Sphere Tester

ellevie · Post by **ellevie** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 5:50 pm

Sphere tester on eBay USA
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Citroen- ... enameZWD2V

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 6:32 pm

I think you`ll find an enterprising member of our forum has made a sphere tester.
How`s it going Sleepy, have you cracked it now?

ellevie · Post by **ellevie** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:41 pm

Nice one Sleepy ! It sounds as if this could be a really useful tool.

There's also some details on this Dutch site for building your own Citroën ID/DS sphere tester based on a hydraulic jack.

http://www.schaalbouw.nl/citroen/sphrtstr.htm

ellevie · Post by **ellevie** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 6:49 am

Sold to someone in the US for $152 / £84 --- not such a bad price by the looks of it.

Interestingly, the same vendor sold a "French Connection Tool" --- a 3-in-1 pipe flaring tool that does all three sizes of Citroen pipes for about the same price as the sphere tester.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 3AMT%3A122

sleepy0905 · Post by **sleepy0905** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 8:29 am

Its going ok just got to find some more pipe fittings and get the guage attatched.

ellevie · Post by **ellevie** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 8:42 am

It's not too clear from the eBay blurb exactly what the principle of operation is. They just say that you keep pumping until the pressure stops rising. The best I can think of is that it might involve pumping a measured amount of oil into the sphere and reading off the back pressure. Is this how it works ?

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:06 am

Hi,

Here is one that I built, cost about £10 for the parts not in my junk box...

Works a treat...

Cheers

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:25 am

Fair play Brian, looks a good device and getting it to walk round must make moving it a lot easier

ellevie · Post by **ellevie** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:38 am

Hi Brian,

That's seriously cool !
It appears to be driven by a hand cranked pump --- very nice !
How does it work ? Do you read the pressure directly from the nitrogen chamber ?

Cav, I liked your one about the dancing cows

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 10:37 am

Hi,

This is where the details originated from:

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... c&start=45

Unfortunately most of the photos have not been re installed, but if you read the article it all becomes clear..

Cheers

Stewart (oily!) · Post by **Stewart (oily!)** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 7:09 pm

Thats a neat looking device Brian, how do you get new gas into them or is it a diagnostic tool only?
Stewart

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:40 am

Hi Stewart,

The device as it stands, can only test the pressure of the sphere..

Regassing is a different ball game!!!, requiring a special valve in place of the sealing bolt in the end of the sphere, nitrogen gas bottle, gauges and adapters..

At the moment, it's not worth setting this up, as it's not cost effective, compared to the cost of a new sphere...

May be worth considering if new spheres become more costly.
Valves could then be purchased in bulk, but as spheres are bulky items, again the delivery cost comes into the equation..

Is there a member of this club that has this facility?...

Cheers