IMPORTANT: Breath control is dangerous even in experienced hands, but even more so solo. NEVER use a device such as this on your own.
I haven’t posted this bit of DIY before as I’m in two minds about giving people such potentially dangerous tools, but then it’s just some bits of pipework so it’s hardly an immense secret. That said, although it’s simple, this is for people that know what they’re doing and are looking for something to make play easier and safer.
The idea of this build is to give you an idea of what I made as a framework to customise for yourself; there’s no right or wrong setup although there are some fundamentals.
The main components are half-inch PVC pipe and fittings. I’ve used:
- 90 degree Ts
- Plain sockets (to provide a female connector for the poppers vial and for the gas mask hoses)
- Ball valves
In my case everything is solvent welded together (you just wipe some gunk in the pipe, push, wait a minute, and it’s stuck forever) but you can get screw fit. The pipe can be sawn to the right length but for a couple of quid you can get cutters which make it super easy.
I’ve used grey half-inch pipe throughout but use whatever colour you like. If you’re in the UK then plasticpipeshop.co.uk will supply your needs.
As far as kink components go:
Valves
Be aware that there is a quarter turn between full on and off, so precise dialling of (eg) poppers can be tricky, but it should be ok for most needs.
Gas mask connectors
If you attach a socket (i.e. female to female) this will give you a slightly larger outside diameter which will enable you to attach a standard 40mm gas mask hose. I used the type that has a clip fitting so I could remove one end and then a stainless steel jubilee clip to tighten it on.
I actually have both a male and female end for flexibility but the male end (the one on the far left in the picture above) along with an extension is probably the one you’ll use 90% of the time to connect to another gas mask.
Poppers
For this, I have a piece of 20mm outside diameter clear, flexible, PVC tube with a small hole in the side push-fitted to a socket. The poppers then sit in a (delightfully-named) bijou bottle. Open the valve and air is drawn through. By juggling the main inlet valve and the poppers-section valve you can change the concentration.
I use a little bit of hockey tape (the kind for shins, not sticks – incidentally this is perfect for sealing vac beds too as it doesn’t damage rubber) to improve the fit of the clear tube into the socket if I need to.
Rebreather bag
The same setup as for the poppers (20mm clear PVC flexible tube) works to push fit in a regular anaesthetic bag.
Nitrous
With the same hockey tape, I’ve found a nitrous cracker fits into the inlet valve quite nicely. In hindsight I would have added a valve to the main exhaust too, so that I could close everything, fill the rebreather bag with nitrous, attach my victim and then allow it out as I wanted.
40mm to 20mm conversion
You might want to go from 40mm (gas mask) to 20mm (standard anaesthetic). You can either do this using the rebreather bag setup, or I have a converter I found somewhere once but can no longer find.
Extra caution
If you have a very long hose between the setup and gas mask, be aware of tidal volume if you are rebreathing (i.e. the lung volume matches the total volume of all the tubes and so on).
I am deliberately not covering closed-circuits as that needs CO2 absorption, valves and other stuff that’s very complex and frankly dangerous.
