I just want to be clear and say that all of the directions will be above the pictures. In some write ups, they change that throughout and I don't want that to happen.
Tools:
- Dremel with cutting wheel
- Glue gun
- Hobby knife
Materials:
- Hot glue
- Solvent weld that works for ABS and PVC
- Super glue
- Baking soda (not needed, but will definitely help)
- Vinyl tubing 3/16" ID (I like the aquarium tubing kind)
- 3/4" to 1/2" PVC bushing
Take your AM1 and unscrew it (I bet you couldn't have guessed that!).
Next, take your dremel cutting wheel and cut across like this. Do the same cut on the bottom of the shell too.
Here's a picture of what your internals should look like. Some blasters might look a little bit different on the inside, but that's ok.
Here's the tank compared to a Hornet tank. They are almost exactly the same size.
Now take your air tank off of the other parts. It should be very easy considering it is held on by an o-ring.
Cut the barrel off with your cutting wheel like this. Leave some room for the bushing to glue on to. It is very important that you don't get any plastic in the little hole or your tank will be ruined!
There's a measurement of the tank when it is cut.
Next, fill in the dead space with hot glue. Don't get hot glue in the hole either!
Now mark where you want to cut the shell. You don't have to mark it exactly where I did, you just need to make sure the bushing fits.
Now cut the shell with your dremel! I recommend taking out the other internals before doing this though.
You are going to want to cut the black plastic tubing and make it look like the second picture. You will want to save the o-ring that connects into the tank.
Take your section of vinyl tubing (3" will do) and super glue one end into the hole. If it doesn't fit, take your hobby knife and carve the hole until it is big enough. You should put the super glue around the tubing before gluing it in so you don't get any air leaks. You can also dip this in baking soda and it hardens instantly.
Now put all of your internals in the shell and measure where you should cut the tubing. Make sure the tubing goes into the tank though.
Once you cut the tubing, take the o-ring from your old plastic tubing and super glue it on to the tubing. Make sure air wont be able to leak through it.
Set that aside and get out your air tank and bushing. You are going to prepare these for solvent welding. There is sand paper there because I was originally planning on using epoxy.
There is a picture of your solvent welding supplies. You don't need cleaner/primer, but it makes the plastic bond perfectly.
Solvent weld the bushing to the tank. If you don't know how to do this, google how to solvent weld PVC.
Super glue your vinyl tubing into the tank. Baking soda is your friend here again because it will make sure there will be no air leaks.
That's what your whole internal setup should look like. Some of you might need to plug the pump in your blaster. To do this, put hot glue on the front of the pump and press down on the glue. If your pump head is flat plastic, you don't need to do that.
Put hot glue on the shell where the picture shows and quickly put you internals inside.
Next you want to glue the bushing into the shell. Fill in all of the space between the shell and the bushing with hot glue. The picture isn't great, but if you look to the side of the bushing you should be able to see. You really want the bushing to be super secure.
Screw your shell back together and your AM1 is ready to use. With 8-12 pumps, a ~5" CPVC barrel, and slugs this gets the same ranges as my rainbow pistol. It isn't as far as the old panthers, but it shoots very well and would make a very good and cheap secondary. I found that it shoots just as far with 8 pumps as it does with 12 pumps. I'm not sure why this is, but it might not be the same for you. I wouldn't go over 12 pumps because it could blow the tank though.
Have fun with your AM1!
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