Airbalete 110

[Don Paul]

Received my new Airbalete piston today I bought from Scubas World on line, (Thanks Guys) and noticed the seal material appears to be silicone on the cup seal. The O-ring in front of it has a less round cross section at the inner barrel interface along with a slight chanel shape . ( New piston is on the right)

Completed the piston R+R and will pressurize tomorrow. I hope we have good conditions this weekend, I need to get wet.
Cheers, Don
Attached Images

__________________
''Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home''
Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


Cheers, Don

 

[Don Paul]

Hand pumped it to just 20 Bar for a leak test, all is tight...no bubbles no troubles.

back in the sea soon.

Cheers, Don
Attached Images

__________________

 

[foxfish]

Looks pretty custom now Don, I hope you have some luck first time out with the new mods.

 

[Don Paul]

Looks pretty custom now Don, I hope you have some luck first time out with the new mods.

Thanks Fox, same to you. I just wish it wasn't winter.

Cheers, Don

 

[Don Paul]

Re: Airbalete 110 Line latch Mod

I'm posting this for slingingsteel..
I removed the line release spring soon after I received the Airbalete and installed a D-shaped SS washer the same thickness as the spring.
Here is a Nerf dart that has just the right amount of elasticity from a small rectangular piece.
I put a very small drop of super glue on the edge toward the muzzle and insert touching the front edge of the line release channel. This way the latch will lock into place if you pull the trigger after the shot, while placing
soft resistance on the line release.

Cheers, Don Attached Images

__________________
''Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home''
Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.

Cheers, Don Paul

 

[Don Paul]

The local water is full of mud and tree limbs...and it's winter...found some mass for the launch platform..

to sink the new wood.

Come on spring, winter sucks.

Cheers, Don
Attached Images

__________________
''Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home''
Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.

 

[acevedo joseph]

Don OMER needs to hire you to produce the "DON PAUL" model fart gun

I was blown away when you made that custom camo to turn the gun into an extenions of your suit , Now this Sexy Handle just Knocked it out of the Park :martial


thanks again for sharing ,,, Joe

 

[Don Paul]

Glad you like it Joe, Italian tech get's hot rodded, with a touch of bling bling, along with old world craftsmanship from Croitia and New England.

All the best, Don

 

[Don Paul]

Top. Mod'ed Airbalete
Middle. Scuba Pro 130 from Italy
Bottom. Mares Titan

Titian handle. the handle on this gun and it's big brother the Bazooka is the best fitting in my opinion.
The finish of this gun inside and out is very fine.

Cheers, Don
Attached Images

Not the stock trigger.
__________________
''Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home''
Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.

Cheers, Don Paul

 

[popgun pete]

Don, is that a metal trigger on the "Titan"? I have a smaller version and the trigger is black plastic. I am just wondering if someone has changed the trigger on that gun or is it a later version.

 

[Don Paul]

Don, is that a metal trigger on the "Titan"? I have a smaller version and the trigger is black plastic. I am just wondering if someone has changed the trigger on that gun or is it a later version.

This trigger is OEM and is plated brass. I bought it in 1982 slightly used and only killed a few yellowtail with it. Soon rumors of the Mirage floated about and I put it in on the wall. I'm still looking for a Bazooka and a Mirage before I retire at 90...... by then I may be shooting it at 10 bar though or just get a little closer.


Cheers, Don

 

[popgun pete]

Here are some photos of the "Titan Mini", the gun uses the same length spears as the Mares "Sten". I repaired this gun some years ago and in the process found out how the tri-power system worked, the cursor's "loading" position is equivalent to "low power" in a "Sten", but I did not know that when I put the front set of black Dymo labels on this gun. I had just removed the plastic rear tail cone, which holds the inlet valve assembly, when what looked like smoke was fuming out of the periphery of the rear body tube of the gun. It soon transpired that this was actually finely atomized oil mist and I lost no time in reassembling the gun before it blew up in my face. I then emptied the gun completely before trying again. The cursor positions are reversed on this gun, something which I had forgotten about when I started to tear it down. The Scubapro "Magnum" also gave me some anxious moments for the exact same reason. Both guns were still nearly fully pressurized even though I had depressed the inlet valve in each case. The rearmost cursor positions did not open up the air reservoir bulkhead partitions, they closed them off!

 

[Don Paul]

Beautiful gun Pete, Cheers for taking such good care of her mate.
Funny story, I did the same thing when I re-sealed 10 years ago.
One can see why your gun is a sinker even without the shaft,
Look at all the heavy brass, mine just hoovered in sea water but would sink to the bottom in fresh water pools. In the hand it was very well balanced.
Here are some images of the interior.

