Posted on 5-30-2017 by Giuseppe:
Any updates?
Any updates?
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Posted on 6-12-2017 by pghp8ntballer:
I just talked to Smiley yesterday. He said that the route he was pursuing it would be a couple grand to get the seals made. Unfortunately I do not have more info beyond that.
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And this is ALL I can get from the Way Back Machine. There were more posts. Essentially, I made progress since then:
- The 3D Printed hammer rings did not work and actually shredded apart after a few hundred cycles, and we had burping in the recock action.
- Grooving the hammer for regular o rings is inconsistent and time consuming. And permanent. Essentially, you need a lathe to do it 100% correctly, but then you run into the same issues as the Chinese S4's hammers. There is a reason that the factory Hammer ring is compressed and made of the certain material. But Chaos was super crucial in exploring this option, and the modification does work if you can pull it. So BIG thanks to Chaos!
- I went with injection mold as a process for making the factory style hammer o rings. To do this, we had the original factory stock hammer o ring measured professionally by three different outfits before making the molds. I did not trust those measurements presented earlier in this thread and had it done professionally for accuracy. We took those measurements to create the molds. Everything from measurements, to molds, to the "prototypes" was very expensive. By January of 2020, I had eight prototype hammer rings that seem to be completely identical to the factory seals of yester year. I have six of the eight prototypes in VM-68s that were not cycling properly and had hammer o rings that were gum. For testing purposes, Yeti and I tested the hammer seal at low PSI of 450 PSI to 1300 PSI. At the moment, all prototypes are allowing for flawless recocking action in the VM 68s. If anything, the VMs are recocking in colder weather which is "Neat".
That is all I have for now.
Best,
SmileyComment
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The new rings were sounding promising. Any news since then?Comment
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Hello!
At the moment, I am still testing when I can and saving up for the first production batch. I will keep you posted
Best,
SmileyComment
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Any update on this? Just getting back into paintball and pulled my VM68 out of storage - needs new o-rings.Comment
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No access to a lathe. Any info on who could.do this?Originally posted by Brokeass_baller View Post
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Originally posted by Brokeass_baller View Post
Respectfully, I wouldn't. The Chinese version of VM did this type of hammer o ring insteadof the compression washer that is proprietary. On compressed air at 600 PSI or less, it works but your velocity is low and the VM is not performing at its potential. On CO2 at 600+ to 800+ PSI and more, the o ring shreds and unseats and creates a recocking mess. Plus the hammer is rare to find. I have seen some botched jobs recently where people have tried the o ring mod on a hammer and it no worky. At this point, there is no going back and the marker is junk. Sorry.
But hey, don't take my word since I am most likely the only dissenting opinion. On the other hand, I have been maintaining a rental fleet of 350+ VM 68s for about 20 plus years now. I am most likely the last living ultimate authority on the VM 68. I mean that humbly and with respect. You don't know me or what I have done with VM 68s because I don't really advertise. And my main marker of choice since 1995 has been the VM68. I keep the VM 68s running with factory reproduction parts that I get made and OEM parts that we still have. Albeit, some parts are really tough to get now and I am looking into duplicating them. There is a reason why the Hammer ring is what it is. Humbly, I would not do that O ring mod.
Respectfully,
SmileyComment
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HelloOriginally posted by martzjc View Post
The material on the first batch of prototypes didn't hold. They were taffy within three years of being made. I am currently having another run of prototypes made in different material. I am looking for guinea pigs if interested.
Warmly,
Smiley
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First round of prototypes turned to taffy in 2-3 years and were a 70 durometer most likely. Had burping at random times but were functional before turning to taffy. Some tweaking was needed.
In hand right now, I have the second round of prototypes in three different materials. Testing now. A lot of promise...
SmileyComment
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I can be a Guinea pig….Comment
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