The Bestest of the Gearboxes?

[XLR8ING]

Hello,

I want to rebuild the internals of an M4 that is a bit of a mut at the moment, just start afresh, dedicate the money that needs to be dedicated and finish with a really Gucci product. I haven't really built a be all and end all gun before so despite my tinkering experiences I wanted to know what people thought would be the right way to go about it.

At the moment I am considering dropping a Lonex Gearbox into it with a sorbo pad, AOE corrected and a mosfet/speed trigger combo. From my research it would be the simplest solution with the best results but as I said, what is your opinion?

I am not looking for a speed demon and I want to keep the ROF somewhere between 20-25bb/s but I do want it to be sharp and responsive.

Any advice would be much appreciated,

Cheers

[Scotty Dog]

Re: The Bestest of the Gearboxes?

From my experience, all gucci parts very rarely means a great gearbox. Dependent on the make/model a combination of the best of the manufactures parts, combined with a select few high quality fittings, prudent tuning and installation is the surest way to a reliable, responsive and smooth power plant.

What make is the box you'll be rebuilding? What stock parts have you still got?

Rebuild list that I use (personal opinion) after going through a few combinations over time:

Bushings/bearings - I've used both but I guess steel bushings would be top of the list.
A new pack of shims - try and get sizes from 0.1mm
Sorbo pad - Airlab ones are brilliant
Wire in an AB Mosfet (Gate AB mosfets I've found to be very good) - make sure you buy some nice quality silver plated wire, making your wiring neat and tidy adds ease to dis/re-assembly in the tuning phase.
High torque motor - Lonex A2 top of list, SHS high torque a close second.
Bearing spring guide - SHS recommended from me.
Bearing POM piston head (only if the stock one doesn't have a bearing) - again SHS is a good replacement.
Good high discharge lipo, in 7.4v or 11.1v flavour.

Mods / DIY / general tuning tips:

Take your time to do shimming, shim from the pinion to bevel first with the grip installed. Take apart the box multiple times to check fitting.
Stretch your piston head O-ring, put it over your cylinder and heat up with a lighter and leave to go cool.
Glue and press your bearings in with gorilla glue or alternative. Make sure they're seated properly.
Polish the cylinder.
Correct your AOE.
Use silicone oil where there are seals, and decent quality Lithium grease anything that meshes or spins.


If you change out too many parts and just slap them in it increases the possibly that parts are either not going to work properly together or work poorly together; each manufacture has their own stock template and works to their own tolerances, the further you're getting away from that the more effort it will be to get things running smoothly.

Stock pistons are preferred, 1-3 metal teeth aftermarket ones next. Stock gear set with a Lonex A2 and AB mosfet will give great trigger response, no real need for a high speed / high torque or aftermarket set. High speed gear sets do give great trigger response but can sometimes force you to deal with issues of overspin, pre engagement and failures to feed.

Nozzle / Cylinder head / tappet plate all influence directly on your feeding and hop seal; the OEM manufactures dimensions / tolerances may be ever so slightly different to the Marui standard template. Hence I find leaving these parts stock is the best way to avoid feeding or jamming issues.

Of course all of this is my personal opinion, you can build a gearbox with all aftermarket parts and make it a crazy 40+ rps machine; but this little list has served me will in making a reliable template for a gearbox in any brand that will be quiet, responsive, decent ROF (I nearly always use semi) and reliable. Plus the expenditure is less; the trick is in having your plan set out, taking your time, being thorough and precise and being prepared to test and disassemble again. Its worth it though!

Good luck.