My First Time (Opening a Gearbox)

[PopRocket123]

Today I say down and did something I've never done before. I opened up the gearbox of my VFC SCAR H. This is just a practise run for when I start upgrading it so I didn't do anything with it once it was open just took everything out and learned how it goes together then out it all back together. 

I wasn't going in blind, I've been watching a LOT of negative airsoft and I've had a couple of my guns upgraded by my dad but as often happens he ended up doing all the work. So I was prepared for the spoing of doom and has a screwdriver in the back of the spring guide to control it (I remember the first time my dad opened one up and it proceeded to fuck off across the room). 

I know with to take one look at the internals and see that everything needed replacing for a DMR build. All the parts were crap (who uses clear plastic for the piston and tappet plate?) And massively over greased. I think the final list of parts *not* getting replaced was the spring guide, the ARL and maybe the trigger contacts. Everything else, including the wiring and God awful spring shims that VFC thinks are worth a crap has to go. 

Anyone got any good first time stories? The more explodey the better

 

[Rogerborg]

Sadly not. I had the screwdriver up the spring's backside, nothing exploded and I was almost disappointed to find that CYMA internals are, well, just fine.  It was even shimmed bang on.  Almost like they know what they're doing.

Now, the selector plate / cut off lever spring, that's a different story.  There's one in the dark corner of my kitchen that I'm never seeing again.

What makes me twitch is watching Luke et al with a gearbox open, the main spring in place, and not held down by anything other than wishful thinking.  I'd never have the confidence to do that.

 

[PopRocket123]

That man opens up gearboxes so often he can probably do it in his sleep. I have to admit after all the horror stories I've heard of people opening a gearbox for the first time mine was very uneventful. Even putting the ARL back in was nowhere near as difficult as everyone says although that may have something to do with the ridiculous amount of grease in the gearbox glueing it in place. The most difficult part was getting the gearbox back together with a baby on my lap who cried every time if just gotten everything lined up

 

[Skara]

People think there's all sorts of witchcraft inside a gearbox, in reality it's an extremely simple mechanism.

 

[PopRocket123]

People think there's all sorts of witchcraft inside a gearbox, in reality it's an extremely simple mechanism.

The mechanism is very simple. The complicated part is getting it to all balance in place while you try to get the other half of the shell back on. It's why I like the ICS split gearbox

 

[Skara]

The complicated part is getting it to all balance in place while you try to get the other half of the shell back on

This is somewhat true for the older gen boxes without a QD spring guide (and TMs, because they're still living in the '80s), nowadays though most manufacturers have realized the benefits of having a QD box.

 

[Adolf Hamster]

That man opens up gearboxes so often he can probably do it in his sleep. I have to admit after all the horror stories I've heard of people opening a gearbox for the first time mine was very uneventful. Even putting the ARL back in was nowhere near as difficult as everyone says although that may have something to do with the ridiculous amount of grease in the gearbox glueing it in place. The most difficult part was getting the gearbox back together with a baby on my lap who cried every time if just gotten everything lined up

a lot of what makes a good box is things like tolerances, a good fit between the pin and hole for say the arl will make it significantly less likely to jump out of place of its own accord, bad fit and it'll be making a bid for freedom the second you let go.

my initial foray into teching was somewhat uneventful, starting on the v6 box in the f2000 that thing is a bloody dream compared to a run of the mill v2 or v3 because you've got almost everything removed before you even get to splitting the halves.

although experience doesn't necessarily mean you don't get the occasional sproing, i'm currently on the hunt for a charging handle spring that's somewhere in the ether, fortunately i had a spare in my box of infinite springs.

 

[PopRocket123]

a lot of what makes a good box is things like tolerances, a good fit between the pin and hole for say the arl will make it significantly less likely to jump out of place of its own accord, bad fit and it'll be making a bid for freedom the second you let go.

my initial foray into teching was somewhat uneventful, starting on the v6 box in the f2000 that thing is a bloody dream compared to a run of the mill v2 or v3 because you've got almost everything removed before you even get to splitting the halves.

although experience doesn't necessarily mean you don't get the occasional sproing, i'm currently on the hunt for a charging handle spring that's somewhere in the ether, fortunately i had a spare in my box of infinite springs.

Small springs are the bane of my existence, especially the tiny springs and ball bearings in selector switches

This is somewhat true for the older gen boxes without a QD spring guide (and TMs, because they're still living in the '80s), nowadays though most manufacturers have realized the benefits of having a QD box.

I'm working on a VFC and they haven't even worked out how to shim a gearbox without using springs

 

[Adolf Hamster]

Small springs are the bane of my existence

there are ways and ways of fitting springs to actions and i do wonder what the hell some manufacturers are thinking.

also i detest any design where you have to have seperate spade connectors or fancy shenanigans to pass the wiring through a tiny hole.

especially the tiny springs and ball bearings in selector switches

*has flashbacks to cyma mp5 selector*

 

[PopRocket123]

there are ways and ways of fitting springs to actions and i do wonder what the hell some manufacturers are thinking.

also i detest any design where you have to have seperate spade connectors or fancy shenanigans to pass the wiring through a tiny hole.

*has flashbacks to cyma mp5 selector*

Just fuck any gun that requires you to take the selector off to get the gearbox out. I actually blanked off the ambi selector on my SCAR so I wouldn't have to worry about that again

 

[Adolf Hamster]

Just fuck any gun that requires you to take the selector off to get the gearbox out. I actually blanked off the ambi selector on my SCAR so I wouldn't have to worry about that again

i've yet to meet an ambi selector that was decent, although i hold out hope that such a thing exists.

can we also have an honourable mention for the ridiculous rube golberg contraption they came up with for the ak selector? i mean seriously why not put the selector plate on the other side of the goddamn gun?

 

[Rogerborg]

This is somewhat true for the older gen boxes without a QD spring guide (and TMs, because they're still living in the '80s), nowadays though most manufacturers have realized the benefits of having a QD box.

[Cries in poverty-spec guns]

Yes, I'd love the spring to be the first thing out and the last thing in.

Small springs are the bane of my existence, especially the tiny springs and ball bearings in selector switches

Can't say how grateful I am that someone here recommended https://springsandthings.me.uk for reasonably priced custom cut lengths of small springs.

I'm working on a VFC and they haven't even worked out how to shim a gearbox without using springs

I have to admire the thinking behind that.  Can't be bothered shimming it right, just fling some springs in and call it a feature.  I assume that means that the gears are shorter than other manufacturers'?

can we also have an honourable mention for the ridiculous rube golberg contraption they came up with for the ak selector? i mean seriously why not put the selector plate on the other side of the goddamn gun?

My Royal Enfield Bullet ("Built like a gun") motorcycle makes me chuckle.  They used to run the rear brake on the left and the gearshift on the right.  When they switched over to doing it the way the rest of the universe does it, they just ran shafts right through the engine to connect all the parts up.  They even left the drum brake actuator on the left hand side of the rear wheel, presumably because it was cheaper (but more complicated) to re-route the actuating rods than to mirror the drum parts.  I think Russians, Brits, Indians and Chinese all share a sort of, "Eh, that'll do," attitude that would horrify Japanese and German enginerds.

 

[Adolf Hamster]

I think Russians, Brits, Indians and Chinese all share a sort of, "Eh, that'll do," attitude that would horrify Japanese and German enginerds.

i remember hearing that if you gave a british engineer and an american engineer the brit would think "what can i add to this to make it better" whereas the american would think "what can i remove from this and it'll still work"

presumably the german engineer is sitting in the corner laughing at both of them.