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Going to extremes with balanced valves
- Thread starter Stubbers
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Make or purchase an MDS NYLON hammer for god sake !!
Yea what you did may work .. but
My hammer is MDS nylon bucko. It weighs ~8 grams naked...lol..have you made a marauder hammer this light?
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Try just a tad of free flight about .020 .025 instead which can also help with hammer bounce your pretty light on the hammer
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Interestingly, with much less surface area, while still exhibiting no side to side play, this current hammer rendition cocks much smoother than any other I've had in my gun...by a long shot. Its not even close to placebo. Nearly like I am cocking against air resistance.
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Thanks for chiming in!
Literally, I consider it the bleeding / ragged edge for sure. I have a problem going to those... You're more versed on my journey as of the last couple months than most anyone beside myself!
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I require preload on the spring due to limited spacing and my ssg build which allows my current .04" gap, and I am lightening the hammer because I want to run the lightest possible hammer that will plateau my valve with said preload on my 7lb spring. A preloaded spring + free flight is the goal of an SSG. Thanks for the idea but again I already run a gap/free flight.
Matt
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My bad didn't read that you had a ssg that's basically the same thing I ment free flighting the hammer I must of read it wrong thought you were preloading off the hammer oops
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No problemo, was good advice if I hadn't been using free flight already. I'm not so much solving a problem as exploring how light I can take the marauders hammer design (with my ssg and longer throw that requires a hammer of 1.2" in length opposed to the 1" stock). I am hoping to hit 7-8 grams dressed with striker/cocking lug.
Matt
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I know many marauder modders are long gone but, figure I update what a balanced valve CAN do when taken to an extreme, while some guns already boast similar, this was a complete DIY approach on a dated platform. Who says turds can't be polished?
I never updated the thread since I went sub 8 gram hammer a month+ ago when I made one at 6.9 grams, since then I decided to try another design that is even lighter for a giggle.
Newest hammer made from UHMW, only 5.91 grams. Shot cycle is incredible, I am in the sub 2 ms hammer locktime even with a 3# spring.
That'll close this chapter for myself and going to extremes with 'balanced valves', as I feel there I can't go much more extreme without diminishing returns, and this is an end goal I set for myself on hammer weight.
The offset on the face for the sear is so I can run a fairly flush striker while still utilizing my lift limiter, plus it shaved a tad more weight.
-Matt
I never updated the thread since I went sub 8 gram hammer a month+ ago when I made one at 6.9 grams, since then I decided to try another design that is even lighter for a giggle.
Newest hammer made from UHMW, only 5.91 grams. Shot cycle is incredible, I am in the sub 2 ms hammer locktime even with a 3# spring.
That'll close this chapter for myself and going to extremes with 'balanced valves', as I feel there I can't go much more extreme without diminishing returns, and this is an end goal I set for myself on hammer weight.
The offset on the face for the sear is so I can run a fairly flush striker while still utilizing my lift limiter, plus it shaved a tad more weight.
-Matt
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Nice work, thank you for sharing. Light hammers are cool, especially when not hard to cock.
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Dressed with the peek lug and striker its at 6.6 grams right now, gonna shave another hair off but this is where it'll be! I still plateau on just 5 lbs of spring.
Once I hit sub 10 grs the strike became imperceptible, so little momentum anymore.
-Matt
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Some hammer data to compare to. Note the massive drop in hammer locktime, momentum and hammer FPE, resulting in a much quicker shot cycle with less frame resonance.
-Matt
| Hammer weight (gr) | Hammer Spring lbs/in | Hammer Locktime (ms) | Hammer Momentum | Hammer FPE | |
| Standard Valve 58 gr | 58 | 7.7 | 7.5 | 2,186 | .582 |
| Balanced Valve 25 gr w/ .125 stem closing force | 25 | 7.7 | 5.23 | 1.361 | .523 |
| Balanced valve 6.6 gr w/ .061 stem closing force | 6.6 | 5 | 1.94 | .474 | .241 |
-Matt
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What can I say...I can't help myself...this is the fully loaded weight with striker and cocking lug.
I am also running only .53" hammer travel currently and plateauing on just 5 lbs of hammer spring with about 0.05 preload or so, so around 3 lbs to cock the gun, alternatively a 3# spring with .45" preload also plateaus the gun currently, the 4.8 lbs weight of the gun easily cocks the bolt itself if you let gravity take hold while gripping the bolt alone..
-Matt
I am also running only .53" hammer travel currently and plateauing on just 5 lbs of hammer spring with about 0.05 preload or so, so around 3 lbs to cock the gun, alternatively a 3# spring with .45" preload also plateaus the gun currently, the 4.8 lbs weight of the gun easily cocks the bolt itself if you let gravity take hold while gripping the bolt alone..
-Matt
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If you want to tinker with ever lighter designs, consider working up a 3D model and have someone print it with a carbon fiber-impregnated resin like Onyx. A honeycomb infill of varying percentages would give a lot of control over the finished weight.
Granted, a sub-6g hammer for a tube that size is excellent as is so it would be hard to justify starting over with CAD but maybe it’s something to consider for other projects.
Granted, a sub-6g hammer for a tube that size is excellent as is so it would be hard to justify starting over with CAD but maybe it’s something to consider for other projects.
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