I've been tinkering with pneumatics for a while now and have had a fair amount of success with making some fun little plinkers, unfortunately, my commercially bought 1/4" QEV packed it in recently.
With inspiration sparked by Jack, BtB, Crowley (and every other next level machinist on here
) I had to persist.After a short break, the hobby bug kept niggling at me to build my new launcher.
I sat down armed with every fitting and rubber washer I had in the house.
While sitting there I came up with a design similar to what you would find on the french "patator" forums.
I guess it's a direct actuated dump valve? please correct me if i'm wrong. I believe is the same principle as a QDV.
The piston is pushed forwards to sit against the barrel port, air is filled via the Schrader valve and flows into the valve, forcing the rubber face to seal against the barrel port.
When the piston is pulled backwards, the face unseals from the barrel port, allowing the air to exhaust.
The valve housing is a 1/4" female tee, the barrel port is a 1/4" male x male hose tail with the barrel inserted into the hose barb.
The piston is a bolt with a thick rubber washer glued onto the top of it and has a groove cut for the rear o-ring to be seated snug and stay in place.
A 1/4" to 1/8" reducer houses a larger o-ring and slides over the back of the piston and screws into the valve housing to keep it all in place (and airtight lol).
Under all the action is a 1/4" Y fitting which connects the QDV, Schrader and air tank together.
The air tank itself is an old aquarium CO2 canister with some of the thread removed to allow for full flow and a proper fit inside the screw fittings. A 3/8" to 1/4" reducer attaches the tank to the system.
The barrel is a 9/32" OD (7.14mm) brass tube @ ~270mm length using 1/4" steel ball bearings as ammo, nice snug fit.
Any questions/statements please chime in!
Thanks everyone!
- Overview - Skeletal
- T & Y Config
- Valve Housing - Piston end is exposed with makeshift trigger added for smooth & consistent pull.
- Piston - Closed position
- Piston - Open position
- Valve - Piston removed, just a good ol' fashioned tee.
