ULE Mag with X-Valve Troubleshooting

[capedcrayola]

I recently bought a ULE mag with X-valve (lvl 10 bolt) off facebook (hadn't been maintained or used in a few years).

When I turned on the air, the trigger pin pressurized but the gun wouldn't fire. I put a working RT valve (also has a lvl 10 bolt) on but still wouldn't fire. I realized there wasn't any gap between the trigger pin and trigger so I adjusted for a 1/16" gap (but I used a thick credit card so maybe it was too much). This adjustment worked because I could shoot the RT valve normally, but the X-valve still wouldn't fire at all.

Next I put the X-valve on a working micromag body, and it wouldn't fire. I took the X-valve apart, noticed the spring pack was gobbed with so much grease that the gaps between the coils weren't visible. I added some oil to the air inlet, then tried it again in the working micromag and the X-valve worked great.

Then I returned the X-valve to the ULE body, but it'll only fire once each time it's aired up, and won't fire beyond the first shot.

Looking for some advice about what to check next. I'm thinking readjusting the trigger so it's exactly 1/16" and swapping the bolts next but not sure if that'll help. Also, where should I apply oil to the bolt?

[Magageddon]

So for your x valve, just use agd gun oil or some other gun oil on the o rings from now on, they do not like grease from my experience.

I would try adjusting your sear pin again on your ule body set up. Another "trick" you can try is when the mag is gassed up, loosen your field strip screw a hair and see if that fixes it. Sometimes the body to valve ratio is off and backing off on the fieldstrip screw a hair evens things out

Also make sure your velocity adjuster on the valve is screwed far enough in. If its not, the mag wont fire

[capedcrayola]

It has a Luke's Wave Rail on it with the two little holes. So I don't have a threaded sear pin and didn't really see how it was adjustable. I'll try those options though.

[Cunha]

No grease and you never need to adjust the trigger rod. At all. Now you should find the spec and make sure yours is correct length.

[capedcrayola]

I'll get rid of the grease. The odd thing is that the trigger rod adjustment let the frame work with an RT valve, but won't work with the X-valve.

I have Luke's wave rail without the threaded sear pin, so I didn't think it could be adjusted. That's why I adjusted the trigger rod instead.

[Calvin]

No grease and you never need to adjust the trigger rod. At all. Now you should find the spec and make sure yours is correct length.

Does this go for classic valves as well? I just started rebuilding a few, and started with the reg piston. I used dow 33 on the piston and spring, but in reasonable amounts. Should I remove that and use the synthetic air tool oil in there, as I plan to for the on/off and power tube?

[Magageddon]

yes, If I were you, I would remove that grease and apply some synthetic gun oil on the o rings, you dont need a lot of oil, usually a drop on each part is good for a while

[capedcrayola]

One thing I'm confused by is that most responses on the forums say not to change the trigger rod, but the manual says otherwise:

[Magageddon]

I think some people don't account for user error/parts moving over time. I've had sear rods back themselves out because the threads they thread into start to loosen up over time and need readjustment when tuning your mag.

Another issue I've run into when rebuiding x valves is sometimes the rt on/off o ring that goes around the pin in the valve needs to be broken in, if its too tight a fit it won't engage properly. I've had to resort to using old worn out looking but broken in o rings that are still good and that did the trick for me.

[tunaman5]

I have seen Micromags that needed an on/off pin length of anywhere from .670 to .765. There was no exact science with these. Try a shorter in in the Micromag

[capedcrayola]

The micromag works fine with either valve.

It's the ULE body, Luke's rail, and intelliframe mag that's giving me problems. It won't work with either valve

[Meglomachinist]

With the whole valve out pull the trigger back and see if the back of the sear is popping all the way up through the body. If yes then push it down on the back and make sure the front of the sear lifts up high enough to catch the bolt. If the sear rod is too long the nose won't be high enough if the rod is too short the back won't sit high enough. I've had to tweak a few of mine over the years so don't be too afraid to have to adjust the sear rod, sometimes you just have to especially with custom builds.

[Meglomachinist]

if the sear checks out where you have the back up on trigger pull and when you push down on the back of the sear and the nose is up and that doesn't work sounds like the on off valve pin might be too short. Id check the length there.

[tunaman5]

Put a stock AGD rail on it and see if it works.

[capedcrayola]

I have one on the way. I'll give it a shot. Thank you.

[LukeAO]

If you would like the marker gone through I would be happy to go through it for you, send me a private message and we'll sort out the details. Thanks.

[capedcrayola]

It might come down to that, thanks for the offer. I'll try a few more things first. I like tinkering to an extent, plus this process is helping me understand mags quite a bit better.

[LukeAO]

The problem with your situation is the marker was purchased in non working order. Which means the previous owner didn't know what he was doing with it. Which makes it extremely unlikely that there is a single problem that needs fixed, plus moving parts around various markers really doesn't do you any good if you dont understand Mags. On the surface it may make some sense but unless you can tech the marker on one platform it does little good, and it will be nothing but a wild goose chase. I'm of the opinion that attempting to learn Mags when starting out with a FUBAR setup never pans out without the right help. Now that you've seen inside your best bet is to let someone go through it and tell you what the problem was, you will learn from that. Just my two cents.

[capedcrayola]

Update and Resolution: Got it working after adjusting the trigger rod. It wasn't to the manual's specs, but I'm guessing that's due to the aftermarket parts. It seems that the trigger rod was too long so the bolt wasn't catching.

Takeaways (and maybe helpful for someone else new to mags): 1) I should've oiled and reassembled the x-valve (removing the gobbed up grease in the spring pack let me adjust velocity) before messing with the trigger/sear components; 2) having a working mag helped me test and narrow down potential problems (if I didn't have that, I'd indeed be chasing a wild goose for an embarrassingly long time); 3) don't be afraid to adjust the trigger rod (just don't jump straight to this), the trigger rod had to be adjusted slightly, but nowhere near as much as I'd initially altered it; and 4) ask for advice first (because this probably could've been resolved faster).

[Meglomachinist]

Glad you got it running man, just remember most of us have been there before as well, it's all a part of learning how to become one with the force.