Air Gun Home :: View topic

Jaxom · Senior Member

So'kay, I've got a pretty good idea what parts I'm going to use to finish building my back-pack 2300. After that I'm going to need to figure a way to fill my tanks up.

Even with Co2, I can see it could be quite expensive after a while getting your paint ball tanks filled. So I got to thinking, my local welding supplyer that sells gas can do straight Co2, rather then the standard Argon/Co2 mix my mig welder uses.

Can I get an idea what bits and peices I'll need in order to fill my paint ball tanks off a welding tank?

When it comes time to upgrade to HPA, I'm not sure what to do now. Orginally I thought, I'd buy a scuba tank, then have that filled as nessary, then fill my 24oz tanks from that. Problem is this, while yes I did check, there are scuba stores in my area, they're all quite a distance away. So, I have to add travel time and costs to the concideration. For those of you already set up to use HPA, how much does it cost to fill a tank? With a full tank, how many 24oz tank refills do you get?

Any other suggestions or comments about setting up refill stations either Co2 or HPA, speak up, I'm interested in hearing all!

Jax

kanyon · Silver Status Member

This is my set up for filling the PCPs with Argon

The top one can be used for a scuba tank aswell as a industal gas bottle.

Jaxom · Senior Member

Wow! you used argon!? Never thought of that! Really though I'm going to need what types of connectors I'm going to need, what type of regulator...ect.

kanyon · Silver Status Member

Jaxom · Senior Member

Well, lets put it this way. I'm ordering Joe's DI bulk kit, which comes with a 1800psi burst disk. I did check that JDS carries 2000psi burst disks. I'd have to check with Joe to see if the parts he uses can handle the extra 200psi increase. But JDS doesn't carry anything higher, so I assume that's pretty much limit for what airguns can handle without turning them into fancy gernades.

fritz · Silver Status Member

Jaxom, argon is very readily available at ALL real welding shops. I have a feeling it is cheap too. IIRC the large 5' (K?) tanks hold 4500psi when fresh and look like you could fit 2 and a half 88cf carbonfibers in them. Looking at maybe 200cf total

Jaxom · Senior Member

Yes, of course Argon is readily avaible. Most mixed welding gas starts out with argon. Steel uses Co2/argon, stainless they add a bit of helium, but for aluminium it's straight argon shielding.

I'm just wondering if they have the facilities to fill a tank with HPA... Have to ask them next time I go for supplies.

kanyon · Silver Status Member

Jaxom · Senior Member

kanyon,

What do you mean by "alloy"?

For stainless I've been using what is called "Tri-Mix", Co2, Argon, Helium".

I'm just curious about the above... Still need to know what type of regulator, conections and other bits in order to connect my paint ball tanks to weld tank in order to fill 'em up?

yourdaddyjoe · Supporting Member

It was my understanding that Co2 in liquid form runs at 850 psi in the bottle...

when you fill from bottle to bottle... you hang your filling tank upside down to transfer the liquid and use a scale for the bottle you are filling.

Kinda like transfering propane from one tank to the other...

Sorry... just a bit tired... long day

Slavia · Moderator

Jaxom · Senior Member

Now i'm even more confused, and still don't know what parts I'll need to fill Co2 paint ball tanks and eventually HPA tanks.

Odd you mentioned propane refills. Being the outdoorsman that I am, I've 3 20# tanks for cooking and such when I go camping. But I still need some of the 1# ones. My laterns use the 1# ones. I use to just buy the 1# ones and toss the empties away. But now stores like Cabela's and Bass Pro, sell an adapter that fills the 1#'s off a 20# one. In the "how to" both tanks are upright. So I'm not sure how having a liquid flowing would be a good example.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here. I assume I'm going to need some sort of regulartor. Let me explain why. I do understand that the pressure in the standard 12g Co2 cartirdges is 850psi.

Let me side bar for a moment. When buying shielding gas for my welder, my tank usually reads somewhere between 3000 and 3500 psi. Another member on the welding forum I belong to claimes he consistantly get's 3000 no matter what the temps are outside. While yet another member claims he feels cheated unless his tank reads 5000psi!!!

Back to ag's. If I was just using a stock gas tube leading to the valve, I think it best to keep the psi level at 850psi. But what's the advantage of having a burst disk of 1800 psi then? And as I've mentioned JD sells a 2000 psi burst disk, that I'd love to use just to tweak that much more power out of my pistol.

Tempurature is going to play a key factor here and should be kept in mind while filling tanks. If I know it's going to be in the mid 70's I can fill the tank to say 1500 psi (using the 1800psi disk) and giving myself a 300 psi safety margin. Now if it's going to be 90F outside while I'm hunting, I may drop that even lower down to 1000-1200 psi. just to play it safe. I'll have alot invested in this ag, and I repeat myself here, I don't want it to turn into a gernade and blow up in my face!

yourdaddyjoe · Supporting Member

The DI Bulk adapter can handle the 2000psi. The stock Gas tube gets dangerious above 1600 psi. By using the DI adapter you have 0 pressure in the stock gas tube. It is all in the adapter which is made from brass.

With the JDR tank & Regulator... you have the proper burst disks on the tank side and on the output side. The 1800 psi burst disk becomes redundant. If you are going to run 2k psi you will need to replace the 1.8k burst disk with a 2k psi or plug the port off...

yourdaddyjoe · Supporting Member

Hey Jax... one more thing to get excited about...

This is what I use to fill both the Sniper Project and the Bulk Fill 1077.

I also have an ASA adapter so if I want to sit at the bench an plug in the Rear Tank or my sons 2250 and shoot with the remote tank. The hose has QD's on each end.

The Side Check valve is to degas the air lines so I can disconect.

yourdaddyjoe · Supporting Member

BTW...

You fill Co2 by weight and HPA by pressure.