Sprinkler valve...

[keep_it_real]

First take the top off the sprinkler valve. Pull out the diaphragm. With a file, grind down the outside edge of the pipe thing inside. Try to make it as even as possible around the hole thing. You want to file it into a dull edge.
If you take the manual switch out, make sure that you plug the hole thing with lots of silicon or epoxy.

[pyr0]

Okay, so now I have solved all of the leaking problems and such. New one. I made a very small chamber to test my valve, it is about 2 feet long and 1" dia. I went up to 60psi with no leaking. When I triggered my blowgun valve, all of the air on the inside of the valve and in the chamber just came out of it, it didn't lift up the phram. The only reason I can think that this would happen is because the volume of air is so small... suggestions?


*Edit* I tried to see if the phram was sticky, and it actually was a little. I unstuck it and went back up to 60psi. When I triggered it, it worked better than it did before, because a tiny breeze came out of the end, but when I say tiny I mean tiny. It might be becuase it is sticky... should I grease it or something?

[jrrdw]

At 60 psi it should have acted normaly, you could try a bigger chamber, make sure the diaphram isn't hung up some how???

[noname]

Unscrew the safety nozzle on the blowgun, it may not be dumping the air fast enough. You also have a guide rod on your sprinkler, it may have been messed up by modding it.

[pyr0]

I was under the impression, (view the beginning few posts on this thread) that I didn't have a guide rod... I'll try to see if taking the safty nozzle off the blowgun makes any difference, that might take me about 30 minutes... ive never done it.

[noname]

That valve looks like it has a guide rod, I'm not 100% sure. The safety nozzle should come off just by twisting it with pliers.
Where'd you get that blowgun?
Oh, and why is there primer on the threads connecting to the valve?

[MrCrowley]

Shorten your hose length, its huge. Try just threading the blow gun in the sprinkler and see what happens.

mine leaked because i had let primer disolve the innards of my valve but i dont think you used primer/glue yet, but if that happens your pretty much screwed

Found that on page one, you also happened to use primer on the threads so check the inside.

[pyr0]

I got the safty nozzle off in like 2 seconds... there is primer on the threads is there becuase that was leaking, so I glued it up... when I'm done itll need to be there anyway and I also only did that like 1 hour ago... before it wasnt working at all. I got the blowgun at a Ace Hardware reseller... it looks pretty old becuase the max psi it can handle is 150, and from reading other posts ive found that mostly valves dont go that high anymore. I cut my hose that long becuase right now I am just testing my valve, and when I get it to work I will cut it down to a good length... do you think it matters? If so I can cut it. I tripled the size of the chamber and got it to work suffiently enough that it makes a sound coming out of the valve. It is still a little stickey, (the phram), so should I grease it? Sorry about the long post... :help:

[noname]

"Sorry about the long post... "
Absolutely NOTHING to be sorry about. A long post usually means that you thought it out, or had a good description, which is true for your post. Don't apologize for it.
Those blowguns are really heavy dutyand high flow, I can get them at Ace also, but I've only seen them at one place. What state do you live in? Shortening the hose will give you less pilot volume, although it should work anyway, with the high flow blowgun. Greasing the diaphragm should help some, what kind of sound does it make?

[pyr0]

Thanks for being optimistic... I live in Mass. The store I bought it in is called "Harvey's Hardware" in Needham, a suburb of Boston. It actually cost less than one that had a max pressure of like 30psi. The sound is like a high pitched phraaaaaaaa! Not that that is very descriptive, but I couldn't think of a better word... yay!

[pyr0]

OK, so now I have plugged all of the leaks I made trying to fix others... now I have shortened the cable to about 1 1/2ft in length, and my test chamber is about 5 feet by 1" dia. I have taken out the little piece of plastic that plugs the equalization hole in the phram. I filed down the edges of the inner phrams plastic pipe, and I put some oil on the phram so it wasn't sticky. At 30psi, (I think this is becuase there is not enough air) when I activate the blowgun, about half of the air comes out of the blowgun, the other half out of the sprinkler valve. It makes a high pitched choppy "phhrpraaaa!" sound out of the valve. Should it be higher than this, becuase my blowgun is really high flow (30psi out) and there isnt much air in the chamber... so I think it might just be the volume of air, in which case I can finally start building my first pneumatic cannon. If you think that the results I am getting aren't usual, (or they are), please post and tell me.
P.S. My blowgun valve is welded into two pieces... how can I take out the inner air restrictor? (see pic above)

Thank you!

[noname]

I've tried modifying that type of blowgun, and it isn't possible, unfortunately. The good news is that they have about the same flow as a modified normal blowgun, so it doesn't make a huge difference.
Try the valve at about 80 psi and post the results, it should work fine.

[Pyr0man1ac]

Not that anyone really cares, I have changed my name to Pyr0man1ac, becuase my activation email was spammed and I couldn't find it, so I used another email account, not my main one, so this is more useful.

Anyway--- tested it at 80psi. When I activate it, it comes out quite fast, so I think it is finally working. It comes out fast enough to be quite cold when leaving the chamber. I have gone ahead and bought another valve so I can have dual-modded sprinkler valves on my cannon. Thank you everyone who posted here, I have learned a lot and it was very helpful. Thanks.

[integral]

i like ur name...

anyway... if ur threads are leaking at the solenoid valve, u should have used teflon to seal up the threads before attached on the valve, instead of gluing it to the valve. be sure to do this instead on ur new valve, since the glue can get messy on the inside, causing u even more probelms.

[Pyr0man1ac]

Aactually, the threads were leaking but that wasnt the problem... the whole valve was leaking. The phram wasn't seating where it should. I used teflon tape, but I actually made a 1" crack in my sprinkler valve trying to put it in too tight... I mixed some sawdust with epoxy and slathered that on, and at least for now I have no problems. I've brought it up to like 80psi. (So far... 8) ) Thanks for the help and the compliment on my name hehe fire.