Maverick Regulator work around

[HogKiller]

Short story, #2 reg was leaking down SLOWLY. Gave up figuring it out on my own and called FX. They had me check the breather hole that I didn't know existed. yep it bubbled. Tech said they'd send me parts, a few days later got a new body and new Regulator Rod (19) but no screw, not a big deal and no o-rings, thankfully I have a stash, assembled it with the 11 Belleville washers (have a stash of them all measured out), went to adjust and....the screw was almost falling out when up to 105 bar. Maverick .22 compact. Gave tech a call again and the guy said to add another Belleville for a total of 12, seems they had made the rods too long...REALLY???, added the Belleville and was slightly better, went out the other day and it was DRAINED totally, so the Regulator Screw was still too high, took one out, no way to get to pressure, so WTH added 2 back in and 1 facing up for a total of 13, 6 pairs and one facing up to the Regulator Housing...SUCCESS.

A note, I polished the Bellevilles and they are all the same size, I've yet to see one lick of difference from a stock regulator. If the breather hole is bubbling it's the lower o-ring on the adjuster screw, if you are getting air out of the barrel, check with a balloon, it's the upper o-ring.

 

[Firewalker]

Short story, #2 reg was leaking down SLOWLY. Gave up figuring it out on my own and called FX. They had me check the breather hole that I didn't know existed. yep it bubbled. Tech said they'd send me parts, a few days later got a new body and new Regulator Rod (19) but no screw, not a big deal and no o-rings, thankfully I have a stash, assembled it with the 11 Belleville washers (have a stash of them all measured out), went to adjust and....the screw was almost falling out when up to 105 bar. Maverick .22 compact. Gave tech a call again and the guy said to add another Belleville for a total of 12, seems they had made the rods too long...REALLY???, added the Belleville and was slightly better, went out the other day and it was DRAINED totally, so the Regulator Screw was still too high, took one out, no way to get to pressure, so WTH added 2 back in and 1 facing up for a total of 13, 6 pairs and one facing up to the Regulator Housing...SUCCESS.

A note, I polished the Bellevilles and they are all the same size, I've yet to see one lick of difference from a stock regulator. If the breather hole is bubbling it's the lower o-ring on the adjuster screw, if you are getting air out of the barrel, check with a balloon, it's the upper o-ring.

THAT's the stuff I like to see posted!

Thank you for the tips and congrats on the fix!!

 

[HogKiller]

Where is this thrice blessed breather hole? I got a reg rebuild kit on the way- just for some such day

GREAT question, it is TINY, did I mention TINY? It is 90º to the regulator so....depending on which way your reg is facing it could be UNDER the ^%$# thing. Use a good flashlight and start looking. It's there, somewhere. I just checked my VP and ...I can't find the ^%$# thing with the Reg by the cocking hammer, my Compact has the reg opposite the cocking hammer so it's on the top. Good LUCK!!

I just looked at my VP again, you may have to pop the frame/stock off if you don't see it easily.

 

[HogKiller]

GREAT question, it is TINY, did I mention TINY? It is 90º to the regulator so....depending on which way your reg is facing it could be UNDER the ^%$# thing. Use a good flashlight and start looking. It's there, somewhere. I just checked my VP and ...I can't find the ^%$# thing with the Reg by the cocking hammer, my Compact has the reg opposite the cocking hammer so it's on the top. Good LUCK!!

I just looked at my VP again, you may have to pop the frame/stock off if you don't see it easily.

If you haven't found that little elusive bugger I'll tear mine down and take a picture of it.

 

[Bigragu]

Short story, #2 reg was leaking down SLOWLY. Gave up figuring it out on my own and called FX. They had me check the breather hole that I didn't know existed. yep it bubbled. Tech said they'd send me parts, a few days later got a new body and new Regulator Rod (19) but no screw, not a big deal and no o-rings, thankfully I have a stash, assembled it with the 11 Belleville washers (have a stash of them all measured out), went to adjust and....the screw was almost falling out when up to 105 bar. Maverick .22 compact. Gave tech a call again and the guy said to add another Belleville for a total of 12, seems they had made the rods too long...REALLY???, added the Belleville and was slightly better, went out the other day and it was DRAINED totally, so the Regulator Screw was still too high, took one out, no way to get to pressure, so WTH added 2 back in and 1 facing up for a total of 13, 6 pairs and one facing up to the Regulator Housing...SUCCESS.

A note, I polished the Bellevilles and they are all the same size, I've yet to see one lick of difference from a stock regulator. If the breather hole is bubbling it's the lower o-ring on the adjuster screw, if you are getting air out of the barrel, check with a balloon, it's the upper o-ring.

Typically if air is leaking out the barrel the valve seat is the culprit. If a leak in the reg goes downstream towards the block it still is held by the valve seat and what you’ll see is creep in your second gage as it’s building more pressure behind the valve seat.
I had an MK2 impact once that had that type of leak. My fill pressure was 250 bar. Reg set was at 125 bar. 12 hours later the reg gage went from 125 to 200 bar, working its way to equalizing with fill pressure. No air out the barrel as the valve seat seal was tight.

