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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:32 pm
by Panzerfaust
Got 2 venturi pumps of ebay for $30, great deal considering they're $100 for smaller ones on mcmaster. Remains to be seen if they will work though, im not sure if the internal design has enough room for bb's. I am however, confident that venturi pumps have significant suction as they're advertised as being used to lift heavy objects with industrial suction cups.

And yes, if their suction was sufficient you could use detachable stick magazines, that would make a cool airsoft gun.


(airsoft bb's are probably to big to get through the internals at 6mm, though.)

Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:21 am
by richardbridges
If anyone else wants venturi pumps, order them from school/scientific supply companies. Pretty much anywhere you get sea monkeys and plastic petri dishes. I usually get brand new ones for $8-$10. The only ones Iv'e seen on ebay for a reasonable price were old and did not look to be in great shape. :twisted:

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:49 pm
by Panzerfaust
Richard, the kind i got are solid metal industrial pumps, they also make "venturi" pumps in cheap plastic form for use in aquariums and such. If your getting them for 10$ from a site that sells sea monkeys they are probably the plastic aquatic kind.

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:15 pm
by richardbridges
No, not cheap plastic, real venturi pumps. School and scientific supply stores. The cheap places to get brine shrimp by the millions and venturi pumps.

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:42 pm
by bluerussetboy
This is not a new idea. Basically the same as the "Vogt pattern". Other than propelling a BB out of the barrel I fail to see where it is the same as a cloud or vortex. The Wikipedia entry for venturi principle is what I'm going off from.
While they work great for things like jet pumps which are used to pick up fuel or water or sandblasters they will jam quite easily when trying to pick up larger objects like BBs. I believe this might be the reason the magazine and the barrel in the "Vogt pattern" are inline.
I don't believe you will be able to attach ANY venturi pump to a magazine of loose unstacked BBs and have it work efficiently. Your simply wasting air and guaranteed jams.

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:38 pm
by Panzerfaust
Well, the two pumps i got had some issues. The air inlet and outlet are not threaded (odd) and the pump is both of a different internal design then i suspected and is too small internally for even a single bb to pass through. It was a nice idea, and maybe with a big enough pump it could have worked, but these pumps sure aren't going to. I have two very nice shiny blue aluminum venturi paper-weights though. :roll:

And richard, i'd be interested in seeing that website.

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:16 pm
by richardbridges
http://wardsci.com/search.asp?t=ss&ss=a ... &x=20&y=10
Can't remember which site I got mine from though. They were $9 and change. It took me a while to find them on a site where you didn't have to be a licensed teacher with a school account. Depending on what site your at they could be venturi pumps, aspirators, water aspirators, or water aspirator filter pumps. All the ones that I have are metal, threaded on top and are either slip or barb on the side and bottom. I will look through my receipts and try and find out which exact site I purchased them from.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:51 pm
by The Engineer
the good ol' venturi effect. I made my first BBMG plans off of it, but I had no idea there were such things as actual venturi pumps. that could make things so much easier. its a fairly simple principle, and, as we've said, allows for an excellent way to feed ammo and change designs dramatically. I'm considering working with this now instead of my current project.