wingstrut

I use the standard gear drive hand pump to fuel up my airplane, the problem is that it takes 138 full revolutions to fill my 40 ounce tank.
I'm not lazy but this seems ridiculous, I don't want an electric pump, just another battery to maintain.
Does anyone have experience with the Six Shooter, they claim 6 ounces with one complete turn of the handle.
I'm pumping gasoline, any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

Maybe my gear pump is worn out, my flying buddy has a gear pump and it takes him 90 turns to fill his tank, which makes me to believe that they are low volume pumps.

I appreciate your time, Sincerely, Ron

big max 1935

My Feedback: (9)

Several things will slow pumping other than the pump. You might try a larger line on the suction side & some of the filter clunks in the can cause restriction as will other in line filters. Refuling valves in the plane will restrict flow also .
The 6 shooter is a good pump but all I have had the tube inside only lasted about a year . It will last longer if you remove the crank plate with the two rollers & just hold it on when pumping.
Me I have electric pumps. Max H.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

I use nothing but geared manual pumps for all my aircraft even the gassers however I tend to use not so large a tank with them and 24 ounce being the largest.

Forty ounces may be approaching your personal limit on cranking only you can estimate that but I like the fueling time as its a good time for gab with the buds.

I do have two cross country airplanes one that carries 72 ounces of glow fuel and the newest will carry 128 ounces of glow and I also use the manuals but these efforts are perhaps just a couple of times per year and agine I do not mind the cranking.

Some thoughts on the Six shooter. Absolutely it will push more fuel per revolution than the geared pumps but think about that, at what cost ever try to ride a bicycle up a steep hill in high gear? Can't give them away around here. Each revolution produces a very chunky and difficult to use action.


John

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

I went through two mecanical pumps before I just bought one of these,,
http://www.flyinggiants.com/swapshop...o-fueler&cat=2

life is so much easier now

search fir PIT STOP FUELER on fly ing giants classifieds if the link doesn't work or you can hit reply and then copy and paste the link

good luck

jaka

Hi!
A 40oz tank is large!! In what plane do you use such a large tank?

During my 38 year flying R/C I have mostly used 12V electric fuel pumps driven by 7-10A MC batteries,lately I gone to a 14,8V ,3000mAh LiFe batteri for both fuel pump and glow driver.
30 or more years ago I tried a Dave Brown six-shooter pump but that was no good,very slow and took a lot of cranking.
I have also tried some mechanical pumps and found this one very good ,even better than the electrical pump I now use.
There are two models , the more common standard type and one with different gear ratio that makes fueling faster.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I've tried the six shooter as well and was definitely less than impressed with it's performance. I strapped mine to the side of the fuel can and I found that cranking it was a bit cumbersome and took a lot of effort. Also, after just a couple of months the plastic used to hold the pump to the strapping all broke away rending the pump almost unusable. I've since thrown it away and gone back to small black hand pumps and haven't regretted it yet. While I don't have a tank that big I do have some larger tanks in some of my planes. I find that the extra cranking to fill the tanks isn't a problem and I don't mind at all.

j.duncker

My Feedback: (2)

Fueling using a hand pump is like banging your head against a wall. It will feel better when you stop doing it and go electric like almost everybody else.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Well perhaps at your field JD but thats certainly not the case out here in the 'wild west' and there is not one individual locally I can think of still left using electrtic pumps almost all formerly used them at one time just as I and now use only the geared manuals.

Now true 40 ounces is quite a large tank and true there is no one locally flying anything over 50cc here and those that do fly the fifties are using 24 ounce tanks and less. So flying a forty ouncer frequently as I noted on my earlier post is at the point when one may want to put up with the disadvantages of electric pumps.


So perhaps "banging your head aginst the wall" is a bit strong and a little demeaning for what in my part of the world is indeed the majority who choose to not to have to carry the extra weight, put up with the extra complexity, not have to charge extra batteries or need the useless heavy and expensive power panels as well having the ability to count fuel cranks in and out to figure consumption and endurance.


