Where Can I Learn To Become an Airsoft Technician?

[HelloKitty]

Background:
I'm shooting my AEG and the next thing you know the proverbial *click *click sound occurs. We've all had this experience. What do I do?

I either take or send the AEG to a friend or to a shop for diagnosis and repair. Or, I might try to troubleshoot it myself if I happen to be a tech or at least be proficient with mechanical things.

After being on and off with airsoft over the past few years, I've mostly had shops repair and upgrade my AEGs, GBBs, etc...


Conflict:
But the downsides of using a shop have been made apparent to me.

-Long wait time (sometimes months if it's a complex upgrade/repair)
-Expensive (most places charge $20-40 an hour)
-Cyclic (all it takes it one little part to break to repeat the cycle of bringing it in)


Resolution:
The time, frustration, and money wasted on bringing my gun to a shop has made me think deeper about a better way to go about tuning/repairing my toys.

I know there are free online resources that have disassembly videos of various versions of gearboxes, but it never beats having someone show me how to properly tune and fix guns in person. Taking apart an already properly functioning gearbox is much easier than opening up one that has chipped gears, horrible shimming, broken parts everywhere and trying to figure out what to do.

I would describe my mechanical abilities as average, I'm of course not as naturally inclined as some people who become airsoft technicians just from tinkering around on their own. Those people who are self-made techs deserve my respect.

I wouldn't want to become a tech as a job, I simply want enough skill and experience to fix my own guns to bring resolution to the conflict outlined earlier and for that satisfaction of being able to do it yourself. The only ideal scenario I can think of would be if I paid someone to sit down with me and each of my guns and have them show me how to take it apart entirely piece by piece. Where I would find such a person I don't know.

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks

-Matt

[L473ncy]

See if theres a tech that will sit down with you and show you the ropes. Theres one guy on the team I played with that's going to do that with us (dunno if he's still going to do it, I'll have to wait till the new year).

Usually if you give them a case of beer it'll sweeten the deal and they'll sit down with you and teach you. Otherwise a normal hourly fee to learn how to do minor repairs is good too.

[ShelledPants]

Where are you located? In Toronto there have been 3 or so AEG workshops hosted at TTAC3 by a user on this forum, M102404. I attended and it gave a lot of insight and practical knowledge on repairing AEG's of all types.

Like most technicians, they either taught themselves or were shown by someone else; There isn't really any other way. Take your time and don't rush. www.mechbox.com has a lot of information, so do the forums here for unique solutions.

[Corpo]

well if your paying lots for a tech to fix your gun, the worst that could happen if you break it yourself you gotta buy new parts with the money you saved by doing the work yourself.

if your fairly mechanically inclined i say do it your self using online resources, like he said mechbox.com is handy.

i've installed helical gears in my gun myself as one of my first times opening the gun and i'm happy to say it still works great, last time i opened the gearbox the gears weren't stipped. been running them over a year now. just to prove it can be done is my point.

be careful with the screws, when you take them out, find a system for yourself to remember where they go when you put them back in. i put them down in roughtly a gearbox arrangement so it looks the same going back in.

and if it will help take pictures before you take any part out.

i found however if i tighten the screws too much in my gearbox it resticts the spinning of the gears, so don't over tighten. those screws are little, don't need much torque. if your worried use some thead lock.

and after shiming test your gears by not putting in the piston or spring, they should spin freely by finger.

[~JARSH~]

just take a crack at it, thats what i did, i went from not knowing a thing to to fixing a problem in about 30 minutes. mechbox.com is a great learning tool, it will show you step by step. just make sure you have the right tools and an hour or two and youll get the hang of it.

[Schlyder]

Like everyone says, just get the tools... watch the videos... and jump in, nothing to be fearing about going in. You'll wonder why you took so long. And if you break something so what, everything breaks sometime, or you gotta replace something, or you're experimenting. Either way, you're learning something valuable if you have guns, and no readily available GunDoc.

[JamesBond_007]

Is there a point at which people can officially call themselves a "gun doc" though?

[Styrak]

Probably at the point people pay you to fix their guns. Otherwise you're just doing it "amateur" or something

[JamesBond_007]

Makes sense - I was just curious because me and one of the other local guys have just started taking apart mechboxes and upgrading, etc. However, we seem to be the only local guys doing it and we were wondering when we get to consider ourselves gun docs :P

[Styrak]

Alright, well you also have to add to the fact if you do GOOD work and have some knowledge too. Otherwise those people who pay you won't be very happy when their gun quickly breaks.

[JamesBond_007]

Oh of course, that much would be obvious though.

