Flow - general changes & upgrades

[terry]

dave what happened to the astros and wyachi gearboxes ?

[Mouldy]

They went to shane swan then ended up with you i think :P not broke em have you?

[terry]

no i haven't broken them , just been told the price of them and power rating which is silly :-( thought a few cheap spares would be good ! but as it turns out ive allready got them.

[Revsmin]

Newport Thing!
So before Newport I had the flipper working and firing on very low pressure gas, but put a full bottle in there at the event and it wouldn't fire. Found out it was bad re-plumbing of the valve (different to how it was when tested), and I re-re-plumbed it to how it was before and got to the event super-early to work on and test the next day, and we sorted the problem of it not firing at all, but now it just fires continuously because the pressure balance in the valve isn't constant. The new 3/2 valve isn't functioning properly and therefore can't keep the valve from firing off constantly. At least we know first hand that the locking bar holds though, gave me a right scare!

Looking over the system, I've found the problem. The solenoid is worn, damaged and not a like for like match for the valve (I swapped it out as the new one has a 3mm orifice and the thread on the pipe is 5mm). New connectors with the right 3mm male thread ordered, as soon as that arrives I should be able to re-re-re-plumb (!) the system and have it flipping for Santa Pod. Might even have the new drive ready for then, you never know! Also ordered a replacement valve to run the self-righting flip, probably won't self-right without making the bleed hole smaller but hey ho, it's nice to have a fast and powerful lifter for when a big flip isn't practical.

[Revsmin]

New low pressure 2/2 valve arrived today, so I'll have the low power flip up and running shortly.

[Max]

What size is the ram in flow, I remember you told me at burgess hill but I can't remember!

[Revsmin]

80mm bore, 90mm stroke (I think, might be 100).

[Flag Captured]

"About the size of a small moon" is also an acceptable answer.

How does the dual-flip work then, does it just limit the amount of gas coming out of the higher pressure bottle for the big flip, or do you need a second canister for the low-pressure?

[mrsam]

"About the size of a small moon"

That's no moon, it's a space station

[Revsmin]

The regulator splits via a t-connection to two separate valves controlled independently by different channels on the transmitter. One goes to the pilot 3/2 valve for the big flip, the other goes to a small 2/2 valve for the self right flip.

[Flag Captured]

Ahh, that's a much simpler system than the one I imagined. I thought it might be separate valves, but didn't know whether that would take power away from the main flipper. Handy to have that, instead of cartwheeling like some other flippers do trying to self-right...

[Revsmin]

Yes, it's a neat little feature. Or it would be if it had enough power to self right! I've done the plumbing on the self righter, all done and ready to fire, put the link in and poof, smoke! The relay switch had burned out, so a new one is on its way. Hopefully it'll turn up in time for Santa Pod.
On the other, more powerful side of the pneumatics, the new connectors turned up and the two companies I ordered them from have sent the wrong ones! RS have sent 2mm ones, and the ebay seller has sent 6mm. The last piece in the Flow puzzle is this part, and I need and ordered 3mm!

[Revsmin]

It took a couple of months, but finally, Flow is fighting fit!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t01XE5Db0Sw

[calumco]

get some new armour made next

[Revsmin]

New drive arrived yesterday: