Tuning Paintball regulators

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Cyrus

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Apr 2, 2019
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South dakota, United States
I'm looking to modify my disco by adding a tank block to adapt a standard paintball bottle with a regulator. There seems to be a pretty broad market for this type of bottle/regulator on ebay. I'm a bit skeptical about just buying just any of them, so if anyone here has any experience with these types of bottle regulators and has any advice on what to buy/what not to buy that would be great. I'm looking for something with around 1800 psi output, would be nice if it was adjustable but not necessary.

Thanks.
 
I’ve had my hands on a number of generic paintball regulators over the years and they’ve all been very similar to the ubiquitous Ninja regulators. Often so similar that the brass pistons can interchange. The one unpredictable variable is the quality of the valve seat. The Ninja seat uses a little 4mm plastic ball press-fitted into the end of the piston. This ball tends to work well in terms of breaking in early and not creeping, and easy to knock out and replace when it eventually wears from being cycled many thousands of times. Meanwhile the seal in most of the generics is not easily replaced and sometimes has a poor surface finish making it subject to pressure creep. If you have some machining and fabrication skills, you can replace the seal with something more durable (e.g. Delrin or PEEK) but for the most part it is a false economy. Translated: I’ve fixed some that now work splendidly, and I probably came out ahead if I billed my time at something well under minimum wage.
 
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The v2 has no differences that confer improved regulating characteristics. But more importantly, the silver collar that allows the bonnet to be indexed (rotated or “clocked”) places a limit on its maximum output pressure. I don’t remember exactly what Ninja states the maximum to be but suffice it to say the V2 would not be acceptable for your intended 1800psi setpoint because you would have to bump up the 1.8k burst disk to a 3k which most definitely exceeds their maximum safe working pressure.

In terms of consistent and reliable regulation in the world of paintball regulators, your best bet is probably to get the standard Ninja regulator and knock out the nylon ball and replace it with a Delrin from McMaster.
https://www.mcmaster.com/9614K73
I’d have to stop short of recommending to replace the 1.8k burst disk with a 3k because it says right there on the bonnet “1.8k only”, but that’s what you’d need to do for your intended ~1800psi setpoint. You would be replacing the coil spring with a Belleville stack and experimenting with shims to get the pressure you want. The 0.032” thickness Bellevilles should get you there.
http://www.zoro.com/i/G0908275/
https://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/9713K66
 
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