Yeah I definitely would have tried it if McMaster carried the 4mm size. Unfortunately the $250 minimum order at Drake puts it out of my reach.https://drakeplastics.com/torlon-4203-balls/
$250 minimum at $0.85 a piece means we need to buy 295 bearings, every dollar will buy 1.17 bearings, say 1.15 for easier math, so $20 would get you exactly 23 ball bearings. That doesn't include shipping so it could be more like 20 bearings not 23. For a dollar a bearing I would definitely throw at least $20 in if other people were on board. Casting is a really cool idea too, I don't know much at all about casting plastic but if we could make seals with PEEK level performance as easily as casting slugs that would be amazing.
I was gonna send you a couple of these to try...lol. I wasn’t planning to be the only g-pig. I’ll probably get some out to those who have posted in the thread already. I have built a couple regs and will probably have the need in the future to build others. If these work good, that’ll be awesome. I was also thinking the tiny bit smaller would actually work better as well since torlon appears to not be as easily compressed. Technically, even if it fit loose, as long as the ball can find center of the hp seat, it would work. A little silicone grease during assembly would hold it. Dave
Are you trying to address creep that is present early on or creep after the regulator has been cycled hundreds or thousands of times? While a harder material has the potential to stave it off longer, it is simultaneously more apt to creep right out of the gate. And whether or not it will improve with time depends on whether it’s the plastic part or the metal part whose surface quality is inadequate. FWIW my general approach is to dress both sides and that will usually remedy any creeping early on without having to endure a lengthy break-in period, and smoothing the metal side helps slow down the rate at which the plastic side wears over time.
The 5/32” is 3.969mm or .1563”4mm is 0.1575”This ballhttps://www.plasticballsupply.com/5-32-in-0-156-natural-torlon-high-performance-plastic-balls/has a tolerance of +\- .001”I ordered 40 and some of a couple other sizes to meet their $25 minimum order. Shipping was $20+ Anyway, I have some ordered so we’ll see. I’ll come back to this thread once they are in hand. Dave