The Mechtimidator (Mechanical Bob Long Intimidator)
Hi everyone,
A few of you have reached out to me to ask that I rewrite the old thread on The Mechitmidator now that MCB is back online. Thank you for the motivation, and I'll do my best to recount everything for the record.
This thread was originally titled 'Existential Crisis About Electros'.
Some time in 2017 I was trying to fix a malfunctioning intimidator, and realized how difficult the parts were getting to find - especially the electronics. I needed a new board, new eyes, and a new pressure pad. The eyes were easy to find. The board was and pressure pad were different stories, though. The board I found first.. in Germany. I had to contact a German retailer (literally located in Germany) using Google Translate and have it shipped halfway around the globe to my door. The pressure pad I found new in box on ebay for about $90, which I paid out of desparation. This is what started my existential crisis about electros. I was simply convinced they were all going to die one day. I wasn't so worried about my Karnivor, because i knew i could mech it fairly easily - but my Timmy's ... I thought they were just going to have to become fossils because there are no such things as mech conversions for Timmy's.
So... I did the only thing I could think to do. I set out to create a drop-in mech conversion for alias style intimidators. The only limitation I was putting on myself was that it couldn't involve any permanent modifications. Everything had to be reversible, and leave no evidence. I gave myself bonus points if I could do it and still make it look like a regular intimidator from the outside.
I started by sourcing a 2003 Alias Intimidator completely from parts, from a number of people on this site, and a number of other websites. I credited them in the old post, but I can't for the life of me remember who / what they are now. I'm sorry, but if you're reading this and you helped - know that I am very grateful for your help. I do remember YODA being awesome, so, thank you, Yoda.
My first attempt to build a mechanical intimidator was a total shot in the dark. I purchased a micro 2-way (Labelled as a 3-way) from Clippard Pneumatics called a SMAV-3. I hooked up the SMAV-3 directly to the LPR and Ram sleeve. I made a custom in-grip frame out of a steel plate (using a dremel tool,) to hold the SMAV-3 behind the trigger. It screwed in to the frame using the pre-existing taps for the electronics.
She leaked like civ at first, but slowly cycled. As soon as I sealed the leaks, though, the entire system bound right up. It would move the bolt forward, but wouldn't move it back. After troubleshooting everything I could think of, from pressure spikes, to hydrolock, to kinks in the line - I thought that there may have been a problem with the SMAV-3 itself, so I tried to disassemble it to replace o-rings. Bad move. SMAV-3's are not designed to be taken apart. I ended up destroying the SMAV-3, and needing to order more parts from Clippard.
In order to hedge my bets and try to get the marker cycling as it should, when I ordered some more SMAV-3's, I also ordered some Clippard MEV-2's (QEV's). I ran the MEV-2's off of both Ram housing barbs in an effort to speed up the cycling rate. Unfortunately, it didn't help, as you will see in this video:
It was at this point that I learned that the SMAV-3 was actually a 2-way valve, and not a 3 way valve like on an autococker. I had to have one of the outlets on the SMAV free to vent air. I needed to find a way to re-engineer the Mechtimidator to run on a 2-way. I realized that if a ran a Banjo T-Connector off of the LPR, I could supply air to both the SMAV-3, and create an air cushion at the front of the ram. I was so confident that this would work, I called it The Sarah Connor Mod in the forums before I had even tested it at full pressure:
In this video, it's operating at extremely low pressure, and appears to be working. As soon as I started to creep the pressure up to something that resembled 'functional', the pressure at the front of the cushion was too great for the ram to overcome. It wouldn't cycle.
I ended up going back to the idea of having a 3-way. I was fairly certain (with the help of this community), that if I hooked up my existing system to a Clippard MPA-3 and a Clippard MAV-4, that I could basically screw into each other to emulate a proper 3-way. SO, instead of using the banjo to create an air cushion /and / push the ram forward, I was using the banjo to power the SMAV-3, and the MAV-4. While the system is closed, the MPA-3 is being held open by it's internal spring, forcing the MAV-4 to provide air to the front of the Ram sleeve. As soon I pull the trigger, the SMAV-3 switches and actuates the MPA-3, which opens the MAV-4 to now provide air to the back of the Ram sleeve, instead of the front. As the Ram starts to move forward, the MEV-2's vent the air super fast, and the Ram is able to strike the poppet with force. The pressure behind the poppet gets dumped and fires the paintball, and in the process, pushes the Ram back into the sleeve. Once again, the MEV-2's vent and the Ram moves back.
