[SML] Pnuematic/Air Brake System

[Dougherty, Jim]

To piggyback on Jon Lagerquist’s suggestions, you can get pneumatic cylinders pretty inexpensively (compared to new) on eBay.  There are often mixed lots available that may let you meet present and future needs – the don’t go bad, after all.  We’ve used a small portable tank (from an auto supply place) and a regulator to supply the air and a couple valves/pneumatic switches to operate the brakes.  The spring return suggestion is a valuable one – with a portable tank, you only have so much air to work with.  So is the one to press down a friction plate rather than try to lift the entire wagon up.

- Jim Dougherty
Middlebury College Theatre Dept.