PCP air gun regulator design.wmv 

I have to say that you did an excellent job of illustrating the concept.

Terribly sorry for this extremely late reply! To make things easy and to be able to swap around with bottles and tube I have decided to go with a thread that is called 1/4"BSP on all my guns. That is a common pipe thread, and it is often used on european PCP guns. The sealing is taken care of by means of an o-ring, a small recess for this o-ring is provided in the female part of the thread. Cheers

It's been a long time since you've uploaded. No need to explain. As I've seen your response to a comment a year back. I've attempted a few PCP builds myself the past 8 or so years some successful some not, as well as made various components using my 3d printer. Upload some videos when you are free. A lot of us will be here waiting. 👍

Really enjoyed your video - went and built a reg from your design and chat, got excellent results. A friend then told me to reduce my Belleville stack to just 6 washers total, and the consistency has gone out of the window. I'll make another like the original....

Thanks! You are spot on; after the reg is a so called "pre-chamber" with a volume of pressure regulated air. The release of air from the pre-chamber is taken care of by a simple knock open ("poppet") valve. The volume of the pre chamber might have to be adjusted to match pressure and powerlevel etc.. a bit of trial and error is often needed to get an efficient system. Cheers

Hi again, not sure we are speaking of the same hole... Anyway, the hole for venting the spring chamber to outside air has to be drilled between oring that seals HPA side from spring chamber and the oring that seals regulated pressure from spring chamber.. (the two large diam orings..) OK... the trick is to decide just how much regulated volume you want before drilling the vent hole in the airtube... The position fore and aft of the reg is set by a piece of pipe.. Out of space here!!

Thanks for your comment! You will need a certain amount of air available for the KOV... the rate of flow through most regulator are to slow to feed the valve during fireing.. The size of the "pre-chamber volume" is depending on Power output, valve size etc... Hope you get what I mean! I'm buzy as heck at the moment, so please be patient if you write me.., replies might be late. Best regards

Very informative video you have made!!! I think the other English term for spring washers you couldn't remember is a Belleville Washer. I've been anxiously awaiting another of your fine videos and you have made the wait worth it with this fantastic video. Please don't wait so long next time, you are one of my favorites to watch...I've learned a lot from you...thank you!!!

hello sir, Greetings to you, I am from Indonesia, precisely in a small island called KUALA ENOK, RED LAND districts. (Indragiri downstream), RIAU. I was very amazed to see your video on youtube about how to make a PCP air rifle, in the video you do not hesitate to explain how to design a PCP air rifle, ranging from designing the filling port, regulators, size, and more in detail .. that's what makes me amazed by you and the people there, you want to share your knowledge .. different to where I live here, very few people who have knowledge to share it .. because they are afraid unrivaled .. that's all I can say, thank you for the knowledge you have shared, continue to work. friendship greetings from me to you. Thank you so much.

You are pretty much spot on! Too big volume is just a waste of space that could have been used to carry more HPA.., to small means less Power.. not necessarily a bad thing, but then it would be the volume of regulated air that dictated the Power output.. not the pressure. The only way to find out if it's the volume or the pressure that dictates the Power output would be to increase the volume in small increments and see when or if the velocity starts to climb! Cheers

Thank you very much for your time & effort explaining how this works & the sizes you have given. I will at some time be having a go at making one. I have bought the spring washers in readiness. Kind regards.

Sorry about this late reply! Yes it was certainly hard to push that piston.. This regulator had been sitting on my workbench for a little more than one year.. hence the stiction between piston o-ring and regulator body. Thanks

Thank you for the kind words! Please be aware of that air gun building is highly addictve... as soon as one rifle is finished you realize just how it really should have been built. Cheers

Thanks for your input! I'll try to shoot a video on tubes and endplugs this upcoming weekend. The tube shown in this video is a 180cc tube (hmm... i think..) made by FX airguns. Rated 200 max fill pressure. Cheers

We should start a fund named "Give ulanbatorgator a HD camera so we can see all the nice details." =))

Thank you for your comment! A reg like this is a perfect beginners project for a home workshop mechanic. I think most of the info needed is in this video, however the dimensions might have to be altered depending on what gun you have, dimensions of springs used and so on. Do some calculations on pressure, surface area of piston, and forces of the springs used and I'm pretty sure you can come up with a working reg! shoot me a PM if you get stuck! thanks

Thanks for your question. Yes.., use a type of lubricant that you trust.., and apply it very sparingly to the o-rings. Alwas go for a very high polished surface finish on the parts rubbing against the o-rings. As you probably know there are many opinions regarding the use of mineral based lubricants in high pressure applications... I will not go into that discussion here.. Use a grease designed for HPA or diving applications! Thanks

