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Air Gun Home Forum Index » General Air Gun Questions and Topics » Low Buck HPA/PCP 3 SCUBA Tank Cascade Fill Station    View previous topic :: View next topic    Was this helpful? Yes  85%  [ 6 ] No  14%  [ 1 ] Total Votes : 7 Low Buck HPA/PCP 3 SCUBA Tank Cascade Fill Station   Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 7:51 pm yourdaddyjoe Supporting Member Joined: 26 May 2008 Posts: 4027 Location: Tatorville, USA More and more of us with AGAS are switching to HPA/PCP Air Guns and are having a blast shooting over 100 yards…. You young guys can play with your pumps…. I say.... Well the heck with pumping… “LET’S SHOOT” Here is a portable and a budget way to do what the pro shops and paint ballers are doing and save some $$$ in the long run… All this winter I have been going bulk PCP on every AG that I own that can be modified to HPA or Bulk Co2…. Average cost to fill a SCUBA tank at a Pro Shop is about $8.00. Bulk 20# Co2… $30…. I did the math on the Bulk Co2… each 20# tank fill saves an estimated $50 when compared to having the individual 9-20oz Paint Ball tanks filled… I have no idea how much you save compaired to the Powerlets... I bet it is a bunch... The advantage to a cascade system is... Less bleed off air and more High Pressure fills.... and all adds up to... spending more time shooting and none pumping... Most times... you are only taking one tank at a time down to the SCUBA shop to fill... Hey... a weekend of shooting only cost $8.00 for air... and that is with only two of us shooting... BTW... ThatGuy is the one who turned me on to the cascade system... GO SLOW! Try not to heat up your tank... as soon as it cools down... You have lost 12% of your over all pressure... Here is the trick to the system... Low and Med pressure tanks have foster check valves so you only bleed the system once... Saves Air... The final street tee has the regular 1/8" nipple and QD... Say you have a 3000 psi tank you want to fill... Ya start filling from the low pressure side first to about 1400 psi... Then turn off tank #1... Then fill to apx. 2200 psi from the Mid range tank... and turn off tank. Save your big tank for topping off to 3000 psi... If you are filling to a lower pressure... Just spread the fill between the three tanks... Works with direct filling you AG too... Finaly... Make sure all tank valves are closed... bleed off the system from the High pressure yolk only... Disconnect and go shoot some more... 3 Tank HPA/PCP Fill Station Shopping List…. 3x SCUBA tanks $50-100 used ea… Hello Craig’s List or eBay 3x Scuba yolks $50-80 ea - Ebay 2x 1/8” Foster Nipple Male thread $14 ea - Ebay 1x 1/8” Nipple Male thread $5 - Ebay 1x 1/8” HPA Rated Quick Disconnect $5 - Ebay 1x 1/8” Female, Female 90 degree elbow $1 Fastenal.com Get the Eaton Brand… 1x 1/8” Female, Female, Male Street Tee $1.50 Fastenal.com Get the Eaton Brand… 1x 1/8” Female x3 Street Tee $1.50 Fastenal.com Get the Eaton Brand… 2x 1/8” x 18” Grease Gun Hoses rated at 4800 psi $15 ea Local NAPA Auto Parts Store… Roll of TFE pipe tape… $0.99 at the parts counter…. $222-312 with-out tanks…. How much is a good HPA/PCP pump? How much exercise do you want to do? Again… “LET’S SHOOT” To out right buy a fixed cascade system can cost you an easy grand…. And you have to strap your tanks together… Bulk Co2 Too easy…. Postal Scale with out “Automatic Hold” feature… $30 on ebay… Hanging scales suck… Co2 Paint Ball Fill kit… eBay $20 Flat vice or something to keep your tank upright… Harbor Freight… Guys… word of advice on the Co2 filling… Read the instructions! Or stock up on burst disks….. Now I will take your questions... har, har Last edited by yourdaddyjoe on Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:43 pm; edited 1 time in total _________________ Say "NO" to BB Gun Wars... Quid Pro Quo Rule: An eye for an eye... www.HPASports.com www.Facebook.com/hpasports   Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 7:59 pm dummyracer36 Senior Member Joined: 21 Sep 2008 Posts: 723 Location: St. Louis, Missouri Joe, a couple questions first off, do all three tanks get filled to 3000psi to begin with? second if they are, maybe i'm just having a beer goggle moment, but i dont see an advantage, other than just having 3 large scuba tanks to draw from. _________________ "not tonight dear, i have a race in the morning"   Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:10 pm yourdaddyjoe Supporting Member Joined: 26 May 2008 Posts: 4027 Location: Tatorville, USA Yes Duuummmay\\ racccer... yaaa havea uer beeegr goooogleas on... All tanks start out with the innitial 3000+ PSI fill. The advantage is you are only going to full pressure from one tank and using the first two to do the bulk of the fill... When the first tank drops down in pressure... you go have that filled and rotate tanks... Fill the low... Move it to the High position... High to the mid... Mid to the low... Use tape to mark the tanks when you switch them around... I lied... last time we used the cascade system... 