TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Nov 14, 2025 6:56 pm

anyone ever made or considered making a Judson type supercharger?
I don’t figure it’d be to hard to do the machine work , its a pretty simple design. But id figure getting the right material for the rotor vanes would difficult?

I have a book, more like a homemade than production, that goes over modifying air tools to work as superchargers for small engines. Always thought that was a cool idea

Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:20 pm

I have used some of the garolite/bakelite products from McMaster for the one's I have done, flat and true to size.
And yes, just a simple pump.

Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:27 pm

The vanes are phenolic I believe, probably with some sort of fiber or fabric reinforcement. I would imagine the trick is to get them dead flat and of equal weight.

Sat Nov 15, 2025 11:12 am

Having used air tools for a few decades, ive rebuilt several and it seemed the vanes in those were fiber reinforced.

I wonder if nylon would be good? Ive read they use it for gears in rc cars and that it has a “lubricating “ type property and pretty heat tolerant too?

Sat Nov 15, 2025 8:15 pm

Yes, the Garolite is a fiber/epoxy reinforced phenolic, nylon isn't typically used as vanes in pumps, use the material the vanes were originally designed with, engineering is already done.

Sun Nov 16, 2025 10:07 am

surprisingly there's more info online than I thought there'd be, and apparently quite a few different manufacturers of the vane type superchargers which doesn't surprise me at all were just more familiar with the Judson in the VW world.
one place I read said "Judson's tend to use a version of Tufnol called Carp", someone else said they personally built one using carbon impregnated fiberglass.
I read a clip from an old article that looked to be from the 60's and guy stated that for higher boost, about 25 psi, one company used iron vanes and sleeves. which I thought would make sense, thats what's used for piston rings & cylinders.

Mon Nov 17, 2025 1:40 pm

I like phenolic impregnated linen.

.
.