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#1 What after market barrels are available?
Because the Ion uses Impulse threads, there
are a large volume of aftermarket barrels available.
Because of the Impulse's popularity, just about every barrel manufacturer is making
Impulse/Ion threaded barrels.
#2 What can I do to improve the stock
trigger?
The stock trigger in the Ion is a magnetic
trigger. The trigger has a post travel adjustment and the trigger
frame has a pre travel adjustment.
Because the Ion is so new, at this time,
there are not any aftermarket triggers readily available.
Many people find that the magnet is just a
little too strong, so they prefer to remove the magnet and let the
microswitch provide the trigger return pressure.
#3 Are after market feed
tubes available for the Ion?
Yes. Smart
Parts has started to use the same feed tube threads for all of their
markers. The Ion uses the same feed tubes as the Impulse, 03 Shocker
and Nerve.
Check the reviews section for a list of
reviewed Impulse feed tubes.
NOTE: Due to the
design of the Ion, not all "no rise" feed tubes will fit an Ion
when the Ion outer body is installed without modifications to the outer
body. If you are willing to modify the outer body, all correctly
threaded feed tubes will fit. This has been tested and the New
DeSignz Impulse/Shocker/Nerve No Rise and clamping no rise does not fit on an
Ion with an unaltered outer body.
The New DeSignz Low Rise will fit.
#4 What are the threads on the
Ion Feed Tube?
They feed tube
threads are the same as the Impulse, 03 Shocker, Ion and Nerve.
#5 The QEV Explanation Sheet
By: Martinhimself (member at www.pbnation.com
)
I Have dealt with QEVs extensively in both cockers and now my ion. I hope this will clarify things for ION users wondering about performing this modification on their own guns. I will break it down into two categories, what QEV fits, and what advantages/disadvantages you will encounter.
~ What QE valves fit the ION? Any QE valve with 10-32 NC threads will fit the ION front bolt port. (You may have to take a Dremmel to the plastic body sleeve to make it fit, I had to when mounting a Pneumadyne QEV.). Any QE valve with a built in 1/8" inlet or provisions for mounting a 1/8" barb fitting will work (1/8" Outer Diameter, OD tubing. The list of QE valve I know will fit are as follows. (Eclipse, Pneumadyne, Clippard, WGP TRV with 10-32 threads only.) I have dealt with clippard, Pneumadyne and eclipse QEVs and prefer the Pneumadynes, although they are comparatively large. I have never had a Pneumadyne QEV leak, and I have had an Eclipse, and a Clippard leak, (although they may be isolated problems).
Remember, although you may be tempted to use locktite as a sealant don’t do it! When it comes time to disassemble the gun you will understand, they call it locktite for a reason. Even if you use the removable strength, the seal integrity will go down if you take the QEV off and simply slather more on when you re-install later (unless you
THOROUGHLY clean the threads!). What I have found works best is to cut a thin strip of Teflon tape (about 1/8" wide) and wrap it around the threads (A la standard air lines). Make sure you have the plastic body sleeve on before you install the QEV. You will need to cut the hose leading from the 3-way valve in the case of the long Pneumadyne or Clippard
QEVs. If you botch the hose length remember that the hose between the solenoid valve and the front port is simply standard Autococker pneumatics hosing. Once you have this done, you can re assemble the gun, and begin reaping the benefit of a QEV.
~ What are the advantages/disadvantages of using a QEV?
Increased bolt speed
Slightly better efficiency
Grease bypass (seriously read about this! It is at the end but worth knowing about)
First off you only need one QEV! It will hinder the performance of your ION if you put on two
QEVs. The front port on the ION's aluminum
receiver is the only one that should have a QEV installed on it. The reason for this is simple. The rear port is a one way port. What this means is that all that port ever does is try to fill the chamber. Since there is no exhausting through that tube, it would be useless, and also since the fill flow through a QEV is much less than the firing chamber tubing/banjo can support your fill rate will slowdown, resulting in drop off during rapid fire.
All a QEV valve does is allow the air holding the bolt back in the front chamber of your Ion escape more quickly. Instead of forcing the exhaust air back through the restrictive tubing to the valve it is instead dumped out a port with much higher flow capabilities than the tubing and small barb on the solenoid.
All of this extra flow equates to two things as far as the ION is concerned. Higher bolt transit speed, and raised air efficiency. Right now, the effects of the higher bolt transit speed manifests itself as an ability to lower dwell, or the time the solenoid must remain energized to complete a full cycle. A lowered dwell will equate to a shorter cycle time, which will equate to a higher achievable rate of fire. The one problem with this thinking for the time being is the fact that Smart Parts has put a rate of fire cap on the board. Even if your cycle takes less than 1/17 of a second the board will prohibit you from achieving 17 cycles per second. I am sure the aftermarket will come up with a fix for this in no time.
