Regulating HPA tank to low pressure

[Moonbogg]

Can this be done without using big, bulky industrial sized regulators? Can I get the 3000psi down to pressurize a low mix hybrid in the 2-4x range while keeping things clean and neat?

[D_Hall]

Sure.

Look at the paintball world. They have all sorts of stuff that would apply.

[JDP12]

Yep. Palmer pursuit sells a super small, compact regulator for something around 70-80 bucks.

[Moonbogg]

Great. Thanks guys. I assumed that the paintball regulators only went down to like whatever pressure is needed to shoot those guns, like 800psi or something. I'll check it out. Now i'm getting a little excited.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Are we to expect a completely portable hybrid with on-board fuel and air supply in the Cobra series?

[more_eggs]

Aquarium regulators!
Cheap, and they work well.. Its what I used for my rifle, and you can adjust anywhere from 10 to over 300psi..

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Aquarium regulators!
Cheap, and they work well.. Its what I used for my rifle, and you can adjust anywhere from 10 to over 300psi..

... but if you feed them 3000 psi from an HPA tank, they will probably explode



You can of course get Ninja style paintball tanks that have a built in shim adjustable reg which can go down to about 450 psi output...

[al-xg]

Although the preset on most tanks is 800psi at the most which would put in the CO2 pressure range.
Don't know how much I'd trust a cheap aquarium reg though.

[more_eggs]

... but if you feed them 3000 psi from an HPA tank, they will probably explode

They are rated to around 3000 actually... they are made for co2 tanks, so they would have to take the pressure

[al-xg]

Liquid CO2 is at ~800psi in the tanks.

Most CO2 pressure vessels (in Europe anyway) are rated to 264bar yield pressure so about 3820psi, but that is not a good safety factor for compressed gas at 3000psi. Not safe.

[more_eggs]

Well what is the difference between using a paintball reg which is made for co2, and an aquarium reg which is made for co2?

[al-xg]

Well I'm assuming it was going to be used for fuelling the hybrid so it has to be air. The HPA paintball markers tend to have two regulators, one on the bottle (3000 to 800- 450psi) and one on the marker (800 to 0psi range).

So yeah the aquarium regulator used after the preset regulator on the tank should be OK. Most aquarium regulators seem to be around the same price as the paintball inline (on the marker) ones, and might actually be more accurate(maybe lower flow though), but I've seen some costing 8$ and that seems a little scary, but then they are still being sold, so...

[ramses]

The HPA paintball markers tend to have two regulators, one on the bottle (3000 to 800- 450psi) and one on the marker (800 to 0psi range).

They actually sometimes have an additional regulator in the grip (total of 3).

[D_Hall]

Great. Thanks guys. I assumed that the paintball regulators only went down to like whatever pressure is needed to shoot those guns, like 800psi or something. I'll check it out. Now i'm getting a little excited.

Depends on the gun. Yes, many run at 800 psi but most of the higher end guns run at considerably less. I haven't played in 10 years, but back then 150-200 psi was pretty common. Point is that you can start with a paintball regulator - and if it won't go low enough - use it to feed a "normal" miniature regulator. Voila. Done.

[Moonbogg]

Point is that you can start with a paintball regulator - and if it won't go low enough - use it to feed a "normal" miniature regulator. Voila. Done.

Thanks for the direction. That sounds like a good place to start thinking things out.

Are we to expect a completely portable hybrid with on-board fuel and air supply in the Cobra series?

Thats the idea. I am just trying to get the "how to make it work" part down. I am also trying to decide if I should make the cannon medium sized like the Striker, or go big like a full sized combustion or even slightly larger, like the Venom or a bit bigger perhaps. Either way it will be hand held and I want a decent amount of shots out of the HPA tank, so I am leaning toward a mid sized design. It would be nice to have a few HPA tanks on hand so I can swap them out quickly.