Paintball

[sdawg]

I replaced it with an o-ring that seems to be slightly fatter. Unfortunately, I am out of air.

Let me think about this problem.

If the bolt sail o-ring is faulty, the pressure from the back of the chamber is filling the front of the chamber, effectively making one chamber. Air is flowing both to the rear chamber and the front chamber (via the QEV). When the solenoid activates, air vents out of the QEV, but it also instantaneously vents from the rear chamber to the front chamber to take the place of air escaping through the QEV. As a result, the bolt doesn't move. The air that should be pushing the bolt forward is instead repalcing the air venting out of the QEV.

The front chamber is holding the bolt back. When the QEV vents, the pressure in the front chamber drops, but the back chamber is still at the inline pressure, pushing the bolt forward until it pops. But, if there is no seal between the front and rear chambers, the pressure in the front chamber immediately is replaced by the pressure in the back chamber, and the bolt never moves. The air in the back chamber never has a chance to push on the sail o-ring.

This is why the marker would cycle for about 50 shots and then stop working. I would lube up the old, worn sail o-ring, and the dow 33 would assist with an effective seal. But after the lube had moved off of the bolt, the seal would break, and the two chambers would effective become one chamber.

What is funny is that this problem sounded like the chuffing of an Automag that has not had its reg turned up high enough! In this case, the pressure from the air causes a chuff but does not have enough force to overcome the spring holding the metal bolt back. The Ion is more like the Automag than I thought.

[sdawg]

Colin at DeadlyWind says of my analysis:

Your analysis is spot on. That is why I suspect that the bolt sail O-ring seal should be the area of concern for our troubleshooting.
...
If the sail is not sealing, it will sound like it vents the entire time of the dwell, since the back chamber is supplying an almost unlimited re-supply of air pressure past the bolt sail and thus out the QEV/solenoid.

I've replaced the sail o-ring with a new thicker one. Tomorrow, I'm going to get some more air and see if that solves the problem.

Thank you to everyone who came to this thread to offer their help and suggestions. I hope I can return the favor in the future.

To be concluded...

[noelydeeznutz]

what size is the oring SUPPOSED to be, and what size did you replace it with?

[sdawg]

Colin at Deadlywind:

The stock O-ring from the stock Ion bolt is actually too thick (I think it is a 2mm thick ring). We currently use a size 1.6mm thick x 17.1mm ID for the Sail. You can also try a normal #016 O-ring.. It will be quite a bit tighter, but should still operate, and could be useful for troubleshooting.

I replaced it with a o-ring that seemed like the right size from my tool-box. I have a third-party Ion o-ring kit. I'll guess I'll find out if it works when I get some air today.

I have no idea where I would get a size 1.6mm thick x 17.1mm ID o-ring. I went to Home Depot to find a #016 in the plumbing department, and it looked waaaaay too big.

[sdawg]

Ion is now working, although it is leaking down the barrel sometimes. Closing thread.