Hot glue regulator seat?

[William the Third]

Anyone ever try making a reg seat out of hot glue? Well, last night I did (no pictures, but it would be pretty boring anyway). I was going through a recently purchased used KP3 for someone. It had the original reg, but had a CP reg installed. He wanted the original reg reinstalled. So I fixed the threads on the swivel collar for the macro fitting. Inside I found that it was completely missing the reg seat. Azodin doesn't sell just the reg seats (only the whole assembly, which they don't intend you to disassemble), though apparently Dye reg seats work great, and are more durable. I don't currently have any Dye reg seats. I've though about trying hot glue as a reg seat before, but never tried it. I figured what's the worst that can happen? So I got the hot glue gun out, heated it up, and squeezed some into reg seat location (I pulled the pressed on cap off first). I let it cool, sanded down the excess (first 320, then 1500) so that it was flush, then pressed the cap back on. I reassembled everything, and then aired it up. So far so good. It's working as intended, and I can make adjustments. The seat looks great with no signs of damage. However, I haven't yet made adjustments while aired up, which is the most stressful on a reg seat (especially designs that rotate the reg seat like this one). Turning down a reg under pressure is the worst for a reg seat. I'm not sure how it would hold up to that. Maybe once I have some Dye reg seats, I'll stress test it to see how it holds up (I'm also curious how it would hold up under CO2). I wouldn't try this on a marker that absolutely needs lower pressure, and which its primary/only means of velocity adjustment is through the reg. The KP3 can take full tank pressure just fine, and velocity adjustment can be done via the hammer/striker spring preload, which means the reg will likely never need to be adjusted once set.

Curious enough, the CP reg was missing the ball that is used for pressure adjustment. It still worked to some extent with just the screw, but you couldn't turn it down as low.

[tyronejk]

Neat! Out of curiosity, I looked up what hot-glue actually is, and found that it's usually EVA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene-vinyl_acetate) which is commonly used to make a foam for things like Croc shoes, but also the solid form is used for mouth guards, which maybe see the same stresses as reg seats.

[William the Third]

This is the "glue" I used (I bought it way back in 2012, damn time files). According to this Technical Data Sheet, it is in fact EVA.

[The Inflicted]

I tried making reg seats for my Azodin reg with hot glue but they never would seal properly. I didn't try sanding/refinishing like you. Maybe skimming the top with a razor blade would have worked better.

I HAVE successfully made a reg seat for the terrible little reg on a Dragun T.E.S., though.

[William the Third]

Did you take off the brass cap first? I thought about skimming off the top first, but I actually wanted a bit of excess. Hot glue shrinks a fair bit as it cools, so I was worried that if I skimmed it off while hot, it might shrink too small.

[The Inflicted]

Did you take off the brass cap first? I thought about skimming off the top first, but I actually wanted a bit of excess. Hot glue shrinks a fair bit as it cools, so I was worried that if I skimmed it off while hot, it might shrink too small.

Yes, cap was off. To be clear, I meant slicing the top off after it had cooled.
The DYE parts I ended up using worked great, though.

[DarkApollo]

I made some for my Autococker LPR and HPR out of TPU.. they are holding well

[superman]

docfire do you sell reg seats for these?

[Trbo323]

Hmmm, are there any other kinds of glues out there for hot glue guns that might work even better?

Nice work, I never would have thought of that

Oh! Idea!

https://www.rei.com/product/745367/swix-p-tex-package-of-4?sku=7453670049&store=&CAWELAID=120217890000874176&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=102333399553&CATCI=pla-2203139908519&cm_mmc=PLA_Google%7C21700000001700551_7453670049%7C92700077976764318%7CTOF%7C71700000066832405&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw6c63BhAiEiwAF0EH1O6LoD4dhp-5UiGg-fJbqrdKFOdcCsgONzVDt0cH6X8tvo17c7gfAxoCAG0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

This stuff is used to repair snowboard base. You basically melt it on and when it cools it's very hard but still has to have a little flex because the board flexes. Now I'm curious if it would make an even better reg seat

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

[William the Third]

In this picture I tried to wipe the grease away with my black shirt. Didn't work too well, as when you zoom in, you can still see Dow 111 as well as black shirt fibers.


In this picture I wiped it down with a paper towel, and really got in there to get as much grease out.

[tyronejk]

If you told me that was a factory reg seat, I'd believe it.

[ChoSanJuan]

This is pretty solid! I do them in TPU on my 3D printer but I agree with tyronejk, it's looks pretty factory!

[Frmrspec]

I did this before, it works fine if you live where it’s colder but on a hot day they fail… I have found the best/most consistent results with a semi rigid epoxie (outside of punched urethane sheet)