And lo and behold - The John Connor Mod was born:
The tricky thing here is that the way you balance your LPR against your HPR basically determines your dwell, so it is a bit of a bitch to tune the velocity because you need to manage both the high and low pressures. If you increase the HPR, you need to adjust the LPR to ensure you're getting a consistent bounce when you strike the poppet. Too little pressure and the marker won't cycle. Too much pressure and the marker just dumps air.
And YESSSs, if you pull the trigger hard vs. soft, you CAN get variances in velocity - but they're actually pretty minor, and go down with longer pulls. The trick is to chrony with the shortest trigger pulls you can manage, and then it will never shoot faster than that. And YESSSs, if you hold the trigger down for a length of time, even when it's properly tuned, the system bounces. BUT. It works. With a proper barrel kit and a tight bore, it gets variances of about +/- 5 FPS.
Here's one of those typical shit chrony videos where I run out of air and use old basement paint. I also had a valve leak in my HPR that I didnt realize at the time, but fixed later. Also, my Chrony ran out of batteries. It's a great video and deserves an award.
And here is some video of me using the mechtimidator in a Zombie game at Wasaga Paintball in Ontario. It's a little bit of a gas hog (shoots roughly 800 rounds on a 68/4500), but oh, man is it fun to use, and the sound it makes is unlike anything. It's like an autococker, but its an Intimidator. Its a fuckin Mechtimidator, boys!
Final Mechtimidator (John Connor Mod) Recipe:
A few of you have reached out to me to ask that I rewrite the old thread on The Mechitmidator now that MCB is back online. Thank you for the motivation, and I'll do my best to recount everything for the record.
This thread was originally titled 'Existential Crisis About Electros'.
Some time in 2017 I was trying to fix a malfunctioning intimidator, and realized how difficult the parts were getting to find - especially the electronics. I needed a new board, new eyes, and a new pressure pad. The eyes were easy to find. The board was and pressure pad were different stories, though. The board I found first.. in Germany. I had to contact a German retailer (literally located in Germany) using Google Translate and have it shipped halfway around the globe to my door. The pressure pad I found new in box on ebay for about $90, which I paid out of desparation. This is what started my existential crisis about electros. I was simply convinced they were all going to die one day. I wasn't so worried about my Karnivor, because i knew i could mech it fairly easily - but my Timmy's ... I thought they were just going to have to become fossils because there are no such things as mech conversions for Timmy's.
So... I did the only thing I could think to do. I set out to create a drop-in mech conversion for alias style intimidators. The only limitation I was putting on myself was that it couldn't involve any permanent modifications. Everything had to be reversible, and leave no evidence. I gave myself bonus points if I could do it and still make it look like a regular intimidator from the outside.
I started by sourcing a 2003 Alias Intimidator completely from parts, from a number of people on this site, and a number of other websites. I credited them in the old post, but I can't for the life of me remember who / what they are now. I'm sorry, but if you're reading this and you helped - know that I am very grateful for your help. I do remember YODA being awesome, so, thank you, Yoda.
My first attempt to build a mechanical intimidator was a total shot in the dark. I purchased a micro 2-way (Labelled as a 3-way) from Clippard Pneumatics called a SMAV-3. I hooked up the SMAV-3 directly to the LPR and Ram sleeve. I made a custom in-grip frame out of a steel plate (using a dremel tool,) to hold the SMAV-3 behind the trigger. It screwed in to the frame using the pre-existing taps for the electronics.
She leaked like civ at first, but slowly cycled. As soon as I sealed the leaks, though, the entire system bound right up. It would move the bolt forward, but wouldn't move it back. After troubleshooting everything I could think of, from pressure spikes, to hydrolock, to kinks in the line - I thought that there may have been a problem with the SMAV-3 itself, so I tried to disassemble it to replace o-rings. Bad move. SMAV-3's are not designed to be taken apart. I ended up destroying the SMAV-3, and needing to order more parts from Clippard.
