Paintball

[packersrule729]

Hey MCB, I've got a couple of questions, and am a total newb with electros. So here goes:

I recently got my hands on an Etek 2 and took it out to the field today and it was a total blender. With the gun on semi-auto and all factory settings enabled, basically somehow at least two or three balls were being fed into the breech every time and it was chopping like crazy.
There was a Planet Eclipse tech on site and he mentioned that it might be due to my hopper agitating too quickly and forcing the balls past the detent (the field paint I was using was smaller than .679 as I had a freak kit with .679 insert and still was getting rollouts).

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to rectify this situation? Is there some way I can slow down my hopper if that's the issue, or is it something with the gun? I literally know nothing about these type of guns and bought it for my girlfriend to use.

The specs on the gun are a Virtue OLED board, a Cure 2 bolt, and a Zick rammer, if that makes a difference.
The hopper I was using was a Empire Reloader B with rip drive.

Any and all suggestions, comments, and help will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[AngryScottishRocker]

Easy solution could be that your detents are worn out. Those two side plates of a different color on your gun come off with a screw. Remove them and you'll see the teeny black detents sitting in there above the eyes. Swap them out. They're like $2 for a pair.

Other solution could be switching on the eyes. Check the manual here for how to do that: https://paintballgunmanuals.com/manua...k-2-Manual.pdf

Worst case scenario your eyes could be damaged, but that can be easily inspected since the plate that covers the detents also covers the eyes. Inspect them for any obvious issues such as being dirty or broken. If nothing appears to be wrong. Turn the gun on (DO NOT AIR IT UP!) and put something in the breech. See if the eye indicator is registering a ball in the breech. (check the manual for how to see this).

Keep us updated if any of this helped. I doubt that the issue is your loader pushing too hard, but you can also look up how to adjust that.

[T-T]

If you're getting rollouts that's definitely the detents. Eclipse detents should be able to hold the flow from any hopper. Which are you using? Full torque all the for most uses isn't the best.

[packersrule729]

Originally Posted by AngryScottishRocker

Easy solution could be that your detents are worn out. Those two side plates of a different color on your gun come off with a screw. Remove them and you'll see the teeny black detents sitting in there above the eyes. Swap them out. They're like $2 for a pair.

Other solution could be switching on the eyes. Check the manual here for how to do that: https://paintballgunmanuals.com/manua...k-2-Manual.pdf

Worst case scenario your eyes could be damaged, but that can be easily inspected since the plate that covers the detents also covers the eyes. Inspect them for any obvious issues such as being dirty or broken. If nothing appears to be wrong. Turn the gun on (DO NOT AIR IT UP!) and put something in the breech. See if the eye indicator is registering a ball in the breech. (check the manual for how to see this).

Keep us updated if any of this helped. I doubt that the issue is your loader pushing too hard, but you can also look up how to adjust that.

Thanks for the feedback. Great stuff so far. The eyes work perfectly, with the OLED board I know that they're functioning properly. They are also clean.

I, too, assumed it was a detent thing. So I took a look at them and they seemed to be fine, when there is no hopper on and no air in the gun they will hold the ball in place perfectly, which is odd.

The rubber prongs on the detents are slightly angled however. Is that how they are designed? Right now I have them with the angle pointed inward toward the bolt. These are I believe stock Planet Eclipse detents.

Is it also possible that the rubber that the detents are constructed of can lose their firmness and allow for rollouts?

Either way, I'm planning on ordering a new pair of detents. As well as getting a smaller bore freak insert, like .677.

However, the fact that the detents held the ball in place when I placed it manually into the breech is the only part that's leading me to believe it might be the hopper speed, which I'll adjust to the lowest setting and post back with results this afternoon

[Gilead]

Originally Posted by T-T

If you're getting rollouts that's definitely the detents. Eclipse detents should be able to hold the flow from any hopper.

+1

[packersrule729]

So with a little more investigatory work today I came to the conclusion that the detents are in working order. They hold the paint as they should in the breech.

What has been happening is that the bolt has been moving forward with enough pressure to push the paint past the detent, but not to fire it. So the paint would be sitting inside the beginning of the barrel, just past the breech.

