Cricket Video Regulator Disassembly, removal, and adjustment
For those AG’ers that like to fine tune the regulator for better shot to shot consistency at a given speed.
To adjust to higher regulated pressure you need to turn the black adjustment (seat) screw CCW so it will be further away from the regulator pistons,
so it will require more regulated air to shut the valve.
Ernest Rowe
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Ernest
Hi Ernest,
My R3 has 6 groups, is this an older version?
Regards, Robert.
Hi Trygve,
Speed of spread high and low at 200B ? before 18fps and after 7fps with all the tunes.
WOW, I never read what Ed said about the two designed, just by looking at the two.
Ernest
Hi again,
Probably the longest and best list of tuning opportunities I’ve ever seen. Very impressive indeed….!!! 
What was the before and after spread in terms of fps ????
From my comparison thread, – ED’s own explanation about the Matador hammer system as opposed to Cricket (I’ve corrected some misspells only):
Cheers
Trygve 😀
Great! done #10
start on the hammer and spring tune, I’ll show how to remove that heavy hammer and do some polishing and re lubing (no lube on it) . that hammer need minimal friction as possible to deliver the punch. wow I can knock out 3 in one shot.
Ernest
if you need ideas for new youtube videos. I can think of 12 😆
1. Lead lap the whole barrel to 14,000 diamond past, finial polish with 50,000 diamond past. if the choke is to tight I lighten it.
2. polish crown
3. add crown to the breech opening.
4. angle smooth lap the in lead
5. enlarge and polish the air port of barrel
6. high polish the hammer
7. spring OD polish
8. add spring guide
9. add a shorter stronger hammer spring
10. regulator tune
11. valve tune
12. finial hammer spring and regulator synchronize to find the sweet spot near or about a given speed of 880-890fps
Its by designed of the spring and hammer delivery:
The cricket has a straight spring and hammer to the valve pin,
Advantage: more consistent delivery for force to hit the valve open with a heavy hammer with a lot of spring preload on the valve pin.
Disadvantage: excessive hammer bounce that reopen the valve, if you listen vary carefully the cricket has a longer sound note when fired, results less shot count.
The Edgun has a long offset lever with a light spring and lever.
Advantage: no excessive hammer recoil to reopen the valve, results more shot count.
Disadvantage: shorter release time that affect consistent hammer delivery.
Out of the box the Cricket has a tighter shot string: this is what I did to make a tighter shot string as a whole:
1. Lead lap the whole barrel to 14,000 diamond past, finial polish with 50,000 diamond past. if the choke is to tight I lighten it.
2. polish crown 
3. add crown to the breech opening.
4. angle smooth lap the in lead 
5. enlarge and polish the air port of barrel
6. high polish the hammer 
7. spring OD polish
8. add spring guide
9. add a shorter stronger hammer spring
10. regulator tune
11. valve tune
12. finial hammer spring and regulator synchronize to find the sweet spot near or about a given speed of 880-890fps
Every time I performed the above listed, I always get a tighter shot string. so don’t stop on the regulator it self.
Ernest
Very good questions!! 😀
I agree, – probably the best question asked for a while !!!
However this is actually two questions if not three:
Why does the Cricket regulator manage a tighter spread ?:
While it certainly seems that the “out of box performance” of the Cricket shows a tighter spread in terms of fps over a string, – this may not necessarily have to do with the regulator only. Stability of valve and hammerspring is equally important. After all stability in fps is just a function of a constant airflow at a constant pressure. Jumping to the conclusion that this stability is caused by the reg. only, – may not be correct and in fact misleading…… 😉
The compressed air in the chamber behind the valve is supplied by the regulator. It would be interesting to measure that pressure over a full string. Unfortunately I don’t have the means to do that, – but if anybody does, please go ahead and do it. My guess is it would be pretty stable though, – and again showing how well the Cricket regulator performs. I am also curious about the Cricket reg. performance over time. The video shows “a plastic” seat for the reg. stem, – and how that will keep up in the weeks and years to come nobody knows. My guess is it will not (but then I am always skeptical about plastic parts in guns)…. 🙄
The valve releases the regulated air that produces a shot. Again “out of the box performance” of the Cricket is outstanding, – but images of valve assemblies shown on this very forum reveals that they may not keep up well. In fact we have seen quite a few of them broken. Also the initial construction appears to have been changed with more metal parts in the new set up. The valve is just as important as the reg. when it comes to stability in fps.
The air is released by the hammer hitting the valve stem. Any inconsistency in the blow given by the hammerspring will show up as a spread in fps. Judging from the various experiences people have with speed on this forum, – it may seem as the Kalibr team provide a variety of different hammersprings. Springs are difficult animals to control, and manufacturing springs of even quality over time is a serious business. I know the UK producer AirArms have changed their spring supplier several times due to lack in consistency of the springs supplied. The Cricket spring has from the factory no spring guide inside it, and X-rays of “action” shows how badly it curls when gun is cocked. This “curl” is a perfect recipe for unevenness in the blows to the hammer and as such evenness in the fps over time.
