Film Canister Fuel Tank Update

Kim Wed Feb 01, 2012 4:54 pm

Years ago, I had a little part-time gig as an on-call photographer for the construction company that contracted with the factory where I worked.

Besides making a few buckets of money while having fun taking pictures, I accumulated a bunch of plastic 35mm film canisters, and have tried my best to make use of them.

This is my latest attempt at converting them to fuel tanks for my planes. I haven't tested it yet, but don't see why it wouldn't work.

I use a two piece fuel filter, stuck through the bottom of the tank, with it's gasket on the inside half. A silicone pick-up tube is installed and could be weighted to "clunk".

Using a drill, I ran a piece of 1/8 brass tubing through an 8-32 die, then threaded some silicone tubing on each side to hold it in place on the top of the tank (super glue and epoxy eventually lose their grip on the flexible plastic).

In place of drilling a vent hole, I made a step-down adapter by soldering some telescoped brass tubing together so that the smallest diameter fills the tank through the single 1/8 tube. This ought to also prevent fuel venting in an aerobatic plane.

Time will tell if the cap needs to be glued, or will hold it's seal on it's own.

I figure I'll test it on my B.O.T.'s pylon next chance I get.

Film Canister Fuel Tank Update 1_74

nitroairplane Wed Feb 01, 2012 5:01 pm

Nice one.
You should put some weight at the end of the pickup line for a real clunk tank!

Kim Wed Feb 01, 2012 5:06 pm

nitroairplane wrote:Nice one.
You should put some weight at the end of the pickup line for a real clunk tank!

Will do...although, with the B.O.T., I always use a fixed bottom pick-up, so I call kill the engine with a few seconds of inverted flight.

The canister carries an ounce of fuel, and the ole Bird can get to scary heights by the time it's .051 uses it up !

nitroairplane Wed Feb 01, 2012 5:08 pm

Yeah I bet!
I have seen the videos of it on the tube, it is a really nice plane.

Kim Wed Feb 01, 2012 5:13 pm

I've surely gotten my money's worth out of the poor old dog ! It's on it's third radio with no end in sight!

andrew Wed Feb 01, 2012 5:50 pm

Here's a writeup I did back in 2004. The Fuji cans tend to seal the best; others may need a bit of silicon seal around the cap.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_1847112/anchors_1847112/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#1847112

Jaspur_x Wed Feb 01, 2012 6:38 pm

Kim wrote:Years ago, I had a little part-time gig as an on-call photographer for the construction company that contracted with the factory where I worked.

Besides making a few buckets of money while having fun taking pictures, I accumulated a bunch of plastic 35mm film canisters, and have tried my best to make use of them.

This is my latest attempt at converting them to fuel tanks for my planes. I haven't tested it yet, but don't see why it wouldn't work.

I use a two piece fuel filter, stuck through the bottom of the tank, with it's gasket on the inside half. A silicone pick-up tube is installed and could be weighted to "clunk".

Using a drill, I ran a piece of 1/8 brass tubing through an 8-32 die, then threaded some silicone tubing on each side to hold it in place on the top of the tank (super glue and epoxy eventually lose their grip on the flexible plastic).

In place of drilling a vent hole, I made a step-down adapter by soldering some telescoped brass tubing together so that the smallest diameter fills the tank through the single 1/8 tube. This ought to also prevent fuel venting in an aerobatic plane.

Time will tell if the cap needs to be glued, or will hold it's seal on it's own.

I figure I'll test it on my B.O.T.'s pylon next chance I get.

I did that except I used the dubro pressure taps for mufflers etc

Kim Wed Feb 01, 2012 7:09 pm

Yeah, may have to try pressurizing it at some point, and Do wish I'd used more Fugi film !

NEW222 Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:52 pm

Cool. Very nice looking. Will wait to see how it goes. I am building a LST Trainer with Medallion .049, and was going to use a 2oz. tank, but if this goes well, I will probably build one of these instead. Will keep watching.

andrew Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:12 pm

Here's a Fuji can on a delta.

