homemade check valves

[Laserlips]

Hi Friends. I'm looking to make my own check valve and get my Micro CA-II running properly, I know I need a ball bearing and a pen spring, but I don't know the proper size ball bearing to use. Do I just drop them in and see what fits? Am I also able to do this to the bucket changer to ASA adapters? Sorry if this has been answered already, The search function was very broad.

Thanks for reading.

[Trbo323]

I would be interested to know this as well I have a six pack that I had to improvise the check valve in so I would like to get the proper size ball bearing if it's a possibility

Also I have the body of a micro caii but it's literally just the outer body and ASA threads if any of you guys wants it just pay shipping it's in really good shape

Sent from my motorola edge 5G UW (2021) using Tapatalk

[Toestr]

I've been toying with the idea of using an acorn nut as a check valve. The round head seals against an oring (or possibly metal if it's nylon) and the points act as guides against the wall while the CO2 gets by on the flats. You can put a spring behind it and thread some threaded rod into the nut for a spring guide (this would also hold the nut off the ASA air passage for better flow). The biggest issue is finding cap nuts that are small enough to fit the air passage in a 12g changer.

[Grendel]

I did not do an acorn nut but did try a button head and it worked but did leak by more then my current setup. If I went down this road again I was thinking about maybe using Nylon acorn nut with a small section of nylon all thread screwed in or a nylon button head with the hex socket filled in with melted nylon. I filled the button head screw with epoxy and polished it but it did not stay and had to clean the epoxy remains out of air lines and Phantoms valve.

[Toestr]

I also had the thought about using a button head. I think if you use a small enough screw the drive hole won't matter. You can also put a nut on it as a guide.

[Carp]

Pretty sure the "ball bearing" needed is just a basic BB gun "BB". I'll let someone else verify that though.

Also, found this old thread...Phantom check valve source

[Grendel]

Yup, BB or similar size. I actually was for a while using a non-biodegradable air soft BB and seemed to work real well.

[Grendel]

This is what I am currently using in my main Micro CA II. A Flat head SS Machine Screw (8-32) with a dot of silicone gasket material epoxied to the head and a random spring (I literally have hundreds of misc. compression springs). Once the epoxy set I clamped the screw with gasket in place so the gasket work form a little pultrusion where the hole is in the valve to preform the gasket. I might chuck up the screw and remove the threads and turn down the head closer to the diameter of the gasket to open up air passage but it works now so I doubt I will fix something that is not broken for the time being.

The reason I moved from a ball to this is there were times of hard use (abuse) that the check valve would not work. I theorized it was because the ball did not stay centered over the hole so I went this route because even if the screw shifts the gasket will still cover the hole.

[DocsMachine]

It's worth noting that the check valve wasn't necessarily intended as a "long term" seal- it was only there to keep a little charge in the gun while you swapped cartridges. It only had to hold, or not leak appreciably, for a few seconds while you swapped.

Not saying "don't" try better seals, just pointing out the steel ball was, at the time, considered sufficient for the purpose.

Doc.

[Grendel]

Yup, just need enough to change cartridges and actually having it bleed down might be a good thing too to help prevent inadvertent discharge off the field. I personally use ID EZ on/off so I can have the advantage of quick depressurization.