Re: Pneumatics

jp4space@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> I'd like to know how do the pneumatics work in lego... You know, those pumps 
> and the air tank,

Well, essentially, you have:

* Pumps (a big one designed to be pumped by hand and a little one that's
  better suited to being driven by a motor).  These work exactly like a
  bicycle pump - producing a stream of compressed air through a thin
  flexible plastic hose.

* Actuators (or 'rams') - these are like the hydraulic pistons you
  see on heavy machinery or whatever.  There are two hoses going into
  the piston and basically, the piston extends if you pump air into one
  hose or it contracts if you pump air into the other hose.  These also
  come in a couple of sizes and mounting variations.

* Switch - this has three hoses - you pump air into one hose and
  depending on the position of the switch, the air will come out of
  one of the other hoses - or be blocked entirely.

* Storage tank - When you pump air with a lego pump, it comes out in
  uneven 'bursts'.  To smooth the flow out and to store some compressed
  air so you don't have to pump continuously, there are large blue storage
  tanks that'll store LOTS of compressed air.

* Hoses - flexible rubbery plastic hoses - you can cut them to length.

* T-pieces.  These just help with complicated hose plumbing.

That's about it.  Simple in principle - complicated if you want to it to
be!

You can treat Lego pneumatics just like real-world hydraulic systems
except that you don't have hot oil squirting everywhere!

---------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------
HomeEmail: <sjbaker1@xxxxxxxxxxx>    WorkEmail: <sjbaker@xxxxxxxx>
HomePage : http://www.sjbaker.org
Projects : http://plib.sf.net    http://tuxaqfh.sf.net
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