bulk co2 and n2 ?

[blazingRT]

ok what is required to fill co2 a bulk tank, a scale, and a filling station? i have alot of questions. is this all i need? what is the difference between a regular and a deluxe filling station? is a digital scale better than regular? Is there a fill station that is alot better than other and stands out? same for scale?



about N2, all that is required is a fill station and a tank right then just check the pressure on the tank, is the air america fill station good? is there better? any advice about N2 filling would be appreciated also.



all your answers will be greatly appreciated! thnx

[lukewmtdew]

when my buddies were still on co2 we just used the 50lb(it actually now that i think about it seems alot heavier than that) bulk tank then wed bring it to this place called capitol city welding and theyd fill the bulk tank for 25 bucks but yeah um we just used a reg fill station um we never used a scale we just guessed id prolly go with a cheap fishing lcd scale um what else?

im still on co2 but i think u just put it to what pressure u want then close the tank then release it

[cphilip]

...first you chill the bottle by putting in an ounce and dumping it...then you fill it to about 70-80 percent of the tanks rated weight. No more, maybe less to be safe. i.e. a 16 ounce tank you would fill to maybe 12 ounces for example.

HPA/Nitrogen? Are you talking about filling from a SCUBA or a High Pressure Air/Nitrogen cylinder (6000psi) Those are two completely different beasts when it comes to what fill station you need.

[gothicel]

Originally posted by cphilip
...HPA/Nitrogen? Are you talking about filling from a SCUBA or a High Pressure Air/Nitrogen cylinder (6000psi) Those are two completely different beasts when it comes to what fill station you need.

What are these High Pressure Air/Nitrogen cylinder, they must not be used for diving? or maybe it's for deep diving?

[cphilip]

No but they do indeed make a high pressure SCUBA too. They
are Steel and have a J valve. I do not know if anyone makes a Fill Station for them but they might.

These are large heavy standard type Cylinders you can get at the Welding/Gas supply shops. Only thye come in 6000 psi. There are fill stations for these. Many fields use these.

[blazingRT]

can i fill 4500 and 3000 from these would you recomend a certain fill station for the 60000 psi tanks?

and can u recomend a certain fill staion for the co2?

[FatMan]

We use the ACI/Bulldog N2 fill station. It works really well. It has two large guages, a large chrome control knob, and a allen wrench for adjusting the output pressure. You screw the control knob in to fill, and out to bleed the line. Quite easy to do.

I know you can get them at several places. I think they run between $300 and $400. Paintballgear.com has one for $299 (different brand, but there's pretty much one company that makes 'em).

The only thing I can say bad about them is it is a little tricky to get the fill pressure where you want it. You can adjust the reg so that the output pressure guage reads 3K, but then the fills come to like 2700 - so you have to tweek it to get it just right. Not sure why that is. We do all 3K fills, so once it gets dialed in its no problem. If you are changing from 3K to 4.5K fills all the time it might be a pain, but I assume you'd quickly learn where to set it for the fill you want.

As for CO2 - the difference between fill stations has to do with how the valves are arranged. Normally you want two valves - one to control flow from the tank, and one to allow flow out of the system (dump). You attach a bottle, open its valve, open the dump valve and dump (to chill the bottle). Close the dump valve, open the fill valve (to fill the bottle). Close the fill valve, close the bottle valve, and open the dump valve to release the residual pressure. El Cheapo fill stations don't have the tank valve, you use the wheel valve on the tank to do the fill. Nicer fill stations have a knob (kind of like on the N2 station described above) that you turn one way to dump and the other way to fill.

Our CO2 station has a lever that operates the two valves. You throw it one way to fill and the other to dump. It also has a convenient place to hang the scale and bottle.

Paintball Inc. carries this model they call a Super-Duper fill station - it now comes with a sleeve to the bottle in while you fill (to protect you from a bursting bottle). The whole package is $189. You can get one with a knob for less that $100.

If you are serious about doing bulk fills it is worth getting a decent fill station. I wouldn't cheap out on that.

Anyway, that's my 2cents.

FatMan