Thread: Air regulator ? ...and RANT!

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First, the rant (semi-joking here)

Is there some secret bond you men have to keep us women from figuring out pneumatics? When I get pneumatic parts there's no documentation with it???! Obviously, it's assumed you already went to mechanical school or have sat around in the Secret Man Beer Circle (SMBC) where all knowledge of tools and engineering are passed on to the young men folk. This SMBC is to ensure that the men look like all-knowing Man Gods to their women. I assume.

Here's my problem: I buy air regulators and there is no explanation which inlet the 'air in' hose goes into and which end 'air out' goes too. By shear LUCK I've been using the right inlet. Until today. Got a new regulator and it came with the dial and plug not already installed in the regulator body. I guessed and hooked it up to the prop. Weird things happen. I set it at 25 psi and it makes the most obnoxious honking sound (kind of funny) I've ever heard. When I set the psi to what the compressor was already putting out, no honking. I emailed Doug at Fright Props and he tells me it's in backward.

But what is backward? Do I have the air in the wrong inlet or do I have the dial and plug in the wrong holes?

Here's pictures of what I have set up right now (currently wrong and honking). So, my question: Is there some well understood tricks or knowledge about which inlet ports go to where? If so, please tell me. I missed those SMBC's



See how I outlined this arrow impression in the regulator body? Is that a symbol to tell me that the air (from compressor) goes in that direction?








Is there a standard side that the dial is installed on?







Here I'm showing the plug on the other side of where the dial is installed.

Ok Terra, you got us,.......ok,I'm going to break the secret "man's code" (SMBC) . It started W A Y back when the 1st caveman invented the wheel, it was then decided that a secret "man's code" be invented.......... ( later known as the SMBC )
( you women folk didn't know this,it was a secret ) that all the technical stuff that would be invented in the future would only be passed thru ritualistic initiation of the "beer circle " from men to they're sons...........
Pneumatics were very high on that list...........

Air regulators are one way in/out due to the internal diaphragm, the gauge looks to be on the wrong side, The honking is the low pressure at the diaphragm ( or you forgot to feed the duck....LoL ) & pressure regulators have an arrow or "in" from air source that you should connect to.

If that doesn't do it then the arrow thing on yours is scewy, the air inlet is backwards.
Funny thing is I never pay attention to it, I just seem to assemble them without a second thought,........must be that caveman mentality.........

Hope that completely clears up why it's a secret from you women folk,....

I KNEW IT!!!! I keep accusing hubby of this conspiracy but he denies it.

Ok, so tomorrow I switch the dial and plug around. Thanks! So is there a standard place the dial goes in? Is there some kind of indication or do you normally just have to guess? If so....very lame! I'm talking to all you regulator engineers out there!!!!! Grrrr...

Originally Posted by Terra

I KNEW IT!!!! I keep accusing hubby of this conspiracy but he denies it.

Ok, so tomorrow I switch the dial and plug around. Thanks! So is there a standard place the dial goes in? Is there some kind of indication or do you normally just have to guess? If so....very lame! I'm talking to all you regulator engineers out there!!!!! Grrrr...

The "dial " is a pressure guage LOL..., The plug is to plug any unused ports. What you need to change is the inlet and outlet connections , if in fact the regulator is backwards. According to your picture it is hooked up correctly. I would thing maybe a piece of tape or some other debris may have gotten in the body of the regulator or the diaphragm might be bad.

Oh And Dark Lord ..thanks for letting our seceret out!!! LMAO!!

Oh, okay...well with that here's another thing: When I was screwing in the plug it just kept going deeper and deeper into the hole (goodness this is sounding...umm. well..nasty). So, I just screwed it to where I thought it should be. Should I crank it in more until it stops? I was afraid I was hitting the internal mechanisms.

I have had a couple of regulators that the gauge only worked on one side of the 2 gauge ports,....go figure, it shouldn't as they are "open" ports for gauge on either side.
The arrow should be the "in" port, but when you increased air pressure the honk went away, does sound like the air lines need to be reversed, Or the diaphragm is bad.........the gauge should be fine.........
Check on the sides of regulator for an arrow or "in".

(All this screwing,OH my virgin ears.... ) The plug will stop at the threads only (should) go so far into it.

Hey bfjou812, at least I didn't spill the beans on the other secret man stuff......!?

I had the same problem with an air manifold i had with the plug going in too far. I just used a bit of teflon tape and gave it a nice tight fit and taht was the end of the problem. I have noticed with regulatots, you definately get what you pay for. I bought some harbor freight that are only around 6 bucks and out of 3 of them, 2 of them are just junk. Now the craftsman ones i bought are about 30 bucks, but they are very good and reliable and they lock so that the preasure cannot be changed.

Ya I used to get those at car swap meets for cheap, key word, now I only use quality like the craftsman..... but the cheap ones do work great as fishing lures......

From the arrow position, you have it hooked up correctly. It should not matter which port the gauge is connected to as they are there only for convenience in terms of mounting position.

The diaphragm is not likely damaged or you would have air leaking around the top where the adjusting knob is located, and it would get worse as you increased the pressure setting,so no worries there.

Sounds like there is not enough spring pressure/length to allow for very low settings. As some of the previous posts mentioned, cheaper regulators are often not very precise.

Just turn it up until it quiets down, 25 psi is pretty low for most applications anyway.

Oh no! Who blabbed about the SMBC! Rats, now they're on to us... Hopefully they don't find out about DTFE (Duct Tape Fixes Everything).

On a serious note, I just went out and looked at my regulators (bought from Grainger, I think) and they are all embossed with directional arrows. Even a caveman can't screw that up (at least I haven't yet).