ADA: Ask Doc Anything!

[DocsMachine]

Humphrey HA040-4E1 is what's in vikings and excals. It is already set up to be bolted down. I can send you one of that would be easier.

-Yeah, and the ones I used to have were basically the exact same thing, branded Parker. The question is, can we get them in bulk. It's not like we're gonna strip down a bunch of Excals to keep a bunch of LEDs working.

I've looked on Humphrey's site, and didn't see anything close to what we used to use. If somebody can find me a stash of those, I'll pick some up and make a batch of the adapter housings.

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

[A]ny idea on what the other springs where sized at?

-The Razorbacks are 100% Nelson-compatible markers. Any Nelson spring set will work, and if you can't find a proper set, buy a hammer/valve spring combo from a Phantom. They'll drop right in and likely get you pretty close.

The Razorbacks, if I recall correctly, came with a 'down the barrel' velocity adjuster. If so, they may be screwed in to far as well, which may also contribute to your sear not always catching. Back that off a bit- if you have one- and give 'er another try.

As for the gas efficiency, keep in mind the RB's are antiques- the barrel is very likely around .690"-.692". Unless you're shooting the biggest bore paint you can find, you're never going to get good effciency.

Oh almost forgot, it Also sometimes fires when pumping it to fast, is this the sear slipping?

-As above, it may be that the velocity adjuster is cranked too far down. If that's not it, either the sear itself or the notch on the bolt may be worn. Or the sear spring may be sticky/rusty or even broken. Check that adjuster or hammer spring, first, though.

Doc.

[Axel]

In your personal opinion, who (nation, entity, group, or individual person) bears the primary moral responsibility for the outbreak of the First World War?

[Indeed]

Humphrey HA040-4E1 is what's in vikings and excals. It is already set up to be bolted down. I can send you one of that would be easier.

[lizardking132]

Doc, my friend and I have been messing around with his dad's wwp razorback 2, it's a PMI trracer clone, it currently has a red spring in it that came with the gun with others for adjusting velocity, the problem is we don't have the other, weaker springs, the spring that's in It now pushes over 300 fps a bit, and gets like 15 shots on a 12 gram, any idea on what the other springs where sized at? Oh almost forgot, it Also sometimes fires when pumping it to fast, is this the sear slipping? Or am I forgetting something? Thanks

[DocsMachine]

I seem to recall that, unfortunately, LCD solenoids are too "tall", mainly at the wire connection.

Let me dig out my old LED prototype and see if I can find one of the original 'noids. I'm pretty sure I still have a couple of Parkers around here somewhere, it's just that they've been "put away" for years.

Doc.

[Indeed]

Doc I am on this. The angel community is loosing its LEDs without a replacement solenoid. Enoch has now released a new board for them giving them all modern fire modes, lcd screen display, and bluetooth connection to a cell phone ap. This advancement has brought the marker into modern times yet the solenoids are scarce and failing. I would even be willing to pay for the entire run just to make this happen.

*Edit* in doing some quick research there is mass availability of Angel LCD solenoids. I can send you one for inspection or can take some photo's against some calipers. Whichever may be easier for you.

[DocsMachine]

Sure. The housing is easy. It's the solenoid that's the tough part.

The original design I made- something like eighteen years ago now- used the same kind of Parker (I think it was) solenoids used in "shoebox" Shockers.

Last time I looked, which has admittedly been many years ago, that same style was no longer available. And anything else I looked for was either much larger (such as the style used in E-Blades) and thus wouldn't fit, or was intended to use with hose nipples (such as some of the ones used in Intimidators) or the port layout was wrong.

Now, I also admit I haven't done an exhaustive search- if someone can come up with a source for a compatible 'noid, I'd be happy to make a run of housings.

Doc.

[Indeed]

Doc by any chance can you make another led solenoid conversion housing? Thanks

[russc]

Yeah, mine had an aluminum barrel, pusher, and linkage arm. I think it took CCI pierce pins and a Phantom power tube.

[moving_target]

Years ago I bought a Splatmaster from MCB with metal internals as part of a custom run. It was unfortunately stolen from me at some point. I believe they integrated a Phantom powertube into it. Shot amazing. if you ask me, that's exactly the way to go...the original shells are glass reinforced resin, so they are light weight and last forever.

I'd rock that too lol.

I had one that had a brass barrel. Barrel was super cool but couldn't get the gun to work for shit.

I also remember stanchy modded a full length barrel and a metal back cap/button. Kind of what got me into the idea

[russc]

But yeah. If there was a metal splat master that had some sort of actual barrel, or sleeve for freaks etc. I would probably get stupid

Years ago I bought a Splatmaster from MCB with metal internals as part of a custom run. It was unfortunately stolen from me at some point. I believe they integrated a Phantom powertube into it. Shot amazing. if you ask me, that's exactly the way to go...the original shells are glass reinforced resin, so they are light weight and last forever.

