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Magstrike Modding Issues


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#1 mintee

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 05:12 PM

I can barely get my MS to shoot 30 feet flat. I've done the following:
  • Dremel the green OPR valve and glued it into place
  • Dremel off the blue plastic panels which restrict the space for the tank to expand
  • Glued the hole on the white winged piece which touches the back of the magazines
  • Remove ARs on the clips
The first few darts are significantly weaker than the last in the stream. I can fire two clips just fine. I've tried banding the piston but that doesn't improve the range for me. I still haven't tried:
  • Banding the bladder
  • Sanding down the plastic which interferes with the trigger
  • Putting PETG or brass on the clips
But even Angel's hit 40' at least before those, right? Any tips, anything I missed?
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#2 Dangaard

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 05:15 PM

I had a similair problem, it turns out for me I placed the white winged piece to far back in the shell.
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#3 Doom

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 05:35 PM

What was the range before you modified? It's a good idea to test a few things out before and after modifying to see if you're really making a difference. You might have bought a dud.

Other than that, I would not suggest banding the bladder. Banding is a terrible idea. It's way too much effort and money for too little benefit. I have no idea why that modification is prevalent is Nerf out of all the other possibilities. Try layering bike tubes like this Super Soaker modification. Alternatively, replace the bladder with higher pressure latex tubing from McMaster-Carr. Another great option would be to use an HPA tank because the energy density is significantly higher than latex tubing, but that would cost more money and be a more complicated modification.
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#4 Blacksunshine

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 05:47 PM

What was the range before you modified? It's a good idea to test a few things out before and after modifying to see if you're really making a difference. You might have bought a dud.

Other than that, I would not suggest banding the bladder. Banding is a terrible idea. It's way too much effort and money for too little benefit. I have no idea why that modification is prevalent is Nerf out of all the other possibilities. Try layering bike tubes like this Super Soaker modification. Alternatively, replace the bladder with higher pressure latex tubing from McMaster-Carr. Another great option would be to use an HPA tank because the energy density is significantly higher than latex tubing, but that would cost more money and be a more complicated modification.


Is this not essentially the same as banding? This mod is also quite a pain in the ass to pull off too. tho the rolling of the tube would make it much easier then to slip it down the length.
Its pretty much the hardest mod to do to the MS aside from replacing the air system with an external tank.
And swapping out to different barrels.
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#5 ompa

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 05:49 PM

The method that Doom is suggesting is much longer lasting, and provides a more even pressure on the bladder. All my bike-tire-modded guns are still holding up, while alot of the rubber banded-ones are no longer banded due to wear-and-tear.

And don't judge solely based on what other people say. Alot of the time, dart-barrel fit has alot to do with things. For example; right now, my LS gets around 60-70', despite a new bolt, stronger spring, new o-rings, and pretty much everything I can think of that you can normally do to a LS to shoot further and not greatly risk the integrity of the gun. I've found that the problem is the dart-barrel seal; the tighter the darts I use, the more range I end up getting. With my old darts that were nice and tight, I got around 80-90', and I know for a fact that my barrel is not even close to optimized (way too long at the moment, but I haven't gotten a chance to cut it down yet). I'm assuming once I make a new barrel and adjust my darts a bit I should be getting 90'+. So again, judge based on what Doom has said. Judge based on a performance increase relative to your gun. Other people can serve as a guideline, but keep in mind, even if you take their modded gun and stick your darts into it, the results may be quite different from what they claim.

\/Bobafan, the banding increases the ROF I believe, although I may be wrong.

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#6 bobafan

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 05:50 PM

The increased pressure in the bladder doesn't increase the range. The function of the piston part doen't put the pressurized air in the barrel, it compresses a spring just like on a CF or another springer which pushes the air through the barrel. (Others can explain the piston better, but this is how I understand it.)

Banding the tank increases the ROF.

The way to increase range is to improve barrel, darts, seal, and band the piston.

I wouldn't suggest using a rigid tank because it doesn't have constant pressure unless you have a regulator and other such equipment. That just complicates things.

Edited by bobafan, 03 May 2008 - 05:55 PM.

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#7 mintee

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 06:54 PM

@ Dangaard: My winged piece fully contacts the magazine, I don't think that's the issue. Thanks though.

