Initial Impressions of the TM SOPMOD M4 AEG

[Richard Y]

dunno about you guys but i keep loosing screws lol, also i rounded off the one under the barrel on mine, i done it up well tight to get rid of any barrel wobble and undoing it was a pain in the butt, ended up mashing it up but i got it out.

[Richard Y]

any one else done a Rounds per second test on there sopmods? im trying to test these lipo batterys with the new copper connectors, and when im trying to test it in the chrono on full auto the damn guns shaking all over the place and i can get a decent reading...

 

12 per second does that sound about right?

 

i know we are more about trigger response but i need a benchmark...

 

i reshimmed the sopmod as well..

 

standard stock sopmod is ment to be 14 per second with an 8.4v ... hmmm surely these lipos are running faster than an 8.4v..

 

if you guys with chronos could give it a rof test with a fully charged bat and then list your bat and what fps your running that would be grand.

[Number5]

My fully charged 7.4v lipo is giving me 15 RPS.

[AnakChan]

Thought I'd give you guys a quick update on the Magic Box gears (or in Japan, Raseen). I installed the gearset in my Sopmod last night and came across two issues :-

 

1) lost full auto

- I've checked and manually spun the sector gear and the auto-cutoff lever is being engaged.

- Tonight I'm going to put the original gears back in to see if I recover...if so, I'm going to compare the tab size between the original & the Magic Box's version

2) motor gear getting chewed

- I don't think this is the bevel gear alone but I think it's a combination between the Magic Box bevel gears, Magpul MIAD PTS grip & the Systema Magnum motor.

- The Magpul grip's base doesn't engage well with the Systema Magnum (nor Turbo, nor VFC's motor) well. It pushes it quite high up.

- I think the standard bevel gear is more open to tolerances than the Magic Box's version. Again I'll check that.

 

Before anyone asks, shimming is perfect...not loose but spins smoothly. Overall though shimming for these gears seem to have little tolerances (got to be careful especially with the sector gear possibly brushing up with the piston's 1/2 teeth).

 

P.S. dStole, not to worry...I'll get it ready by this weekend's game .

Edited June 21, 2010 by AnakChan

[Richard Y]

My fully charged 7.4v lipo is giving me 15 RPS.

 

Yours is ris wired 7.4 isnt it ?

 

Which would mean these loose 3 rps simply becuase of the connector system. That or ive done the bats wrong, pretty sure they are all right now with the copper upgrade.

 

Ive got too many people connecting me that arnt willing to simply wire direct to the wiring with a deans connector.

 

 

---------

 

Anakchan, Although the shimming might be perfect ie no bounce, and not to tight, you can alter the position of the gears, for instance if the bevels pushing down to hard on the pinion chewing it up, using the same shimming, but take out 0.1 or 0.2 from the top and move a small one to the bottom. rasiing the bevel up slightly, it will give the pinion a tiny bit less pressure on it, and hopefully not chew it up as quick, that said magnum pinions are famous for chewing up, they are made of cheese.

 

no full auto ? dont you mean no semi ? The selector plate moves and pushes the cut off up, giving full auto. If the gears pushing down on the cut off catching it, either shim it higher buy 0.1 or sand back under side of the sector gear.

 

 

 

Mines lost single at the moment becuase i made the electrical contact switches too close together... the electrical contact switch needs to be far enough forward for the cut of lever to disengage the electrical blade.

 

 

 

Ive just ordered the barrel c clip thing from laylax and the spacers, i dont know about you but ever since i took the barrel completely off im getting loads of wobble, its the whole area, not the ris, the whole things got play, the only thing stopping it wobbling is the hop unit inside it. And obviously that should be the case incase ifell or something.

[AnakChan]

Anakchan, Although the shimming might be perfect ie no bounce, and not to tight, you can alter the position of the gears, for instance if the bevels pushing down to hard on the pinion chewing it up, using the same shimming, but take out 0.1 or 0.2 from the top and move a small one to the bottom. rasiing the bevel up slightly, it will give the pinion a tiny bit less pressure on it, and hopefully not chew it up as quick, that said magnum pinions are famous for chewing up, they are made of cheese.

