Mechbox Review - Lonex drop-in mechbox

[SixthFall]

Originally Posted by Stealth

It comes out a 4cm or so. Why not cut off the Tamiya and run it straight to Deans?...

Ok, when I order the box, would i be able to ask you to send me an extension cable i can use to connect my battery to the mechbox? I run numchucks in my crane stock, and 4 cm is defs not enough to go through the buffer tube. (and my soldering skills are quite bad)

[JerryMcGoulBerry]

My piston stripped after 10 shots :/
Other than that, it's a solid performer with great compression.

[Stealth]

Originally Posted by JerryMcGoulBerry

My piston stripped after 10 shots :/
Other than that, it's a solid performer with great compression.

That's not an awful lot of mileage for a brand new box. Sorbos installed? Our records indicate that you opted for an M110SP spring installed. Using 11.1v lipo and high-torque motor? Pre-engagement and not really the fault of the box itself. Just a poor combination of supporting parts.

[JerryMcGoulBerry]

Originally Posted by Stealth

That's not an awful lot of mileage for a brand new box. Sorbos installed? Our records indicate that you opted for an M110SP spring installed. Using 11.1v lipo and high-torque motor? Pre-engagement and not really the fault of the box itself. Just a poor combination of supporting parts.

When I ordered it, I requested an M110 and sorbo to be installed. You did, and it shipped next day, on a weekend. Fantastic service. I ran a 9.6 on a crappy China motor for about 20 test shots, and then an 11.1 on a G&P M120 for about 30 test shots, and the piston stripped. This was a couple weeks ago. Last night while installing a Lonex A1 from ASstore, the bevel gear stripped while testing the A1, with near perfect shimming and AOE, sorbo, and M110. Fortunately, I ordered some ZCI gears that from you ASstore, and I'm excited to test it them. I also have a ZCI piston, so I have a gun for the weekend.

As much of a frustration it is to have a gear and piston strip so fast, I'd still recommend most Lonex parts, and ASstore. Great retailer, amazing service and great pricing. I'd contact Lonex if I were you, and tell them to use a full metal rack piston in the GB, because it was only the 3 plastic teeth in the back that got stripped. I'm not really sure about Lonex gears, I've heard lemon stories about there gears before, so I think Lonex should up the QC on the gear sets.

[Stealth]

You're overpowering the system without making any piston modifications. Your gear train, battery and motor combo far outpace your spring requirements.

I have no doubt in my mind - and you can prove me wrong - that your ZCI piston/gears will destroy itself in a very short amount of time, along with whatever else you have in that mechbox if you proceed with that combo. Low FPS, and high ROF guns are tricky to build and it's not just about throwing a fast gearset and motor into a low-power gun.

If you want a low FPS, high ROF setup, you may need to short stroke, lighten the piston and use an M120 to prevent pre-engagement.

Gonna go put up a short blurb on the ZCI piston page warning about the piston weight.

[lurkingknight]

the lonex m110 is also a bit on the soft side in comparison to some other m110s on paper. If that's the case, you're getting PE and overspin with a neo magnet motor and 11.1v lipo. I agree with stealth's prediction that you will probably blow up again if you want to continue running 11.1 lipos.

You need proper AoE correction, sorbo is only part of the AoE puzzle tooth removal on the piston is also necessary. You need very careful shimming, and most of all, you need to match piston stroke to the speed the gears and motor will be pulling at. The proper way to get <370fps high rate of fire on neo magnet motors and high discharge lipos would be take a 120 or 130 spring and short stroked sector gear and piston.

[JerryMcGoulBerry]

Originally Posted by lurkingknight

the lonex m110 is also a bit on the soft side in comparison to some other m110s on paper. If that's the case, you're getting PE and overspin with a neo magnet motor and 11.1v lipo. I agree with stealth's prediction that you will probably blow up again if you want to continue running 11.1 lipos.

You need proper AoE correction, sorbo is only part of the AoE puzzle tooth removal on the piston is also necessary. You need very careful shimming, and most of all, you need to match piston stroke to the speed the gears and motor will be pulling at. The proper way to get <370fps high rate of fire on neo magnet motors and high discharge lipos would be take a 120 or 130 spring and short stroked sector gear and piston.

Thanks both of you! I'll give the short stroking a go.

[JerryMcGoulBerry]

I don't know if this makes a difference, but I only use semi auto. I rarely use full.

[Stealth]

If you're pre engaging it won't make a difference if you use semi or full.

Without using a MOSFET with AB, you will never have a perfect cycle of the gears. They will never start and stop in the same position.

With your "overpowered" setup, the gears will still rotate and catch the piston before it has had a chance to return to its starting position. This phenomenon is pre-engagement.

[Rabbit]

Shopping for a new personal build -

Are there any noticible differences in the 'newest' lonex complete gear boxes (with no spring guide cut out) compared to what you've carried previously?

I may have misread but it kind of sounds like a lottery pick when it comes to what you're getting internally (I.e the piston as stated above)

And lastly - has lonex gotten back to you about fixing the tappet plate known issue?

[Stealth]

Originally Posted by Rabbit

Shopping for a new personal build -

Are there any noticible differences in the 'newest' lonex complete gear boxes (with no spring guide cut out) compared to what you've carried previously?

I may have misread but it kind of sounds like a lottery pick when it comes to what you're getting internally (I.e the piston as stated above)

And lastly - has lonex gotten back to you about fixing the tappet plate known issue?

The new boxes have a slightly tapered piston rail at the expense of losing the spring cut out. Frankly there's no difference. The hole allows you to stick your finger to stop the spring from buckling, but on Lonex boxes everything stays together it doesn't matter, unless you're installing a M170 spring.

Blue versus red... Both are very good pistons. The red is "stronger" on a sense that it is rated for stronger 450FPs setups. I think its harder versus the blue which is softer. Frankly for 400FPS there's no difference. That said, both need to be lightened if you plan to build a 25RPS or higher setup.

Lonex has fixed the issue. If you pick up a new box it shouldn't be a problem, unless the retailer has old stock left over.

[Stealth]

Just opened up one out of our latest batch of boxes for a customer build and compared tappet plates. The feeding issues from before was caused by the tappet plate fin too far forwards so the nozzle did not retract enough to feed rounds.

Red lines are parallel, top is ZCI tappet, bottom is Lonex's fixed version.


I guess make sure your retailer has the latest batch?

[Rabbit]

Is that ZCI the customers? I don't see them on your site

The SHS tappet plate I purchased from the site doesn't seem to like stock KA sector gears - the back fin does seem quite a bit different than others in shape when I'm browsing about.

Update: Tappet plate wasn't the issue - SHS v2 tappet plates work fine with stock KA sector gears.

Still wouldn't mind giving a ZCI a shot tho!

[Stealth]

The ZCI tappet is from our personal stash - John sent them out to a few people who were having feeding issues.

[Stealth]

We'll put up the ZCI tappet plates once the SHS ones sell out, which should be... very soon.

No sense selling 2 pretty much identical plates at the same time.