Piston pressure regulator

[hectmarr]

A few photos of the regulator that I built. It is with a piston, as in the drawing. I tried it today and it works correctly. It is necessary to incorporate the safety valve with a rupture disc. It is a test regulator, to know if it works and to see the problems that arise.
I have planned to make another, as it is simple and fast to manufacture, I am going to make another smaller one of about 17 mm in outer diameter and about 100 mm in length. The one in the photos is 27 mm in outside diameter, and 190 mm in length.
The piston has three o'rings and should move with total smoothness to achieve much precision. The highest pressure inlet port must have a thread to attach the hose to the air reservoir.
The good thing is that it works very well . When I finish testing, I will disarm everything and upload the photos of the internal parts.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Looks great! What are the input/output pressures you tried?

[hectmarr]

I've tried it with different inlet and outlet pressures. I am using my refrigerator compressor, and a maximum pressure of 15 bar, (the hoses and couplings that I use, are approved up to 12 bar), and at the exit, between 5 and 10 bar.
The tube is 1.2 mm steel and the piston is also made of steel, (it is not made of resin), because they are components of shock absorbers, which are very hard. I only enlarged the piston channel that the shock absorber brings, so that I adjust the o'rings that I have. I imagine that it can resist 20 or 30 bar in the entrance, with the appropriate modifications, in the coupling of the entrance, and the range of regulation can go from 3 bar to almost the entrance pressure, depending on the hardness of the spring.
I tried it to shoot my hybrid, the HA-I, at 6 X, and with 10 bar at the entrance and I was able to shoot perfectly, having a stable output pressure
The piston is a bit hard, but when it regulates at more than 3 bar the forces involved increase in relation to the friction force of the piston and it works well.
I am drawing a pressure reducer as small as possible, so that each weapon in the future, has its own. It's not a regulator, but a reducer that has a fixed pressure output, the "X" so I'm going to fire that weapon. It is simpler to do and they will be small.

[hectmarr]

These are the parts of the pressure regulator. They are the same motorcycle shock absorber in disuse, which is recycled.The tube casing, has a coolizante 3-way valve, with exhaust, to give way to compressed air through the regulator, in the direction of the regulated pressure output, and to decompress the line.
I'm going to need a harder spring because with the test, I can only regulate at 7.5 bar and no more. I have the idea of being able to reach 10 bar.
The cost of this item is practically zero money. On these sides those who sell, are of poor quality, very expensive, and sellers do not even know what is the range of regulation and maximum pressure they support ... Of course in FESTO is different, but a simple regulator that supports up to 16 bar at the entrance, it costs very very expensive, for the economy "of war" that we have on these sides in the presente. Problem solved by me with this regulator, I can do several, as I like, I mean with the specifications that my project needs, and repair them completely. In the future I will improve it, and to manufacture smaller, this one that I present here is the first and test.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Looks great!

I think it might be a bit too large in diameter though, it puts bigger stress on the system and makes it more difficult to make.

There are quite a few regulators made for airsoft that take the 55 bar coming out of a paintball bottle down to 10 bar or so and they can be very compact yet with high flow rates. The Redline SFR shown here is a good example but there are even more compact ones like the Wolverine Storm:

[youtube][/youtube]

[hectmarr]

Excellent video and very illustrative, although I understand very little of what he talks, because of my bad English.
You're right. It is not necessary that it be so big. This one I built is a test. I had a tube and 1 "pistons at hand and I did it to see if it works, and how it does it.
Exactly, last night, I got a 17 mm steel inner tubes, (from a motorcycle shock absorber), to make something smaller, in the future.
Actually the inner diameter of the channel that has the piston and the diameter of the inlet and outlet holes, determine the regulator flow, and logically, the working pressure.
This one that I built, has a 1.5mm hole and is "instant" loading speed, it sounds like a punch, literally. There is no problem in manufacturing a 16 mm piston with an internal 1.5 mm channel. I plan to do it just like this one that I have, only smaller.
The tube is the same as this one, and in the photo is the size ratio with an indelible marker of standard size.