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Spring loaded ball valve

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:32 pm
by landoklr250
My first pneumatic used a jartop 1" sprinkler valve modded. It was impressive but i want more airflow. Im now making another one with a 2" ball valve so i can get more airflow. The only thing is that manually opening one of these things is hard to do fast. Has anyone ever tried attaching a spring and something like a lever to make it open faster?

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:34 pm
by benstern
No... we just use sprinkler or piston valves. Almost no professional spudgunner uses a ball valve as the main valve due it it's piss-poor performance.

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:38 pm
by landoklr250
Those piston valves seem to be kinda complicated to make. Ive read a little bit about them but i really didnt understand how it worked

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:48 pm
by schmanman
benstern wrote:No... we just use sprinkler or piston valves. Almost no professional spudgunner uses a ball valve as the main valve due it it's piss-poor performance.
you mean there's people who make a living off spudgunning!...

wait, Joel.

but anyway, yes, it will speed opening times, and will shoot good, but not as good as a piston valve, which is actually quite simple and straightforward.

If you do some research, I'm sure you could construct a working piston valve.

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:53 pm
by noname

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 8:03 pm
by hi
The whole piston thing overwhelmed me at first too, but i figured that if so many people were building them then they cant be that hard to make. So i made a fully operational coaxial by following very vague instructions and it work! Pistons are really quite simple. They just work off of pressure differences. If you are wondering how it stays against the barrel, its because
the barrel is not pressurized. The piston doesn't have to be 100% air tight, but it cant leak a whole lot either. If you cant find a good piston, make one by molding hot glue sticks. (the ones for glue guns), mold it in the same diameter pipe as your chamber. Give it a shot, it will work.

As for your question, yes you can, but it still wont be as powerful as a piston.

In fact, if you have already started your 2'' ball valve cannon, you can just use the pipe you were using as a chamber.

Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:27 am
by rna_duelers
Get a 2inch sprinkler valve and exhaust it with a 1/2"ball valve :wink: .

Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:05 pm
by boilingleadbath
Heh, never mind that a piston valve with 2" porting costs a few times what an actuated ball valve probably will, and is bulkier.

As to springs... personally, I think the "professional" way to do it would be to use a torsion spring, but such a setup would probably be difficult to make, so I recommend a tension spring acting on a lever arm.
Such tension-spring/lever systems have been used in the past, but admittedly, we don't know exactly how fast they are. (I guess nobody who's made one had a two-flash photography system and a clock... not that I do)

Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:11 pm
by joannaardway
I did a timing on my 3/4" one using a variant of my original home-made chronograph idea (it had about 3 components rigged into a digital multimeter) , and got about 25-50ms depending on how the pin used as a trigger was pulled out.

No guarantee that anyone else would get the same. It really depends on the force from the spring used.

Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 3:33 pm
by pyromaniac
What you can do if the spring doesnt work is just cut a section about 1 foot of 3/4 inch and drill it onto the top half of the ball valve for a lever.

Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:42 pm
by DR
benstern wrote:No... we just use sprinkler or piston valves. Almost no professional spudgunner uses a ball valve as the main valve due it it's piss-poor performance.
Excuse me, but it really <a href="http://files.blog-city.com/files/aa/237 ... ">_____</a> in here! :?

A ball valve, on a barrel that is over 7-8 feet long, will work just fine. I've put fist-sized dents in dumpsters with frozen potatoes, using an inch-and-a-half ball valve!

If you intend on using one of those cheapie 2" PLASTIC ball valves, then don't even bother! - But a 2" Brass Ball valve works great on a long-barreled pneumatic.

Want even MORE power??? I'd suggest designing a "cradle" to support the entire chamber/barrel assembly... and make yourself a burst-disc pneumatic!

There's absolutely nothing that is cheaper, easier and more powerful to build. :wink:

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:41 pm
by landoklr250
Actually i tried it and it is more powerful than my 3/4" modded sprinkler valve. Its not quite as cool but i believe im shooting whole potatoes about 200-300 yards. I will look into the pistons though but im out of money :cry:

Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 11:23 am
by noob of noobs
As to springs... personally, I think the "professional" way to do it would be to use a torsion spring, but such a setup would probably be difficult to make, so I recommend a tension spring acting on a lever arm.
Do you think you could give us a diagram or some plans as to how to do this? I'm trying to use a ball valve for a coaxial.

Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 3:51 pm
by psycix
Sprinklers are better than ball valves, always, no exeptions if the sizes are the same.
Get a 2" sprinkler, mod it and ROCK ON

Or get a more complicated valve like the piston.

Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 4:14 pm
by Hawkeye
There is a nice spring loaded ball valve gun in the pneumatic showcase .
However a piston is such a simple compact thing to make that I can't imagine why they are not more popular.