Ares G36v: a word of caution

[forge]

Don't know if this is the proper place to post this, but here goes anyway...

I recently (about 2 months ago) bought an Ares g36v from Toronto Airsoft to augment the rest of my H&K collection; it arrived quickly, it tested fine, and I set it aside while I waited for my IdZ stock/rail and some NCstar optics to show up.
Fast forward to July: the stock and other goodies are installed and I go to the field to show off and try out the new toy. Imagine my surprize when the gun breaks after firing only 30 BB's or so while sighting the scope/red dot. I have not opened up the gun yet, so I don't know for certain what is broken, but I am pretty sure the piston/sector gear stripped....whatever the problem is, its major.
I am posting this to remind anyone who buys an Ares gun (or any airsoft gun, for that matter) to test it VERY thoroughly when you first get it! I only fired 100 BB's or so when I tested mine, if I had bothered to rattle off an entire high cap I could have saved myself a pile of work and money, since the gun is now off warranty and I am stuck doing the repairs myself.
Common sense abondoned me that day, don't let it happen to you

[skalnok]

were you adjusting the hop-up and if so did you keep the charging handle locked back?

[forge]

Nope, just sighting the scope and pulling the trigger. All of a sudden it just started making a whirring sound, like the motor/geartrain was spinning without any load on it. There was no snap, bang, or grinding like you would expect with a catastrophic failure, it just stopped shooting BB's...although they DID start rolling/drippling out the barrel Based on that, I assumed the piston stripped, but the tappet plate was intact. I intend to take it apart this weekend, and share my findings.

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by skalnok

were you adjusting the hop-up and if so did you keep the charging handle locked back?

I assume you're trying to diagnose if their horribly designed, inefficient, damaging blowback system is to blame? Which it probably is.

[skalnok]

Originally Posted by Styrak

I assume you're trying to diagnose if their horribly designed, inefficient, damaging blowback system is to blame? Which it probably is.

mmaaayyyybbeeee.... i do know you destroy the internals if you keep the charging handle back while firing ( disables anti-reversal i think)

[forge]

I agree that the blowback system leaves a little to be desired, but that was not the problem in this case. Ironically, the blowback (the piece that connects the piston to the charging handle) is actually built pretty solid, and still works just fine....go figure.

[Magnaroth]

The issue with the Blowback system, is it puts extra resistance on the piston/gears, and thus causes a lot of issues with stripping teeth.

I disabled my Blowback system a while ago on my Ares G36, and even then I've had several issues.

My friends have a saying: "If you buy an Ares, you're gonna have a bad time."

I love the gun, but it is definitely low on the reliability scale.

[forge]

lol, I 've heard that saying applied to just about every brand out there; and not just airsoft....Ford vs. Chevy arguement anyone?

Anyway, I finally got a chance to open up the gearbox on my Ares, and this is exactly what I found, I did not move anything, not even the broken bits...



So it looks like the piston is indeed stripped....



A closer look shows where the piston broke, right on the very last tooth.



There are little stress risers/fractures all around the broken area, so I am inclined to think this was a factory defect, as the area has obviously been flexing/shearing for some time (probably from the very first shot). While I was planning on upgrading the thing anyway, I would have expected a brand new gun to last longer than 100 or so shots! The sucky part is, having just drained the "toy funds" on some emergency car repairs, this gun will probably not see any use this summer; or at least not until the funds are built up again.
So there you go, lesson learned. Test your new toys (especially the overseas ones) VERY thoroughly while they are still under warrenty

Forge out.

[Kratisto]

Are you sure this is really a unmodified brand new Ares G36CV? Did you buy it in a store, or by a "friend"?

All out-of-the-box Ares G36 guns I've seen (and S&T/Umarex clones) use clear plastic pistons and piston heads, plain grey shrinkwraped motors with soldered contacs, and typical white Tamiya connectors, not those yellow ones. Also, the gears look mismatched, each one from a different origin.

Ares does have QC issues, but this looks like a bad tech job made with second hand parts taken from ACM guns...

:-|

[lurkingknight]

failure due to unadjusted AoE and a plastic piston with plastic teeth.

[Kos-Mos]

Originally Posted by Kratisto

Are you sure this is really a unmodified brand new Ares G36CV? Did you buy it in a store, or by a "friend"?

All out-of-the-box Ares G36 guns I've seen (and S&T/Umarex clones) use clear plastic pistons and piston heads, plain grey shrinkwraped motors with soldered contacs, and typical white Tamiya connectors, not those yellow ones. Also, the gears look mismatched, each one from a different origin.

Ares does have QC issues, but this looks like a bad tech job made with second hand parts taken from ACM guns...

:-|

Looks exactly like my friend's G36C, which he bought a year ago brand new from a retailer.

It happens with a lot of new guns, stock pistons are seldom known for reliability.

You should just disable the blowback (remove the slider at the top of the mechbox) and install a TM stock piston or Modify Ultra speed (the white ones).

AOE won't make a piston explode like that. No one cared for AOE a few years ago, and it does not change that much in AEGs. All it will cause is premature wear on the piston (say after 20k shots instead of 50k) on normal setups. Materials quality is a lot more important in the cause of failure.

[Kratisto]

Originally Posted by Kos-Mos

Looks exactly like my friend's G36C, which he bought a year ago brand new from a retailer.

Maybe it was the same retailer? Do retailers in Canada modify gun internals before selling them to customers? Not just spring changes in ACM guns for lower fps or something, but a full electrical system overhaul.

I say this because the photo above shows a XT60 yellow connector instead of the standard white Tamiya mini featured in almost all factory AEGs. This looks clearly modified from stock.

@forge, can you post a photo of the box, and the body receiver markings?

[Kos-Mos]

Originally Posted by Kratisto

Maybe it was the same retailer? Do retailers in Canada modify gun internals before selling them to customers? Not just spring changes in ACM guns for lower fps or something, but a full electrical system overhaul.

I say this because the photo above shows a XT60 yellow connector instead of the standard white Tamiya mini featured in almost all factory AEGs. This looks clearly modified from stock.

@forge, can you post a photo of the box, and the body receiver markings?

No, most of the time not.
But if it was a combo with a LiPo battery, it is possible that the retailer did change the connectors to XT ones, since most small LiPo now ship with XT60.

Other than that, the wires all look factory, and the internals and motor are identical to the ones in my friend's G36C.

[lurkingknight]

the only connectors that come with ares guns afaik are tamiya.... they don't use deans or xt60s. unless the vendor rewired it, but they generally don't do that unless requested.

xt60s are a common connector used in R/C applications, gaining a bit more popularity than deans.


What brand/make is the battery you got with the gun?

[ThunderCactus]

Just a plain old piston failure. It happens.
Reminds me of the classic army guns that a few people here think so highly of, they'd either last 3 years, 3 games, or broken in box lol