The above should be enough to explain why “blaming” the regulator only for tight spreads, – may be jumping to conclusions…….
The “mix” supplied by the Cricket is however outstanding “out of the box”, – and seems to better than that of Matadors (judging from experiences reported on this very forum and others).
Air efficiency: Has to do with “air-travel” inside the gun and amount of air needed to achieve any given speed/pellet combination for a specific barrel. Barrel “friction” is caused by a number of different factors (twist, number and shape of grooves, degree of polishing etc.). So far it seems Ed has come up with a barrel that has been better optimized for the purpose while at the same time maintaining accuracy. Also the “air travel” inside the Matador is shorter than the Cricket.
However you do NOT get twice as many shots from the Matador as opposed to the Cricket, – but the difference in favor of the Matador is significant…………
Also it is worth noting that Ed (as opposed to the Kalibr people) recommends any new gun to be “conditioned” through a few 100 shots before tinkering with it. I find ED’s approach more credible that that of Kalibr on this particular issue. Any new gun needs to “settle” just like a new car need to have its’ “running in”. In the case of the airguns in question, this is particularly important for the regulator. The washers inside do need some “exercise” to settle properly…..
Finally about servicing of the guns: I agree the Cricket reg. is much easier to get to than that of the R3 and so is barrel removal. I would not say the same about the trigger/multishot action though, where the inside of the Cricket seems to be much more complicated than that of the R3. But then that is a completely different story all together and will most likely be the cause of a new thread on here in future….. 😉
Cheers
Trygve in Oslo 😀
Very good questions!! 😀
I remember in Zocoloco’s thread comparing his Cricket with his Edgun, his Cricket 22 had 112 shots in one fill. I have yet to see someone post a 224 shot Edgun here… “twice as many shots” you said? 😛
But consider that Cricket has a bigger air reservoir, beside this Edgun is more efficient and powerful.
Very good questions!! 😀
I remember in Zocoloco’s thread comparing his Cricket with his Edgun, his Cricket 22 had 112 shots in one fill. I have yet to see someone post a 224 shot Edgun here… “twice as many shots” you said? 😛
And why does the EdGun get twice as many shots… 😕
Very good questions!! 😀
Next regulator and maybe valve question. So why does the Cricket regulator manage a tighter spread yet the Matador has better efficiency or is it simply a tuning issue?
Ernest
Ease of maintenance is as valuable as gold itself.. 😀
I suggest that Sniperlabyo’s video be made into a sticky. 😎
…yes SEC.. the logical next star would be the Cricket valve video. Why does the Cricket reg + valve manage a tighter velocity spread?
Thanks for the responses! Ease of maintenance means a lot in the air gun world. My R3 std .25 shoots about 915 FPS so I won’t touch it. The .22 Cricket is right at 903 FPS. Since they both shoot tight stable groups out to at least 75 yards that I have tested I see no reason to touch them other than the triggers which I set on both.
Next regulator and maybe valve question. So why does the Cricket regulator manage a tighter spread yet the Matador has better efficiency or is it simply a tuning issue?
Ernest
The washer stack is very similar to the cricket one…the take down is a little diff, but its the same washer stack spring setup.
As a side note..Etak reg..paintball tanks..jds regs..all use the belleville washer spring stack method as do Doug’s valves I would think. Most likely every regulated pcp has some kinda belleville washer setup.
Its nothing to be afraid of…tear into it
ps…nice vid, very detailed and of practical use to ANYONE that want to learn how a regulator works…
the R3 has 5 groups ()()()()() disk. the R3 is vary time consuming task to removed the reg and adjust — 15-20 min for the edgun under 5 min for the cricket. its just not fun with the edguns. I’ll taking a cricket repair/tune over the Edgun any day—its the simplest AG I ever work on. to remove a barrel to be lead lap and polish—-4 cap screw and pull it out—>under 1 min—->try doing that on a R3! you nearly have to dissemble the whole AG just to get it out. 🙁
Ernest
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HI Rob, you know I don’t recall look like I saw 5, its been over a year since I disassembled the reg on the R3, maybe 6 like yours.
On my .177 cricket that I set at 7fpe that gets 400+ regulated shots, is like this ()()()()()()()
then had to use a litter spring. 
its my backyard sniper under 35y, have a lot of neighbors so I want the cricket to be extra quiet with Neil CF shroud and the impact of the pellet hitting those e/sparrow/starlings/pigeons is vary quiet, if no birds around I shoot flies. did I say I can shoot for 3 hours without refilling. 
Ernest