@ Doom: I got averages of 20' before modding, and would only put out a clip and a few shots. Now, I can fire almost three, at an average of 25', using 2' stefans. Normal taggers get no range increase. I did consider layering inner tubing around the bladder, but I'll need to buy the bike tubing first.

@ Ompa: Thanks for your input, I will take into consideration the darts' fit in the barrels. I plan on putting PETG or brass later on.

@ bobafan: That was my guess, after reading Angel's entire thread: the piston regulates the air, so as air builds up in the piston the pressure is used to both advance the clip and build up pressure for the shot. If the key to improving its range is both banding the piston/increasing the spring's strength and increasing the bladders' constant pressure by using tubing, then I now know what I gotta do.

Banding the plunger won't be very effective if the constant pressure supplied from the tank isn't strong enough, is now what I'm guessing. First on my list now, is to get bike tubing.

Thanks for the help, everyone! I'll try it out, and post results within the week.
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#8 Doom

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 07:28 PM

Is this not essentially the same as banding? This mod is also quite a pain in the ass to pull off too. tho the rolling of the tube would make it much easier then to slip it down the length.
Its pretty much the hardest mod to do to the MS aside from replacing the air system with an external tank.


They're the same concept, yes, but the problem with banding is that it's hard to get an even distribution of rubber bands. Bike tubes are even by their nature on the cylindrical tubing.

I'll agree with you that layering rubber is a pain. I know because I've done it many times and have tried to think of easier ways to do it. Right now I think finding rubber tubing with an ID slightly larger than the chamber OD is the best method because no stretching is necessary. Newer methods involve stretching the inner tube (middle, not the outer tube) and sliding the larger tube over. I haven't had success with that method but others have.

@ Doom: I got averages of 20' before modding, and would only put out a clip and a few shots. Now, I can fire almost three, at an average of 25', using 2' stefans. Normal taggers get no range increase. I did consider layering inner tubing around the bladder, but I'll need to buy the bike tubing first.


While I don't have mine with me I'm sure it shoots over 30 feet without modification. Yours probably is a dud. It might be most worthwhile to buy another one.

One thing I'd like to clear up too is that doing the common PC expansion modification that involves removing the walls of the housing will reduce the useful life of the bladder. Hasbro reduces the expansion for a reason, and it's not to make the gun have less air capacity or power. The expansion of the bladder creates tiny tears in the rubber that reduces the operating pressure. More expansion creates more tears that do reduce the operating pressure dramatically. Replacement is trivial (to me at least), but if you don't want to replace then I wouldn't suggest doing anything to expand the capacity. If you do want to expand the capacity I would suggest buying a piece of 3 inch PETG pipe to replace the Magstrike bladder's current housing and some latex tubing to replace the bladder. It would be an involved modification, but I think it would be worthwhile and it definitely would be cheaper than an HPA tank.

Edit: Don't get the wrong impression though. You won't see a reduction in performance right away by increasing the expansion, so I wouldn't think the reduced performance is due to the expansion modification. You should see a temporary small increase in performance from the expansion actually. It takes a good deal of expansions (10+ from what I remember being told) before the tearing/thinning becomes evident.

Edited by Doom, 03 May 2008 - 07:31 PM.

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#9 Flantre

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 08:06 PM

It could be the o-ring on the end of the piston. Try wrapping e-tape under the o-ring for a better seal, but has ompa said it is most likely the barrels.

Edited by Flantre, 03 May 2008 - 08:11 PM.

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#10 Dayko

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 09:39 PM

Sounds like you got a dud of a MS. My Iron Man MS ( the only mod I did was drill out the ARs) gets 35-40-ish feet with taggers and with stefans they go between 50-55-ish. Out of curiosity what type of MS do you have? The old version or the Iron Man one?
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#11 laxtk88

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 10:18 PM

I just bought an Iron Man magstrike and found the bladder improperly placed in the gun. Just check the directory for examples of how it should look and it should be easy to fix.
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#12 Dayko

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 11:40 PM

I just bought an Iron Man magstrike and found the bladder improperly placed in the gun. Just check the directory for examples of how it should look and it should be easy to fix.


What do you mean? It won't pump up right if it is not in the right place?
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#13 mintee

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Posted 04 May 2008 - 02:38 AM

@ Flantre: I'll try reinforcing the seal for the piston. Thanks.