This would happen one or two out of every five to ten shots---hence all of the breakage and double feeds, etc.

I think I fixed the problem, and the bolt may have not been sitting on the rammer properly before---so the bolt was only actuating with enough power to move the paintball, yet not fire it. I was just out shooting it and only had that issue on the first shot whenever I turned the gun on.

Is there any reason why this would be happening on the first shot every time I power it up? I don't think its a battery issue, as I swapped them out and although they were not brand new, they did have 3/4 power according to the OLED readout. I'm starting to get slightly frustrated with the gun haha

[Gilead]

I can't tell from the posts whether you've reset the gun to its "stock" or "factory" settings. If so, forgive me. It seems prudent to me to make sure all the marker's settings are within a normal range, although your problem is confounding. Does gassing and degassing the gun cause the problem to occur, or just turning the board on and off?

According to the PE manual, a low velocity first shot is caused potentially by a dwell setting that is too low (see p. 40).

The Etek 2 manual is here (https://files.planeteclipseb2b.com/ma...-MANUAL-EN.pdf). To set dwell, see p. 21, but you'll need to synthesize with the Virtue manual (below). I don't know whether the factory settings in the Virtue board match the PE factory settings the marker was designed for. There's a lot of great info in the PE manual. An LPR issue also sounds plausible for your problem, although I would expect it to recur after the first shot; there is extensive instruction in the manual on LPR maintenance.

The Virtue OLED manual is here (https://www.virtuepb.com/site/wp-cont...LED_Manual.pdf). To reset factory settings: "Factory Default Reset: To return all settings to the factory defaults, while in programming mode, hold the trigger for 10 seconds until you hear the marker make a double beep and the screen will then say 'Factory Reset Completed.'" See p. 11.

[packersrule729]

Originally Posted by Gilead

I can't tell from the posts whether you've reset the gun to its "stock" or "factory" settings. If so, forgive me. It seems prudent to me to make sure all the marker's settings are within a normal range, although your problem is confounding. Does gassing and degassing the gun cause the problem to occur, or just turning the board on and off?

According to the PE manual, a low velocity first shot is caused potentially by a dwell setting that is too low (see p. 40).

The Etek 2 manual is here (https://files.planeteclipseb2b.com/ma...-MANUAL-EN.pdf). To set dwell, see p. 21, but you'll need to synthesize with the Virtue manual (below). I don't know whether the factory settings in the Virtue board match the PE factory settings the marker was designed for. There's a lot of great info in the PE manual. An LPR issue also sounds plausible for your problem, although I would expect it to recur after the first shot; there is extensive instruction in the manual on LPR maintenance.

The Virtue OLED manual is here (https://www.virtuepb.com/site/wp-cont...LED_Manual.pdf). To reset factory settings: "Factory Default Reset: To return all settings to the factory defaults, while in programming mode, hold the trigger for 10 seconds until you hear the marker make a double beep and the screen will then say 'Factory Reset Completed.'" See p. 11.

Yeah I've already set the board to the factory settings. I'll take a look at the lpr, but like you said it doesn't sound likely due to it working for all the successive shots. I'm going to try a brand new 9 volt today and see if that makes a difference. If not I'm going to do a complete rebuild especially taking a look at the rammer and all of the orings.

Hopefully I can get this mystery solved sooner than later

[packersrule729]

Okay,

So I added a brand new 9 volt and that seemed to fix my first shot bolt issues...for now.

However, while I was shooting the bolt pin raised out of place and dislodged itself from the rammer. Is there any reason as to why that would be happening? Its not the first time that has occured either while I've been troubleshooting with it.

The bolt I'm using is a Cure 3, I believe, since it has the inscription "C 3+" on it

[jerryjjackson69]

Gun should be using 9v batteries. Be sure to use standard high quality batteries, but avoid lithium batteries on any paintball gun.

As another member said, reset EVERYTHING to stock settings, electronic and both LPR and HPR pressures. Try some better sized paint if you can, and make sure your loader settings are factory as well.

Best of luck!