Interview Of A Professional Airsoft Technician

By
May 21, 2015

We have seen many questions throughout the years about what certain parts you will need to upgrade a specific gun and if we work on these items or not. Today, we pulled one of our head techs, Joe, aside and asked him a few questions that our customers have asked recently to see if he could answer these frequently asked questions.

Q: How long have you been fixing airsoft guns?
A: I have been working on guns for 6 years. I started small, basically working on gas pistols. The first gun I ever took apart was a Cybergun Famas. It wasn’t shooting correctly on single fire, so I decided to take it apart. It took me 6 hours total from disassembly to reassembly.

Q: Any advice for any up and coming DIY techs?
A: Basically, do what I did. Get a boneyard gun, or an inexpensive gun, and take it apart. When I did my Famas, I had YouTube open on a laptop, and looked up various “how-to” videos as I was working. The best way to learn something is to do it.

Q: What do I need to do if I want to upgrade my gun? What are the first steps?
A: The short answer is “it depends”. The reason is that all guns are different, in terms of the type of internal parts in the gun. For example, many guns do not come with a high torque motor, so if you start putting parts in the gearbox, but neglect the motor, the gearbox won’t perform properly. This is the way I think. There will always be a weak point in the gearbox. For example, if you upgrade motor, gears, piston, spring, basically everything internal in the gearbox, but neglect the gearbox shell itself, this is your weak point, and it will likely fail. If you are building a high stress build, and upgrade everything known to man, a point of weakness will still be there, but it will be less prone to failure. Upgrades need to “jive” together. There is always a rhyme and reason for using parts together.

The first step is determining what types of parts your gun has. This is done by opening it and inspecting everything. If you have a lot of plastic parts and a weak motor, then everything should be upgraded together, because when you put stress on those stock parts, something will fail.

Q: What would be the most common issue that you have seen in airsoft guns?
A: In new guns, the most common issue I see is a gear stripping. Most often it is the spur gear that strips, as this is the gear that takes much of the stress. In older guns, I usually see the trigger contacts begin to wear out, or the piston teeth will break/strip

Q: Do you own or work on HPA airsoft guns?
A: I do not own a HPA airsoft gun. Most of the work we do on HPA guns involves installing an engine into a body, and adjusting FCU settings.

Q: Personally, what is your favored band out of all the internal parts manufacturers?
A: Without a doubt, it would have to be Lonex. I use Lonex almost exclusively in all my builds, and in my own guns. For gears themselves, I generally use ZCI. I have had good results with them in all my builds.

If you have any questions for our technicians that were not here, please feel free to send us an email at Support@airrattle.com. We are more than happy to answer any questions you have.

AirRattle.com Omni-Channel Marketing Manager - Call Sign: Devilguardian

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