Sidewinder
Sr Member
I got my HCGKD with a wobbly trigger that you could push up inside the body almost. The electronics all still worked, therefore I figured it was a mechanical faliure inside somewhere. So instead of sending it back to Propstore for a swap (which would cost me for postage) I decided to have a go at fixing it myself. :confused
Having studied the piece for 5 mins I decided the top and bottom halves were fixed together and that the muzzle might have some involvement.
So! Pliers at the ready I grabbed the muzzle and twisted! :eek
Ok, I was a bit more careful than that and actually used cloth to protect the muzzle part from the plier jaws, but I did twist it and off it popped. :thumbsup
Now on mine, a bit of glue had stuck a wire to the muzzle part (not shown here) and I had to cut it off - turned out it was a trigger wire as the trigger stopped working. A quick solder and tape job sorted that out though.
Next came the muzzle plate which was carefully prised off with a screwdriver...
...revealing it to be fixed via two pegs into the body.
Note that there is a flat on the muzzle so it doesn't interfere with the circuitboard.
The removed parts.
Lots of wires and stuff can be seen more clearly. The above parts had no involvement in holding the halves togther but certainly made access to the inside easier.
Now the nitty gritty of splitting the body begins.
I inserted a broad flat bladed screwdriver in the gaps between the silver(bottom) and Black(top) halves seen above either side of the barrel hole and twisted. I felt the front of the blaster crack open a bit and give and could then flex it slightly by hand. I also chipped some resin and paint off around the hole :eek but was fortunate that putting the plate back covered these nicely.
By wiggling the body at various points I could tell I had released the area in front of the side discs but that from there backwards was still solid. I used a torch to look down inside, moving the wires aside with a screwdriver and saw some sort of pillar with what looked like glue around it - aha!
The bright rectangle (top) inside the hole is (an actually black painted) part of the top half, below it is a silver block that I thought must be part of the bottom half.
So I positioned my flat driver at the intersection and gave it a few experimental whacks thusly:
Something went crack, oops I thought and stopped. :confused However the two halves would now flex slightly open further back and seemed to be only secured right at the rear of the body. :thumbsup
In for a penny in for a pound, I firmly gripped the body, inserted a finger in the barrel hole and pulled the top half away. It flexed for a moment and then something snapped and I had two seperate halves.
I checked for damage along the seam and found it to be negligible, putting the two parts back together left it looking as if nothing had happened. Yay!
Opening up revealed the damage wrought, there was indeed a central pillar where the resin gave way and an area at the rear, again where the resin had failed not the glue.
As the blaster went back together again and a test of the 'tronics revealed they still worked I was mighty pleased. My example appears to have not been glued around its periphery (prob to avoid glue seepage) which would have made this job harder.
Now the reason for the trigger malfunction was clear, there is a block glued on top of the trigger to retain it and allow it to slide back and forth on a spring benaeth the trigger switch.
I could simply pluck mine out.
So all I need do now is properly secure the block in place to allow the trigger to move freely and reassemble.
However, now I had it apart, upgrading with metal parts for the side discs, muzzle, muzzle plate etc. was made possible...
That's a different thread though I think.
SAS
Having studied the piece for 5 mins I decided the top and bottom halves were fixed together and that the muzzle might have some involvement.
So! Pliers at the ready I grabbed the muzzle and twisted! :eek
Ok, I was a bit more careful than that and actually used cloth to protect the muzzle part from the plier jaws, but I did twist it and off it popped. :thumbsup
Now on mine, a bit of glue had stuck a wire to the muzzle part (not shown here) and I had to cut it off - turned out it was a trigger wire as the trigger stopped working. A quick solder and tape job sorted that out though.
Next came the muzzle plate which was carefully prised off with a screwdriver...
...revealing it to be fixed via two pegs into the body.
Note that there is a flat on the muzzle so it doesn't interfere with the circuitboard.
The removed parts.
Lots of wires and stuff can be seen more clearly. The above parts had no involvement in holding the halves togther but certainly made access to the inside easier.
Now the nitty gritty of splitting the body begins.
I inserted a broad flat bladed screwdriver in the gaps between the silver(bottom) and Black(top) halves seen above either side of the barrel hole and twisted. I felt the front of the blaster crack open a bit and give and could then flex it slightly by hand. I also chipped some resin and paint off around the hole :eek but was fortunate that putting the plate back covered these nicely.
By wiggling the body at various points I could tell I had released the area in front of the side discs but that from there backwards was still solid. I used a torch to look down inside, moving the wires aside with a screwdriver and saw some sort of pillar with what looked like glue around it - aha!
The bright rectangle (top) inside the hole is (an actually black painted) part of the top half, below it is a silver block that I thought must be part of the bottom half.
So I positioned my flat driver at the intersection and gave it a few experimental whacks thusly:
Something went crack, oops I thought and stopped. :confused However the two halves would now flex slightly open further back and seemed to be only secured right at the rear of the body. :thumbsup
In for a penny in for a pound, I firmly gripped the body, inserted a finger in the barrel hole and pulled the top half away. It flexed for a moment and then something snapped and I had two seperate halves.
I checked for damage along the seam and found it to be negligible, putting the two parts back together left it looking as if nothing had happened. Yay!
Opening up revealed the damage wrought, there was indeed a central pillar where the resin gave way and an area at the rear, again where the resin had failed not the glue.
As the blaster went back together again and a test of the 'tronics revealed they still worked I was mighty pleased. My example appears to have not been glued around its periphery (prob to avoid glue seepage) which would have made this job harder.
Now the reason for the trigger malfunction was clear, there is a block glued on top of the trigger to retain it and allow it to slide back and forth on a spring benaeth the trigger switch.
I could simply pluck mine out.
So all I need do now is properly secure the block in place to allow the trigger to move freely and reassemble.
However, now I had it apart, upgrading with metal parts for the side discs, muzzle, muzzle plate etc. was made possible...
That's a different thread though I think.
SAS
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