Bent Regulator Screw

[John Spiegel]

Hello,
Recently picked up a nitrogen tank for free from a local homebrewer. He warned me that the screw on the regulator was slightly bent (it was free, so I can't complain). It's the screw which increases or decreases the pressure. I have tried unscrewing it to either replace it or put it in straight, but it doesn't come up. And when I try to tighten it, it quickly gets too tough to turn and won't release any gas. Any tips on how to fix this? Or do I just need to pick up a new regulator?

 

[day_trippr]

If that is a Taprite series 3000 regulator (like a 3740) you can buy a replacement bonnet with set screw.
Here's a listing from Midwest Beverage Equipment:

https://www.midwestbev.com/products...zinc-for-3000-series-home-dispense-regulators

I'm not sure about older Taprite regs like yours but on my similar age Chudnow regulators the end of the set screw inside the bonnet has the threads munged intentionally so the screw can't be backed out all the way. But one can cut the screw off on the outside, unthread the inside piece, and then replace the screw with a new screw, or even use a threaded star knob like this one I swapped in on one of my Chudnow regs:

Cheers!