So classic me story, I bought a cheap used all black JT Triad (v3) for $70 shipped to my door (which in hindsight wasn't even the best of deals). Anaaaaaad it didn't work right, this thing clearly has seen some mileage. I wrote this entire post before going back and looking at the pictures from the seller, he re-assembled the loader wrong at some point. Originally I was going to post this in ask the experts, but I've spent a couple hours today becoming an expert. Still open to any feedback/suggestions/other experiences!
So anyhow I took it out to the field for the first time this weekend and it was... not good. First point couldn't ramp, 2nd point I managed to break a bunch of balls and still wasn't ramping consistently (for some reason after the first point I just thought it was a skill issue or nerves or something). I switched to a Spire V and different barrel and had 0 issues over the course of a case and change of paint. I was using a 180r with 15-20kish shots on it, freshly cleaned and serviced.
In testing after rebuilding the loader tonight I suspect the ball breaking thing was unrelated, I had 2 barrel breaks in a single loader of paint using a .691 insert w/ my field one acculock barrel. Day of I started with the F1 barrel and a 683 insert (which at the time was overboring for the smallish draxxus paint), and swapped to a 685 PE insert in a crbn nano barrel.... So maybe there's two issues at play here, I'll have to crack open another bag of paint and solve that another day.
Issues I've had:
If you load the hopper while turned off, it will just spin forever.. I've got a 15 second video of it struggling to get balls into the chamber, it takes a couple vigorous shakes to get balls to fall into the impeller? so weird.
Can't keep up with NXL ramping - this one I suspect is that the drive oring fell off the tensioner(?)pulley and was just dragging on the shaft instead of the pulley. Post-repair it seems to maintain ramping just fine.
When I pulled it apart I also noticed that brass drive gear has a ton of play in the lower bearing. I'll probably order a replacement kit Part #310555 the next time I get around to ordering from ANS. It's also worth noting that this assembly is held in double shear when you put it back together, so this should be a non issue, but maybe it explains why the oring fell off the pulley? I unfortunately didn't think to take a picture of the bottom of the tray before tearing down.
Oring stretched 2mm beyond original spec (per the worlds finest digital estimators)- obviously fixable, you can order 46 from the Oring store for $5.06, or one from most vendors for $2.95 Part #31044 w/ ANS link. I'm throwing one in my next ANS order, and a bazillion on my next Oring Store order, I'll do some science to make sure they match. Per ANS it's a 2mmx42mm buna 70 oring.
The speed feed is mediocre just like the identical halo pro - spend money get the spring loaded finger style one simple enough
Final issue, if it's tilted down even a little the assist ramp wont roll balls back - the spring is probably just past its prime, I'll order one of those soon™
Lessons learned:
if you're tearing it down just unplug all the leads from the mainboard, they're all super obvious... trying to do tetris with them hooked up is annoying.
when you re assemble the casing over the drive setup use a pick to pull the tip of the brass shaft into place, it has a hole milled into it
AAAAND as I eluded I went looking for pictures and found that it was shipped to me assembled incorrectly.
it *should* look like this, with the little bronze tip showing:
In the photo from the seller you can actually see the bearing:
So anyhow I took it out to the field for the first time this weekend and it was... not good. First point couldn't ramp, 2nd point I managed to break a bunch of balls and still wasn't ramping consistently (for some reason after the first point I just thought it was a skill issue or nerves or something). I switched to a Spire V and different barrel and had 0 issues over the course of a case and change of paint. I was using a 180r with 15-20kish shots on it, freshly cleaned and serviced.
In testing after rebuilding the loader tonight I suspect the ball breaking thing was unrelated, I had 2 barrel breaks in a single loader of paint using a .691 insert w/ my field one acculock barrel. Day of I started with the F1 barrel and a 683 insert (which at the time was overboring for the smallish draxxus paint), and swapped to a 685 PE insert in a crbn nano barrel.... So maybe there's two issues at play here, I'll have to crack open another bag of paint and solve that another day.
Issues I've had:
If you load the hopper while turned off, it will just spin forever.. I've got a 15 second video of it struggling to get balls into the chamber, it takes a couple vigorous shakes to get balls to fall into the impeller? so weird.
Can't keep up with NXL ramping - this one I suspect is that the drive oring fell off the tensioner(?)pulley and was just dragging on the shaft instead of the pulley. Post-repair it seems to maintain ramping just fine.
When I pulled it apart I also noticed that brass drive gear has a ton of play in the lower bearing. I'll probably order a replacement kit Part #310555 the next time I get around to ordering from ANS. It's also worth noting that this assembly is held in double shear when you put it back together, so this should be a non issue, but maybe it explains why the oring fell off the pulley? I unfortunately didn't think to take a picture of the bottom of the tray before tearing down.
Oring stretched 2mm beyond original spec (per the worlds finest digital estimators)- obviously fixable, you can order 46 from the Oring store for $5.06, or one from most vendors for $2.95 Part #31044 w/ ANS link. I'm throwing one in my next ANS order, and a bazillion on my next Oring Store order, I'll do some science to make sure they match. Per ANS it's a 2mmx42mm buna 70 oring.
The speed feed is mediocre just like the identical halo pro - spend money get the spring loaded finger style one simple enough
Final issue, if it's tilted down even a little the assist ramp wont roll balls back - the spring is probably just past its prime, I'll order one of those soon™
Lessons learned:
if you're tearing it down just unplug all the leads from the mainboard, they're all super obvious... trying to do tetris with them hooked up is annoying.
when you re assemble the casing over the drive setup use a pick to pull the tip of the brass shaft into place, it has a hole milled into it
AAAAND as I eluded I went looking for pictures and found that it was shipped to me assembled incorrectly.
it *should* look like this, with the little bronze tip showing:
In the photo from the seller you can actually see the bearing:
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