 

no full auto ? dont you mean no semi ? The selector plate moves and pushes the cut off up, giving full auto. If the gears pushing down on the cut off catching it, either shim it higher buy 0.1 or sand back under side of the sector gear.

 

 

 

Mines lost single at the moment becuase i made the electrical contact switches too close together... the electrical contact switch needs to be far enough forward for the cut of lever to disengage the electrical blade.

 

 

 

Ive just ordered the barrel c clip thing from laylax and the spacers, i dont know about you but ever since i took the barrel completely off im getting loads of wobble, its the whole area, not the ris, the whole things got play, the only thing stopping it wobbling is the hop unit inside it. And obviously that should be the case incase ifell or something.

Good tip on the bevel gear...makes sense.

 

Good pick up on the mistake. Yes it's the semi-that I've lost. My selector plate is doing as it should & so is the sector gear (engaging the auto cutoff lever). I even lowered the shim to ensure a proper engagement with the auto cutoff lever (but didn't lower that much so no rubbing with the spur gear or mechbox). As far as I can tell, all the parts necessary to be engaged for semi is being engaged. What I haven't checked it how much the cutoff lever's being "levered". That's why I want to check the tab size on the sector gear. Will do so tonight.

 

FYI, I've been lucky, no wobbles despite dismantling my Sopmod fully.

[AnakChan]

Good tip on the bevel gear...makes sense.

 

Good pick up on the mistake. Yes it's the semi-that I've lost. My selector plate is doing as it should & so is the sector gear (engaging the auto cutoff lever). I even lowered the shim to ensure a proper engagement with the auto cutoff lever (but didn't lower that much so no rubbing with the spur gear or mechbox). As far as I can tell, all the parts necessary to be engaged for semi is being engaged. What I haven't checked it how much the cutoff lever's being "levered". That's why I want to check the tab size on the sector gear. Will do so tonight.

 

FYI, I've been lucky, no wobbles despite dismantling my Sopmod fully.

Thx for the tip on the bevel gear...works better now but had to practically eliminate shims on one side altogether!! Dunno how long that'll last.

 

As for the loss of semi-auto, unfortunately I don't have callipers but the stock appears a little bigger than the Magic Box. When I spin the sector gear on both original and on the MagicB, the original does seem to tilt the cut-off lever more - but marginally. A closer look at the cut-off lever, there seems to be some wear...so I think the combination of the cut-off lever wear, plus the marginally slightly larger tab on the original got the semi-auto working on the borderline.

 

Unfortunately the cut-off lever isn't easy to buy (even in Japan).

[dynamic_e]

Anyone experience wear on the sector gear where the piston releases? My mechbox locked up the other day, so I took it apart to clean out and release the anti reversal and noticed rounding for the sector gear where it engages the metal release tooth of the piston. It still shoots fine, but definately ordering a set of replacements from RSOV. I am running a cut down pdi 150 shooting 320fps with stock gears/piston.

[Richard Y]

Thx for the tip on the bevel gear...works better now but had to practically eliminate shims on one side altogether!! Dunno how long that'll last.

 

As for the loss of semi-auto, unfortunately I don't have callipers but the stock appears a little bigger than the Magic Box. When I spin the sector gear on both original and on the MagicB, the original does seem to tilt the cut-off lever more - but marginally. A closer look at the cut-off lever, there seems to be some wear...so I think the combination of the cut-off lever wear, plus the marginally slightly larger tab on the original got the semi-auto working on the borderline.

 

Unfortunately the cut-off lever isn't easy to buy (even in Japan).

 

glad it helped.

 

With regards the semi, select single and pull the trigger too the back really hard.. all the way hard and fast and see if you can get a single shot. If so, then have you touched the trigger contacts at all? They cant be too close together ..

 

Its not just the cut off lever which creates the single only action, it works in conjunction with the trigger blade, the gear has to knock the cut of lever into the trigger blade. When it knocks the trigger blade, the trigger blade pings back out of the metal contacts. If the blade isnt far enough forward at the time the cut off gets knocked it wont knock the blade off its rails. This means it will basically POWER through the cut off lever over and over, which would explain the extra wear on the cut off lever, ive got to check mine tonight as its got the same issue since i reshimmed.

 

i tried opening them up a little, it helped a little, but i still need to go in and open them more i think.

