Becoming an airsoft guntech/smith.
 

I've played airsoft for a few years now and know the ins and outs of maintenance, batteries, field stripping, etc. Until about a year ago I had a trusted guy I'd take my gun to that I could rely on to do a great job on upgrades or fixes. However that resource has moved away and I find myself very much wanting to be able to do my own work.

That said, I was hoping some of the real gunsmiths and such on here would point me in the direction of where to start learning. Post anything from personal story of how you learned to do the work to any resources on the web for English diagrams and step by step breakdown and reassembly instructions.

I've looked at the diagrams and such, and working on my KJW GBB I stripped it to nuts and bolts and reassembled it using only the exploded diagram. I don't want to trust just an exploded diagram to disassmble and reassemble a gearbox.

In any case I'm sure you guys understand what I'm getting at. All help will be appreciated greatly. Just want some good advice so decided asking the experts how they learned would be my best start.

i think that doing what you did is the best way to learn anything...hands on.

take it apart. put it back together. get frustrated at every step. lose some springs, learn and move on... :-D

agreed. I didn't want to become a gun smith as I knew I'd become overwhelmed with work. but such is life.

I've been a tinker for most of my life, i've always taken stuff apart and fixed whatever needed to be fixed and gained experiance from that. I then went on to computers and other mechanical devices. When i got into airsoft I just wanted to get someone else to fix my guns as I didn't want to spend the time. I had a broken glock that noone could fix .. finally I broke down and took it apart .. fixed the gun and now I fix for other people (this is the short version of the story).

bottom line is this. Read all you can on all the forums you can on problems and fixes on what other people do/did. This will give you a general idea what to look for, what fixes what and how things are done by alot of people. Most things in airsoft are just simple observation, if this doesn't work find out why. what other parts influence the opporation of that part and look there, etc.

Anyone with a good mechanical and problem solving ability can become a gun smith or at leats be able to work on your own guns until the really really demon possed gun visits your gun. All I can offer you is to read and to experiment. You will get frusterated and confussed, you'll even loose and break parts but you will learn in the end. As long as you can observe what is going on then you should be ok. just don't be affriad to try. once you are affriad the battle is lost no matter what.

heh, you guys mean like cleaning my G3 and taking a look at the hop up and how it goes together. Then understanding "Oh... that little piece is what puts the backspin on the bb's" *touch* *spend 45 minutes on hands and knees with a flashlight looking for the speck of dust that is a hop up rubber*

Anyone know of good links to step by step mechbox and gun breakdown/reassemble?

Tomorrow I'm helping a buddy strip down his CA M15, trying to find how to remove the round clasp thing that holds on the front handguards. Would like to know before taking a look at it and trying to figure it out by trial, error, and breakage.

Thanks for the replies guys, keep them coming.

When I think of all the times that I've lost little springs, that are absolutely crucial.... it hurts.

I find it difficult to understand that there is nobody else within driving distance from you in Manitoba who is not qualified.
Simply go find such a person, pick their brain, and learn; or google the mechbox tutorials that are already there.
Learning from others is best.
One of the best "stupid" tricks I ever heard and used; open any mechbox inside a large clear plastic bag. Then if/when it explodes in all directions, you dont have to search your entire house.

v2mechbox.PDF
suggested tool list
Basic airsoft mechanism Magna Blow Back
systems upgrade Guide
Mechbox disassembly instructions

just know how to search and use google. you can find way more out there.

forgot to say that an ice cube tray is your friend.

Installation vid for my product:

http://www.airsoft-innovations.com/?...ducts&id=AI-03

Makes a good disassembly guide for the slide for WA Magna and SCW

Ya, after Foxtail suggested that to me a couple years ago, I ALWAYS use my icecube tray for small parts. My addition, have a good light and the lid for a printer paper box (big enough to work in, keep the icecube tray in as well) as it keeps small parts from falling off your table/bench and keeps your tools handy as well.

There are only a few guys within driving distance whos knowledge on the subject I would really trust. I actually did approach one of them yesterday but without specifics they told me due to being so in demand in the province right now he likes the opportunities it affords him so he was unwilling to take an apprentice as it were. Which is fine and he's a great guy so I understand completely. But it forces me onto the net basically to learn.

Most others are about the same and want money to help do upgrades. I just want the knowledge for myself and my close friends.

Get some fishing tackle boxes. The 1.5'x 1' flat ones made by Plano with about 30 compartments are ideal for storing GBB and AEG bits. When I had better discipline I used to assign one box to one gun project. Plano boxes cost about $3 each so they're cheap for that kind of thing.

If you work on several projects at the same time, it's easy to confuse parts. Repair customers might not notice that their mechbox screws are being traded around, but it sucks when you get aftermarket components mixed up and you have to try to figure out who owns what.

Also, write down your customers contact info on a slip of paper and stick it in a free compartment. It's easy to forget details about the job or customer when you have to wait for replacement parts to arrive from HK. Having the job chit in the parts box also saves you from having to figure out which email/pm pertains to which armalite out of 3 partially disassembled crapalites in your shop 3 wks after you disassembled them and ordered parts. Throw in the confusion of messages sent through PM, email, phone identified by callsign or real name and you get into an snarl of identity-message nonsense.

My new/current project is going to be on the new CA M15. I've been googling around for anywhere that has a guide for breaking it down to nuts and bolts. The exploded diagram is good, but doesn't really tell you how part A comes away from part B.

Any suggestions?

I've seen the ice cube tray and plain metal dishes along with a couple of I think stereo speaker magnets clipped on underneath. Really makes sure the parts stay in even if you knock the tray over.

Thanks MadMax, I agree that organization is the key to doing just about anything efficiently.

I think you're just going to have to be a bit more intrepid and do what you can with your exploded view diagram. Properly documenting a disassembly procedure is a lot of work. If anyone has done it it would be classicarmy.com in their documents section.

Anyone else would have been glad they got their gun back together and probably hasn't been convinced to make meticulous drawings or take useful photos of the entire process for the good of humanity.

Heh you think pulling apart an AEG is bad, go for for an Apple iBook.


Best way to learn it is just do it. So far I've upgraded and repaired a few guns.

as long as to don't go to crazy iBooks are ok. They have very good internal feng shui. Ipods are scarier IMO.