Summary

Exactly as the title suggests, this is a working pneumatic car that has been built and tested and has been proven to work, please have a go yourself and have fun with it.

Instructions

http://youtu.be/itVS2QqAFkw
https://youtu.be/IOsXGuvhE4M

Heres the vehicle in action.

Hi, so the files provided are for you to print the majority of the necessary parts for the vehicle, there are a few other bits that will need to be purchased in terms of pneumatic components etc.

Additional items needed to complete vehicle;
-Pneumatic tubing (6mm ext)
-Pneumatic Ball Valve (6mm connections)
-Pneumatic Coupling Connector (6mm connection)
-Pneumatic Bulkhead Fitting (6mm connections)
This link is where I purchased the items for my vehicle - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261111761551?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Also you'll need
-Steel round bar (5mm diameter) - for the crank shafts, roughly half a metre should be ample
-x6 Deep Groove Ball Bearings 5x16x5mm

Okay once all parts have been purchased and printed construction can begin.

The two sections of the chassis are simple enough to assemble, glue and bolt the sections together and once set you will have a rigid chassis that can carry a bit of weight.

Now for the axles, the bearing can be pushed into the slots provided, note that the slots may need a slight bit of sanding to remove any rough points. If you just try forcing the bearings in you'll end up splitting the print at these sections, so be careful.

Once all bearing are securely in place the axles can now be cut to size, there are three axles that will need to be cut (front and two rear), please refer to the pictures. these should fit the bearing tightly but if the steel bar is a bit to big just emery cloth the steel down until the bar slides through the bearings. Wheels can be attached now or can be left till the end.

Now for the engine part!
The adaptor print, will eventually have to glued to the input of the engine which is located at the centre of the vehicle, pointing towards the front, again please refer to the pictures. but before you can glue the part in place you first will need to tap the female hole of the adapter to M6 thread, this will allow you to screw the coupling connector into the adapter. which once done can also be glued in placed to prevent leaks.

For the cylinder this should slot in nicely with the engine block, a bit of light sanding might be required on the cylinder shaft and the meeting face of the cylinder to reduce friction. Also the cylinders pivot will need to be tapped to M3, this is so a spring and be attached and secured with the aid of a nut and tightened or loosened depending on requirements.

The piston will need to be slotted onto the crank pin before both sections of the crank are glued together, I did have difficulties with this with the crank pin itself snapping due to its size, if this does happen to you don't worry, you can use the steel bar as a substitute and that works great.

Now with the piston fitted in with the crank all that is left to do is attach the rear axles to the crank wheel, for this I used glue which has been more that adequate. But when doing this be sure not to have any of the axle extruding into the internal space between the crank wheels as this may act as a obstruction to the rotation of the piston.

So with all those tasks complete you should have a working pneumatic car, in theory. But to make the vehicle automatous in the sense that it can run without a direct airline connection a pressure vessel will need to be built.

Now the one in the picture is a carbon fibre receiver that was built specifically for this project, if you can build one yourself great, but if not, do not worry there is a far cheaper and simpler option.
In my development for this project I did devise a 2ltr soda bottle receiver (as featured in the pictures), which with the additions I added managed to get the bottle up to 120PSI before catastrophically failing. obviously that is its maximum pressure and this vehicle can run on as little as 20 PSI, 60 will give you a good run so no need to get anywhere near that level. But for the construction of the soda bottle receiver I'll post it up in due course.

If you have any queries regarding the build please do not hesitate to message me, I'll try and help where I can.

Pneumatic Piston Car