Regulator Bellville washer lubricant
- Thread starter Skip-in-WV
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Everyone I have seen in videos and myself use silicone grease. There may be more options, but consider that as an airgun gets hot the lube will creep. I find it coming out of the atmospheric relief hole in my reservoir tube. It makes a small wet appearing ring on my reservoir tube. I'm assuming that is not the only place it migrates to. Petroleum based lube will explode when put under enough pressure and with enough air present. Much like a diesel motor. Sometimes called dieseling. I stick with silicone, and don't get crazy with it to reduce the hot lube going where it's not needed. I'd love to hear other good options from a pro (not me).
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Agree for the most part. Everything I've seen has been a lite coat of silicon oil. I can't find it but there was a video showing Ernest?? polishing the washers and just wetting fingers with silicone to rub on the cleaned washers. On the flip side, I've had problematic regs that were completely gummed up with some stiff lube from the manufacturer. Cleaned the lube out with some brake cleaner and relubed (don't recall exactly how I lubed then after but it was a light coat of something silicone based). Huge improvement. I guess my only point is to not gum the washers up with stiff lube.
The only thing that I can imagine 'dieseling' from silicone is the propellant (from a spray can) or whatever it might be mixed with in a tub/tube to make it more liquidy. That stuff should evaporate off fairly quickly. But I'm frequently told I'm not as smart as I think I am so....
The only thing that I can imagine 'dieseling' from silicone is the propellant (from a spray can) or whatever it might be mixed with in a tub/tube to make it more liquidy. That stuff should evaporate off fairly quickly. But I'm frequently told I'm not as smart as I think I am so....
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Silicone is fine as an O ring lube, if used very sparingly. Important in a PCP environment, is keeping the silicone away from any metal threaded parts. They will seize if the silicone migrates to the high pressure/high temp threads. Clean and dry is much better than over-lubed.
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A couple of things to bear in mind:
1. The Belleville washers of a regulator are not exposed to high pressure air, thus the lubricant is not subject to the concern of detonation.
2. Silicone is a poor lubricant for metal-on-metal interfaces like this. Speaking of pure silicone like diver's grease or dielectric grease, or silicone oil...a couple of common lubricants that most of us have in the toolbox for lubricating O-rings.
There is however the practical issue of how to lubricate both the O-rings (which are exposed to HPA) and the Bellevilles. Using two individual lubricants optimized for these two applications would surely cross-contaminate each other so what we want is something that works well for both.
So look for something like a synthetic lubricant or a blended lubricant that is suited for both metal and elastomers, and which has a high autoignition temperature. Unfortunately a lot of lubricants in this class do not list an autoignition temperature but there will almost always be a flash point given (temperature at which vapors of the compound will ignite when there is a separate source of ignition). The autoignition temperature will be something higher so the flash point gives us some perspective.
Personally I like Super Lube for this application.
1. The Belleville washers of a regulator are not exposed to high pressure air, thus the lubricant is not subject to the concern of detonation.
2. Silicone is a poor lubricant for metal-on-metal interfaces like this. Speaking of pure silicone like diver's grease or dielectric grease, or silicone oil...a couple of common lubricants that most of us have in the toolbox for lubricating O-rings.
There is however the practical issue of how to lubricate both the O-rings (which are exposed to HPA) and the Bellevilles. Using two individual lubricants optimized for these two applications would surely cross-contaminate each other so what we want is something that works well for both.
So look for something like a synthetic lubricant or a blended lubricant that is suited for both metal and elastomers, and which has a high autoignition temperature. Unfortunately a lot of lubricants in this class do not list an autoignition temperature but there will almost always be a flash point given (temperature at which vapors of the compound will ignite when there is a separate source of ignition). The autoignition temperature will be something higher so the flash point gives us some perspective.
Personally I like Super Lube for this application.
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Seems to me, if the Belleville washers are clean and dry when assembled, excepting perhaps an extremely thin coating from an appropriate lube on your fingers (mostly dried off with a clean cloth before handling), they should need no visible lube.
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Been using "CorrosionX" as my lube within regs for quite a few years now ... WAY better than silicone lubes !
O-rings stay more supple, No oxidation, rust or corrosion what so ever ... used on regulators with a lot of brass ( Such as BSA R10 regs ) no green slime forms either.
O-rings stay more supple, No oxidation, rust or corrosion what so ever ... used on regulators with a lot of brass ( Such as BSA R10 regs ) no green slime forms either.
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Anyone polish their bellevilles by putting them in a vibratory machine similar to the ones used to polish ammo cases? I doubt the gun manufacturers lube their washers, but getting all the rough edges off might be better.
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I haven't had one apart but the video by Air Velocity Sport (thebanker4 on GTA) looks like it has a conventional regulator design. I'll ask over there and see.
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Two owners have confirmed for me that the Liberty's receiver has a vent hole for the regulator. This is a standard and desirable feature for a regulator because it ensures that the Belleville stack is solely responsible for the force acting on the piston. If the chamber holding them were pressurized, it would negatively influence the repeatability of the setpoint.
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@motorhead the schematic for my gun says to lube the o-ring and Belleville washers with "a little silicone oil, then 5 drops of 5W-30 FULLY SYNTHETIC oil on the outside of the Bellevilles after assembly."
Do you just hose it all down with CorrosionX, then wipe it off? Or blow it off with compressed air? Or drip dry? Or????
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I use treadmill mat silicone. It appears to have the same viscosity thickness as the silicone that Huma sends in the syringes in their rebuild kits.
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Clean them well, lube with whatever you want, then wipe them dry. If you can feel any lube, that's too much.
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Silicone would be the worst lube you could use.
1) the migration issue is a non issue. The chamber reg washers are in is vented to the atmosphere. It is impossible for any lube to migrate from 1 bar to anything above 1 bar. Being open to the atmosphere makes it ok for any lube.
2) I seriously doubt any reasonable lube could diesel, although some might degrade o rings. But there's no real compelling reason to use something you're not sure of. A good syn grease, Alphabet org fluid, krytox would work. You'll use so little, that even krytox wouldn't break the bank.
3) there's an argument to be made for running them dry for a period of break in and self polish and then lightly lube them. Vibratory polishing is a good thought to speed up the process.
1) the migration issue is a non issue. The chamber reg washers are in is vented to the atmosphere. It is impossible for any lube to migrate from 1 bar to anything above 1 bar. Being open to the atmosphere makes it ok for any lube.
2) I seriously doubt any reasonable lube could diesel, although some might degrade o rings. But there's no real compelling reason to use something you're not sure of. A good syn grease, Alphabet org fluid, krytox would work. You'll use so little, that even krytox wouldn't break the bank.
3) there's an argument to be made for running them dry for a period of break in and self polish and then lightly lube them. Vibratory polishing is a good thought to speed up the process.
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Only the contact area's of the washer need to be polished. I like to use a q-tip in a drill, imbedded with polishing compound. A drill press would be better. Then go to work on the edges and interior of the washer. It will take less time than you think, and you can inspect each washer as you go for scratches and dings that will cause problems down the road.
As for lube, I wipe each washer with an oily(super lube) rag, then pat them with a lint free towel. Don't forget your stack's order!
As for lube, I wipe each washer with an oily(super lube) rag, then pat them with a lint free towel. Don't forget your stack's order!
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Skout and every other paintball manufacture uses a Dow 30 grease for all O rings. Never heard of lubing the beville washers. Guess it can’t hurt as long as you wipe off any excess
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