 

 

yes dynamic - ive got the wear on the last gear but i stupidly hooked up the batter when the stock tube wasnt attached and th gears spun round and locked, im asuuming they hit in such away that it broke a tiny bit off it, still works though..

 

Id change to the magic box ones but, they are pritty expensive, id only buy them if i couldnt source original gears, i could buy 10 standard sector gears and have them in my tool box for one set of those gears.

 

I dunno maybe its just me and thats what gears cost nowadays but i just thought they where a little pricey is all.

 

The original ones are zero tolerence ie if you do anything wrong, theres a good chance the standard TM cast sector gear will break.. the others arnt cast so not so much a problem there but the sector gear is.. its weak..

[Number5]

Im using a front wired Lipo, but its around 2000 mah (i think aint near it just now) its in a MOE handguard at the minute. (thinking of fitting a front RIS and using smalle batts, but still not convinced)

 

Its 15 RPS on a fully charged bat, after it runs down Im sure it will fall.

[AnakChan]

glad it helped.

 

With regards the semi, select single and pull the trigger too the back really hard.. all the way hard and fast and see if you can get a single shot. If so, then have you touched the trigger contacts at all? They cant be too close together ..

 

Its not just the cut off lever which creates the single only action, it works in conjunction with the trigger blade, the gear has to knock the cut of lever into the trigger blade. When it knocks the trigger blade, the trigger blade pings back out of the metal contacts. If the blade isnt far enough forward at the time the cut off gets knocked it wont knock the blade off its rails. This means it will basically POWER through the cut off lever over and over, which would explain the extra wear on the cut off lever, ive got to check mine tonight as its got the same issue since i reshimmed.

 

i tried opening them up a little, it helped a little, but i still need to go in and open them more i think.

 

 

yes dynamic - ive got the wear on the last gear but i stupidly hooked up the batter when the stock tube wasnt attached and th gears spun round and locked, im asuuming they hit in such away that it broke a tiny bit off it, still works though..

 

Id change to the magic box ones but, they are pritty expensive, id only buy them if i couldnt source original gears, i could buy 10 standard sector gears and have them in my tool box for one set of those gears.

 

I dunno maybe its just me and thats what gears cost nowadays but i just thought they where a little pricey is all.

 

The original ones are zero tolerence ie if you do anything wrong, theres a good chance the standard TM cast sector gear will break.. the others arnt cast so not so much a problem there but the sector gear is.. its weak..

About the trigger blade, yes I know. But actually (maybe in my case only), it's the opposite to what you've said. By pulling it hard, it actually prevents the blade from springing back. If I were to 1/2 of 3/4 pull the trigger, the trigger blade would actually spring/pop back easier (but still not 100% of the time). So last night I was filing and sanding down the points where the trigger and the blade contacts to allow the trigger blade to spring back easier. However I'm concerned about filing back too much 'cos I don't wanna have a workaround or to band-aid the solution. The root cause is still the worn cut-off lever.

 

You're right about MB being expensive...for now they're not proving their worth either. If you think the original TM gears are 0 tolerance, wait till you play with these .

 

P.S. I should add, I'm not using MB's bushings - now if MB's gears have absolute 0 tolerance 'cos I'm not using their bushings,that's just wrong.

Edited June 21, 2010 by AnakChan

[Richard Y]

yup its traveling more than 50% and getting jammed between the metal contacts they definatly need to be wider.. mine actually had grease on the contacts, i assumed it to be dirt and cleaned the contacts up as i do in all my servicing. I actually think the grease was there to prevent this very jamming..

 

id still prefer to find a solution which doesnt involve greasing up the metal contacts. i still think making the metalcontacts into a wide V shape is the way forward.

 

is magic box from japan or hong kong? So i know which wholeseller to bug with emails..

 

Interestingly Mb's bushings are 5.9mm, YET ive had zero trouble fitting my prometheus bearings. Its important that they are a tight fit to stop them spining.

[AnakChan]

Did I say that the cut-off lever was hard to find? I lied ? Strangely Echigoya had these things on the shelf! But it was about the only mechbox part easily available...the rest of the internals still aren't as common as V2 parts. Anyhow the new cut-off lever's solved my problems now with the Magic Box set. Now it's the spring length causing lockups which I'll work on that tonight.

