HCR13

iTrader: (5)

Ok, I'll start off by saying that I'm not a professional machinist like half of you and I'm not a millionaire like the other half of you. I live in an apartment. With this in mind, I had a goal to make some sort of remote bottle opener, cheaply, and very effectively and with only basic tools, or rather, not advance tools I can't keep in my apartment...

I had thought about this since I got my nitrous kit a while back. I previously had the bottle in the hump between the back 2 seats so I can reach over and open the bottle when the "need" arose. I never liked the bottle in that location because the color of the bottle kind of clashed with the interior and I was a bit "uneasy" having it there. I always wanted to put the bottle in the spare tire area, but wanted the convenience of opening the bottle from the driver seat. While bored at work, I came up with some very rough "blue prints" and simple schematics. I'm very creative and new exactly what parts would work. From having a Firebird and having headlight assembly issues before, I knew the headlight motor would have enough torque to fully open and fully close a nitrous bottle. The hardest parts where finding a way to link the motor shaft to the bottle nozzle/handle and securing the whole motor to the bottle. This is only a first run. I hope to make improvements to both, securing the unit and the connection between the motor and the bottle...

What I did is pretty simple. The tools I used where a drill, a dremel or any rotatry tool and... thats it for tools actually. A handful of drill bits. If you remove the handle from a nitrous bottle, there is always a hex nut before the round shaft. I'm sure its used to screw the valve/nozzle to the bottle. I had some aluminum plates/bars from previous projects. I used one and cut a hole that would fit securely (as can be) to that nut. I think it is 1 inch across so I cut a square that was about 1 inch across. Then you install the handle and that keeps the plate flush to the nut and prevents it from falling off and spinning freely.

The handle itself has 2 little notches on the inside edge that are across from each other. I looked in my tool box and some small "L" shaped brackets. I used two little brackets. On the upper part of the bracket I drilled a small hole on both brackets and the bottom of the bracket would be inserted in the notches on the handle. What I did next is drill a hole in the actual shaft in the motor. I stuck the shaft between the 2 L brackets, exactly above the nut that holds the handle to the valve. So the valve and the motor are on the same axis. I aligned the holes on the motor shaft and 2 L brackets and just installed a small bolt and bolted it tight. And thats it for the opening and closing mechanism. I plan to make improvements to this settup. I think I'm gonna go to Home Depot soon and look at what other options I have. I was thinking maybe 2 castle nuts or even the gears on a blender. Something that doesn't require removing a bolt and nut.

What I did next is just drill corresponding holes in the aluminum plate that lined up with the..."bolt holes" on the motor housing. I bought really long bolts and spacers at Home Depot and secured it with wing nuts. I used a window switch from a thirdgen since the switch itself is what changes the polarities on the wires that go the motor. No need for relays or other complicated wiring. Just add 12v and ground and you're good to go. I got the motor and switch from the same car at the junkyard for about $5. The rest from Home Depot. The areas where I plan on making changes are on the mechanism that attaches the motor to the nozzle and securing the whole thing to the bottle.

I made this in about 2 hrs of leisure time. Its not the prettiest or tiniest (yet) thing out there but its hidden behind the trunk panel anyway and its not a show car. It works fine for me. I'd like to hear some opinions or comments or how I can make improvements. I don't care if its not "street legal" or "NHRA legal" or anything. I don't really care. I don't have a patent and I encourage people that don't want to pay NOS $300 to duplicate it. I'll attach some pix and a vids in the following posts...

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

Here is a picture of the aluminum bracket with the square cut out, the small "L" bracket, and the L brackets in the notches in the handle...

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

Here are pics of both L brackets on the nozzle, the whole thing put together, in the 2nd pic, I just have a small pin for testing purposes, but it has been replaced by an actual nut and bolt and the L brackets don't flex anymore, they stay parallel. The last pic is the whole assembly in the car.

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

Here are some You Tube vids of it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LotGwKeOrYU

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIxNxgd4PU8

Let me know if anyone would like more info or pics...

iroc a 86 berli

only problems i see are
1. looks like its about to fall off the tank
2. if it doesnt shut the valve completly it will wear your solenoid seals out and load the engine, catastrophic if that happens. so you should manually check it and make sure it shut after you park.

Sonix

iTrader: (1)

I can't watch the video here at work, but i'll give you an A++++ for creativity.

I think with better tooling (milling machine, etc) you could have made it prettier. I'm not sure how reliable it will be, due to flimsiness. I'm not sure how you exactly set this up though. ie what stops the motor? do you just hold down the switch until it starts to stall the motor, then you assume it's "open" or "closed" ?

