In this page we will finish the last step of making pneumatic networks: sealing.
Prepare the following materials and tools: a heat-sealed airbag column, connectors, a tweezer, heat sealer and a hot glue gun.
Below is the unsealed pneumatic network.
Use heat sealer to seal the airbag along the two red dotted lines. Notice that this needs two sealing operations with a 5 mm gap at center for air inlet.
Fetch a connector using a tweezer.
Evenly smear the hot glue around a side of the connector. Notice that we need a quick finish or the glue will cool down and become undeformable and incohesive.
Insert the connector into the prepared air inlet, with the smeared side towards the inlet.
Press the connection area using fingers to ensure air tightness, and wait seconds for the glue to coagulate.
Thus, we have finished a column of pneumatic networks. It can be inflated using syringes and its air tightness can be examined by inflation under water.
