I’ve seen PEEK plastic mentioned on this forum several times. Is it typically used for the regulator valve seat material or is it used in another valve application?
Upvote 0
Tuning Help me understand regulator break in
- Thread starter igolfat8
- Start date
More often than not, PEEK comes up in the context of poppets rather than regulator valve seats. As a poppet material, it affords a smaller sealing margin and less hammer strike to unseat it. Those qualities allow for such things as the use of a lightweight hammer, reduced cocking effort, better flow, or some combination thereof.
Sometimes it also does an excellent job of making you want to pull your hair out because it won’t seal.
In the world of regulators, Most use Delrin / acetal for the valve seat. Sometimes nylon like the ball seat in a Ninja regulator. Huben is the only one I can think of that uses PEEK and I’m only basing that on the material color.
PEEK is a great choice...if you can achieve a suitably fine surface finish. Otherwise it will creep like mad. It is very unforgiving of typical manufacturing processes and tolerances. But if you get it working right, it has the potential for better longevity.
For example, a few weeks ago I took an old no-name paintball regulator with a worn valve seat and turned a small stub of PEEK to replace it. Before taking it out of the lathe, I wet sanded the sealing face out to 7000 grit. It now comes up to a stable setpoint as fast as I can get my eyes settled on the gauge and holds there indefinitely.
Sometimes it also does an excellent job of making you want to pull your hair out because it won’t seal.
In the world of regulators, Most use Delrin / acetal for the valve seat. Sometimes nylon like the ball seat in a Ninja regulator. Huben is the only one I can think of that uses PEEK and I’m only basing that on the material color.
PEEK is a great choice...if you can achieve a suitably fine surface finish. Otherwise it will creep like mad. It is very unforgiving of typical manufacturing processes and tolerances. But if you get it working right, it has the potential for better longevity.
For example, a few weeks ago I took an old no-name paintball regulator with a worn valve seat and turned a small stub of PEEK to replace it. Before taking it out of the lathe, I wet sanded the sealing face out to 7000 grit. It now comes up to a stable setpoint as fast as I can get my eyes settled on the gauge and holds there indefinitely.
Upvote 0