Film Canister Fuel Tank Update Delta710

John Goddard Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:49 pm

Dunno if you guys are aware of them but YS's use a one way check valve in their set ups. I always use one on vented tanks, great for refuelling and no leaky bits guaranteed.
Very Happy

Kim Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:37 am

Jaspur_x wrote:

I did that except I used the dubro pressure taps for mufflers etc

Thanks! I'll try that for the filler !

Kim Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:48 am

NEW222 wrote:Cool. Very nice looking. Will wait to see how it goes. I am building a LST Trainer with Medallion .049, and was going to use a 2oz. tank, but if this goes well, I will probably build one of these instead. Will keep watching.

The cool thing about this is that you could pick any seal-able container that would fit the size you need. I've got several bottles made from flexible plastic that I want to convert just to have standing by.

As Andrew pointed out, the Fugi canisters are obviously better, with cap that's a lot tighter than those on the Kodak versions.

**Cribbs74** Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:03 am

I assume the nitro won't melt the film cannisters. What about the other containers you mentioned? Is there a specific grade of plastic or is it trial and error?

WingingIt74 Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:12 am

I knew I kept some around for a reason Smile

.... now to find them Shocked

Kim Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:40 am

cribbs74 wrote:I assume the nitro won't melt the film cannisters. What about the other containers you mentioned? Is there a specific grade of plastic or is it trial and error?

I figure, at least for me, it would HAVE to be trial and error. Maybe fill a couple of them up and let them sit for a while...especially if you're gonna install them in a hard-to-reach area. I have previously tried to use the hard plastic containers like RX bottles and small plastic ones that had laser ink blocks in them, and they immediately started "crazing", so I guess they need to be skipped.

I can say that the ones I've used so far (two years of hard use) have no problem with the fuel softening the plastic. I DO have a problem with the glued fitting loosening (epoxy and CA), and so the mechanical route with the filter and taps. AND, I really like the idea of getting the filter out of the way of my fuel line routing.

Film Canister Fuel Tank Update _051_p11

Gonna strap it to the B.O.T. today so I'll have it ready when I get a chance to fly it.

fit90 Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:28 pm

Another good source for different sized small bottles is in most Walmart type stores they sell travel size bottles for shampoo and what not. Most of these have a screw on lid.

Kim Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:26 pm

Got to test one of my film canister fuel tanks, and it appears to work just fine. The old .051 on the B.O.T. pulled all the fuel out of it just fine, and the filter didn't leak so guess it's all a thumbs up. This tank was a Kodak brand, and didn't leak at the cap, even though I didn't glue it on.

Thanks to a previous tip, I used a pressure tap on my second tank, made from a FUGI canister. I also made a "Step-Down Adapter" from some brass tubing, which allows me to fill the tank through the single filler neck.

Film Canister Fuel Tank Update 1_211

Kim Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:07 am

Had myself a "Duh" moment with these film canister fuel tanks I've been using !! You need to put a gasket on BOTH sides of the canister wall, or it will eventually start leaking.

I'd thought that the metal filter would seal it's self into the soft plastic of the canister, but it needs a gasket to seal completely. I sliced one from a piece of large fuel tubing, and we're good again.

nemoskull Wed Apr 18, 2012 7:33 pm

for the price of a fuel tank i might as well as buy a three pack of fiji film and get three fuel tanks.
i can always use the film in my 35mm slr in my hunt for bigfoot......

Kim Wed Apr 18, 2012 8:21 pm

nemoskull wrote:for the price of a fuel tank i might as well as buy a three pack of fiji film and get three fuel tanks.
i can always use the film in my 35mm slr in my hunt for bigfoot......

Great! Just don't shoot him...I think he's protected !!! OR...you could CLAIM that you shot him, put a gorilla suit in a deep freeze and stir up the "Black Helicopter" crowd with a photo of that !!! Oh...wait...that's been done...well shoot...

microflitedude Wed Apr 18, 2012 9:56 pm

Anyone seen the television series "Finding Bigfoot" ? Very Happy

Kim Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:55 am

microflitedude wrote:Anyone seen the television series "Finding Bigfoot" ?

Not me...but please shoot me a note when they find him !!!!

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