In the spirit of supporting a vendor that cares about our hobby, I'm going to try the BC Ultra Light Reg in the Fletcher instead of the Homebrew option. At only 0.2oz difference, I think I can easily machine enough out of the 1.5oz cylinder housing. The adapter uses 12g cylinders which I use regularly in another hobby. For referemce the whole CO2 adapter weighs 2.7oz and the BC Reg alone is 2.3oz. I got the CO2 adapter on Amazon from a Paintball retailer. (These are used for powering pistols)
Got the deeper hull windows cutout and the rudder, motor pod, and prop shafts curing up tonight. Thought it would be cool to give the stern a bit of "water channeling" effect using gravity to pool the epoxy where I wanted it. Using the Duckworks DWX for the first time. It's slow to set but is fantastic for working indoors. No burning hair smell!
That's what's being recommended by Vac-U-Boat. Just in case you missed Steve's for sale thread. Here's the amazing 25 round cannon he built for my Fletcher!!!
I think he is talking about machining the cup, the part that houses the capsule. No worries on doing that since it is not part of the regulator.
Ah yes Kas, just taking some material out of the capsule housing to lighten it. Not changing airflow properties.
Actually I have had a question about this for a while and now I feel good about one of my regulators. Thanks kas
Removing material from the capsule housing that holds the high pressure capsule of CO2 so it doesn't go flying off and hurting someone? That's sketchy.
When you compare that aluminum capsule holder to one from Genuine Innovations, which is made from plastic, you realize how over built it is. 800 PSI through about a 1/16" hole means there is only about 2.5 pounds of force pushing on the capsule.
Gladly. The point is, the cup that holds the cartridge in place is not part of the high pressure system. It does not store high pressure CO2 and it does not transfer high pressure CO2 to the regulator. No one is advocating making changes to the high pressure system. And let's get some perspective: How many of us has opened a newly filled bottle of CO2 to blow off some excess CO2? I'm sure many of us have. Did you have trouble controlling the bottle as that unregulated high pressure jet exits the bottle? No, of course not. There just isn't enough force to make it hard to hold. So if that's true for a large bottle with a large(er) valve opening, it's going to be true for a cartridge with a tiny pin prick in the top. No one has required OEM tether systems for large bottles, so they shouldn't require them for cartridges.
I think there's more like an 1/8" diameter exposed area of pressure on the capsule face. That would make 10 pounds of pressure on the cap.
The point isn't if the restraining capsule is overbuilt or not. Having any Tom, Dick, or Harry with a grinder/dremel/lathe/mill/file/etc modifying a safety device to save weight is sketchy. Ohh I need to save another ounce, I'll just shave a little more off here. Nobody messes with the huge blob of brass that is part of the valve assembly on a regular CO2 bottle to save weight even though there is no reason for those to be as massive as they are. If you're going to make an argument based off pressure use 3000psi (I assume there is some form of safety burst disk/device somewhere in the high pressure system, those are typically rated for 3000 psi on bottles, if not that's another issue.). You have to plan and design to the max/min a part will actually see not some 70ºF nominal temp pressure. We've had plenty of 3000 psi burst disks blow in the pits so it isn't a stretch. Also Estes Model Rocket Engines only produce a few pounds of thrust (2.4lbs for a A8-3, 4.9lbs for a C11-3) and I think we'd all agree we dont want those flying around the pits. 12g CO2 capsules are pretty similar, if you've never built CO2 powered race cars you should try it some day, it's pretty fun.
Got my MLX cannon from Steve in the mail today. Fitment is super slick! Mag cap hides in the front funnel. I can glue the funnel to the cap and simply unscrew it to reload. The cannon unloaded weighs 2oz.
Is there an actual sale page, I do you have to contact somebody? Would it be possible to just buy just the SS?
Product page: http://www.vac-u-boat.com/Vac-U-FletcherCombat.htm Good Question, paging Phil Pace! Pick up the white courtesy phone please.
