FS: Reproduction RS Air Bottles now available.

[J L Cavazos]

Mike,

Payment sent. This is exactly what I was looking for.

BTW, anyone custom make the leather straps to hold the bottle down to my tool kit or know of a source? TIA

[ibmiked]

Hi everyone, I wanted to take a moment and update everyone on their RS Bottles.

Finally, all of the individual pieces have rolled in and we're doing assembly. These will start shipping tomorrow, and I'll work over the weekend to get the entire batch done and out the door. I have a bit of disappointing news, and a bit of unexpected good news as well.

Initially I decided to challenge myself and get this item made 100% in the US. If you've never tried this before then you don't know that it's getting harder and harder to do. As of last week, I had achieved my desired goal and was happy enough with the price I was paying for each item. However, yesterday blew away my dream. I picked up the hose components which had finally arrived at my distributor and found these in the shipment:



Fittings that were made in China. I went back to the hose people and we had a nice (but elevated) conversation. The bottom line was that they could source me domestic connectors at 4X the price, and with a delay of two to four weeks. So I have to apologize, but I can't wait to ship these anymore and the first batch will have to go out with non-American fittings on the hose. The fittings are high quality and have all of the proper certifications. Actually everything on this project is over-engineered in true Germanic fashion. I simply wanted bragging rights which I will have to wait for. Otherwise everything else is made in the good old USA. Tonight, I am a plumber:



Now for the good news. In my quest to make these accurate but functional I have been in contact with several machinists. The Holy Grail for me has been to simulate the knurled brass connector that originally attached the hose to the bottle. Since we're now using a regulator, I didn't see how I could work this into the design. Then it occurred to me that I could make a protective cap for the threads on the air bottle that would keep out dirt and protect the threads, while LOOKING like the knurled connector to the air hose.



That's the original connector. I don't have a picture yet of the new cap, but it will look identical. Here's my offer; if you are willing to wait until the middle of next week for your bottle to ship out, it will have this protective cap included. If you don't want to wait an extra few days, I'll ship your bottle out as I finish it. These caps were not initially factored into the price, but they are going to come out of my end as they are important to me to make the project as perfect as I can (same as the American-built fittings). I will not ship the caps separately, as I cannot absorb the cost of them and additional shipping. I'm working on tight margins. I'll shoot everyone an email asking if they want to wait for the freebie or get the bottle without it.

Thanks to everyone for your patience, I'm trying to make the best product I can and not settle for less.

Cheers,
Mike

PS: I am also having straps made for attaching these to your toolkits. They are hand made in the US using English Saddle leather. Supple, strong and handsome. They will be available in a few weeks for $30 a pair.

[ibmiked]

More details nobody asked for.

Our original off-the-shelf regulator came with a fiber crush washer. These work great if you have a wrench to tighten the regulator onto the bottle. They also have the distinct disadvantage of only being usable once.



That didn't make sense to me for this application, so we had a regulator custom made that contained an integral O-Ring. Now the regulator can be installed and removed repeatedly by hand with no loss in sealing ability.



If you look you'll see that we also removed the plug for a dial gauge. It was unsightly and served no purpose since we are not using a gauge on the bottle. (I could give you a short dissertation about why gauges are useless on CO2 bottles, but I'll spare everyone). These little improvements are what added a few unanticipated days to the project.

Cheers,
Mike

[advtracing]

all looking very nice , happy to wait and get a free bee plus could we see the straps before i say give me a set

[s2guy]

I'm happy to wait for the protective cap and will certainly buy the straps as well.

[mrg3.6]

I'm happy to wait for the protective cap and will certainly buy the straps as well.

Ditto - money sent for straps.

Thx

Martin Gibson

[brembo]

+1,happy to wait Mike.
Dougie.

[911_2.2T]

I'm happy to wait for the cap and straps with shipment. (yes I want straps )
I'll even wait for the fitting without the china stamp and pay some extra for it to cover your extra expense.
The car this wil be in is far from ready :-)

[cjtbt]

I'm happy to wait for the protective cap and will certainly buy the straps as well.

Me 2.......

[J L Cavazos]

Happy to wait and will take the straps when available.