Mag Projects

EVIL -07/05/07

alright ive decided to share my project with everyone. my friend and i have been working on this the last few days with a drill press and some other pretty cheap common tools.

after seeing all the pneumatic mags i decided to take the old RT out of the shoe box and make my own for fun. well it didnt take long and i hadnt even started the project when i decided to make it electro too!
one of my first thoughts was to make it just electro and use a pancake noid to trip the sear, but that was a bit too boring for me so i made the decision to go ahead and use the common pneumatic parts with a few other parts that i really havent seen used too much yet. i watched the video that pneumagger(hope i spelled it right) made and the information on the assembly of the MPA-3 actuator was invaluable to me, much appreciation on that knowledge that is now stored in my brain.

i started with a Stock Ion frame because it was FREE!!!! honestly that is the only reason. i picked up a MPA-3, Micro Rock and a SMC s070c-sdg-32 from airsolider. i grabbed a scenario dreams ion t-board with out a solenoid, it is really the only aftermarket board i had seen in person in 3 years and the sized/modes looked like a good starting point to me. the last part i grabbed was the little piston from Luke.

i had to mill out the lower gripframe to hold the board and the battery next to each other since the original board placement was taken by the mpa-3. not a big deal i used a 2 flute 1/8" mill bit in my little drill press and cutting oil in a spray bottle to quickly do the job. if i can do it so can you! drilled 2 small holes to hold the trigger switch in the stock location, so i have the option of using any aftermarket trigger.

i also milled out the top front of the grip frame with the same bit, to hold my extremely small solenoid and made a channel for the air hose out to the front of the gun where i placed my lpr. the hole for the lpr i drilled and tapped, my drill press is way way to small for this kind of thing as i dont have the travel distance. i ended up free hand drilling it and its only slightly crooked but this is only my beta setup. i plan on a floor mount drill press and a decent sized mill in the near future as i also race motorcycles and often need small parts and brackets remade from other racers poor track manners.

all in all im impressed by the function and plan on thoroughly testing this marker out.

things i have found so far:
1. the solenoid i used can only cycle 24 times per second at the minimum dwell setting from the board which is 6mls. its fine since the marker only cycles at 22cps with the lvl10 and 800psi output tank, so i capped the board at 22 in all modes.
2. i did some soldering work. you dont really need to if you dont mind opening the grip or drilling a small hole in the grip to push the buttons. there is also the option of a membrane pad that plugs right in too! i drilled holes and did some soldering.
3. super glue will not bond the piston to the delrin! and during dryfires with just the grip it popped out. a 2 part epoxy is a better choice and is just as cheap at the home depot.
4. break out mode is fun as hell!!! on a mag!!! full auto at startup then semi after the first trigger release!
5. this gun is a ton faster than my emag ever was. i never liked the stupidly huge batter pack and the plunger style noid. manual/hybrid mode was something i never really needed anyway either. my angels never had a manual mode and ive made due for about 7 years with them.
6. board has the ability to run eyes and i will be doing eyes at a later date and time, i have a ule body on the way so i have to wait for that.
7. you can use just about any gripframe for this project and i may do my final frame for this gun with an ego frame, however that is still up in the air as fireball mountain makes a great aftermarket ion frame. i have done some measuring and i thing that the solenoid that i used can fit in a ule style rail and would free up some room in the gripframe for other things or if you use a smaller frame all together.