Vacuum Switch

After buying a sals maxi locking centre from "Bear" with all components except the pneumatic cylinder I have ended up needing to do a similar thing. I couldnt find the Maxi vacuum cylinder so I scrounged up a pneumatic cylinder with 25mm throw, then made up an Al casing for it to the outside of the sals housing. It operates the original Maxi locking dog but uses +ve air pressure.

To control the cylinder I imported a 5/3 12V pneu solenoid from the states, so the cylinder air supply is conrolled by a switch on the dash.

The system all works but havent installed the diff yet due to needing the 130 on the road. I found it hard to source pneumatic parts for a reasonable cost in australia, that 12v solenoid was going to be like $200 from an aus supplier and I payed $23.20US for the exact solenoid when the AUD was 0.96. I can get supplier name for you if you want.

I did think about manual control but 12V switching although more complicated will be neater than running airlines all through the cab?

Steve

you could also run a flexible choke cable style system to operate the lever. would be a lot more reliable than pneumatic or electric systems. Would also be a lot easier to set up and adjust the correct throws.

Paul

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

gotcha....

get the lt95 diff lock swithc and then goto your local pet shop and get an on/off valve for one of the larger aquarium air pumps. should do the job nicely.

the other option is the small nylon/teflon ball cock valves for retic systems, the 1/4 inch hose sized ones. should do what your after nicely. Although the size and throw of the pneumatic ram could be interesting to source. you might go better doing it electrically with a couple of stater motor solenoides.

---

Dave,

You need an exhaust function in the valve to connect to atmosphere otherwise you end up with vacuum on both sides of the actuator.
You can buy ball valves with a bleed function that would do the job.

Colin

funny but what hes trying to do is exactly what the lt95 CDL selector does but it keep permanant vac on one side of the diaphragm. hes just doing it with a longer throw on a different style actuator.

so in series put a ball cock valve so he can isolate it when he wants to and then the lt95 vac selection switch.



as for the ram... I might even have something that might be suitable for the job. its off of a lawn mower and from looking at how it was set up it was set up so that when the engine was running a side flap on the deck was pulled down by a double acting ram. I think the concept of it was so that you couldnt lift the flap while the engine was running. The ram was double action and has something like a 5 inch throw.

I have considered other sorts of actuators, like a cable but one thing is the force to operated can be fairly high. Vacuum operated would be my preference.

Dave is right a LT95 cdl switch with an off tap would do the job. I have one here at the moment because the on in the landrover was leaking. So i might look at fixing it up and getting a on off tap. The cdl switch opens the side that is not under vacuum to the atmosphere.

I was looking at other taps as I thought maybe i could find something else that would do the job better.

Dave, this ram you've got, what diameter, roughly, would the piston be?

Thanks all.
Dan.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

funny but what hes trying to do is exactly what the lt95 CDL selector does but it keep permanant vac on one side of the diaphragm. hes just doing it with a longer throw on a different style actuator.

so in series put a ball cock valve so he can isolate it when he wants to and then the lt95 vac selection switch.

---

Dave, with you now, the ball valve is only turning off the vacuum supply to minimise the chance of leaks......

Dan, if you know the bore & stroke needed i can get a new cylinder at 'mates rates' (may still be too exxy though) otherwise maybe check out a truck wrecker for a cylinder off an exhaust brake if the one Dave has isn't suitable.

Colin