I'm designing a product that has a need for an inexpensive low pressure (<20psi) 9-way valve with orifices in the 1/8" range. This doesn't seem to exist on the market, and custom brass bodied valves blow our budget.Something we are considering is making the valve body out of delrin with a central reamed hole and 8 smaller holes radiating out from it. Into that hole we'll press a stainless steel shaft with a coaxial hole and a single radial hole that can be rotated to align with the radial holes of the valve body.The press will have to be light to allow the shaft to rotate under hand pressure, but still tight enough to form a good seal. The materials we are flowing are non abrasive and the valve will be cycled on the order of 50k times in it's expected life. Quantities will be ~5k.There is/was a radial n-way valve called, I think, a ScaniValve, or some such, intended for multiplexing a single pressure transmitter or sampling system among a bunch of sampled streams. They are normally motor driven and cycle slowly.Gas chromatography and high pressure liquid chromatography use small plug valves made of PTFE, with aluminum shells and stainless hardware. They are normally hand operated with rather small handles. They are commonly available with a variety of plugs, including 4-way 6-way and 8-way radial selectors. 9-way would be a special, but should be achievable. One market leader is/was Hamilton. I have used them on an OEM basis, driven directly by size 23 steppers, and gotten decent life and tolerable pricing.Do not underestimate the cost of homebrewing this stuff; I have seen fortunes dissipated trying to make small valves on the cheap.

MORE NEWS