@ Doom: I never took that into consideration... Even more reason to get my butt down to the bike store and get some tubes!

@ Dayko: Old version MS, I wanted two clips so even though they were overpriced here in Vancouver (cheapest for the dart tag set was $34.99, so $39 after taxes and everything, wish I got it last year during the Nerf sale). I measured using a 50' long tape measure, indoors no wind resistance no obstacles. Too late to return it though, it's torn apart and everything :(

@ lastxtk88: Certainly it's not the bladder, it pumped absolutely fine before and after modding, no leaks on that end at all.

More and more I'm beginning to regret buying this particular Magstrike, maybe it was just a dud. But guess what? I just got paid yesterday, so it means a trip to Wal-Mart to get an Iron Man Magstrike. Wish this one won't be a dud too...
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#14 Dayko

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Posted 04 May 2008 - 03:01 AM

A good idea for all nerf guns before modding is to test fire it over and over. I don't know how many times I tested my Iron Man MS before taking out the AR's in the clip. Also look on the bright side, you got two more clips for your Iron Man MS your getting.

Edited by Dayko, 04 May 2008 - 03:02 AM.

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#15 mintee

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Posted 05 May 2008 - 03:39 AM

New Iron Man MS.

I opened it up at a buddy's house while eating take-out and shot at least 30' with stock taggers, stock everything... got home, fired 2" stefans from my crap MS's AR-less clips and it shot a door exactly 30' away with chest to waist level hits. I was both pissed and relieved.

I had a dud. Thanks for the help guys! Now I have two clips which cost me $20! :P And the IMMS doesn't let the clips drop after firing only half a clip... Also, now I'm scared to tear apart my IMMS for fear of somehow ruining the internals.
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#16 Dayko

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Posted 05 May 2008 - 09:02 PM

now I'm scared to tear apart my IMMS for fear of somehow ruining the internals.


You and me both buddy. I'm still unsure if I want to open it up sand down the walls so the bladder can expand.
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#17 mintee

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Posted 05 May 2008 - 09:46 PM

now I'm scared to tear apart my IMMS for fear of somehow ruining the internals.


You and me both buddy. I'm still unsure if I want to open it up sand down the walls so the bladder can expand.

Dayko, I just opened it up this morning and did the OPR valve fix. Didn't bother with anything else at the moment, but it works exactly as before (with the ability to hold in more air now). But now the yellow endcap on the pump doesn't fit back on. Guess you can't have everything XD
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#18 Dayko

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Posted 06 May 2008 - 12:37 AM

now I'm scared to tear apart my IMMS for fear of somehow ruining the internals.


You and me both buddy. I'm still unsure if I want to open it up sand down the walls so the bladder can expand.

Dayko, I just opened it up this morning and did the OPR valve fix. Didn't bother with anything else at the moment, but it works exactly as before (with the ability to hold in more air now). But now the yellow endcap on the pump doesn't fit back on. Guess you can't have everything XD


How did you take off the yellow cap? I have already taken mine off and I can still put it back on with no trouble. I'm going to brave it tomorrow and open up the gun and do the OPR valve mod and sand down the walls.
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#19 mintee

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Posted 06 May 2008 - 12:50 AM

now I'm scared to tear apart my IMMS for fear of somehow ruining the internals.


You and me both buddy. I'm still unsure if I want to open it up sand down the walls so the bladder can expand.

Dayko, I just opened it up this morning and did the OPR valve fix. Didn't bother with anything else at the moment, but it works exactly as before (with the ability to hold in more air now). But now the yellow endcap on the pump doesn't fit back on. Guess you can't have everything XD


How did you take off the yellow cap? I have already taken mine off and I can still put it back on with no trouble. I'm going to brave it tomorrow and open up the gun and do the OPR valve mod and sand down the walls.

I had to pry it off, it was glued completely on one side only. But it's ok. Good luck with your IMMS!
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#20 Dayko

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Posted 06 May 2008 - 12:55 AM

I used a flat headed screw driver and started to pry it off. A good place to start prying it off is to go at the side with out the glue and just work slowly around until you have it off all the way. That way you should have the cap still in usable condition. Thanks, same to you if you do any more to your IMMS.
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