An approx. 10cm long 12mm outer diameter aluminium pipe was milled to length and a 6mm diameter hole was milled in approx 10mm from one end:
Two end pieces, each with an 2mm hole and fitting to the inner diameter of the aluminium tube were machined on the lathe. One got an approx 5mm outer diameter (to fit 4mm inner diameter tubing), and another one got an luer lock to fit stainless steel cannula (available from China, 10pcs for <1Eur). It is possible to bend these stainless steel cannula by inserting 1mm diameter welding wire, heating the needle with a blow torch and carefully pulling the welding wire. This gives a nice bended cannula.
...and four to hold the bottom plate (with rubber feet) in place:
Inside, there is an electromagnet, directly powered off mains. The "amount of air"-switch bridges an one-way rectifying diode. An metal arm with magnet glued on its end is driven by the electromagnet and drives the pump membrane.
Isolation distance is fabulous:
The pump mechanism consists of two chambers. An intake-chamber is normally directly connected to ambient, the chamber with the membrane got an input and an output valve so air is sucked in one way and pushed out the other way. For this model it is not possible to reverse the valves, so no easy modification is possible. It is possible to cut off the outlet flange and glue it onto the plastic pump body pointing towards the intake chamber. A 2mm drill helps to align everything while the epoxy cures...
A couple of commenters on the blog noticed that your switch looks way too small to handle 220V mains. Might be worth replacing, or even jumping it out completely.
Hey, thanks for featuring and the hint regarding safety!
You are right, the switch isn't trustworthy. I am aware of the bad electrical safety of the pump (isolation distance, thin and cheap feeling mains cord, this switch) and already left an Amazon review stating that I never would use this unattended as an actual aquarium pump. It is planned to replace the mains cord and the switch with a 3pos one (off, low speed, high speed), but I had no time to do this yet.
Hey rawe! I featured you in the hacklet # 115, http://hackaday.com/2016/07/09/hacklet-115-more-quick-tool-hacks/#comments
A couple of commenters on the blog noticed that your switch looks way too small to handle 220V mains. Might be worth replacing, or even jumping it out completely.