15 per sphere which includes the replacement O ring under the sealing cap, expert advice and free swearing and BS as the job is undertaken. This price is for members only though.

For non members the costs are:

Metro $60 for the first sphere and $15 each after that
Country (o/s Sydney metro area) $55 for the first sphere and $15 each after that.

As a bonus, the first sphere includes one year's membership of the CCC of NSW.

Similarly, our LHM prices for non members are $55 for the first litre for Metro and $50 for the first litre for country.

Under Tax law, incorporations such as the CCC of NSW Inc can only sell products or services to members of the organisation.
Click to expand...

Craig,

if say a Victorian member was to bring a box of spheres to the next Cit-in to be regassed. Would a Victorian member need to also join the NSW club (or would the victorian club membership surfice :confused: :confused: ).

Just in theory of course :evil:

seeya,
Shane L.
 
I think if anyone brought spheres along to Cit In to be regassed, they would be shown a whole new way to get gas into them - and it wouldn't be nitrogen either.:eek:


(bludy cheeky victorians!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top