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

It does and open the bottle all the way, the second vid I only opened partially since there was still air in the bottle and I was inside. I am working on making it more structually sound. But I'm pretty confident its not going to fall off. As far as opened and closed fully, I use the pressure gauge for opening it. For closing, I just press the close button until I hear the motor stop, I think there is a load sensor in the motor? (anyone? like the window motors). I've left in the car for a few days, about a week and pressed the purge button to see if there was any buildup in the lines. There was non, so I'm pretty sure its closed all the way and sealing properly... Thanks for the responses...

iroc a 86 berli

hey if you can get it more solid, i would use one on my tanks, but they are in the back seat area so i dont really need them.
+1 for creativety

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

I went ahead and added small stablelizer corner brackets. Bolted 1 end to the plate and the other end was hose clamped to the bottle nozzle. This helped
ALOT in keeping the mechanism from moving back and forth... I edited the video post to show the new video...

here are some pics..

iroc a 86 berli

looks alot better, but i think if you ran a 4mill x 1in strip of rubber around the brackets where the hose clamp is, then installed two hose clamps it would be even more soild.

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

thats what I was thinking too, but I think what I'm going to focus on instead is making a very precise hex cutout on an extra piece of aluminum bar that way I would not need to rely on the corner brackets to keep it from moving back and forth. I mainly added the corner brackets to keep it from moving side to side. I'm also still looking for a better way to connect the motor to the ****. It has a good link now, but its too much "hassle" to remove. I just want to be able to remove the wing nuts and thats it. I was thinking maybe some sort of castle nuts or maybe some sort of gearing? I actually used the gears that connect a blender to its base, but the ones I used were hard rubber but it was not strong enough to open or close the bottle...

500+hpta

HCR13 WAS AT MY HOUSE TODAY AND THIS IS A PRETTY COOL SET UP HE MADE WITH THE NITROUS OPENER. WE WERE TALKING ABOUT TRYING TO SREAMLINE THE DESIGN. I AM GOING TO LOOK AT MY BOTTLE AND SEE WHAT I CAN DO TO CREATE A BOTTLE OPENER FOR MINE. WORKS GREAT BRO.

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

thanks man, can't wait to install those control arms this weekend...

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

UPDATE: The bottle opener has been working great. Nitrous hits just as well but with alot more hassle-free convenience. I have made a new connection between the motor shaft and the bottle valve which is stronger and less likely to wobble. I have also made a automatic toggle switch. I'm going to post the YouTube video and the function and just post the YouTube description of it...
Here is the switch I wired up for the remote bottle opener. I flip the switch and the bottle opens, I flip off the switch and the bottle closes... It is better than the previous switch where I had a window switch (as in, to roll up and down windows). I'd have to press and kept press the roll up button to open the bottle and the roll down button to close the bottle. Although its not much hassle to sit there and press a button, I thought those 10 seconds of pressing buttons can be put to better use in a RACE...like SHIFTING or something more productive. Originally, I was going to use a window roll up module (for alarms) that I had lying around. I wired it up clicked it...and no success... I tried using 4 relays to make my own module... no success. I was about to give up when it hit me. I am using a headlight motor off a Firebird, so why not use the same headlight motor module from the same 'bird... So I did. I used a relay with both NC and NO outputs and I have this toggle switch controlling that relay...that controls the headlight motor module... I don't know what Zex or Nos use but I'm pretty happy with this one...

YouTube Nitrous Toggle Switch

500+hpta

great job. send me the wiring set up you used on this.

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

no problem, I'll make a pic from paint...

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

Here's a wiring schematic of how I have the switch wired up...

chvy

I was searching around and found your genius little project here. Thanks for putting your how to up on the net. I may have a cheap solution to this lack of machining problem:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/atta...s-100_1903.jpg


... you know those cheap 1/8" steel headset wrenches that come with building a bike or basketball goal or something... Try to find a closed end headset wrench that will fits snug over (or underneath) your fitting. Cut the part that fits over the nut out... then jb weld it (hot weld would be ideal) to the bracket in that picture so it would fit over the place of your current square, and give a more snug fit = less turning and loosey goosey.

If you couldn't find an open end headset/bike wrench to steal from, you could use two halves, put them together to make a whole. You wouldn't need to even enlarge the current square you have now, just weld them up over the top. I'll be trying your opener here in a few months give you an update later on.

Thanks for sharing btw!!!

^^^ about this, most electric motors like these have a stall torque where when a certain torque is reached it stalls or shuts off so the motor doesn't burn up.

edit something like this, trim+weld over (or underneath) square- http://www.meritline.com/17174-15-in...?source=fghdac
or two of these perhaps http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/146...p=325%20SETHD5
of course they'd have to be the correct size, those are just random pics/examples

hope this idea helps

chvy

1) Those brass fittings on the nitrous bottle are very tough and hard to break. It's going to take a lot of force to make something fall off thats been sandwiched between the handle/fitting. Certainly more than a couple pounds. I think steel may have been a better choice for the brackets though.

2) I'll be doing this in a few months when I have some time, have a pressure gauge on mine I'll be able to get a vid of it, I'm sure the OP is correct when he says it shuts off the pressure well enough.