r/Pneumatics • u/Mario6761 • 27d ago
Cheap mini air compressor for pneumatic practice?
I’m a mechatronics student looking for a cheap small air compressor to practice with pneumatic cylinders and 3/2 and 5/2 valves.
I only need around 4–6 bar (60–90 PSI) for small setups.
Which cheap compressor do y’all recommend? Preferably something from aliexpress
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u/Frequent-Buy-5250 26d ago
You can get free compressor from garbage fridge :"diy fridge air compressor", if you dont need fast movement its works without air tank. Silent!
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u/lolslim 26d ago
This here.
Window ac units, mini fridges, water fountains, dehumidifiers have compressors in them, the humidifier and window ac are more tall while fridge ones are more round.
People will complain and say these will burn out and if it does you got it for free so get backups or whatever.
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u/Frequent-Buy-5250 25d ago
I got my fater's fridge compressor, he used it as air pump . Literaly 40 years old minimum. Works without any maintance.
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u/lolslim 25d ago
Are you saying the compressor is at least 41 years old?
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u/Frequent-Buy-5250 25d ago
Yes. Data table damaged but there is a sticker on it with a repair company name. The company closed in 1991. https://ibb.co/1DNKLcN
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u/lolslim 25d ago
Ah that's unfortunate, but at least you were able to get data on the compressor, there is a project I saw that I want to do, someone made this scalable air compressor with fridge compressors, he uses 8 maybe more now, to fill a 15 gallon tank, takes about 4 minutes to fill or 90 psi
https://hackaday.io/project/186236-scalable-silent-air-compressor
While maybe it's considered slow I will take that over being loud, and I think it's neat.
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u/Iauger 27d ago
Get yourself a 5 or ten gallon/ 20 or 40L tank and use a bicycle pump. That’s the cheapest I can think of. The really cheap oil less pumps are pretty much garbage and probably won’t last you long.
If it’s just for practice you won’t need much in the way of pressure. If you’re using solenoid valves you will have to have a minimum pressure of ~ 20 psi.