Cheers, Don

 

[popgun pete]

Brass internal parts and thicker gauge tank tubes make it a heavy gun that is for sure. No way it was going to float without a spear! More difficult to aim than the equivalent "Sten" on long distance shots due to the shorter distance from grip to muzzle which is your sighting radius.

 

[Don Paul]

Brass internal parts and thicker gauge tank tubes make it a heavy gun that is for sure. No way it was going to float without a spear! More difficult to aim than the equivalent "Sten" on long distance shots due to the shorter distance from grip to muzzle which is your sighting radius.

I was able to shoot mine accurately by stabilizing the rear tank on my right forearm. I am right eye dominate, so I aligned the target along the left side of the barrel. The Bazooka I fired was longer in the rear tank and required a little adjustment.

Pete, have you ever come across a 150 Cobra ? I found this on the web, not my gun,

Cheers, Don

 

[popgun pete]

I have seen them only in photos, but have a similar "Mako-Sub" from Brazil which I posted photos of on this forum. Layout is near identical, although there are some variations in the detail. Reel is missing on my gun, but sits in the same position close to the centre grip. Strangelove knows more about them than I do.

 

[Don Paul]

Thanks Pete for the keen eye on the trigger. I found the stock one, the chrome one is Jaguar.
Here it is with the stock one.

Cheers,Don

 

[Don Paul]

My gun is holding 20 bar nicely and will be back in the sea in March looking for sea bass. In the meantime here is a image I found on the net showing the sear box, pins and springs. I made some changes to the springs last year, but I want to cycle the trigger 100 times and disassemble and inspect before I post my images and mods as carried out incorrectly could lead to mis-fire and bodily harm.

Cheers, Don

 

[popgun pete]

Be careful with modifying that "Airbalete" trigger mechanism Don. Unlike most pneumatics the sear lever is under a twisting torque once the gun is cocked ready to shoot. The rear tip of the sear lever is trying to revolve away from the trigger operated sliding cylinder with the retaining step inside it that engages the tip. The retaining step stops this happening as it is just outside the arc that the sear lever's rear tip wants to revolve through, which is just as well as these elements moving away from each other is what is used to fire the gun! The sliding cylinder is biased rearwards by both spring loading and air pressure inside the gun, that is what keeps the retaining step in the sliding cylinder fully engaged with the sear lever's rear tip, it needs to be as the retaining step is not very wide. Usually locking trigger mechanisms have the sear lever and trigger rolling into each other to cam lock, once locked the mechanism springs play no part in the holding action. This may or may not be the case with the "Airbalete" trigger mechanism, but the spring tensions will have been selected to provide a safe and reliable mechanism and possibly converting a gun to "auto shoot" mode is very risky with a muzzle loader.

 

[Don Paul]

Be careful with modifying that "Airbalete" trigger mechanism Don. Unlike most pneumatics the sear lever is under a twisting torque once the gun is cocked ready to shoot. The rear tip of the sear lever is trying to revolve away from the trigger operated sliding cylinder with the retaining step inside it that engages the tip. The retaining step stops this happening as it is just outside the arc that the sear lever's rear tip wants to revolve through, which is just as well as these elements moving away from each other is what is used to fire the gun! The sliding cylinder is biased rearwards by both spring loading and air pressure inside the gun, that is what keeps the retaining step in the sliding cylinder fully engaged with the sear lever's rear tip, it needs to be as the retaining step is not very wide. Usually locking trigger mechanisms have the sear lever and trigger rolling into each other to cam lock, once locked the mechanism springs play no part in the holding action. This may or may not be the case with the "Airbalete" trigger mechanism, but the spring tensions will have been selected to provide a safe and reliable mechanism and possibly converting a gun to "auto shoot" mode is very risky with a muzzle loader.

I took much of that into consideration, as many rubber powered guns have sears rolling away from each other as well. I did the mods to a extra barrel and sear assembly I have ported and polished. It preformed well on my dry test jig at 500 foot lbs for 25 test shots. After I complete 20 and 30 bar wet shots with the Vacuum barrel I'll set up the modded one for wet tests. What I have found is the silicone grease slows down the speed in which the sear latch (sliding cyl) returns and engages while cocking in my stock barrel. My modded sear assembly has a nice positive click and latch now even with the grease. I've done a wee bit of gunsmith work in my time and know how to take small steps with test jigs before going forward into the field.

Cheers, Don