Interesting idea! Most regulators have the spring chamber vented to outside air... Regulators (spring type..) have a tendency to pressurize the spring chamber when left for some time.. hence the need for venting. The use of nitrogen would call for a pressure gauge to monitor the "spring pressure". Thanks /O

Nice video.... I am waiting the regulator design video for inside bottle version, thanks for posting..:)

Excellent. Your explaining is very good and is done very well. Thank you

Thank you for the kind Words! Good luck with your regulator. Cheers

Hi there! Belleville washers are easy to obtain, spring forces can easily be altered by using a different stacking configuration, and they don''t use up as much space as a coil spring would. thanks

just awesome, love that folder perfect knife for a craftsman, belville washers(not sure if I spelled that right) is the word I think you where looking for at one point. and ya pressure volume calculations for the pre chamber volume to transfer port ratio comes down to trial and error or just plain chrony testing to get perfect I can see that now. thanks your English is good and you add valueable content to the discussion of air gun design and your machining and cartoon drawings are great just get the camera angle a little more straight down from top thanks your awesome

Good question! Lets say the surface area of the piston is 1square cm.., and you want the regulator to regulate pressure to 120Bar. that means the spring has to resist a closing force of approx 120kg before closing... A coil spring of such strength would just take up a lot more space. thanks

Thanks man. I'm looking to regulate air to a motor so it's no use to me, but excellent tutorial. I wish more were of this standard.

Thank you very much for your kind words! Cheers

Plink, judgeing from the Royales i have seen i doubt that you have that much to gain from fitting a reg.. The Royale seems to have a very well balanced valve mechanism, and as long as your crono strings look allright I don't see the need for a reg, IMHO that is.. Cheers

Cool man! Makes sence what you say, sorry about previous comment was written on phone and got abit muddled! That's right i didn't know much about the royale 400s valve, but like my Fx verminator they are both super consistent considering they are not regulated. Obviously the royale is more air efficient being a .22 Cal compared to my .177 vermy. Plink

Great vid as always- I was looking for dimensions of such device for very long time. Thanks! See also Audriusize reg (Lithuan). He made also reg and solved the problem with internal groove for oring (which seals the spring chamber) by making this whole part - as a second part - screwed to the body of regulator. BTW Happy New Year. Best regards Łukasz Pietruszka, LP Gunstocks

Hi there, The best route for a first time build is to get hold of a copy of Mr HM Buckleys excellent books on diy airgun building! Those books will provide very detailed description and drawings.. the rest is just creative thinking, elbow grease and basic machining operations! thanks

@Teguh Prasetya; Thank you for your comment. Good to hear that you enjoy my humble attempts at explaining the principles of pcp-guns! I have no reason to keep my knowledge to myself; I like the thought of leaving something behind me when I'm gone... even if it's just a simple video of diy airgunning! Best regards

Lol! I'm very much aware of the problem.. A fund would be nice, lol! The camera I'm using has been with me ever since my round the world trip back in -02... so I guess it's about time to make the move to something a little more up to date. Thanks

The term for the springs is "Cup spring" or "Disc spring".. =)

Lukasz my friend, thank you for the kind words and a Happy New Year to you too! Audrius appears to be a very talented man. If you not going the "Audrius way" I suggest that you drill the hole for the adjuting screw with a slot drill of such a size that the oring that sits around the piston stem fits in there... the HPA will push in down in the "seat". Is that possible to understand? hard to explain in this limited space. Best regards

congratulations on a brilliant interpretation of the basic functionality of pcp regulators. I must admit I cringed a little when you offered brute force to that very vulnerable and essentially critical piston knife edge . Meaning microscopic distortions can influence the integrity of the DELRIN seating to knife edge of piston stem. However later on in the video I noticed that the stem knifed edge was large and robust in it sealing area department,so I could stand corrected their.

Thank you for sharing the knowledge. It is been a great help for me who is very new to the whole pcp world. It is such a great video. There one thing i would like to ask. Can you point me to the direction where i can fins the dimension or schematic with measurement to make this regulator. I have a small lathe and it will be great to try it at home. Again thank you

Fascinating stuff. I also have Buckle books. I'd like to see a video of you making a pressure vessel. Buckley talks about the special care necessary in threading the plugs and tube - it would be great to see that covered in video. Also any tips on material selection & sourcing for a pressure vessel would be great. Also - hydrostatic testing - do you do any of that?

