Tuning FX Impact/Maverick/Crown brass regulator piston done right

Hi.

We know that a standard FX Impact regulator piston is made of delrin. It has a pretty poor coefficient of thermal expansion comparing to brass. Brass is a much better choice. It is more rigid and tough which is pretty important when we think about high reg pressures. FX offers a brass piston as a replacement of the delrin one but it has two major limitations:
- some people reported problems with setting high pressure - the piston is longer than a delrin one and there is not enough threads to accomodate that,
- the air passage hole is too big. Huma regs use the air flow restrictor in a form of a screw. Thanks to that reg does not get hit that hard when there is a big pressure difference between the air bottle and the plenum. The plenum is replenished more gradually with flow restriction. Delrin piston has that flow restriction but sometimes reg recovery takes too much time. My goal was to deliver faster recovery time than a delrin piston but slower than FX brass piston.

Because of the above limitations I came up with my own design and here it is.

IMG_20220928_022334~3.jpg

IMG_20220928_133926~2.jpg


Screenshot_2022-08-31-23-37-15-180_com.facebook.orca~2.jpg


The air passage holes are 0.3mm in diameter, where a human hair is up to 0.1mm in diameter. Drilling technique was pretty tricky to avoid drill breaking (the angle was the greatest challenge):


But the end effect is insane:


After the break in period there is virtually no reg creep.

There are two versions of the piston:
- 4x0.3mm air passage holes - faster reg recovery time. Should work very nice as a bottle reg piston replacement,
-2x0.3mm air passage holes - slower reg recovery time. Dedicated as a plenum reg piston replacement.

The dimensions of my pistons are exactly the same as a delrin one. There is no problem with achieving high reg pressures.

If you are interested in my brass piston - just shoot me a PM. You will get the following package:
- brass reg piston,
- two orings: NBR70 and NBR90. The latter one should be placed in the reg case. Harder oring eliminates extrusion,
Screenshot_2022-10-05-17-42-07-404_com.adobe.reader~3.jpg

- a 0.25mm wire to make sure the air passages are clean.

Thanks!

IMG_20220929_001936~2.jpg
 
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Hi.

We know that a standard FX Impact regulator piston is made of delrin. It has a pretty poor coefficient of thermal expansion comparing to brass. Brass is a much better choice. It is more rigid and tough which is pretty important when we think about high reg pressures. FX offers a brass piston as a replacement of the delrin one but it has two major limitations:
- some people reported problems with setting high pressure - the piston is longer than a delrin one and there is not enough threads to accomodate that,
- the air passage hole is too big. Huma regs use the air flow restrictor in a form of a screw. Thanks to that reg does not get hit that hard when there is a big pressure difference between the air bottle and the plenum. The plenum is replenished more gradually with flow restriction. Delrin piston has that flow restriction but sometimes reg recovery takes too much time. My goal was to deliver faster recovery time than a delrin piston but slower than FX brass piston.

Because of the above limitations I came up with my own design and here it is.

View attachment 295082
View attachment 295083

View attachment 295084

The air passage holes are 0.3mm in diameter, where a human hair is up to 0.1mm in diameter. Drilling technique was pretty tricky to avoid drill breaking (the angle was the greatest challenge):


But the end effect is insane:


After the break in period there is virtually no reg creep.

There are two versions of the piston:
- 4x0.3mm air passage holes - faster reg recovery time. Should work very nice as a bottle reg piston replacement,
-2x0.3mm air passage holes - slower reg recovery time. Dedicated as a plenum reg piston replacement.

The dimensions of my pistons are exactly the same as a delrin one. There is no problem with achieving high reg pressures.

If you are interested in my brass piston - just shoot me a PM. You will get the following package:
- brass reg piston,
- two orings: NBR70 and NBR90. The latter one should be placed in the reg case. Harder oring eliminates extrusion,
View attachment 295087
- a 0.25mm wire to make sure the air passages are clean.

Thanks!

View attachment 295085
Very nice
 
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Thank you guys. I do my best to improve these guns.

If anyone else is interested please shoot me a PM. There will be just one batch available. I do it for myself and I share it with you. But once the batch is done.

Hello Seeker:

I am unable to private message. I am interested in getting both of your regulator pistons. Please PM me to arrange the details.
 
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Reactions: Seeker
Hi guys. This is to everyone who is waiting for the pistons. They should be available on the 26th of October. Once I have them ready for shipping I will contact you. Thanks!

Hi guys. This is to everyone who is waiting for the pistons. They should be available on the 26th of October. Once I have them ready for shipping I will contact you. Thanks!
hi, I have no option to PM. I am interested in your pistons. Do you still have them available? Could you contact me by e-mail [email protected] ?
 
Hi guys. I contacted you as I have the pistons ready for shipping. Please give me this weekend to prepare the packages and address labels. I am going to send the orders on Monday. I will share tracking ids with you. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Guys who contacted me lately - if I have any pieces remaining then I will ship them to you. As I mentioned - I do not plan to make new batch as I do not live from that. I am a hobbyist and if I design something for myself I enjoy sharing my idea.

As many have commented, A+ grade machining and very well thought out.
Well, I work with some smart guys and we are able to create pretty interesting things together. I may surprise you in the future.

Gorgeous work! Looks kinda fun too ;)

What did you polish it with? None of my cutting tools are going to leave that kind of finish.
A sharp lathe knife is a must. Then just a tiny bit of polishing with 3M fabric recommended by Ernest. However, one does not really need the mirror finish. It must be nice and smooth but I do not see any valid requirement to have it like that. I use a tiny bit of oil (Krytox GPL105) and if the surface is mirror like then it does not stick to it that good. It is important to maintain the proper balance between the smoothness and lube retention capability.
 
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