In order to hedge my bets and try to get the marker cycling as it should, when I ordered some more SMAV-3's, I also ordered some Clippard MEV-2's (QEV's). I ran the MEV-2's off of both Ram housing barbs in an effort to speed up the cycling rate. Unfortunately, it didn't help, as you will see in this video:
It was at this point that I learned that the SMAV-3 was actually a 2-way valve, and not a 3 way valve like on an autococker. I had to have one of the outlets on the SMAV free to vent air. I needed to find a way to re-engineer the Mechtimidator to run on a 2-way. I realized that if a ran a Banjo T-Connector off of the LPR, I could supply air to both the SMAV-3, and create an air cushion at the front of the ram. I was so confident that this would work, I called it The Sarah Connor Mod in the forums before I had even tested it at full pressure:
In this video, it's operating at extremely low pressure, and appears to be working. As soon as I started to creep the pressure up to something that resembled 'functional', the pressure at the front of the cushion was too great for the ram to overcome. It wouldn't cycle.
I ended up going back to the idea of having a 3-way. I was fairly certain (with the help of this community), that if I hooked up my existing system to a Clippard MPA-3 and a Clippard MAV-4, that I could basically screw into each other to emulate a proper 3-way. SO, instead of using the banjo to create an air cushion /and / push the ram forward, I was using the banjo to power the SMAV-3, and the MAV-4. While the system is closed, the MPA-3 is being held open by it's internal spring, forcing the MAV-4 to provide air to the front of the Ram sleeve. As soon I pull the trigger, the SMAV-3 switches and actuates the MPA-3, which opens the MAV-4 to now provide air to the back of the Ram sleeve, instead of the front. As the Ram starts to move forward, the MEV-2's vent the air super fast, and the Ram is able to strike the poppet with force. The pressure behind the poppet gets dumped and fires the paintball, and in the process, pushes the Ram back into the sleeve. Once again, the MEV-2's vent and the Ram moves back.
And lo and behold - The John Connor Mod was born:
The tricky thing here is that the way you balance your LPR against your HPR basically determines your dwell, so it is a bit of a bitch to tune the velocity because you need to manage both the high and low pressures. If you increase the HPR, you need to adjust the LPR to ensure you're getting a consistent bounce when you strike the poppet. Too little pressure and the marker won't cycle. Too much pressure and the marker just dumps air.
And YESSSs, if you pull the trigger hard vs. soft, you CAN get variances in velocity - but they're actually pretty minor, and go down with longer pulls. The trick is to chrony with the shortest trigger pulls you can manage, and then it will never shoot faster than that. And YESSSs, if you hold the trigger down for a length of time, even when it's properly tuned, the system bounces. BUT. It works. With a proper barrel kit and a tight bore, it gets variances of about +/- 5 FPS.
Here's one of those typical shit chrony videos where I run out of air and use old basement paint. I also had a valve leak in my HPR that I didnt realize at the time, but fixed later. Also, my Chrony ran out of batteries. It's a great video and deserves an award.
And here is some video of me using the mechtimidator in a Zombie game at Wasaga Paintball in Ontario. It's a little bit of a gas hog (shoots roughly 800 rounds on a 68/4500), but oh, man is it fun to use, and the sound it makes is unlike anything. It's like an autococker, but its an Intimidator. Its a fuckin Mechtimidator, boys!
Final Mechtimidator (John Connor Mod) Recipe:
- 3x 1/16 interior diameter (ID) hose barbs with M3 thread;
- 6x 1/16 ID hose barbs with 10/32 thread;
- 2x 1/16 ID swivel hose barbs with 10/32 thread.
- lots of 1/16 ID pneumatic hose. This is the same hose used for autococker front pneus. Regular Bob Long high flow hosing is 3/32 ID. I had to use the autocker hose because the SMAV-3 is made with 1/16 ID hose fittings that are not interchangeable;
- 1x Banjo T-connection with 1/16 ID hose barbs;
- 2x Clippard MEV-2 quick exhaust valves with 10/32 threading;
- 1x Clippard SMAV-3;
- 1x Clippard MAV-4;
- 1x Clippard MPA-3;
- 2x 10/32 threaded 1/2 inch long coupling nuts (you could go shorter with these if you can find them)
- custom-cut, in-grip frame to hold all the Clippard Pneus together
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