The cause of this was not any of the reg o rings as those were all new, but the inner 10 x 1.5 that sits inside a groove within the tunnel that the reg resides in. I neglected to change that, stupidly, and it bit me in the butt

 

[HogKiller]

Typically if air is leaking out the barrel the valve seat is the culprit. If a leak in the reg goes downstream towards the block it still is held by the valve seat and what you’ll see is creep in your second gage as it’s building more pressure behind the valve seat.
I had an MK2 impact once that had that type of leak. My fill pressure was 250 bar. Reg set was at 125 bar. 12 hours later the reg gage went from 125 to 200 bar, working its way to equalizing with fill pressure. No air out the barrel as the valve seat seal was tight.

The cause of this was not any of the reg o rings as those were all new, but the inner 10 x 1.5 that sits inside a groove within the tunnel that the reg resides in. I neglected to change that, stupidly, and it bit me in the butt

There is a reason I buy o-rings in bulk. I'm trying to get the guts up to tear the thing apart and replace the main block, reason for that is I did a major boo-boo and dropped the gun on the barrel, which shoved it back, Plus, I've found what appears to be liquid under the #2 reg, I know it's not from my compressor, as the gun was third hand, and a hot mess when I got it. All of a sudden the thing won't shoot for beans and nothing I'm doing is helping.

 

[HogKiller]

Either do a complete strip down or send her to FX for a rebuild. I am wondering about the carbon sleeve too, not a fan of the O ring route of FX.

I'm heavily leaning towards sending to the guys with the right tools. Carbon Sleeve??? While there are quite a few o-rings most stay put for quite a while so not sure that's an issue, the wear items like the breech o-ring can be expected and is on most every gun. The tech said it was about $150 for a complete o-ring replacement, as long as they have it torn apart they can replace the block, hopefully a new gun won't be cheaper.

 

[HogKiller]

Sucks but that would be the way - carbon sleeve I referred to was for the liner o rings

Sorry brain fart.

I took my new barrel out, checked it with my bore scope and found some scratches and the like, the muzzle end look a bit weird to...I started polishing it, found a tight area about 1/2 way down but decided I'll take care of that later. Just need to see if the gun starts acting better, got it polished, still can't confirm it does much but, upon reassembly, I found that I hadn't tightened the end barrel nut so it was flopping around...dumb....S.....so every thing is nice and snug, and lo and behold you can group with the thing at 30 yards, now, to pop the barrel out again and remove that snug area. I'm guessing it's about .001" to .0015", then I'll see if it makes any difference.

 

[HogKiller]

I have not slugged my barrel - maybe that needs be done

I used a slug....bad mistake....VERY tight. I'd use a pellet next time, heck you can feel it with a cleaning swab. Well, now that I have a baseline, if I remove/lessen that one tight spot it'll be even all the way to the choke which is about 6.5" long on this barrel. Maybe I can get to it a touch later today, I just have to start with 400 paper. Ernst uses plastic bore brushes, I've have had zero luck finding them, it'd make life easier to hold the paper, I really don't want to use bronze Ah HAH, try the search word of NYLON dummy. They are on the way,
.

 

[nervoustrig]

Just a heads up, if the constriction does in fact measure a full thousandth or more, I expect you will be in for hours of scrubbing with 400 grit. And paper (or abrasive cloth) wrapped around a brush will preferentially remove the lands which is a recipe for disappointment. Best bet is a cast lap with an abrasive slurry. Even starting at 120 or 180 grit, it will test your patience and arm stamina.

 

[HogKiller]

Ok, loyal fans, here's the update.

I was going to have a member fix my gun but....I decided that WTH I'll give it a shot myself and see what I can break, worse case, a box of parts. I had to pull the valve and seat from the old block, there is no way that I can see to push it out from the back so....got in CAREFULLY with a brass pick and worked around the base of it until it came loose. Getting it out pass the threads was a bit of a challenge, but patience prevailed and best part is, nothing got messed up. I went though my stash of metal dowels and found one the right size, lubed the o-ring, carefully slid the seat in and pressed it down into place with the dowel. Then started the reassembly, did a few things out of sequence but figured out where I'd messed up and corrected it. Cocking rod FIRST, THEN the hammer, then the trigger group. reassembled the plenums and the fill port.

Followed Ernst Rowe's advice, got things set, 75mm from the block to the ring, very light tightening, after the barrel was installed, put on the top rail, squared things up and took it off and tightened the blocks, reinstalled the top rail. Now the interesting part. For some reason I couldn't get my #2 reg pressure past 90 bar for quite some time, changed parts, Bellevilles took everything apart cleaned reassembled but still WOULD NOT get above 90 bar. In the box of parts FX had sent me was a housing two pistons, some adjustment screws and some Bellevilles. I measured the Bellevilles and most were about .54mm, luckily I had more so I matched up 11 and reassembled, I decided to put in the new housing and a shorter brass piston, and HOLY poop, pressure out the yingyang. So much so that I can't get BELOW 130 bar now. Next I'm going to go to different, thinner, Bellevilles and see what happens, I'm curious.

Curiosity solved I lightened up the stack of Belleville to an average thickness of .53 this gave me a low of about 110, sorry I didn't measure the heavy stack but it was close to .6. Luckily I'd bought 50 Bellevilles from McMaster-Carr so I had a selection. I'm going to toss in the old housing then the old adjuster with the new stack and see what happens, then a medium stack, I'm getting curious. I've got one stack documented, I'll do the others and post it.

 

[Bigragu]

Progress is always good