Minimag Project

[PsychoJester]

Well after shooting my newly acquired RT Pro. I really want to RT my bone stock Minimag. So I bought an X-Valve w/level10 from fishmishin on this site (legit and highly recommend) and also bought an AGT Intelli Frame from sk8ermog (also a legit and recommended seller). The x-valve came with silver spring, red spring and gold spring, and all of the carriers. Is there anything else I need to make it RT? I do have a SHP regulator so I will be putting 1100 PSI to it. I got home late tonight so I had just enough time to assemble everything, put air to it, and all it did was fire once and would not reset. Then I got tired and decided to start on it tomorrow.
I thought I saw somewhere on this site the step by step instructions on setting up the level 10 (if that's what I need to do) but I can't find it now.
Any tips would be appreciated.

[vintage]

assuming the valve came with an rt on/off turn up your air pressure.

[PsychoJester]

It does have RT on/off, and I'm putting 1100 PSI to it

[athomas]

If it won't reset, then the carrier size is probably too tight.

Level 10 tuning guide. (http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?43538-**-Official-Level-10-Problems-Thread-**&p=2828797#post2828797)

[thecroatiansensation]

Put the longer spring on it. It isn't resetting because the spring doesn't have enough force to get it over the sear. That would be my guess. Start with the longest spring you have (I think the red is the longest).

[PsychoJester]

Well After jacking with different hoses and trying out a couple of other components to see how I liked the fit and feel of everything.
I started messing with the valve.
First I oiled everything up installed it all back in the gun and same thing.
Now remember this valve and level 10 were already set up in another gun.
It came ready with the gold spring (which held up next to my level 7 gold spring looks to be the same size and the compression seems to be the same.
Well I noticed that the bumper on it (natural color) seemed kind of soft compared to the one from my level 7 (blue). So I put the blue one in and tried the gold spring from my level 7. Reinstalled everything. It leaked down the barrel.
Note that with either of these set ups above. Gun seemed to reset or want to reset if I loosened the thumb screw that hold the valve in place and allow it to kind of gap itself a little back away from the body. Most of these mags have a little slop in that area and don't always set right up against the body. Leak seemed to be more so with the blue bumper. So with blue bumper and up tight against the body more leak makes me think everything is too far forward or longer.
Took it all back apart put old softer bumper back in and gold spring it came with, and realized I'm out of air!! So done for tonight.
Noticed that the red spring and the silver spring are way longer than the gold one that was set up on this X-Valve and level 10. It looks to be the same as the gold one in my level 7.

Oh and AThomas thanks for directing me straight to that set up page.

[PsychoJester]

Sorry one more thing.
The Inteli frame I bought did not come with the sear. It was just the frame, grips, trigger, and safety.
I'm using the sear from my Minimag is there a difference or will that work?

[Laku]

Sorry one more thing. The Inteli frame I bought did not come with the sear. It was just the frame, grips, trigger, and safety. I'm using the sear from my Minimag is there a difference or will that work?

That will work just fine.

Gray spring is stiffest, red next and gold last. You're probably safer if you tune with either red or gold. Gold spring will let you get lowest velocity possible. Red should be up from around 250-260 fps.

Gray spring will be softest for the paint but will probably require you to cut it to be able to get below 300fps

[athomas]

The gold spring should allow the gun to fire and reset in all instances. If it doesn't work using the gold spring, then there are other issues at play. Yes, the red and gray spring are stiffer and have more push back on the bolt, but they also cause the chamber to retain more residual pressure which cancels more of the spring pressure and exaggerates any problems you might have.

The clear and blue bumpers should be the same except for the softness. Ideally, you should be using the softer clear bumper. The level 10 will often tear the soft one up because of the shape of the back of the bolt and the sideways squeezing action as the bolt hits it. If you epoxy the bumper onto the front of the valve, it will last much longer.

The sear you have in your minimag should work fine. There is no difference in the shape of the sear where it catches the bolt. If the sear is worn, it could cause leaking down the front.

The low pressure due to an empty tank could cause your level 10 to not function properly. They like to leak and not reset properly in low pressure instances.

The valve shouldn't have to sit directly against the body. Most mags will have a tiny gap there, maybe a 1/16". Is anything on your valve or in your body preventing the valve from being perfectly horizontal on the rail and in the body. The body needs to be perfectly horizontal on the rail as well. It could be that the body pim is bottoming out in the rail, or the z-lock channel is too shallow for the z-lock pin, and check your twist lock assembly to make sure it isn't preventing the body from sitting down on the rail propely. Alignment issues are usually evident when the valve fires when you relax the field strip screw but won't fire when it is moderately tight.

[PsychoJester]

Got it working exactly the way I wanted it to. I can find the sweet spot easily and still have some control. Thanks to everyone for their help. Most of the suggestions here got it to stop leaking and also fire and reset the way it should. After a little research and also a bunch of texts back and forth with fishmishin (who I bought X-Valve from). We got it to work. Once everything was working in single shot mode I started to little by little file down the length of the on/off pin until it started rapid firing. If anyone reads this in the future make sure if you start to shorten the pin do a couple thousands at a time, because man just a few thousands made a huge difference. You could shave off too much very easily and end up needing a new pin and start all over.
Ended up with:
Gold spring
Slightly shaved pin I think I ended up around .735 down from .750
Lots of lube

[PsychoJester]

Oh yeah and dealing with fishmishin was great. He could have just sold me a valve and sent me on my way. I ended up with a great valve assembly, fast shipping, and technical support afterwards. Thanks Again

[Justus]

Oh yeah and dealing with fishmishin was great. He could have just sold me a valve and sent me on my way. I ended up with a great valve assembly, fast shipping, and technical support afterwards. Thanks Again

Awesome, he done ya right. That's the way everyone should be.

[athomas]

If you want to adjust your pin length, you can add a couple of ULT shims between the on-off sections. When you separate the halves, it is the same as shortening the pin. You can only add a few shims before you start squeezing the oring at the top, but it is a good way to test a shorter on-off without actually permanently modifying it.