This was also posted in PBNations ACI forum, but maybe the techies here can also appreciate the work done and provide insight on the project.
This is the first post in what might or might not become a series about my experiences with the ACI Sonic Kit. I picked up two of these with Griffins to go with them VERY cheaply, and thus I decided it would be worth the trouble to document what I have found in the course of tinkering with them. This document will hopefully prove interesting to tinkerers, geeks, or people hoping to troubleshoot problems with their own sonic kit.
As a Reference:
The ACI Sonic kit is what I like to refer to as an ElectroMechanicalPneumatic conversion for the ACI Griffin series of markers. The "ElectroMechanicalPneumatic" comes from the fact it is an Electronic conversion in the aspect of there IS an Electronic solenoid, and there is a microswitch behind the trigger. There is no sear tripped.
The Mechanical comes from the observation that there is no circuit board. Pressing the trigger causes voltage to be dumped straight into the solenoid. After that I'm not precisely sure what happens, aside from the fact that the dwell is controlled by a 'Pulse' setting on the back of the Sonic assembly. The Sonic Assembly itself appears to contain a sort of LPR, a 3 way, and another sort of X-way.
I say X-way because I'm not sure how many ways it has.
I'm honestly not entirely sure how it all works as a whole but it's definately a unique piece of machinery and an interesting piece of history in paintball...
I do intend to fully disassemble one sooner or later in hopes of better understanding how it works.
-This document (And my two markers,) are work in progress, I primarily tinker with paintball guns nowadays and I am always looking to do more with them... I will also have pictures up of some of the work I've done up soon.
For now, each set of Observations/modifications are gathered into sections.
Bolt:
The First thing I learned the hard way is that the Bolt is not easily removable. The stock pin practically requires pliers to remove, and on top of it the Sonic Kit sticks out the back to prevent easy removability. Yeah, the sonic kit quickly detaches, but... Halfblocking the top is a better idea. I Also modified a Bob Long Intimidator bolt (Cut it down, grinded down the bottom of the bolt pin to fit in the hammer.
Sonic Assembly:
One of the first problems I noticed is that the stock O-rings are not so good. The pulse adjustment stopped working after the first hundred cycles. I disassembled the sonic assembly and found the smaller O-ring in the bottom rod of the assembly to be crumbling. I took this opportunity to replace EVERY o-ring in the assembly with a Quad O-ring and relube it all with DOW 33.
One thing I learned as well, the hard way, the 3-way Gasket ring that sits inside the cap of the Sonic Assembly is rather easy to destroy when putting the thing back together... and finding an acceptable replacement is not easy, so do so with care.
Ram:
I also at this point replaced the Ram O-ring with a Quad ring; I wasn't happy with the performance of the stock O-ring in there either. Unfortunately this proved to be a Bad Idea. (TM) The Quad ring even though it seemed like a smooth fit at first was shredded by the high speed of cycling.
The action of the spring snapping the hammer/bolt back is quite loud; I'm wondering if it can/should be bumpered further.
Valve:
Probably the most curious part of the Griffin, and the Sonic itself is the valve. It's a bit larger than nearly every other valve I've ever seen, with the exception of the Rainmaker and the Impulse main valves, both in Diameter and Length of the Valve pin. I'm looking for someone to turn me a custom valve pin, perhaps turn down an impulse valve to fit, because I am NOT happy with the quality of the standard cupseal/valvepin. For starters it still has blowback gas, and for finishers the cupseals just seem like garbage...
Amusingly, when troubleshooting a leaking cupseal, I found that a Rainmaker valve pin is the only other one long enough to work properly; I tried Spyder, 32 Degrees, Other brass eagle markers and even Dragun valves. Only the rainmaker has a valve pin long enough to get hit and actually get decent velocity. One of the ones I tried stuck out just enough to BARELY open the valve... but that's not really useful, is it?
Well, that's all I have for now. I will update more as I continue to Progress.
This is the first post in what might or might not become a series about my experiences with the ACI Sonic Kit. I picked up two of these with Griffins to go with them VERY cheaply, and thus I decided it would be worth the trouble to document what I have found in the course of tinkering with them. This document will hopefully prove interesting to tinkerers, geeks, or people hoping to troubleshoot problems with their own sonic kit.
As a Reference:
The ACI Sonic kit is what I like to refer to as an ElectroMechanicalPneumatic conversion for the ACI Griffin series of markers. The "ElectroMechanicalPneumatic" comes from the fact it is an Electronic conversion in the aspect of there IS an Electronic solenoid, and there is a microswitch behind the trigger. There is no sear tripped.
The Mechanical comes from the observation that there is no circuit board. Pressing the trigger causes voltage to be dumped straight into the solenoid. After that I'm not precisely sure what happens, aside from the fact that the dwell is controlled by a 'Pulse' setting on the back of the Sonic assembly. The Sonic Assembly itself appears to contain a sort of LPR, a 3 way, and another sort of X-way.
I say X-way because I'm not sure how many ways it has.
I'm honestly not entirely sure how it all works as a whole but it's definately a unique piece of machinery and an interesting piece of history in paintball...
I do intend to fully disassemble one sooner or later in hopes of better understanding how it works.
-This document (And my two markers,) are work in progress, I primarily tinker with paintball guns nowadays and I am always looking to do more with them... I will also have pictures up of some of the work I've done up soon.
For now, each set of Observations/modifications are gathered into sections.
Bolt:
The First thing I learned the hard way is that the Bolt is not easily removable. The stock pin practically requires pliers to remove, and on top of it the Sonic Kit sticks out the back to prevent easy removability. Yeah, the sonic kit quickly detaches, but... Halfblocking the top is a better idea. I Also modified a Bob Long Intimidator bolt (Cut it down, grinded down the bottom of the bolt pin to fit in the hammer.
Sonic Assembly:
One of the first problems I noticed is that the stock O-rings are not so good. The pulse adjustment stopped working after the first hundred cycles. I disassembled the sonic assembly and found the smaller O-ring in the bottom rod of the assembly to be crumbling. I took this opportunity to replace EVERY o-ring in the assembly with a Quad O-ring and relube it all with DOW 33.
One thing I learned as well, the hard way, the 3-way Gasket ring that sits inside the cap of the Sonic Assembly is rather easy to destroy when putting the thing back together... and finding an acceptable replacement is not easy, so do so with care.
Ram:
I also at this point replaced the Ram O-ring with a Quad ring; I wasn't happy with the performance of the stock O-ring in there either. Unfortunately this proved to be a Bad Idea. (TM) The Quad ring even though it seemed like a smooth fit at first was shredded by the high speed of cycling.
The action of the spring snapping the hammer/bolt back is quite loud; I'm wondering if it can/should be bumpered further.
Valve:
Probably the most curious part of the Griffin, and the Sonic itself is the valve. It's a bit larger than nearly every other valve I've ever seen, with the exception of the Rainmaker and the Impulse main valves, both in Diameter and Length of the Valve pin. I'm looking for someone to turn me a custom valve pin, perhaps turn down an impulse valve to fit, because I am NOT happy with the quality of the standard cupseal/valvepin. For starters it still has blowback gas, and for finishers the cupseals just seem like garbage...
Amusingly, when troubleshooting a leaking cupseal, I found that a Rainmaker valve pin is the only other one long enough to work properly; I tried Spyder, 32 Degrees, Other brass eagle markers and even Dragun valves. Only the rainmaker has a valve pin long enough to get hit and actually get decent velocity. One of the ones I tried stuck out just enough to BARELY open the valve... but that's not really useful, is it?
Well, that's all I have for now. I will update more as I continue to Progress.