12V "tire pump" works
I've seen guys use one of those small 12V compressors to pump up the air tanks,it wont be very fast but it does work!--you can take about 10 lug nuts off with an impact on a full tank of air,then it will take 10 minites or so to fill up to pressure again--naturally the higher priced ones will be faster and last longer than the ten dollar china ones..one guy used the compresser from a 90's caddy for the air bag suspension with good results(junk yard price 20 bucks)...
With all the elaborate systems I see here ,I wonder why no one has taken a small house hold shop air compessor and remove the pump,make a bracket to mount it to the engine and run a v-belt to one of the pulleys with an idler pulley,spring loaded, and easy to remove the belt when not using the air system,a bit crude but effective way to get cheap air-
-just relocate the pump to the engine,pull the electric motor off and save for some other use,and mount the tank remotely somewhere and replumb the lines to it--I think if you have the right kind of pump and valve setup,you can make it a "constant run" style compressor,that cuts out at the required pressure(about 100 psi)and frewheels the pump until pressure drops below 75 and it starts pumping again,similar to the diesel big rigs with air brakes...
..in fact I have 2 air compressors from diesel trucks that would work,one is a bendix 2 cylinder,but it bolted right to the engine ,and the bottom of it is exposed(like an engine with no oil pan on it!)--I'd have to make a pan and mounts for that one,it had an oil pressure line from the motor to lube the bearings too,might not live on splash lube alone too long....
The other is off an Isuzu large box truck,its all self contained like a house compressors pump is,but some plumbing is missing--I got them with hopes of making a gas powered compressor to use outside far from the electric outlets
but havent found time for that project yet .....be great for spray painting the garage and other stuff in the yard...
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