LRT valve?

[Hunt_and_Annoy]

Has anyone tried making a valve that works by pinching LRT? if there were a way to build a mechanism with strong enough pinching force and electric release, it would provide unparalleled linear flow.

PS: Yes I know it sounds difficult/ impossible.

[aEx155]

Originally Posted by Hunt_and_Annoy

Has anyone tried making a valve that works by pinching LRT? if there were a way to build a mechanism with strong enough pinching force and electric release, it would provide unparalleled linear flow.

PS: Yes I know it sounds difficult/ impossible.

I do believe this is already used in some commercial water guns, being called a "pinch valve" (I think). A possible way to do this would be to use some heavy-duty spring clamps, but it would take some amount of force to hold them open to fire and be able to close them reliably.

Also, LRT might not be the best thing to use. If I were to do this, I would use vinyl tubing or something thinner.

[Ben]

Pinch valves have been used before, but they stopped using them because they didn't work well. The original CPS type water guns from back at MIT in the 50s and 60s used LRT with no nozzle or valve, just a piece of tubing pinched.

Anyway, I don't know why you'd want to use LRT because that would limit your pressure to the pressure of the LRT. It also would be harder to pinch because it expands. Vinyl tubing would be best, but even that wouldn't be ideal.

[Drenchenator]

Using latex rubber tubing for a pinch valve is a bad idea. Vinyl tubing would be ideal; it's readily available and much cheaper than LRT. I don't see any real benefit using LRT unless you want to increase the cost of the gun.

The SS 50 uses a pinch valve as these internals attest. Pinch valves are good for smaller guns where high flow doesn't matter. The big problem with them is that they tend to leak.