John

This is my .65 powered ship that carries 72 ounces which I won,t be flying it agine untill next November so its no problem to take my time fueling and think over the flight plan. In addition my 'Catalina' ship is nearing completion with 128 ounce and I won,t mind at all cranking the fuel in. Neither of these of course are everyday flyers so perhaps banging my head aginst the wall will help keep my head clear for the flights

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

As much as I hate cranking the fuel in I have still always had a hand crank pump in my flight box just in case of a problem. This winter the motor in my old {over 20 years old} electric finally has slowed down and I'm cranking my fuel now. I did have a 6 shooter for my gassers but gave it a toss into the trash can, it is a hard to pump cluncker and the line inside required replacement too often. I just use a Magnum hand pump for both gas and glow. I do plan on going to a 12 volt electric fuel pump like I used in my sand buggy days as soon as I can find one. Small and high volume. If it could keep up with the fuel flow of twin carbs on a VW engine it should work well for pumping glow and gas. I have a couple of the hand crank pumps so for now there is no rush but I really don't like hand cranking. Biggest fuel tanks I have are 24 ounce.

Sport_Pilot

Maybe the gas 6 shooter is different, but the glow version is fast and Ihave not had to replace the tube. It is a little harder to turn, but not much.

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

I'm one of the folks who used hand pumps originally and decided to "upgrade" to an electric pump. After using the electric for a season, I went back to my old hand pump. I found I was wasting fuel everywhere with the electric. The hand pump is much easier to control (for me).

Sport_Pilot

The last eletric fuel pump Ihad didn't just waste fuel from overflowing the tank, it wasted fuel everywhere! You had to remove it and tighten all the screws each day, and still it would dribble some fuel out of the body.

Sport_Pilot

I wonder if an eletronic pump designed for small lawn tractor engines could be modified to work?

http://www.fuelpumpsonline.co.uk/fac...ions-907-p.asp

Taurus Flyer

Ron,

I use a pressurized "hopper" tank.
In the video you can see I select the right check valve connection the pressurize the tank, I also can invert these check system to empty the plane.
The indicator is of own design and shows the fuel level in the Taurus, 10.00 is full but of course has nothing to do with the system to fill the plane.
The use of a "hopper tank" does have the advantage to have control over the amount of fuel really that's really going in the plane (weigth)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxUSF1-0qUY

The photograph is of the past, I always used this method.
The pump is modified to create vacuum!



Cees

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Just for giggles here is a vintage Dubro hand pump ungeared I bought sometime back in the mid seventies never worked much good so of course I went to the commercial electric pumps of the time and suffered with those up untill around ten years ago and tried the modern geared manuals never looking back.

John

Taurus Flyer

John,

I know a system to prime that pump! A "hopper" tank!

Cees

bob62

My Feedback: (28)

Chief aircraft sells a good one

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

I know a much better system, any of the modern geared manuals

That thing was to darn much work even with a prime when I bought it so long ago at Ed's Covina Hobby near Los Angleles.

So this is my fueling stuff, there is nothing I can,t fill/defuel with not much effort and will likely remain so untill I croak.

John

Charlie P.

I used a Six-Shooter for many years.  Works great, but maybe 1/3 ounce per revolution. 

I have a manual Jersey Fueler with a geared Mpi pump that I use for gasoline that is great, and a friend gave me an ancient Mark V electric pump I fastened to my field box for glow fuel and I haven't looked back.  A few seconds and a 10 oz tank is full or drained.

Taurus Flyer

John,
Your photograph 1 to show how it works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDSDdy8-w80



Cees

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

I have no idea what "it" is and my geared manuals work very well indeed so, Like I said I'am fine untill I croak!

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

The last mechanical I bought for "gas" about three years ago leaked all over my hands the third day out to the field,, that made it the "last" one I bought.

About 20 years ago when I got my first gas engine the sixshooter for gas was the only hobby shop option, the tygon tubing got hard the first year making it pretty much unusable. I went to a primer bubble for an outboard engine,, then I'd let gravity do the work by letting it siphon to fill the tank,, it was slow but effortless.

many ways to skin a cat,, find which way works best for you and have fun,,, the electric pump is my way now and I'm not looking back.

good luck

p.s.
Sig still sells a pump for gas
http://sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmart.ex...uel_20Pumps_01

Villa

I'm on my second Six Shooter pump and I highly recommend them. My first one lasted me so long that I'm just not certain how long it was. My best guess is 20 years. The internal hose that is squeezed at every revolution is replaceable and is very reasonable in cost. That hose lasts 5-10 years. I only use the glow fuel type.

B-Squared

Anybody know of a U.S. dealer for the Prolux fuel pumps. I googled it and found only overseas distributors.