[M98punk]

Shocktech Hinge Trigger Frame:

alright you got me rebuilding a STO. I was digging through my dead box... underneath the first 4500 HPA regulator produced for paintball (and they say my Geddon was a brick). I found an old Shocktech (eclipse) Double Finger cocker swing frame (chrome).

I didn’t snap a picture but they are the ones that had the wire trigger guards.

Are they any good? I hate slide triggers, hate them so much!
The whole reason I never got a cocker back in the day. So I thought with some work it could be OG enough for the build (and free I like free) but also it would be a gun I would want to shoot. But also there was a pile (the steaming kind) gear that made cockers optimally less optimal from the era.

[Magmoormaster]

I suppose we could say the Armson semi. Decent build quality, decent design, but just never caught on for a couple of reasons. Ditto the Desert Fox. Not the greatest design, but workable, and another generation or so likely would have solved the few issues. Just never proved very popular.

The big one I'd have to say was the Andy Greenwell Blade. It came out early in the semiauto boom, had excellent build quality, an a couple of features no other gun had, like a reversible (left/right) feed neck and a relatively quick to remove bolt. Yeah, it was heavy and kind of a gas hog, but keep in mind, at the time, the VM-68 was extremely popular. And, Greenwell, was a "famous name" at the time, being one of the movers and shakers of... I think it was Navarone? One of the first truly famous paintball teams.

But no one liked it. I suspect a big chunk of that was the goofy pistol grip, which was blocky milled aluminum with a built-in bottomline ASA. The grip is not terribly comfortable, and was totally unmodifiable if you wanted to run a stock or something.

Greenwell sold a few, and upgraded it to a Blade II in short order, but it just never caught on, and he stopped making them within a year or two.

Doc.

Ah, both good examples. Now that I think about it, all of ICD guns probably should have been more popular than they were. They all had some specific weak point that hurt the design, but most if not all ahd aftermarket fixes for them. I wasn't really around at the time, but I'd guess their marketing just wasn't as pervasive as it needed to be.

My old boss/owner of the local proshop's first gun was a Desert Fox. He said it chewed thru bolts exceptionally fast. Apparently one time it even broke the bolt in-game and he gogg'ed someone with it. Accidentally, of course.

The Blade is a weird one for sure. Like you said, a lot of the features were cool, like the reversible feed you mentioned. IIRC the rear plug for the top tube doubled as a barrel plug. The detent was pretty cool too. I think you're right that the grip was a major turnoff for people. If it had rubber (or even plastic) grips it would be fine, but since it was a one piece gas-thru design in the CO2 days it would be incredibly hard to hold after a few minutes of shooting. From what I can tell the only difference from the Blade 1 and Blade 2 was that the Blade 2 had a VASA, which certainly would have helped the cold grip issue.

And you are correct that Andy played with Navarone.

[DocsMachine]

How do you feel about Schlock Mercenary finally coming to an end?

-Mixed. Partly "Noooooo!" and partly "it's about time".

Loved the comic. I have most of the books, and Howard actually kinda-sorta cameoed TWB a couple of times. But it also had twenty years of backstory; at the end, over seven thousand strips. And being serialized, today's events might reference stuff that happened five, ten or even fifteen years ago.

Sluggy Freelance is in a similar boat. It's been running more or less daily since like 1998- he must have seven or eight thousand strips in the archives, and that's almost impeneterably large. Especially for what's basically a single storyline that's so convoluted it makes a Gordian knot look like uncooked spaghetti. I'd bet money that Sluggy hasn't gained any real new readers in years- anyone wanting to do an archive dive is looking at a month of reading, if they have a lot of free time and a fast connection, just to catch up.

I once wondered about guys like Chris Baldwin constantly starting and stopping comics (Bruno, Little Dee, Spacetrawler, One Way, Anna Galactic, etc.) but after a while, that starts to make sense. Each storyline is an easier-to-digest package. A couple or several hundred strips, rather than thousands. You can get through the original Spacetrawler in a day or two, if you have a fast connection, whereas you'd have to take a month off work and have a spouse that will bring you sandwiches, refill your glucose IV and change your diapers to get through Sluggy's archives.

But that's all kind of behind-the-scenes, 'cause I tend to be a nuts-and-bolts guy. Overall, I loved the run of Schlock, I give Howard big props for his regular-as-the-sunrise update schedule, and am interested to see where he goes from here.

Doc.