DIY Electric Pump---

http://forums.n ewart.com/phpbb … pic.php?t=13991

Hey all—found this thread at another pumping site and I was hoping some of the DIY engineers around here could explain this a little better—-

kook

You have to join Newart to see that info.

Ok—here is the text of the original post. Maybe someone here can put some pics to this—-others that posted in the original thread all swear that it works and I am sure there are lots of guys here who would like to try an electric pump—-

I found an easy way to make an electric pump without drills or glue. First thing you need is an air pump from Rena Air. You can find this at some pet stores or fish stores. The Rena 200 will give about 3 to 4 Hg’s of vacuum, the Rena will give about 6 to 7 Hg’s of vacuum. First thing you do is remove the back plate by removing to phillips screws. with the electric cord pointing away from you the diaphram assembly is on the left side of the housing. Insert a small flat blade screwdriver in one of the slots in the top of the diaphram plate and lift up. attached to the diaphram is a swing arm, there is a little knob on the swivel plate for the arm, use this to pry up the arm and remove diaphram and arm together. Rotate the plate 180 degrees to reinsert back in the housing. Before inserting you will need to add a notch so the plate will slide over a raised ledge in the housing. you will need to do this so the diaphram will slide all the way in. re-install the back plate and you are done. No other tools needed and not bad for about 40 dollars.

????????

kook

Here is the Rena line of air pumps: Aquatichouse.com

Kool—

All we need now is one of the resident engineers here to have the desire to make a cheap electric pump and we’re in business

kook

A pump is no good without a pressure regulator. Was that mentioned in the article?

If the pump puts out a maximum pressure in the desired range (~ 5 “Hg), does it matter if it has a regulator? (I am seriously considering this and plan on checking the pressure against my manual pump.)

Electricity + Lube + Dick = very freakin scary.

Well koooky I’m puzzled by something else about this! You must be registered over there if you could read that thread, so why ask your question here, why didn’t you ask your question there?

BTW The instructions are very clear and self explanatory in my opinion, especially so if you actually have that model air pump to look at while reading those instructions.

Since it is an aquarium air pump, you will be buying it at a shop that quite probably has other aquarium pump parts such as airline tubing, “T” connectors, and air control valves. Buy all of those things and stick a “T” connector in-line on the airline tube, then connect the air control valve onto the “T” connector. Varying the air control valve will allow “bleed” air into the airline hence regulating the pressure anywhere from none up to the maximum the pump is capable of providing.

Very true!

There are a number of different models of the Rena aquarium air pumps, not all are so easily modified as the model described in that thread. Also, some of the bigger Rena models can draw much more than 8 inch Hg if I remember correctly from other threads on this subject. Attaching a guage is strongly recommended if you attempt this project. Just be careful, okay!

… and by the way, I am not trying to insult anyone by saying this but, if you can’t understand those simple instructions given in that thread you should not even consider trying doing this yourself. Get someone else to do it for you or just forget it altogether.

It works!

I have been experimenting and taking pictures - I will post them this weekend. But the bottom line is the modified RENA 200 will give a nice steady 5 inHG of Vacuum - cheap, easy, quiet, and hands free.

.. Details to follow .

Congratulations!

Easy… and you didn’t even need an engineering degree to follow the instructions! ! !

Thanks Koooky, I’m bleeding.

EXPERIMENT 1: No-name pump

My first experiment was a no-name pump from Ebay for $4.95 that already had a vacuum port built in. The unit came with a snipped-off electric cord, which I remedied, plugged in the air pump and hooked it up to my manual pump to measure vacuum. The good news is it worked! The bad news is the pump was loud and produced too much vacuum (~13 inHg).

I checked around for various vacuum regulators and found them to be too bulky or too expensive. By bleeding off some air, I was able to reach a reasonable vacuum but could not consistently maintain it.