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Retracts - 11/30/2012 9:15 PM   
dirtybird


 

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From: San Tan Valley, AZ, USA
Status: offline 		I just bought a used P51 with air retracts.
Can you recharge the reservoir with a football inflation needle or do I need a special fitting?
There is just one pressure line going to the actuater


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RE: Retracts - 11/30/2012 9:24 PM   
Dash7ATP



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Status: offline 		You will need to pressurize it to around 90 to 100 psi. depending on the size of the retracts.  It might be a little tough with a pump like that. You should have a gage either on the pump or in the aircraft to be sure you have enougyh pressure, and not too much to cause problems. Like blowing off a pressure line.........

Dash

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RE: Retracts - 11/30/2012 11:13 PM   
rc34074


 

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Status: online 		There should be a fitting on the side of the plane for recharging the retract air supply. Retracts usually need about 90-100 psi air pressure in the tank. You can see whether a football inflation needle will work with this fitting. Robart fittings work with a car or bicycle tire inflation hose end fitting. spring air fittings need the spring air hose end fitting. Others may require some other fitting.

some newer Robart retracts use only one pressure line.

A picture or two of the fitting on the side of the plane would help us give you better advice.

Ed

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RE: Retracts - 12/1/2012 2:55 AM   
Edwin


 

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Status: offline 		Yes, you need a fitting to match the mfg of the retract gear. A picture would help identify it. FYI- I prefer spring-air's fill valve over all others. I use that one on all my air equipped retracts.
Edwin

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RE: Retracts - 12/1/2012 5:06 PM   
alanc


 

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From: manchester, AE, UNITED KINGDOM
Status: offline 		i use one of these for my retracts,    my robarts have the same thread as a tyre inflator nozzle,   the kit that comes with this unit has lots of differant nozzles, they cover a broad spectrum,  this ones 18volt,  i tried a 9volt, it wasnt up to the job, i can pump up to 150PSI with this one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silverline-Cordless-Compressor-245012-18V-120-Psi-Brand-New-/160890097910?pt=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item2575cc10f6

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RE: Retracts - 12/1/2012 5:45 PM   
V2rider


 

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Status: offline 		   You will most likely need an adapter for filling the tank. You could probably make the football pump work, but unless it has a gauge you won't know how much air is in the tank. I bought  a used  Corsair that came with the Robart retracts and tried to fill them with my home compressor. The gauge was telling me I had 90lb pressure, but that pressure was not actually in the tank. The Robart fill valve was not contacting the valve on my compressor chuck so the pressure I was seeing was between the chuck and fill valve. I thought the gear were shot till I bought the Robart adapter and used the hand pump. The Robart adapter screws into the fill valve and seals with a rubber grommet. If it's the small or medium size tank it doesn't take long to get to 100psi with the hand pump. The large tank can be a pain though.
  I have recently found that what works on the ground doesn't always work in the air too. Don't be afraid to put the a 100lb in before flying. The retracts in my Corsair work fine on the ground at 40lb, but in the air it takes at least 60 to bring them down.

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RE: Retracts - 12/1/2012 9:33 PM   
dirtybird


 

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From: San Tan Valley, AZ, USA
Status: offline 		Unfortunately I cant find my camera. I do have a cell phone camera and can send a picture if you will pm your cell phone number to me.
There is a fitting on the side of the aircraft marked air input. It is about 3/16 dia and has threads.
The threads are covered by a plastic tie that holds the fitting on. I suspect it is supposed to have a nut that got lost.
I tried a football needle but its too small for the opening and appears to strike a check valve when its inserted.
I have an air compressor that I planned to use, but if I need toget a pump I will need to know what to order

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RE: Retracts - 12/1/2012 10:55 PM   
Edwin


 

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Status: offline 		It could be a standard schrader valve found on tires, does it look like that?
Edwin

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RE: Retracts - 12/1/2012 11:02 PM   
vertical grimmace



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Status: online 		Dirtybird, If you have a harbour freight, u can get a small electric pump for around $7 that works great with a gauge installed. Most likely you will need a Robart fitting, but there are a couple of others that are of different sizes. Do you have any idea of what kind of retracts are installed? Is a label present on any component? Like the valve the servo is connected to? Maybe on the retracts themselves? This will help greatly.

