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FX Polishing of belleville washers and the piston & piston housing

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Milf Dots

Milf Dots

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Jul 7, 2022
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Has anyone had increased efficiency when polishing the belleville washer stack on all sides including inner diameter and the outer diameter? I have read mixed reviews that polishing the entire upper, lower and all sides (i.d. and o.d) of the washer wasn't necessary, it just makes sense in my head to polish every surface since they're under pressure and act like a spring, wouldn't it be beneficial to polish every part of the washer and not just the upper part of it? When polished, everything is extremely smooth and I know for certain they won't get snagged up on a burr.
 
It wouldn't hurt, but just opens up something to go wrong while fiddling to get the last .01%.
There are Sooooooo ..... many more significant modifications that can be made o_O.

Up to you; then again I've done so many things that didn't add value:p.
However, they were checked off my rumination ->bucket list;).
 
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The relevant parts of the Bellevilles are the contact surfaces. If the stack consists of nested parallel pairs (( , you can polish the entire faces.
However for a plain series arrangement like ) ( ) ( ) ( , only the rim of the concave side and the crest of the convex side need to be dressed.

Start by deburring their IDs. That is where the opportunity exists to chew up a brass spool as they cycle up and down. Then proceed with polishing the contact points.

Polishing the spool itself isn’t generally useful unless it has a particularly poor surface finish, or if it has already been scarred up by burrs on the Bellevilles. Having said that, it’s pretty quick and easy to do while the regulator is apart so you might as well for peace of mind.
 
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nervoustrig said:
The relevant parts of the Bellevilles are the contact surfaces. If the stack consists of nested parallel pairs (( , you can polish the entire faces.
However for a plain series arrangement like ) ( ) ( ) ( , only the rim of the concave side and the crest of the convex side need to be dressed.

Start by deburring their IDs. That is where the opportunity exists to chew up a brass spool as they cycle up and down. Then proceed with polishing the contact points.

Polishing the spool itself isn’t generally useful unless it has a particularly poor surface finish, or if it has already been scarred up by burrs on the Bellevilles. Having said that, it’s pretty quick and easy to do while the regulator is apart so you might as well for peace of mind.
Click to expand...
Gotcha, thank you
 
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Milf Dots said:
Has anyone had increased efficiency when polishing the belleville washer stack on all sides including inner diameter and the outer diameter? I have read mixed reviews that polishing the entire upper, lower and all sides (i.d. and o.d) of the washer wasn't necessary, it just makes sense in my head to polish every surface since they're under pressure and act like a spring, wouldn't it be beneficial to polish every part of the washer and not just the upper part of it? When polished, everything is extremely smooth and I know for certain they won't get snagged up on a burr.
Click to expand...
You are MUCH better off matching your belleville washers in size first then, if you're really bored polishing the contract points. My personal opinion is to match sizes then use a tiny touch of Mobile One as a friction reducer and see what happens. And no the gun won't explode. Now for my theory, thinner washers will flex more, while, the thicker ones won't, the thinner ones will do more work and the entire stack will be mechanically uneven. Where as if they are all matched very closely they all work evenly giving a more consistent result. Now the pitfall, because you'll be buying about 50 of them to get matched sets, doing too heavy or too light will affect your desired regulator pressure. The Goldilocks zone for me was .43mm as measured on the edge, it gave me 75 bar to 125 bar
 
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By the way, something I failed to address in my previous post...
Milf Dots said:
Has anyone had increased efficiency when polishing the belleville washer stack
Click to expand...
Nothing about polishing, deburring, etc. the parts of a regulator will have any effect on efficiency. What may sometimes be improved is consistency and/or service life.
 
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Years ago, I asked Martin Rutterford that question. He said it wouldn't hurt and suggested polishing the springs in a vibratory barrel like those used to clean brass before reloading. The media used in those is corn cobs, so the polishing is very light. Your results may vary. If your gun is shooting ok, I would leave it alone.
 
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I have not used corn cob media but my understanding is it has an abrasive media mixed in with it to perform the actual polishing. Tumbling in a media like that would do a good job at shining up the surfaces but spring steel is extraordinarily hard so it wouldn’t do a thing for any burrs potentially left behind from punching out the Bellevilles. So in that case, I would suggest deburring first and then put them in the vibratory bowl.
 
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nervoustrig said:
I have not used corn cob media but my understanding is it has an abrasive media mixed in with it to perform the actual polishing. Tumbling in a media like that would do a good job at shining up the surfaces but spring steel is extraordinarily hard so it wouldn’t do a thing for any burrs potentially left behind from punching out the Bellevilles. So in that case, I would suggest deburring first and then put them in the vibratory bowl.
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Of the 50 or so Bellevue's I've inspected, they are very much burr free, a very light touch with some 3,000 paper just cleans up the contact surfaces, that and some of my favorite lube of course. I've also used a rubber abrasive cone on my Dremel to get the i.d.'s a bit.
 
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Yes. I do . I use polishing paper made by Zona. It comes in a pak that contains from 600 grit(30micron) to 22000 grit( 1 micron) . I normal start with 1200 grit as not to take off to much material.
I not only do washers but also the stem.
After cleaning, reinstalling the regulator, I use a very small amount of Humas Airgun Lube.
 
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jps2486 said:
Years ago, I asked Martin Rutterford that question. He said it wouldn't hurt and suggested polishing the springs in a vibratory barrel like those used to clean brass before reloading. The media used in those is corn cobs, so the polishing is very light. Your results may vary. If your gun is shooting ok, I would leave it alone.
Click to expand...
Hey JPS,
This surprises me .... you're known as an anti-fiddler;).
 
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HogKiller said:
You are MUCH better off matching your belleville washers in size first then, if you're really bored polishing the contract points. My personal opinion is to match sizes then use a tiny touch of Mobile One as a friction reducer and see what happens. And no the gun won't explode. Now for my theory, thinner washers will flex more, while, the thicker ones won't, the thinner ones will do more work and the entire stack will be mechanically uneven. Where as if they are all matched very closely they all work evenly giving a more consistent result. Now the pitfall, because you'll be buying about 50 of them to get matched sets, doing too heavy or too light will affect your desired regulator pressure. The Goldilocks zone for me was .43mm as measured on the edge, it gave me 75 bar to 125 bar
Click to expand...
Mobile one motor oil?
 
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Ones you doing the homework you can also include polishing the spring ends and inner edges.
Before

20230224_094938.jpg


And after

20230225_211357.jpg


I also like to put a light touch of molybdenum grease on the ends to morph easier.
 
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Milf Dots said:
Has anyone had increased efficiency when polishing the belleville washer stack on all sides including inner diameter and the outer diameter? I have read mixed reviews that polishing the entire upper, lower and all sides (i.d. and o.d) of the washer wasn't necessary, it just makes sense in my head to polish every surface since they're under pressure and act like a spring, wouldn't it be beneficial to polish every part of the washer and not just the upper part of it? When polished, everything is extremely smooth and I know for certain they won't get snagged up on a burr.
Click to expand...
Not that I tracked. I had to sand the contact edges just to get it to run, without blowing the burst disk. Since then Ive had no issues and it makes sense to even up to contact edges. I didnt polish anything but did work up to 1000 grit so almost polished. I was trying to solve a problem vs looking for efficiency.
 
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