Very Very Nice i am a Big Fan From your airguns

Thanks for the input! So far I have only used ready made pressure vessel, only turned bottleneck valves and the odd end plug... but i have some thoughts regarding diy airtubes that might be worth sharing. Cheers

Hello. Very nice work, thanks for posting the video. Any way you can post the end plug pictures or how it works? I am also researching pressure vessels from titanium, but the cost of material is almost as expensive... How much capacity is that vessel you are showing in the video?

i do not know why it is not self autoregulating cuz the oposite force from the HPA drops down every shoot so the valve let more pressure to exit with every shoot. it should be logic. bigger pressure in hpa- harder to kick down the valve..........less pressure exits. i made one hammer valve with a large area so it easy to responds to this selfregulating. and very hard to strike it. it is a difference but not what i aspected.

Great (but the tube you are showing in this vid does have one side at full 200(+?) bar, right?)

Hi there. Great work. Question: after check valve, do u have another chamber with poppet valve that is hit by striker/trigger piston or poppet is your check valve and you set it of directly?

Was wondering if you could help me with ideas or the math to make a regulator that can handle 150 to 175 incoming psi but then regulate down to 13inches of water. Your video is incredible and you are an impressive mind. If your into a challenge then your help would be so appreciative, if your too busy then thanks anyways, but excellent video. Thanks

Brian, thanks for your kind words! A regulator that regulates down to 13inH2o... that sounds like a challenge! In theory regulator building is easy; just balance the forces acting on your moving piston or moving base.. But when it's pressures as low as 0.03238Bar you have to take into consideration stiction from moving parts etc... I'm not sure it's posible to build a moving piston reg that seals at such low pressures. What are you building? can you provide more info? Out of space here! thanks

Thanks Andre! We don't celebrate thanksgiving over here... Whats the story behind thanksgiving?

Just wondering why you would not change the location of that hard to cut o-ring groove to the shaft instead of the hole the shaft goes through?

oh thank you , i got the point about how it works.

Interesting Vid mate and well explained I learned something! But I'm your opinion would you say adding a regular is more hassle than it is worth as cars as reliability goes? I have an Fx royale 400 and I'm in two mind to get a reg fitted in the near future? Checkout NY videos to sew rifle. Plink

OK. So then your check valve is of a different design? Can u please elaborate on the check valve? Thanks again for your help. Is there a way I can email u some design ideas?

The tube showed in this vid is an ex FX tube, rated max fill pressure 200Bar. thanks

Thanks for the video! Happy thanksgiving by the way, though of you don't live in the US you may not know what in talking about lol

Of course! Sorry about that. This is what happens when you don't get enough sleep.. thanks BTW; the forum i mentioned is called Talontunes Forum.. try talonairgun(dot)com

Good luck with your project Malc! Please let me know how it works out. best regards

sorry for asking this,im a begginer in building airgun,i just want to ask how do u place the airgun valve "knock-open valve" next to the air regulator ,how do u separate the spring of the KOV from the air regulator,what do u put in between them?

You build your oen REG, have you ever thought about putting the reg inside the fx cylinder? What are your thoughts on this..? Have you tryed it before

i see it is hard to push it with that stick, can the pressure push it to seal that m0ving piston.?

I just want to ask,im planning to build an improvised airgun,im planning to use two check valve as an air regulator facing opposite to each other,how much psi do u think this can handle.

Ah you have. What are the pros /cons with reg inside fx cylinder if there are any?

What is the link for the forum you mentioned? =)

Didn't finish my post there Must have touched the wrong key. Going on ,their could be pros and cons of the two different options of using knife edge designs and this decision making has to probably take in consideration the types DELRIN/acetal density properties. On a lighter note , please don't be offended,but I'm sure a lot of weathers of this video would agree , I honestly thought it was URI GELLER speaking. And at the end of the video I was expecting you to say , all of you with pcp regulators that have stopped working , look at this video and shout WORK WORK WORK , ah ah Cheers Anthony

I'm not sure i get what you mean... Might be down to lack of sleep or the fact that english is not my first language.. By "check valve" do you mean the valve that releases air into the air transfer port/barrel? Feel free to shoot me a PM if you like. I'd be more than happy top review your design! thanks

Hi Great video! Do you have any info on when this principle (hollow piston) was first used in air guns. I know it was taken from SCUBA regulators, but when did we first see it in air guns. Somebody is after us regarding IPR rights.

i want to built one but with other designe, something like a cone inside another cone. can i send you a draw on email or something. i dont have the tools to make one like yours but i can improvize this cone so i want you to take a look and tell me your opinion.

Good video, Thanks sir.

can I use spring instead of spring washers?

why you stop uploading anymore?

Shoot me a PM and I'll get back to you with a email adress.. I'll be more than happy to have a look at your design ideas. Cheers

I really can't explain it in 500 character box lol I have pm'd you the link

meadinfo.org/2009/07/belleville-disc-spring-stack-design.html < calculator for calculating belleville spring stacks.. will prob. help.

Look over what you write before you press post.

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