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RE: Retracts - 12/1/2012 11:23 PM   
Edwin


 

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From: Leander, TX, USA
Status: offline 		I have a harbor freight cheapie air pump, works ok. I use a ball fill needle with the end cut off, then use retract air line on the end of that with whatever fill fitting I use (spring-air in my case). You can use any of them.
Edwin

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RE: Retracts - 12/1/2012 11:24 PM   
dirtybird


 

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From: San Tan Valley, AZ, USA
Status: offline 		I tried a standard pressure gauge on it. It didn't seem to work. Maybe if I find a nut for it and get that plastic tie off of it it will work.
I checked the spring air web site but they don't post any pictures of their fittings. They have a picture of a fuel dot and it seems to be what I have. I am going to remove one of the retracts and see if there is any label on it.

The pressure tank is a Robart tank. Did they make one line units? Their site does not list one

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RE: Retracts - 12/1/2012 11:50 PM   
dirtybird


 

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From: San Tan Valley, AZ, USA
Status: offline 		The fitting does not seem to be the same as Roberts. there are no internal threads. I guess I can get a Robart inlet valve with the mating plug and replace the one I have.

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RE: Retracts - 12/2/2012 3:06 AM   
rc34074


 

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Status: online 		Robart calls their fitting a fill valve. These are sold by Tower and others as a set. The picture below shows the aluminum fill valve with two external nuts and their goofy brass pump fitting which is intended to screw into the center and seal using the o-ring against the front of the fill valve. I throw their brass pump fitting away and connect to the outside diameter of their fill valve with the end of a standard tire fill valve on a small 12 volt compressor I bought 10 years ago. This compressor is powered by your typical 7ah 12 volt battery many r/c pilots use in their flight box. There is a schraeder valve built into the Robart fill valve which lets the air into the system but when you release the tire fill valve from the fitting the schraeder valve closes keeping the 90+ psi air inside the system.
This is easy and quick to fill the air tank to 90+ psi. But you MUST have the fill valve mounted fairly sturdily in the fuselage or the fuse will break from attaching/removing the standard tire fill valve.

Robart makes several sets of retracts that use only one line so they retract with air pressure and extend using a spring built into the air cylinder on the retract itself. They copied the Spring Air design concept after the Spring Air patent ran out a few years ago.

Ed



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RE: Retracts - 12/2/2012 5:14 AM   
dirtybird


 

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From: San Tan Valley, AZ, USA
Status: offline 		From the pictures I found on the internet I am reasonably sure that I have Spring air retracts. The storage tank is a Robart but the retracts are Spring Air. I guess I will get a Robart fill valve and do as you with a standard tire fill connection.. The fill valve in there appears to be a spring air but the nut to hold it on appears to be lost.

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RE: Retracts - 12/2/2012 6:21 AM   
A6TEXAN


 

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From: dickinson, TX, USA
Status: offline 		robart does make a single line unit. it is their air up, spring down unit comparable to spring air units. one way to tell them apart from spring air units by looking at them is they are more of an orange color compared to spring air which is more of a yellow color. "robart" is stamped onto the side of them as well. they are the usual robart quality units.

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RE: Retracts - 12/2/2012 9:10 AM   
2walla


 

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From: walla walla, WA, USA
Status: offline 		Just buy the an extra robart filler set and use a short piece of aitrline tubing beyween them. 6-10 in or so..This way you use the pigtail to hook to the fill valve in thr plane then you can use any sort of air pump with a schrader air chuck to fill with. Keeps the stress off of of the airplane of hooking a clunky air chuck and hose directly to the plane

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