Then again a higher bolt transit speed will mean that for a given cycle the gun with the shorter dwell time will block the breech for a shorter amount of time during each cycle, making the gun easier to feed. IE an Egg may suffice when a Halo was the only thing that would keep up with rebound before the QEV mod. Also if the bolt speed is higher, it will also vent the air more suddenly allowing more air to affect the ball earlier on, slightly increasing efficiency. In my time with the mod I have noticed one downside to this increased bolt speed. When I originally performed the mod on my ION I also enlarged the transfer drilled in the front of the body. I matched it to the size of the smallest point of the exhaust side of the QE valve. When the gun was firing I was able to lower the dwell to the lowest setting the board would accept, while still reaching 300fps. All of this extra bolt speed increased the instance of paint breakage. What I believe to be the cause is the face of the bolt contacting the ball with such force that it cracks the shell of the ball. None of the breaks were due to chopping or paint/barrel match (as it would break an odd ball even when firing the gun without a barrel, and during single shots.). I am currently working on a way to tighten the gap between the bolt face and the ball so the bolt cannot reach such a high speed before contacting the ball. Perhaps you could pad the face similar to how the old Automags did it?
**Many people will be quick to point out that the efficiency goes up due to the fact that the dwell is lowered, that is wrong.**
The QEV only increases the transit speed of the bolt. The QEV allows the bolt to get to the full forward position faster that is all. It does not make it retract any faster. The latency or time it takes to switch from open to closed in the valve coupled with intake flow of the chamber is what determines how fast your bolt will retract, shutting off the air going down the barrel, a QEV does not influence these two factors. If you took a pair of IONs and equipped one with a QEV and one without and turned the dwell down as far as you could for each respective set up to attain a full cycle, the time the bolt would actually be the full forward position would be the same. The bolt in the ION equipped with a QEV would simply take less time to get to that position, consequently giving you a shorter cycle time. The efficiency bonus really comes from two factors at work when a QEV is added to the ION. First, the air in the chamber uses less energy exhausting gas and more propelling the ball due to the fact that the QEV has made the exhaust more efficient. Second, the ports that allow the air to go from the firing chamber to the bolt face are uncovered more suddenly. What this means is that more gas will hit the ball earlier in the cycle. Instead of a little trickle of air hitting the ball early in the valve opening and pushing the ball up slowly, more gas acts on the ball before it has expended its energy expanding to chase the ball down the barrel. Again though, you run into more stress on the ball when the gas hits it more suddenly.
The final most overlooked benefit.
(GREASE BYPASS) If anyone has looked at the solenoid they will have realized it is simply a metal armature riding in a bore wrapped with wire. So it only makes sense that less friction or liquid with a surface tension to break on the armature the faster and more reliably it will be able to shift (even in the manual it says explicitly not to lube the solenoid). Well, you will also notice that the exhaust air on a standard ion travels past this armature. Say you grease your ION, all of the excess grease that blows out the front chamber will eventually find it into the solenoid (notice your front tube turns cloudy soon, that is grease brother), coating the armature in sticky Dow grease or whatever love sauce you use on your gun. This will slow the solenoid down, and make it so you must run a higher dwell than if you kept a clean solenoid. When you put a QEV on it will redirect the exhaust gas through the port on the QEV and save your armature from grease buildup. This trait will make you able to run a low dwell much more reliably than you would be able to otherwise. It will also help you avoid first shot drop off, as a greasy solenoid will seat after a while and make it much harder for the armature to break the stickiness of the grease after a while.
Due to the amount of people who seem to be breaking off their QEV's
threads in their breech I wrote this to hopefully save others from the same fate.
**WARNING**
When installing your QEV do not over torque it, screw it finger tight and no tighter. I know that some QEV's have little
o-rings at the base of the threads, and you think it would be cool to have that seal.
Inevitably the world being how it is the QEV will tighten pointing in
the wrong direction, so you will then decide to just try and turn it that extra quarter turn
DON'T DO IT. Most QEV's are mad of nickel plated brass which is a rather weak material, also it is a small 10-32 thread
that has been further weakened by the fact that it has been drilled out for flow. Some of you might have good luck and find a QEV that tightens
up in the right orientation, great, just don't force it! You are best off using an 1/8" strip of
Teflon tape wrapped around the threads4-5 times. When you tape the threads then screw the QEV into the port until
it is tight, if it happens to not line up, back it out until you have the right orientation. If you tape the QEV properly it will not leak
even if backed out a half a turn for orientations sake. If for some reason you didn't follow above advice and you broke the
thread off in the hole, here is how to avoid spending another $50 on a breech.
Find something called a thread extractor, or EZout. They are a reverse
threaded shaft that is conical or pointy. The theory goes that when you turn it
counterclockwise into your broken off QEV threads the reverse threads on the EZout will bite in and as you continue to turn ti will
unscrew the broken threads from the hole. They cost about five dollars, which will be money well spent for a tool and a lesson.
How does a QEV Work?
In the graphic below P represents the air flow from the
solenoid to the front of the Ion bolt. A represents the hole in the
Ion body where the QEV is attached. R represents the Exhaust port on
the QEV. When air from the solenoid flows it goes from P to A.
When the pressure is reversed the air flows from A to R.
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