homemade Cheetah bead sealer for $30

air tank: $5 at scrapyard

1 1/4" valve and 12" nipple: $25

I cut the nipple to about 4.5" long to give swing for the valve's lever and bored a hole in the end of the air tank. Welded the cut end to the air tank and installed the valve. the leftover portion of the nipple was put in the vise and heated/cranked/heated/cranked until i got the shape i wanted, then installed on the valve.

Only thing left to do is find the valve i bought for the inlet, so it could be hooked to the air hose quick connect, open valve for quick fill, close valve and disconnect then go seat whatever bead needs done. I tried it yesterday(after hooking up the hose with the compressor off, flipping the switch, and leaving it sit pressurized overnight to test the weld) and it blew the stubborn lawn tractor tire right back on the bead.

You can also use old 20lb propane tanks for this kind of thing, they're rated for something like 240psi. Just make sure all the propane is out first! The one I rigged up for topping off mower tires was filled with water first to displace any remaining gas.

i made the e-mail newsletter eh?

have to dig the inlet valve i got out of the van so i can complete it and paint. then i can video it in action. i have some 275/60's that i mounted on 15x8 rims and it popped them right on. the bead blaster on the new tire machine is proving to be a worthless $200 upgrade.

My son and I used my compressor to seat a wheelbarrow tire a couple of years back. Nothing worked at first. We put the pressure on it but couldn't get it to seat We then tied a rope around the circumference of the tire and torqued it down. All of a sudden, Bamm, it seated. This worked like a charm on that small volume tire.

I used a similar technique to set the bead on some rally tires and some trailer tires as well. I cranked a ratchet strap around the tread of the tire and then hit it with the regular airhose using the blowgun attachment with the tire's valve core removed. Worked like a champ.

I don't trust my welding skills enough to build one of these

They are also good for clearing snow.

I still want to put a bunch of flour in the nozzle and aim it at a campfire. How could that ever end badly?

(it only takes 4psi overpressure to collapse your sinuses and drive the supporting bone through the base of your brain. Which is good because it will also destroy your lungs and the rapid chest compression will also probably tear your aorta off)

(in case I'm not clear - this is one of those ideas that is awesome in theory but needs a way to execute from 100 feet away)

For the uninitiated, Knurled is talking about building a crude version of one of these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon the biggest of which are more powerful than some of the smallest nuclear bombs.

I was wrong about the overpressure - it's more like 150+psi... but do ya feel lucky? I don't...

Cheetahs create enough rapid localized pressure to make my eardrums pop, just blowing air...

Nice idea... But isn't 150 psi to dangerous?

what's wrong with starting fluid and flaming towel?

Flight Service wrote: what's wrong with starting fluid and flaming towel?

at some point $30 will have covered the amount of starting fluid i've used for mounting stubborn tires.