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  • davidjp

Model Flyer February 2000 compressed air regulator valve article

Started by Nigel_M, Jan 03, 2026, 10:26 PM

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Nigel_M

I have part 2 of an at least 3-part series on compressed air engines by Norman Fallows which, I presume, ran from December 1999 to Febuary 2000, because Part 2 is in Jan 2000 issue of Model Flyer. The Part 2 which I have mentions a regulator valve which Norman designed and built and states the design is described in Part 3. I'd like to read that if possible and have fingers crossed it includes at least a GA diagram.

My interest is not so much in the compressed air engines but I want to find if anyone has developed a constant pressure regulator suitable for our CO2 engines. To the best of my knowledge, most if not all CO2 model engine regulators are simple flow regulators that only reduce the supply pressure by a constant proportion. For constant speed, the bane of CO2 motor operation, we need constant supply pressure to the motor which equates to constant gas pressure on the outlet from the regulator.

The design is well established - search on gas pressure regulator valve, Wikipedia is ok if a bit OTT - the design effort required will be to find a spring and suitable diaphragm areas that work at our sort of scales. It might not be possible ie practical within sensible weight limits. I wondered if this article might have made a workable design; it looks promising from a photo of the parts in Part 2 but the working pressures might be completely different.

Thanks