airsoft maintainance?

[badas]

First of all, appologies if this is the wrong section,

Just wanting some more general advice on airsoft guns before i go buying any in the near future.

How often do you find your self repairing / maintaining guns?

What do you tend to do when you have a full days game? do you completely strip the gun and re oil parts etc?

What do you do with the batteries after a game if there is stil some life in it before re charging? or can you charge it up like any other battery?

thanks

karl

[paulyboy]

Re: airsoft maintainance?

Its down to user preference on when you clean it how you clean it and how many rounds you putt through it I clean barel after every shoot and gearbox check and clean every 5-6k rounds sometimes less but I love tinkering with them so if Im bored ill do full maintenance Because I can and like my aeg,s to at optimum preformance sorry for bad spelling and as for batterys I always discharge before a recharge makes the battery last longer so you dont find yourself buying new ones hope this helps but this is how I do it im sure someone will say im doing it wrong tho

[jfox61]

Re: airsoft maintainance?

How often you play, where you play and how large your batteries are determines you cleaning and charging regime. I play about 2 times a month.

I clean the gun after every skirmish. Usually just a light wipe down and silcone oil spray on the working parts. But if the weather has been poor then a complete strip and clean.

As for batteries, because of my regular playing, I discharge/charge the night before a skirmish. If the battery is not flat I leave it till next game. If flat I charge when I get home then do a discharge/charge as above.

For my Li Po's, which are now my main use batteries this is even easier. I use them day of skirmish and top them up when I get home. No need to charge /disharge. And because they hold their charge very well I dont need to touch them the night before I play. Ibviously if I don't play for any length of time then i top them up.

[Evansy]

Re: airsoft maintainance?

Basic maintenance is quite simple.
When you get the gun fire a mag or two through it to clear any excess grease out of the cylinder then clean the barrel.
After that it's just a case of cleaning the barrel every few games or after playing at wet/dusty/dirty sites.
When you're just starting out the basic rule of "if it ain't broke don't feck with it" comes into play.
Once you start opening the guns up you run the risk of not getting it back together properly and getting frustrated with it which cost you money as you have to get someone else to fix it. It also voids your warranty. So leave any internal work until after your warranty has expired.

As for batteries it depends on which type you have. The three main kinds in airsoft are Ni-Cd, Ni-MH and Li-po.

Ni-Cd are advisable to discharge and trickle charge fully them to help stave off "memory effect" where the batteries capacity is shortened due to it "remembering" a lower amount of charge it may have had in the past. They are also very sensitive to overcharging.
They can be fast charged however but it isn't really recommended as something to be done all the time.


Ni-MH are the most common airsoft batteries these days as they have higher capacity than Ni-Cd and are also generally more "idiot proof" as they are more resilient to overcharging and they don't suffer from "memory effect". They can also be fast charged time and time again with little ill effects. I know lots of people who have never once trickle charged a Ni-MH or even discharged them before charging and the batteries are still going strong.

Li-po are the newest type of battery to hit the airsoft market and as such are treated with mistrust and suspicion by all but the few who have decided to embrace this newcomer to the battery world.
Basically as long as you are sensible and use high quality batteries and a good quality charger with balancing and auto cut off they are idiot proof. If you don't use high quality batteries and a good quality charger then they will burn down your house *
You will also need to upgrade your gun to make sure it can handle the extra voltage of a Li-Po battery.



not a guaranteed side effect of low quality Li-Po batteries and chargers. Burning down your house is.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCWdnjLqVWw

[jfox61]

Re: airsoft maintainance?

Yeah but come on that is extreme, they wired it up to a bloody 12V car battery. How many people are going to do that. I just done a quick youtube search and theres a couple of vids on there with pretty much the same sort of reaction from NiMh batteries pumped with extreme voltage. Any battery that is abused is a dangerous piece of equipment. Yes Li po's are considerably more volatile but lets face it not many people are idiot enough to do what those plonkers did. well maybe they are but you get my drift.

[Evansy]

Re: airsoft maintainance?

They were fast charging the lipo from a nicd/nihm charger. I used the vid as an example of what can happen if you mistreat them.

[jfox61]

Re: airsoft maintainance?

Hmm looked to me as if it was wired direct to a car battery no charger involved. I agree though they are volatile if abused but the new generation need a lot of abusing to do that.

[badas]

Re: airsoft maintainance?

thanks guys some useful info here, as for lubricants and stuff, what should i and shouldn't i use on internals etc?

thanks

[Bachelarius]

Re: airsoft maintainance?

Internals, best get a propper airsoft gearbox grease, e.g. prometheus etc. It's not massively expensive, but specially developed to be the right consistency and be non-corrosive to the seals.

[badas]

Re: airsoft maintainance?

so no use of WD-40 ??

[paulyboy]

Re: airsoft maintainance?

http://zeroin.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38176

hope this helps

[jfox61]

Re: airsoft maintainance?

Definitley not WD 40 kills rubber seals. Use Lithium grease for your gears and moving metal parts and silicone lube for non metal seals and bearings.