16 replies to this topic

[TantumBull]

Okay, so I recently I picked myself up an iron man magstrike for a couple bucks at value village. One of the tube connection points was broken, but I fixed that easily. Then, stupidly, I pumped it up and opened the valve WITHOUT THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHELL ON. The piston broke. Now when the valve is opened, the piston moves forward, and then hisses the rest of the air out. After shaking the piston, I heard a clinking sound. I decided I had nothing to lose, and I opened up the piston. Here are some pics:




And a video. At the end of the video is the actual problem. I think normally that those two parts are held together by the spring in the upper section of the piston. However, as you can see, there is about a half a centimeter where it isn't being pushed together by the spring. That's what the clanking was.



Edit: Oh right, the questions:

1) How the fuck do I fix this?
2) What lube should I use if I fix it and end up closing the piston successfully, because the stock lube will probably have dried out? I'm leaning against a spray lube, because it doesn't make things as slidey as grease does. Slilicone grease?

Edited by TantumBull, 26 October 2008 - 02:51 PM.

[TheNerfLoki]

1) How the fuck do I fix this?
2) What lube should I use if I fix it and end up closing the piston successfully, because the stock lube will probably have dried out? I'm leaning against a spray lube, because it doesn't make things as slidey as grease does. Slilicone grease?

1) Don't Know.
2)I would use liquid wrench sillicone lube, because other not sillicone lubes eat at plastic/rubber (It is sprayable though)

Edited by TheNerfLoki, 26 October 2008 - 03:37 PM.

[oodalumps]

When I opened up my Magstrike piston, the cap at the end was glued on. I saw you remove it in your video, so gluing it on might fix it.

[TantumBull]

When I opened up my Magstrike piston, the cap at the end was glued on. I saw you remove it in your video, so gluing it on might fix it.

Alright, thanks, I'll try that. Were you opening it to replace the spring? If so, were you successful?

Edit: I still think it has something to do with the wiggling of those two pieces I identified earlier. I remember Angel saying he once had similar problems, but found that some black piece had broke. I don't see any broken black pieces.

Edited by TantumBull, 26 October 2008 - 04:10 PM.

[nerf mafia]

If you need a new piston I've got one I'll let you pm me if you want it.

[DTReaper]

Incidentally right after reading your topic my gun suffered the samre affliction. So I took it apart much like you did and took off that top piece that you did in the film and noticed that it had some super glue residue on it and looked like it broke off. So I simply super glued it back on and glued the piston back together and sure enough it worked. Hope this helps.

-DTR

[TantumBull]

nerfmafia: Thank you for the offer, I definitely would because the piston's gonna be a bitch to get back together while remaining airtight. However, I'm 15 and my parents aren't to cool about wiring money to people I've never met. If it was my paypal account, I would in a heart beat. Maybe if I could send you cash...

DTReaper: Thank you so much. Definitely gonna try that, a couple questions, though. Should I use goop to glue the piston base back into the piston casing? If that part doesn't have to be air tight then I'd much rather use super glue. I don't think it does because it already has air vents for the plunger on that piece. Also, does the front section on yours wiggle like mine does? I just want to be sure that the cap is the problem before gluing the piston back together

To everybody:
Has anyone tried replacing the piston spring with any relative success? What about banding the piston externally (still inside the shell of course)?

Edited by TantumBull, 26 October 2008 - 05:14 PM.

[DTReaper]

Well I used super glue to glue the back piece back on just put some e-tape in the rod part to keep the spring compressed while you reglue it then untape it when its dry. be liberal with the glue after the first bit is hard. I can't remember specifically if the front piece wiggled but i dont think it will matter as long as it is glued on relativly straight as it has to seal against the fron piece for it to fire. Hope it helps.

-DTR

[k9turrent]

that happened to me, but I put the back piece behind the slot for it.

[TantumBull]

Well I used super glue to glue the back piece back on just put some e-tape in the rod part to keep the spring compressed while you reglue it then untape it when its dry. be liberal with the glue after the first bit is hard. I can't remember specifically if the front piece wiggled but i dont think it will matter as long as it is glued on relativly straight as it has to seal against the fron piece for it to fire. Hope it helps.

-DTR

Wait a sec, you had to keep the main spring compressed while gluing? Why? And what do you mean by "the front piece"? The piece that pooped off or the whole front half of the piston? What do you mean by "after the first bit is hard"?

K9: Can you be a bit more specific? I have no idea what you're talking about.

Edited by TantumBull, 26 October 2008 - 07:24 PM.

[k9turrent]

re-read our original post, what I've been talking about is outside the plunger and the spring.

its the BACK piece that isn't even in your pictures.

[DTReaper]

Well I keep the main spring compressed whil gluing so there is no stress on the drying part. by the front pice i mean the very front of the whole piston assemble where the o-ring is on the outside. And by the first bit is hard I mean that you glue in two stages the first you use a little glue and get the joint solidly together then once that is dry you put more on. Hope this clears it up some.

-DTR

[TantumBull]

Well I keep the main spring compressed whil gluing so there is no stress on the drying part. by the front pice i mean the very front of the whole piston assemble where the o-ring is on the outside. And by the first bit is hard I mean that you glue in two stages the first you use a little glue and get the joint solidly together then once that is dry you put more on. Hope this clears it up some.

-DTR

Alright, thanks for clearing that up.

[TantumBull]

The real problem is shown at 0:20, where you take off the little "cap" from the end of the piston. That's not supposed to separate. I used Gorilla Glue, with excellent results.


My experience seems to indicate that the Iron Man version, specifically, is often rather poorly assembled.

You don't think it has anything to do with the "wiggling" I showed at the end of the video?

[DTReaper]

That might be whats causing the leaking problem when you hold the valve open because the rubber might not be seating right mine didnt leak it just moved forward and stopped however if you glue it on there won't be any wiggling so it will fix both problems at once.

-DTR

[TantumBull]

I don't think you guys quite understand what's wiggling on mine. Watch the last bit of the video again. When I was sliding the top half of the piston back and forth, there was no stress from the top spring. It's kind of like having a springer with too short a spring: when it's not cocked the plunger head isn't being pushed against the front of the plunger tube, if you shook it, the plunger would bounce up and down.

I'm not sure if this is normal or not, I just don't remember it jiggling before.

[TantumBull]

You don't think it has anything to do with the "wiggling" I showed at the end of the video?

Maybe you've got more than one thing wrong, but that piece not being glued down will kill the action.

Okay, thanks, I glue that down. Do you know if there's a way to test if the action will work without gluing at the point where I cut to get the piston out? (I really don't want to glue the whole assembly back together just to find that there is still a problem.)