Top Hat loosening up …
I noticed the last 2-3 times i’ve been shooting the TSS, that after a while the top hat starts creeping counter-clockwise, and naturally those cheap-ass little grub screws strip out if you try to tighten them up, cheap I say! CHEAP! So, I don’t think my efforts to tighten them up was successful, didn’t feel like it..Next time they work loose I’ll remove them, drill the holes up , tap them and install 2 #8 x 32 stainless steel grub screws I just happen to have here. I’d bet that this is a common problem, yes?
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has anyone ever tried putting locktite on the valve stem itself other than the screws?
find the TH adjustment that suits you best remove the TH, apply locktite blue sparingly, reinstall, adjust, allow to set up.
there would be no real need for the grub screws.
just a ‘dab’ of locktite blue would be all that’s necessary and it would be easy enough to loosen by heat IF USED SPARINGLY.
well,if the grub screws were in so far that they dented the tube, then the TH wouldn’t turn by itself, as the screw tips would be down into the dented area.. My problem was that the screw heads were stripped out, and couldn’t be tightened enough to hold- Once I got them out I found that what you said about not enough area was true…Just a tiny point is all the small #4 screws had..the #8×32 ‘s I put in have a nice ,much larger area that grips the stem 😎 I’ve run almost a full 500 tin of pellets through it since “the fix ” TH is still at .140 “, has not moved ANY 😀 😀
Those small set screws can dent the tube acctually I took out my set screws just not enough area there to hold well in my opinion what I did is took a day to figure out where my top hat was going to end up at measured it good took out the set screws adjusted the top hat where I wanted it to be used red locktite in the top hat threads not the set screws but the threads on the top hat shot it quite a bit it won’t move and like Walk said if I do need to adjust it or move it take a lighter and a heavy pair of gloves and it will turn once again
YEP ! I did, even though I doubt those little grub screws could be tightened enough to de-form the stem…did it anyway,,,better safe than sorry 😎
Pack, have you tried putting a drill bit in the stem when you tighten the tophat screws? I have heard this is a good method to keep the inside diameter of the stem intact. 😕
Sounds like you’ve got your system balanced!
Some people need 50 yards, others need 20 yards, my view is “whatever works for your situation”. I’m glad you’ve got yours running smoothly.
Well, try AS I might, I have been unable to get grub screws tight enough to hold TH in place..Removed the TH and drilled and tapped holes to 8×32…have fired about 300 pellets since the fix, tophat has not moved – I had been re-reading some posts about TH settings and came across post by Scrench…said he had his TH @ about .140″. I had mine completely off doing the fix, so I said what the hell and set it on .140″- it previously was on .080″…….after many PW settings/fill pressures, here’s the final results.. I say final, because I’ve got it so good I don’t want to change it at all!…Yesterday I used my chrony for 100 shots..today, I just shot at 25 yards, looking for POI to start falling…
Fill presuure 2700psi, PW on 4, Crosman 14.3 Premier Ultra Mags…..According to chrony FPS was 780 to 830, average of 805fps..Deviation was just barely over five percent…Today, at 25 yards, I got NO CHANGE in POI until shot #92!!! I shot several 5 shot groups that were sub-dime size, same as yesterday….,the last one being shots 81-85. So, from those results, it seems my gun does not use any more air at the high TH setting than it did when I had it set @ .080″ In fact, it would appear to be using less, since it did shoot such a looong string of consistent shots ..All I know is that’s it’s NEAT AS HELL to have that many 800fps shots, and I did it twice, so it isn’t just a “fluke”..Not trying to start up all the different opinions about TH settings, just happy as hell with my results and thought I’d post for information…I’m liking my TSS even more now.
I’ve adjusted my TH and put blue on them. Not much is required, I didn’t even remove the grub. I just screwed it in, added loctite, unscrewed until it stopped and then tightened until there was no slack. Wipe off the excess and you’re done.
Steel takes 6 hours in room temperature to fully set according to the product spec sheet for loctite. http://tds.loctite.com/tds5/docs/242-EN.pdf
Yeah I know heat works on it, but there are a lot of times when any heat at all simply isn’t doable 🙁
If you ever use red locktite take a cig lighter to it and it will break loose easily
I planned on using loc-tite!! ALWAYS the blue I used the red stuff one time…learned my lesson..that stuff is like welding the parts together with TIG or MIG 😥 Never comes loose though
Blue Loctite. For best results use some acetone or similar to clean any oily residue off the grub screws and out of the screw holes before you apply the loctite.
It is a common problem. don’t over tighten or the result is a crushed valve stem.
The grubs screws will push through the valve stem. My first tophat never moved. The valve stem eventually broke in two.
Airforce rebuilt my hi flo valve and the grub screws were loose. My top hat also began to move, tried several times to tighten to no avail. The general concensus here is to use blue loctite, very sparingly, only on the grub screws. Blue loctite is weak and can broken loose with low heat. A hair dryer/lighter.
My tophat has not moved since I put a smidge of loctite on those grub screws.
Don’t use red loctite, it is permanent, you’ll never be able to adjust or remove.
Sam
Yes, use loctite on them.
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find the TH adjustment that suits you best remove the TH, apply locktite blue sparingly, reinstall, adjust, allow to set up.
there would be no real need for the grub screws.
just a ‘dab’ of locktite blue would be all that’s necessary and it would be easy enough to loosen by heat IF USED SPARINGLY.
I think I read that’s how it used to be done on older valves.