 

I think Magic Box is from Taiwan actually. Just the way it's marketed, that's my gut feeling - I have no solid backing for my hunches. But I don't believe it's from Japan (the way the pricing goes - e.g. seems to match the trend of non-JP products being over-priced in Japan...yes if you think MB is expensive in the HK online stores, it's more expensive in Japan).

 

I've got Systema oilless bushings & had to hammer them in. No big deal...

[GingaNinga]

I have another question about the SOCOM if I can ask those of you that have one.

 

I was thinking about swapping the inner barrel, and having remembered how easy it was on my SOPMOD, I punched out the front receiver Pin, and went to pull off the receiver...oh yah, the wiring is up front and makes it impossible to open up as quick and easy as the SOPMOD. I removed the fuse and the small connector that holds the battery wires in place, but when I tried to pull it off, the receiver would get caught up on the delta ring. So my question is...

 

Do I have to remove the delta ring and front barrel to swap the inner barrel or is there an easier way? I really enjoyed the quick inner barrel swap of the SOPMOD

[Elvis]

You don't have to remove the delta ring. The opening is big enough for the wires. I had no problem removing the upper reciever with a front wired socom. Just remove the front reciever pin and the fuse and it should work.

[Richard Y]

lol dont say that anakchan, if i need a new cut off lever im gunna shoot my self! im still hoping i just need to reshim a little higher off the cut off lever.. i start with the spur and secotr as low as poss as per shimming rules, i may have made it a little too low.

 

Im gunna ping echigoya an email and see if they can bulk order me some battery caps

[GingaNinga]

Richard...

I might have to go in the next few days to pick up supplies for a game this weekend. Do you want me to ask them directly for you? I am on pretty good terms with them.

[Richard Y]

Yeah sure! basically im after 50 of these sopmod end caps, and maybe 10 sector gears and 10 pistons and i may add a cut off lever too. Those are the two parts that fail, or more acurately die when abused.

 

 

cant find my manual so i cant get the part codes for those 3 items. But im sure they know what they are.

 

The main thing is the end caps becuase soooo many people want lipo batterys that just drop in.

 

everything else is a bonus!

 

If they email me a price incl delivery, paypal details and timeframe to info@eagle6.co.uk ill paypal them the cash.

 

cheers dude.

 

Basically what ever the caps plus delivery cost / 50 ill have to add that to the price of the lipos.. still cheaper than 2x standard batterys though..

[GingaNinga]

Richard...

Will head in today and get back to you this evening. Have you paid Echigoya by Paypal before? I had no idea they did that

[Richard Y]

errr i read an article on popular airsoft saying they did except paypal, that said it was google special so who knows how old it was ...

 

if they dont, they should that way i can pay them money

[AnakChan]

Echigoya's English/Overseas site :-

 

http://echigoya-guns.com

 

Yes they do accept paypal.

 

Easier for dStole to ask them since he speaks perfect Japanese ;-).

Edited June 23, 2010 by AnakChan

[Isamu]

Echigoya's English/Overseas site :-

 

http://echigoya-guns.com

 

 

 

Thanks for the link AnakChan

 

 

 

[Richard Y]

yeah cheers i keept translating there other site lol!

 

ive been listening to learn japanese on my ipod lol for when i eventually buy tm out

[GingaNinga]

Richard,

spoke to the guys at Echigoya Shinjuku this evening and they seemed to feel that my best bet would be to contact Marui directly via the parts request form in the back of the manual. I will send Marui a fax and ask them if it is possible to get the battery caps in the numbers you want. Echigoya seemed to think they would be suspicious of that volume and suggested I try 10 at a time over a few months, or get a few friends together and all order 10 each. I will just tell them I have a buddy overseas who's team is using sopmod and they keep misplacing the caps

 

will keep you posted.

Leon

[Richard Y]

lol 10s a good start bud ! that would at least letme get some made its have 0 which is the problem lol

 

cheers for the help!

 

Echigoya has missed out on some cash! school boy mistake..

 

TM must get spare parts orders in the 10s and 20s of most items all the time surely.. if not then marui if you listening... cough cough extra revenue source! some companys make it so hard for you to give them money..