Umarex I sipped the Notos Kool-aid

Since you seem to know these regs work in detail:

My Huben Power Cricket Z-valve isn't working anymore, probably some o-ring that has blown. When I fill the bottle, the reg gauge shows the same pressure as the bottle gauge. I've opened it up but I can't find what is wrong inside the drop block. All the o-rings on the bolt and the cap look okay. It was working great but I fear I've pushed air into it with too much velocity, as my diving bottle has an on/off valve. When I opened up the regulator, it was still under pressure and the cap wouldn't turn that great until it lost it's seal and the air could escape. Kinda strange it still held air as both gauges were off the block and no bottle was connected.

Where do I need to look to fix this?

View attachment 470944

As no one replied with a solution (and the replacement Z-valve I ordered from Aliexpress was delivered with a damaged thread on the bottle adapter and held no air because of that) I tried to fix it myself. The Huben Cricket has a repair set in the box that contains multiple formats of o-rings:
2024-06-16 om 21.19.42_ddd16f22.jpg

Taking the regulator apart is pretty simple and all I did was replace all the small o-rings after applying some silicon grease on the new ones.
2024-06-16 om 21.19.42_d6dd1b32.jpg


Put it all back together and set it under pressure and it seems to be all good again. Good to know that it's an easy fix.
2024-06-16 om 21.19.42_167a5a42.jpg


My new compressor is not yet delivered and my dive bottle is at 160 bar, so the difference between reg and bottle pressure is not that obvious but there's a difference between the two again. @mil might be worth a try if you haven't done allready.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JaceSpace1369
As no one replied with a solution (and the replacement Z-valve I ordered from Aliexpress was delivered with a damaged thread on the bottle adapter and held no air because of that) I tried to fix it myself. The Huben Cricket has a repair set in the box that contains multiple formats of o-rings:
View attachment 472776
Taking the regulator apart is pretty simple and all I did was replace all the small o-rings after applying some silicon grease on the new ones.
View attachment 472777

Put it all back together and set it under pressure and it seems to be all good again. Good to know that it's an easy fix.
View attachment 472778

My new compressor is not yet delivered and my dive bottle is at 160 bar, so the difference between reg and bottle pressure is not that obvious but there's a difference between the two again. @mil might be worth a try if you haven't done allready.
Hi NB1,
Barrel needs to come off first. Unfortunately I don't have a pic of the Notos receiver block with original tube removed, but yes, there is a M16 threaded male nipple fitting on the receiver that the drop block threads onto. The picture in an above post shows the silver face on dropblock that mates to the receiver. This had been painted but to get the dropblock to rotate and align properly to the receiver block, I had to remove a couple mils from the drop block face. I did that on a flat block with 220g then 400g psa sandpaper. I had such a small amount to remove, it wasn't worth chucking it in the mill. It just depends how the fit is between the dropblock and receiver housing how much material needs to be removed from the dropblock. The Notos itself is not modified and you can revert back to the tube easily. I chose a 220cc 54mm diameter bottle, but the Huben dropblock would likely work fine with a larger capacity 62-64mm diameter bottle. 220cc at 300bar = ~100 19fpe shots. That was my goal.
View attachment 402616
Goo luck. I changed a few orings too but the same thing happened when I filled the bottle to 3600psi. At fill pressure close to reg setting the reg creep is almost unnoticed until the next day
 
Goo luck. I changed a few orings too but the same thing happened when I filled the bottle to 3600psi. At fill pressure close to reg setting the reg creep is almost unnoticed until the next day

Need to check that again with the right pressure then. Mine is now leaking at the front manometer. The reg kept it's pressure but the bottle was empty this morning. Kinda strange that there are no new seals in the repair kit for underneath the manometers.
 
Need to check that again with the right pressure then. Mine is now leaking at the front manometer. The reg kept it's pressure but the bottle was empty this morning. Kinda strange that there are no new seals in the repair kit for underneath the manometers.
That happened to me too. The manometer from the original notos tube fits the huben cricket drop block. I made that swap to keep me going. I ordered two new manometers from AliExpress that work well(8mm). It seems like the bottle conversions aren't too robust. I wonder how many others are failing now.
 
The most common reason for leaks using the nylon washer is over torquing. I've found that snug plus 1/8 turn is more than enough to seal the gauges.

Another issue I've seen is not leak checking well enough.

I've worked on many guns where proper leak checking was not performed and what looked to be a gauge or body leak was actually a burst disk seat.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RAMJET66
Well it was a leaking manometer and the delrin seal was fine. The manometer was leaking through the vent hole on the backside. Of course I found out after I removed and destroyed the delrin but at least it's not leaking anymore now that I put in a new manometer and washer. It seems the reg is not creeping up to bottle pressure anymore but I have to evaluate that a little longer.
 
I've been a busy elf. I modified a couple more Notos's for Xmas gifts. Turned our great. Again used the Huben Z-blocks and 220cc bottles. I gave both a bit of tweaking too. Cocking lever smoothing, Breech and barrel polish, trigger job, power boost mod and I printed moderator inserts as well as several mags for each. I think my son and brother will be thrilled. Find out later today. I'll let them pick their own optics. Should be all set for a springtime Notos league!
Happy Holidays!

View attachment 419007

View attachment 419008
Hey Man for some reason it won’t let me PM you but i was hoping you could message me. I purchased a zelos and interested in what you have for mods to purchase. Thank you appreciate your time!