Top hat questions
I am a little confused about the top hat. So let me see if I get the principle of how things work before we get to the top hat.
The hammer is cocked, when fired the hammer slides down the tube making contact with the bolt. In turn the bolt pushes the top hat back and opening the valve. The spring inside the top hat valve then pushes the valve back closed against the air pressure in the barrel, chanmber, and the hammer spring.
The mass of the hammer affects how rapidly the valve opens; heavier hammer faster opening and too light of hammer the valve will not open.
The timing of all this is controlled by the hammer spring, hammer weight, pressure in tank, spring in top hat valve.
Heavier hammer and/or hammer spring then the faster the valve opens. The stronger the top hat spring the faster the valve closes.
So my question is what does the top hat distance from the valve body have to do with anything. Does it affect the travel of the valve? Does the top hat bottom out against the valve body?
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So the top hat gap is part of the equation for valve open time, I was assuming so but wanted to be sure.
So why do people place an o-ring behind the top hat? Is it to quite the impact of metal to metal, shorten open time? I have read many old posts but this just seems to evade my understanding. Some say if gives a quicker close time some say to protect the top hat, but not sure.
Does the spring inside the valve ever play into things, or really get changed or modified by people? That seems to be a more of factor than an o-ring would ever play.
I ask these questions because some of you have years of experience tinkering and modifying these guns.
The gap is the max travel of the valve mechanism. Basically, that’s full power. What’s of interest is valve open time. The longer it’s open the more power. How far it opens matters, but not much. Ideally, max on the power wheel barely opens the valve enough to close the gap, providing maximum valve-open time. Back off the power wheel and the valve doesn’t open so long, so less power.
In the real world, a lot of variables come in, like tank pressure pushing the valve shut and the tophat striking the valve body and bouncing back, shortening cycle time. A pellet accelerates to upwards of 600mph by the time it pops out the muzzle, so this process happens really quick.
John
top hat distance affects how much the valve stem is pushed in
the more it is pushed in, the more air is allowed to escape
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My guess is that an o-ring cushions the valve, basically slowing it down. Mostly it provides consistency. I think because it smooths the stroke. Mostly it’s about experimenting to find what works best for your gun and shooting goals.
John