Help with pressure gauges?

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jacoblesann
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Tue May 21, 2019 11:12 pm

I’ve been hard at work making my everything launcher air cannon more efficient and nicer and one addition was getting a PCP airgun Pump. I’m a huge fan of the pump and I snagged it for like $80 but I have no idea what pressure I’m pushing. The pressure gauge starts at 5 MPA or around 700 PSI and I’m not wanting to go past 600 PSI so I’d like to find a way to measure things properly. Should I find a way to replace the pressure gauge on the pump, or should I try and devise an inline pressure gauge which is attached to the air chuck?

The air chuck itself is 1/8” so finding fittings is pretty finicky already. Then again, the dial itself also seems to be 1/8th NPT so I doubt thats very common either.
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Wed May 22, 2019 6:05 am

Good on you for shelling out for a better pump :D

Plenty of 1/8 NPT gauges in the range you're looking at, here is an example on eBay. Shipping is exorbitant for this one but I'm sure you'll find something similar locally. 1/8 NPT is the de facto standard for most paintball fittings.

Here are some 1/8 NPT paintball mini gauges at a more reasonable price though you'll have a couple of weeks before they arrive:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-2x-600-PSI- ... Swrg1bXY5J

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/2x1500-PSI-Pain ... SwvP9aoRpw
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
jacoblesann
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Wed May 22, 2019 8:44 am

Thanks JSR!

Yeah, that’s pretty much exactly it. Are these tightened with a large wrench like the gauge on the pump?
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Wed May 22, 2019 9:19 am

Are these tightened with a large wrench like the gauge on the pump?
If you look closely at the gauges there are flats on the outside diameter that can fit into a wrench.
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
jacoblesann
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Thu May 23, 2019 10:13 am

Oh okay, thanks. I’ll look into getting one of these.

Sort of unrelated but do you know how much pressure I can use if my parts are rated to 600 PSI? Newbie question, but I’m not sure. The steel pipe has a higher pressure rating but the valve itself is a 3/4” brass ball valve.
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D_Hall
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Mon May 27, 2019 5:11 pm

The smart answer is 600 psi. Is there margin in the design? Sure. But if you don't ahve the skills to determine what those margins are, you really shouldn't be pushing the systems past their ratings.
Simulation geek (GGDT / HGDT) and designer of Vera.
jacoblesann
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Mon May 27, 2019 5:43 pm

Yeah, I agree. I was just wondering if it’s safe to operate at 600 PSI itself. I’m probably not going much past 400. Although the valve is much smaller than the other parts of the tank, I’m not gonna risk blowing it apart. Thanks for the confirmation.
evanjenkins
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Tue Aug 20, 2019 1:52 am

jackssmirkingrevenge wrote:Good on you for shelling out for a better pump :D

Plenty of 1/8 NPT gauges in the range you're looking at, here is an example on eBay. Shipping is exorbitant for this one but I'm sure you'll find something similar locally. 1/8 NPT is the de facto standard for most paintball fittings.

Here are some 1/8 NPT paintball mini gauges at a more reasonable price though you'll have a couple of weeks before they arrive:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-2x-600-PSI- ... Swrg1bXY5J

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/2x1500-PSI-Pain ... SwvP9aoRpw
Thanks for all the links provided, it is most helpful!
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