Valves

[Psycho91]

Yes another dreaded parts question lol, ok so which is better the balanced valve and vs2 striker or is the magna port valve decent enough for the price, may or may not run a reg haven't decided exactly what I'm doing yet, not trying to build high performance just a decent little single trigger mech shooter but don't really wanna keep her stock either, it's a green to pewter fade piranha srt if anyone is wondering i know its not Kingman but it's still a blow back

[nerdcore]

Swapped the stock valve with a magna on a buddy's Esprit, and added a WGP reg. My only intention was running air with no problems. I didn't shop around for the best valve, I just needed better than stock, and it was only $15 shipped for an in-package one. Mission success.

[Psycho91]

Also what about hammers, I know they have slim hammers and fatty hammers, are they marker specific or is one better then the other, also if I could find one are the Alamo city hammers worth it

[Tarsun2]

If you go with the balanced valve, you'd need a reg and the mini striker.
just something to think about.

[DavidBoren]

If you aren't 100% on running a regulator, then you can immediately disregard the balance valve/mini striker. It requires low pressure regulated air, so a sub-350psi input, and absolutely no CO2. The balance valve is an awesome valve, but requires a regulator.

The Magnaport valve is ok. They seem to shine without a regulator, in my experience. When using the Magnaport valve with a regulator, I have found that the valve, itself, is a source of inconsistencies... something about its skeletonized design disrupts airflow... and it is evident when trying to sweetspot a regulator, or has been in my experience using them regulated. They have been very good to me in unregulated setups, though.

Honestly, the EKO valve and pin combination is d@mn good... regulator, no regulator, CO2, air... I have absolutely nothing bad to say about the EKO valve. Sometimes they are a little long and run into the cross pin on older bodies, but it is worth it to make them fit.

The Alamo City delrin strikers are awesome. If you find one, buy it, and sell it to me. Lol. They are great, but completely unnecessary... especially if you aren't running a regulator. Without a regulator, you will need heavy springs and it will beat the $#!+ out of your marker and the striker and your sear.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

Also what about hammers, I know they have slim hammers and fatty hammers, are they marker specific or is one better then the other, also if I could find one are the Alamo city hammers worth it

Fatty strikers were for the old kingman spyder models (the og spyders). They wouldn't fit in a new body.

[Seajay]

EKO valve is indeed really good. I'd use it over the Magnaport any day. The main issue I have with the Magnaport is that you need a strong valve spring with it to be consistent at lower pressures. There is too much wobble with the pin itself and so the actual operation just sucks. Since you generally want to use a softer valve spring with lower pressures it's a defeating mission with the Magnaport. It's fine at 600psi, but then the EKO can easily do 500-600psi with enough volume and the right springs consistently. Just depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

[Psycho91]

Thanks for the info guys, I'm really just trying to make it smoother/kick less if you wanna say that, but don't wanna go crazy, which I could always set ara and leave it alone right, after that velocity is set with the adjuster on the marker I take it, what is the EKO valve, marker still has the basic stock piranha valve, will be a single trigger mech when I'm done with it, should I just polish up the internals, throw a spring kit in it and a delrin bolt and just go play with it, reliability is a concern though, I want it to work and not have any problems out of it

[grendal50]

PMI Piranhas have a "fat" hammer, but also a different link pin to the bolt. I don't think anybody made an aftermarket hammer for them. That said I haven't had any reliability problems on any of mine, I keep them clean and the bottom tube oiled, I do put a very little bit of oil on the bolt o-rings too.

[Seajay]

Well the fun is that no two spyders (clones) are ever the same. That's the fun in trying to find out what yours likes the best. If you are just going for a really good quality shot I'd start with different springs. A lighter valve spring most often means a lighter hammer spring, which means a "softer" shot. You then balance that with air pressure, with 800-900 psi from most standard tank regs being the hardest pressure to overcome to open the valve. Drop this to 600 psi and you have a greater window to experiment with springs.

With that said, again every spyder is different, you'd be shocked that sometimes a weaker striker spring and a strong valve spring might offer the better shot! It gets more complicated as you try out weaker valve springs which could be less consistent depending on your tank reg.

With the Rocket Valve there was a guy that straight removed the "valve" spring (it has a different setup) and relied on air pressure to reseal the valve. Not sure how reliable it was but it does work!

For stock setup I'd just try different valve springs and see if you can get to a point that you need a different striker spring to stay legal, work from there to get a "softer" shot.

I finally managed to get my modded MR2 down to ridiculous levels with a VS2 balance valve. With a expansion grip and a palmers femal stab on the grip I got it shooting at ~200 psi at 280fps.
I didn't think the female could get under 250psi, so maybe my gaug is off, but it's definitely fun! This setup works with a medium valve spring and a medium striker spring.

[DavidBoren]

For springs, I tend to consider the bolt and striker as an assembly, a single combined mass. Inertia that must be overcome.

An aluminum bolt and stock striker is the heavy side. Lots of momentum... doesn't need a lot of spring tension. In fact, you don't want it to have a lot of spring tension... since the blowback gas already has to move all that mass, you don't need it pushing a heavy spring, too.

A delrin bolt and delrin striker is the lightweight side of the equation. Very little mass, carries hardly any momentum... needs lots of spring tension to give it enough velocity to make up for its reduced mass. The heavy spring will be easy enough for the blowback gas to overcome because it doesn't have to move a lot of mass.

And, obviously, a delrin bolt/stock striker, or aluminum bolt/delrin striker combination will fall in the middle of the spectrum.

Every clone is different, which is weird to say, but true. The most trivial of inconsistencies can have quite the impact on what combination of supporting parts each individual body will respond best to. But if you consider the physics behind it, they are all the same.

[Seajay]

Sound logic. I've had some setups that should have worked, simply not work at all because of some difference or out of spec body dimension. I like the Delrin bolts more verse the aluminum ones. Although the MR1 and MR5/6 aluminum bolts function very well. I've got an older Fenix with a long aluminum bolt that hates life, and I can't seem to get this one to work nearly as well as my other blow-backs. As long as the bolt travels well and has some oil to ride it should work fine.

I think it's gone now but there was a test years ago with the MR2 comparing the stock Delrin bolt, a aftermarket Delrin bolt, and an MR1 aluminum bolt, and the MR1 bolt actually out-performed the stock Delrin.

I never got to play with a delrin striker, that would be cool.