3 of us were shooting, all day... I only had to refill the low side tank when we were done... _________________ Say "NO" to BB Gun Wars... Quid Pro Quo Rule: An eye for an eye... www.HPASports.com www.Facebook.com/hpasports   Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:12 pm yourdaddyjoe Supporting Member Joined: 26 May 2008 Posts: 4027 Location: Tatorville, USA I must be getting old... We also daisy chained a 3000/1800 psi regulated tank to the low side and had the Disco plugged in all day for constant 1800 psi air... I am going to add another hose on the output so I don't brake off the fill nipples on my direct fill guns... _________________ Say "NO" to BB Gun Wars... Quid Pro Quo Rule: An eye for an eye... www.HPASports.com www.Facebook.com/hpasports   Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:33 pm dummyracer36 Senior Member Joined: 21 Sep 2008 Posts: 723 Location: St. Louis, Missouri ok, thats kinda how i thought it was working. the pics are tad decieving, are the tanks plumbed to each other? _________________ "not tonight dear, i have a race in the morning"   Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:40 pm yourdaddyjoe Supporting Member Joined: 26 May 2008 Posts: 4027 Location: Tatorville, USA dummyracer36 wrote: ok, thats kinda how i thought it was working. the pics are tad decieving, are the tanks plumbed to each other? Dr... Step away from the beer... Yes the tanks are plumbed together by the hoses. Each tank yolk has a QD on it. Low & Med nipples have foster check valves so they don't back flow air back into the tanks... You plug your gun or HPA tank into the final stage to fill from the whole system... Then you only bleed the system once insted of at each stage... _________________ Say "NO" to BB Gun Wars... Quid Pro Quo Rule: An eye for an eye... www.HPASports.com www.Facebook.com/hpasports   Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:41 pm kanyon Silver Status Member Joined: 09 Aug 2008 Posts: 1582 Location: New Zealand I like mine free gas "Argon" But its real bugger to carry around in the car for feild filling Pete   Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:09 pm AirGunEric Site Admin Joined: 20 Jan 2007 Posts: 6930 Location: "Out There" First question: Why is this posted as a "poll"? Second question: How much air do you save at $8.00 a fill to pay for all the extra parts required beyond a single yoke and single-ended hose? _________________ ` I'd say "I care." But I'd be lying. Canadian Airgun Supplier: http://www.scopesandammo.com/storefront   Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 4:51 am yourdaddyjoe Supporting Member Joined: 26 May 2008 Posts: 4027 Location: Tatorville, USA The poll was for the heck of it... People keep asking..... and I wanted to be a helpy helperton... 2-3 guys using one single tank.... By the time you fill the third gun... your pressure is all ready down to about 2500 psi.... Buy doing the bulk of the fills with the first two tanks... you get a heck of alot more full pressure top offs with the third tank. Simply put... the air volume comes from the first two tanks and the High Pressure comes from the third. If you were simply to have 3 tanks.... each time you disconect you have to bleed off the air between the gun and yolk... which waste air... So by connecting the three tanks.... you only have to bleed off once... = more shooting fun between fills... If you go to a SCUBA shop or a Pro Paintball shop... they use cascade systems... Some even have a compressor in line that only comes on when the top off tank gets low... at the end of the day they equalize the pressure between the tanks and let the compressor run at night to top them all off... And yes... it's way past my bed time... I can't get much uglier so I need my bueaty rest... Good night... _________________ Say "NO" to BB Gun Wars... Quid Pro Quo Rule: An eye for an eye... www.HPASports.com www.Facebook.com/hpasports   Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 12:34 pm sniper Silver Status Member Joined: 28 Nov 2008 Posts: 3752 Location: Star, Idaho i got it. that's kinda what i understood on the phone. one nice pimpin' set up joe! _________________ I believe in gun control, If there's a gun around I want to be controlling it....... 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