Paintball

[HP_Lovecraft]

Originally Posted by noelydeeznutz

if he were to go to a field, legally, he could use an out of date HPA tank, as long as he doesnt LEAVE the field with air in it (compressed)

Legally yes. This is why many fields will use out-of-hydro tanks for the rental guns.

However, practically, no. Most fields adopt DOT regs as ON-FIELD safety rules. This is why most fill techs will not fill an out-of-hydro tank. I certaintly would never have done that.

Plus, many fields have been fined thousands of dollars since they can not ensure that the particular tank will not leave the field empty.

So it would still need that hydro with any change to the finish.

[chefboi17]

do not use a belt sander!!!
that would take off way more metal than a simple hand/sandpaper job

[Azzy]

Steel wool on aluminum can leave little slivers of steel in the aluminum, which then rust... causing you to have a crappy looking tank. Clean it off with a good soap like simple green, polish it with a rag and some mother's mag, and thats it. Seal the metal with either WD40 or turtle wax to keep the look, but the last step you will have to repeat ever so often.

[ScrapIron]

if your tank looks that hideous just put a remote line on it and put the tank in your pocket. then only you and the guy/gal at the fill station have to look at it.

[sooproobrdoobr]

Kay. The belt sander probably IS a bad idea. I like the rag one but i guess if i use a cover it won't be worth the trouble. Where can i get a new one in Canada for the cheapest?

[chefboi17]

honestly ordering from the states saved me a lot of headaches. i went through pbpumpshop (hvacman) and i got my order really fast and to top it off, i didn't get slammed with customs on my order.

[Railgun]

The top and base of the tank are a LOT thicker than the sides. If you have ANY gouges on the sides that are anywhere near the depth of the TC/DOT stamps then THROW IT AWAY! ! ! ! !

While there was a reference to never having seen a tank actually blow this isn't true. The old timers here will have stories and there's at least one vid on Youtube about a run away tank that unscrewed itself from the threads or where the neck split open. It ain't pretty....

The walls on the sides of the cylindrical portion are less than 1/8 thick. So much of a gouge at all and you're loosing a large % of the metal. Also point form damage of this sort creates a stress riser in the metal that acts like the perforations in toilet paper. In other words it suddenly takes a lot less pressure to start a failure at such a damage site.

These bottles are cheap so it's just not worth taking a chance on having one let go by your face. In a weak moment I bought a 3rd 3.5 from Horizon last year for some unknown reason other than it had a blemish on the black paint and was going for $10 off. If you need a 3.5 I'll use it as an excuse to get out for a motorcycle ride and drop it off for you for the same $25 it cost me. And it comes with a valve and all. Oh, I'm in Burnaby so it's not a huge deal to zip up there some evening.

Offer good only because I'm starting to think you're playing with a possible bomb there....

[splattttttt]

Just a though... Would fiber glass wrap be legal? And exactly how much would of an improvement is it?

[Railgun]

Originally Posted by splattttttt

Just a though... Would fiber glass wrap be legal? And exactly how much would of an improvement is it?

Any covering that cannot be removed for inspection of the metal would render the tank immediately trash. And while the average Joe may be able to wind on the fiber in a way that provides extra strength it isn't an approved wrap so again it's just a non removable cover with no functional aspect as far as any sort of legal inspection goes and a field owner or worker should not fill it. The reason being that the fiberglass wrap is not a properly tested and acredited tank in total.

Some misguided folks did their scuba tanks up in mettalic paint way back when I was scuba diving. They looked great but between the metal sanded away and the bondo filling the stamp marks the tanks were now paper weights and nobody would even think of filling them.