GOG eXTCy, am I wasting my time (and money)?

[DanHS]

I saw a clean eXTCy with L7 bolt and QEV already installed for $95 shipped so I bought it, vaguely aware that they often had some solenoid issues but not realizing how bad the problem was. First thing I did when it arrived was disassemble it and inspect the solenoid cap, which appeared fine, so I cleaned and lubed the marker and aired it up and the solenoid leaked. Took forever to figure out where, but there was an invisible crack next to one of the screws (it even had the updated cap with the brass nuts). I've applied plastic bonding epoxy around the cap to try and reseal it, haven't tested it yet. I sent a message to the manufacturer of the solenoid, hopefully they have a helpful reply.

Is it worth trying to get this thing up and running? If no dice on the cap, I see that I can modify a Proto Rize solenoid cap to fit, but somehow that makes the solenoid require a little more voltage and is less efficient? I don't really want to convert it to mech because I don't really care to invest in more parts just to have a second eNMEy. If it's not going to be reliable I'll just part it out.

[DanHS]

Update: epoxy seemed fine at first, then it began to leak a little, apparently the plastic bonding epoxy cannot bond to whatever plastic this is, ended up peeling off like it was never there. Will have to try another adhesive, or maybe some plastic welding? I did shoot the marker a little, I am impressed with how nicely it cycles. I did have a moment of fun setting it to ramp to 20bps, I never owned anything before that shot so fast.

It looks like I can get a Dye Rize/Rail solenoid for $40 and use the cap with some minor mods, or maybe even adapt the whole solenoid to fit the board. Worth a shot I suppose.

[MrBarraclough]

So long as you can get it into the frame, I would expect the Rize/Rail solenoid to work. After all, the Rail/Rize series are Ion derivatives in much the same way as the eXTCy.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

My extcy still shot with my noid leaking.

[DanHS]

Yea it shoots, but I can't deal with it leaking. I have to have it 100% functional or it's unacceptable, lol.

All of the epoxy peeled off, this plastic must be like a polyethylene or something similar. There is a product from Loctite that has a primer for such plastics, I'll try that. If that fails then I'll experiment with the DYE solenoid, perhaps I can desolder it from it's little board and just plop it on the GOG board just like the original solenoid, if the leads line up correctly.

[jokers]

Just a thought here but what about making it into an mechanical since then you do not need the solenoid? The downsides i see to that is you need another bolt, and the hardware to make it mechanical.

[DanHS]

I already have an eNMEy, essentially I had wanted one electro and one mech on the same platform. If I can't repair the cap, I'll buy the DYE solenoid. Then I'll have the whole solenoid and I'll experiment with using it in place of the original. If that's a viable repair then I'll post up all the info so others can rehab their eXTCy and eNVy and Vibe or whatever else had the same issue. If neither repairs work or last, then I'll sell the parts I can't use.

[Brokeass_baller]

I'm willing to bet that the hole patterns on the Rizes solenoids won't match up (they don't compared to the mechanical switches on my eNMEy's), but I don't think that should matter. I don't think the screws are necessary on an electro.

If you'd like measurements or pics or anything, I have a Rize I can tear into for you.

[DanHS]

I've seen a couple people use the cap, the dimensions are the same, just the Rize uses 4 screws and obviously only two will be used on the eXTCy. I'm not sure if the solenoid itself will be narrow enough to fit in the grip frame, but it looks like it would. I did some fancy glue work last night, the Loctite plastic bonding system that uses a special primer seems to work pretty well, hopefully tonight I can stress test it a bit.

[DanHS]

Well so far the Loctite plastic bonding system has been successful. I snipped a couple pieces of the packaging to use as reinforcement layers glued over the area suspected of leaking. Now to see what it does when I try to actually use it in game.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

Great job. Maybe I will do the same to my Excty if it holds up. Mines freak green and was my first marker. Spent all $250 I had as tween to buy it. Got the L7 bolt for free after I was given a coupon at living legends 6. I need 3 grip frame screws but duct tape will do fine. .

[DanHS]

Update time: The solenoid worked great at first, used the marker one Sunday a month ago and it ran perfectly all day. Then two weeks ago I'm at the field going to chrono, and it starts leaking again. I have just completed my conversion to the Rize/Proto solenoid and it seems functional, will test it outside as soon as time permits.

Anyways, here's what I did:

-Desoldered solenoid from it's little board and cleaned up the tabs, trimmed a little from the base of the solenoid and the edge of the cap next to the power switch for clearance. Installed with a 6x1.5mm o-ring around the tabs (for whatever reason the solenoid is not sealed underneath and relies on an o-ring sealing against the board) to provide a better seal on the Blackheart board because it isn't as smooth as the little board the solenoid came on.

-Rearranged the hoses, reusing the long blue hose to run to the air source (I used the new hose barb banjo because I had a small leak), had to trim about 3/32" off because solenoid is a little larger. Used the small black hose that came on the solenoid for the exhaust valve just as it was, connected to my QEV without trimming. Where I got creative was in cutting the banjo off the back of the original solenoid, and slipping a short section of the blue hose over the section of pipe with a lot of super glue, using the special primer for polyethylene. If this fails later on, I found a 10/32" threaded 1/8" hose barb to use in place of the banjo, which looks like it would work.

-Trimmed inside the frame to provide clearance for the solenoid. I could have trimmed the corner of the solenoid cap, but since strength was an issue, I decided a little bit of metal removed from the thick spot in the frame that obstructed the solenoid, was a better option. Unfortunately I was a bit hasty and initially cut a larger area than necessary because I did not take enough time for test fitting, but I'm sure it will be fine. You can see the shallower cut area was where I initially cut too far, after another test fit I realized I didn't need to remove so much. I used a Dremel with a high speed cutter burr.

[DanHS]

Update to the update: Took the marker outside today and put half a hopper through it. Ran flawlessly. This weekend I should be able to give it a day of play. If it holds up long term, then it looks like I've found the solution to the cracked solenoid caps on these things.

[JeeperCreeper]

Awesome! Good job sticking to it and solving the problem. I hope you have fun with it

[ChoSanJuan]

Heck yeah, good job! I am a bit too late to the game on this. I'm working on a solenoid cap for these. I too inherited a super minty eXTCy with a micro fracture, pretty much in the same place. I got inspired to start designing one because I wanted to get it up in running, saw the Dye solenoid cap mod, but none of those are available anywhere either. :/

[lhamilton1807]

For posterity, there’s no need to remove the entire solenoid. Just trim off one ear and one of the nubs from a Rize solenoid cap and use the Rize screws to attach it. Easy peasy. Less chance of ruining the board or solenoid by (de)soldering, and there are no modifications to the frame. I purchased someone’s fried solenoid for $15 shipped, so the price and guilty feeling of potentially ruining a working part didn’t bother me in the least
Link to video is below. Not mine, but I followed his directions and am happy with the result so far.

[Car6on14]

DanHS thanks for the pics, I just got an extcy with same issue. Always wanted an electro and this was cheap, and I soon found out why... I bought a new proto noid and tried switching the cap after trimming one tab but ive been chasing leaks. First the side, then one barb, and now the top. I can solder fine, so I will try using the complete proto solenoid on the gog board, may just need to get some air line. Note, I used machine screws and lock nuts I ground down with a grinder to secure the new noid, similar to the way the brass upgrade gog noid does.