Paintball

[Heazelnut]

I've had my Ion for a little over a year and I love the bugger, but the darn thing just won't hold air for more than two games. There is no air leakage that I know of or can hear. However, the air efficiency is horrible. The big problem I have is that I have two people trying to tell me to do two separate things to fix it. So I decided to turn to you guys.

I have a regular stock Ion, with a 3000 psi steel air tank. Person number one told "A better qev would work. The Ion has a low air efficiency and if you install a better qev and play with the settings of the bolt time, you'll get better air because less air will escape with each shot". Person number two told me I was an idiot and just needed a new, better tank.

I've only been playing about 1 1/2 years, and I have only taken the marker apart once, so I really don't know which person right. I don't know how to play with the bolt settings. My quote from person number one may be off a little because of this. Either way, what do you guys think? How can I improve the air efficiency for my poor Ion so that it will hold for more than two 20 minute, 100 to 400 ball games?

[fossilhead]

Well, the tank you chose doesn't hold much air.

Beyond that a qev will help speed the gun up and help with air consumption a bit.

Really the efficiency fix for an ion has to do with the bolt. If you get a bolt with two o-rings on the back portion it will seal the dump chamber in it's forward cycle. The tech-t level 6 bolt was very good for this. But I think they changed the design over patent issues.

Look for a lightweight bolt that has 2 o-rings on the back.

[Beccolter]

If it's only been cleaned once, that may be a problem. I would strip it or have a field strip it all the way (Including taking off the snap ring at the back of the bolt and cleaning that). You will probably find some broken o-rings. You might need a new banjo fitting. While I was at it, yes I would get a QEV. They are very useful even if it turns out not to be your fix, and relatively inexpensive. If you decide to get a better bolt like fossil said (which you might end up wanting to do if a cleaning doesnt work), I love my shocktech bolt.

[Surestick]

Definitely clean & lube it.
Should be easy to check if its leaking - attach a full tank, let it sit for half an hour without touching it & see if the pressure changes.

If neither of these help I would suggest timing it. As mentioned above, the stock bolt doesn't seal the air coming in to the dump-chamber when the bolt is forward. If your dwell is too long you will be dumping extra air down the barrel with every shot. Apparently after market bolts that do seal the dump-chamber don't have much of an effect on efficiency on a properly timed Ion so I wouldn't worry about that unless you want to get the absolute best efficiency out of it.

Nicad (of Deadly Wind fame) posted the following procedure to set dwell on the Ion over on the Tinkers Guild tech forum: " The "optimized" dwell was set by finding the lowest dwell that didn't affect the velocity, then adding one for consistency" Tinkering Tech Forums :: View topic - Shot count data on a bone stock Ion. Twisted results??

If all this fails start shooting less! ;-)

[Grolli]

This site may be of help:

*** IonOwners Tech Frequently Asked Questions - READ ME FIRST! *** - Ion Owners

Best info I have found on the Ion.

[Heazelnut]

Thank you guys for your advice. The website you gave me, Grolli, is especially useful. I do try to take care of my gun, and clean it after each game. However, I have been afraid to take it apart because I'm afraid I might damage it. The website advice and videos will really help me.

As for the tank, it came with the gun, and I haven't had the money until now to replace it. I know the tank sucks.

I'm not sure I understand all the suggestions about the dwell and the bolt, I'll check out the websites more fully and go see if the guy at my local shop can show me exactly what you guys are talking about. He isn't one of the two people giving me all the conflicting advice, and I trust him to show me the dwell/bolt stuff.

Just curious, but does an Ion come stock with a QEV?

[Grolli]

The stock Ion does not come with the QEV. There are 2 other versions that you could buy off the shelf (the max'd and the pro). None of them came with the QEV.

[Beccolter]

The ion didnt come stock with a QEV, it came stock with a banjo fitting. You take off that fitting and put the upgraded QEV in place. Instructions.

[sdlm]

No matter what you do, assuming you shoot an average amount of paint and play speedball then a few games is the max you are ever going to get out of a 48/3k Steel tank, my Smart Parts Shocker 4x4 gets about a hopper and half a pod on a 48/3k or about 1 game at best. a decent fiber wrapped 4500psi tank will solve your issue, but they do cost.

[russc]

Yep the issue isn't your gun, it's the tank. Most people expect about 400 shots out of a 48ci.