[gvanzeggelaar]

Just get the tools and do it yourself. Its a lot of trial and error even if your handy. If your useless with your hands, don't even bother. Patience helps to.

[Brian McIlmoyle]

Originally Posted by JamesBond_007

Is there a point at which people can officially call themselves a "gun doc" though?

At the point where people trust you to fix their guns.. and you can do it efficiently in a cost effective manner.

There is no "officially" All the AS techs I know are self taught .. and demonstrate an aptitude for it from the get go.

[m102404]

Best way to learn is to have someone else show you the ropes. It's all pretty much common sense and if you have the a bit of mechanical aptitude and patience...you'll be alright.

Failing getting hands on time with someone who knows the ropes...research, research, research.

Get a spare mechbox or one of the cheap clones and dive in. Go slow, try to figure out what part does what, make small incremental changes.

I learned by researching and experimenting. I blew several mechboxes on purpose to see the effects of different components (watch plastic bushings blow on a 1300+rpm mechbox is kind of fun in a destructive sort of way...).

Work on every type of rifle you can get your hands on...it's good to learn the ins and outs of different models. M4's Ak's G36's and MP5's are the mainstream rifles.

You have to have enough time and patience to spend hours doing very fiddly work...it's not very exciting. I've found the #1 reason for a poor repair is rushing it. You cannot just slap in parts and expect the whole rifle to work well.

When you get to the point where you're very familiar with what you're doing...then you're faced with some decisions:
1. Do you really want to work on someone elses stuff? Repairing/tuning your own is fun...repairing someone elses is work. Repairing a half dozen M4's in one week...is boring.
2. Are you prepared to cover the cost of someone elses rifle if you break it? You should be...your customer is entrusting you with their pride and joy and expect your best. If you have $4000+ in other people's AEGs...can you cover that if something goes wrong?
3. Do you have the time? Opening yourself up for doing repairs will consume every spare moment that you have. There's running around getting/finding parts, picking up and dropping off, meeting with people to have them drop off their stuff, doing the actual work, testing, etc....

I am not an expert and I'll never know everything there is to know about AEGs. I know what I know and am willing to work on someone elses stuff. I'm also willing to take the time to show other people what I know...and from their feedback, I'm a decent teacher. I'll tell someone flat out that I cannot help them if I know I can't fix it. I always try to be fair and up front. I do it for the challenge and opportunity to learn new things. There isn't a whole lot of money in it...every penny I make at it seems to get put right back into other airsoft stuff (and maybe a shiny new toy every now and then).

Best of luck,

Tys

[Nicolas Best]

Originally Posted by m102404

Best way to learn is to have someone else show you the ropes. It's all pretty much common sense and if you have the a bit of mechanical aptitude and patience...you'll be alright.

Failing getting hands on time with someone who knows the ropes...research, research, research.

Get a spare mechbox or one of the cheap clones and dive in. Go slow, try to figure out what part does what, make small incremental changes.

I learned by researching and experimenting. I blew several mechboxes on purpose to see the effects of different components (watch plastic bushings blow on a 1300+rpm mechbox is kind of fun in a destructive sort of way...).

Work on every type of rifle you can get your hands on...it's good to learn the ins and outs of different models. M4's Ak's G36's and MP5's are the mainstream rifles.

You have to have enough time and patience to spend hours doing very fiddly work...it's not very exciting. I've found the #1 reason for a poor repair is rushing it. You cannot just slap in parts and expect the whole rifle to work well.

When you get to the point where you're very familiar with what you're doing...then you're faced with some decisions:
1. Do you really want to work on someone elses stuff? Repairing/tuning your own is fun...repairing someone elses is work. Repairing a half dozen M4's in one week...is boring.
2. Are you prepared to cover the cost of someone elses rifle if you break it? You should be...your customer is entrusting you with their pride and joy and expect your best. If you have $4000+ in other people's AEGs...can you cover that if something goes wrong?
3. Do you have the time? Opening yourself up for doing repairs will consume every spare moment that you have. There's running around getting/finding parts, picking up and dropping off, meeting with people to have them drop off their stuff, doing the actual work, testing, etc....

I am not an expert and I'll never know everything there is to know about AEGs. I know what I know and am willing to work on someone elses stuff. I'm also willing to take the time to show other people what I know...and from their feedback, I'm a decent teacher. I'll tell someone flat out that I cannot help them if I know I can't fix it. I always try to be fair and up front. I do it for the challenge and opportunity to learn new things. There isn't a whole lot of money in it...every penny I make at it seems to get put right back into other airsoft stuff (and maybe a shiny new toy every now and then).

Best of luck,

Tys

Thank you for such great pieces of advice.