Regulator Woes

[SeanMP]

Thanks for the tip, Sean! I will try your idea regarding 'creep' and see what comes of it.

Just to clarify (please excuse my ignorance ) - when you say "hard seat in the body", do you mean the part of the bonnet where the shims are located between plunger and bottle?

Thank you for the offer (I do appreciate it!), but the gauge I have goes from 0-3500 psi in 50 psi increments, which is attached to a remote coil hose assembly I purchased from Eric. Not a very fancy or hi-tech setup, but should serve the purpose, no? Or would I need something more precise?

Thanks again, sooner or later I will get the hang of it!

Todd

Todd that gauge should work fine...I bet I have the same one. Did you pick it up at Princess auto by any chance. The only reason I offered is test gauges are very sensitive and would react to the slightest creep. whereas my 3500 gauge is probably only sensitive to 20 or 25 psi.

[SeanMP]

What constitutes a typical "issue at the seat"- i.e. crap buildup (sure, take that any way you like- just don't tell us if you soiled yourself) or some sort of wear?

The hard seat in this case would be the area in the bonnet halves where O rings 7 and 9 seat. At 3500 psi a minute scratch could pass a tiny amount of air. That would slowly cause regulator creep

http://www.ninjapaintball.com/docume...s%20Manual.pdf

Leave your hose open and it wont be able to creep up pressure. Then you would just have a minute leak slowly bleeding down the tank

[rsterne]

Sorry, but I think the "hard seat" is #10 where the seal is provided between the end of the piston and the HPA inlet.... O-rings 7 & 9 seal the high and low pressure parts of the piston to the bonnet assembly.... While they could still provide a leak, since the area in between (where the spring and shims are) is at atmospheric pressure I don't think they can cause a bypass situation.... I think for the regulator to bleed upwards in pressure the air has to come out past the hard seat (#10), up through the piston, to the pin valve and outlet....

Bob

[SeanMP]

Haha Go with what Bob said. I can't even see part #10

Better yet a scratch on any three of those places.

[sholo]

Haha- ya, I think Bob's got it. One thing I was wondering about though - seeing as I changed piston (and therefore seat #10), and still blew a disc after 2-3 days of inactivity, is there any chance that part where #10 seats against in valve body is short by .001" or so thus not sealing correctly allowing bleed by? I checked #10 on both the new piston and the old one I replaced with a magnifying glass, and to my untrained eye they are identical, i.e - no blemishes. Just a thought...

Todd

[rsterne]

Since the piston moves, I don't see how the "seat" that #10 seals against could be "short", IMO.... I'm betting a small scratch in it.... or the pressure between regulator output and burst disc are just too close for the tolerance on the discs you have....

Bob

[poil27]

now it's time for verry high resolution pictures

[SeanMP]

I have to admit Poil that's exactly what I do when I want to really "see" something. I have a very nice super macro on my digi camera. It's amazing what you can see when the head of a pin is 9" across.

[sholo]

Well...I put a 3k burst disc on the downsdtream side of reg (just for testing purposes, will replace with a 1.8k once I get this all sorted out...), took one thin shim out (now set at 1500 psi), pumped bottle to 2500 psi, and attached it to my gauge. I'll leave it until the weekend and see if the gauge is holding steady or heading north... fingers crossed.

Todd

[sholo]

Well, I guess Bob and Eric's original prognosis was correct. After 2 1/2 days the gauge on the end of my coil hose is still pegged right on 1500 psi - no creep at all! Must have just been a pressure overlapping issue. Bottle itself lost about 100 psi fill, though I suspect that's due to attaching hose/gauge immediately after pumping and not letting things cool down first.

I only lost about 25-30 fps by dropping output pressure by 100 psi, so I think I may just leave it there for now and hopefully avoid the 'overlapping' issue again. Maybe even gain a few shots, too?

Thanks for all tips/advice guys (and the offer on your gauge, Sean), I really appreciate it!

Todd