I am going to be using a solenoid in a toilet flushing project, it moves too quick for my purposes, 0mm - 30mm in 30ms I want to damper that somehow using perhaps a hydraulic/pneumatic contained damper to slow it to apprx 1second Does anyone know where I could look to find that sort of thing in the UK? I've tried a couple of places but can't find anything, perhaps i'm searching for the wrong thing, any suggestions?
I think that most appliances in US are supposed to have valves, solenoid or otherwise, that operate in a way that reduces water hammer. I would expect that to be the case in UK. The valves on dishwashers or clothes washers are likely to be electric operated solenoids with the slow closing feature.
Sorry if I wasn't clear, it's not a solenoid water valve but just a normal push solenoid which is going to push the flushing mechanism, it's just that it will travel to hard and fast for smooth operation of the existing system.
pinball machines use damped solenoids. Slip a spring of desired coil strength over the plunger. At the base of the solenoid's plunger hole, you can glue a small rubber grommet so the plunger hits softly. Spring tension can be adjusted by stretching it or compressing it trial & error to get your desired effect.
Or go visit an arcade or vending machine company. Often they have spare solenoids on hand that you can get for free or cheap.
if you aren't restricted entirely to a solenoid, you might be able to use something like the cheap linear actuators you can buy for adding electric car door locking. They have a lot of throw, are slower than a solenoid to begin with, and you could probably slow them down further with PWM, or gear reduction if you wanted to get fancy.
I hadn't thought of central locking actuators, I would be able to return them electrically also. I'm just not sure of the distance they travel, I'll go and get one tomorrow and experiment.