So, I have an idea for building an electro-pnuematic automag sans any kind of board. The problem is that I know zilch about electronics and all that. I managed to build my own pneumag easily enough, but that didn’t involve soldering and capacitors and stuff like that, so I could really use some feedback and direction on this.

I have been interested upgrading my pneumag with electronics for a while, but for some reason I didn’t think I could fit a battery and board and all that into the frame. I’ve also wanted to add eyes, but that can be quite a process as well.

So I thought of this design. (Pardon the crappy paint diagram.)



Basically, it’s a pneumag with an MPA piston pushing on the sear. LP air comes in from somewhere (probably through the rail). Instead of the trigger hitting an MSV valve, however, there is microswitch number 1 (MS1) taking the hit and eventually transferring a signal to the solenoid, which triggers the piston instead.

Now, I know for an electro pneumatic automag, you can’t just add a solenoid and a battery. You need a capacitor (for some reason I don’t fully understand), and you also need a board. The board controls things like dwell and ROF, which are both important. You also can’t have eyes without a board to know what to do with that signal. Dwell, though, seems to be the most important. Without it, there might be accidental contact, causing all sorts of problems.

Therefore, I thought of adding ANOTHER microswitch to the equation (labeled MS#2). This switch would be wired in parallel to the first (meaning that the marker won’t fire unless BOTH switches are activated). This switch would satisfy the requirements for dwell and eyes. When there is a ball in the breach pushing down on the switch, then the marker will fire when you pull the trigger. When the bolt is forward, firing the ball, you can technically fire the marker again (but that won’t matter). When the bolt comes back, though, and for the milliseconds it takes for anther ball to fall into the chamber, the marker won’t fire because that second microswitch isn’t triggered.

So…. Would this work? Or is there something I’m overlooking? Please help me out.