Maintaining Your Impulse

You will need 3/16" allen key, needle nose pliers, 1/16" allen key, and 1/8" allen key, long wooden dowel or rod-like tool and a Philip's head screwdriver.

There comes a time when a baller has to do what a baller has to do — clean that paintball gun to the fullest extent. Some of us dread this time and some of us enjoy it, but it all comes down to the fact that we have to do it. If you take good care of your equipment, it will last, if you don't, well you'll just have to spend more time and money on repairs than paint.

 
The Smart Parts Impulse is a gun well known in the paintball industry. Numerous companies have customized the gun to their liking. Just to name a few customized Impulses, there's the Action Village Impulse, the Toxic Impulse, the Nasty Impulse, the Rat Impulse, the Meteor paintball Impulse, the Python Impulse etc. Are you seeing my point? Even one of the most competitive teams on the Millennium Series circuit, the Ton Tons (from France) have their own version. You know this gun's gotta be good, so let's get down to the basics for cleaning, disassembly, and that well known word, maintenance. All of these issues are connected with one another as you'll see throughout the article.

Step One: If you've broken some paint and you want to completely clean out most everything of your Impulse, start at the top. To remove the feed neck, turn it as you would unscrew anything else. The feed neck is probably Loctited, so chances are, to unscrew it will take a little bit of muscle. You can use jar openers to grip the feed neck if you want to clean it, re-Loctite it, or change feed necks.

 
Step Two: Next the bolt should be taken out to clean the firing chamber. This should be done regardless of whether broke paint or not in order to keep your marker in pristine condition. If you did break paint, the situation should be addressed immediately because having paint chips or paint in the breech has a tremendous effect on accuracy and the breakage of further paintballs.

Very often paint can find its way into odd tiny places in the gun, especially in the breech. The ball detents on the Impulse are removed with an 1/8" allen key. Ball detents are crucial to the performance of your marker, seeing as their main purpose is to prevent double feeding from turning into ball breakage. Many Impulse owners are using the Vision Eye system. It is also very important that there is no paint residue or paint chips blocking the eye, preventing its proper function. When removing the ball detents if you have Vision, you also are removing the eye- cover. The eye itself may be removed with the use of a 1/16" allen key. Locate the tiny allen key holding the eye on the gun and remove to clean it with a dry paper towel. Replace the eye in its correct position.

Step Three: The bolt should be wiped down with a clean cloth. If you are using an aluminum bolt, Smart Parts recommends that it be lubricated with the Dow 33 lubricant. Many Impulse users today have delrin bolts which require no lube at all, for they are a self-lubricating material, making life a little easier for all of us. Using a squeegee to run through the breech of the gun is a quick and easy way to clean out any lingering debris. When using paper towels to clean the breech and bolt area, be careful not to let the towels tear because it causes a debris buildup in your gun.

Step Four: To clean as well as maintain the valve and hammer internals of the marker, 3/16" allen key is needed to take the front valve endcap off, revealing the marker's springs and valve. Once the endcap is off, the same allen key is necessary to remove the hammer cylinder cap at the opposite end of the marker. You may use a wrench to slightly loosen the hammer. Mine has several marks from the wrench, so do be careful. As soon as you have the hammer out, take out the good old Dow 33 lube and apply the lubricant generously, especially over the o-rings. If you would like to go deeper into the hammer assembly, remove the cylinder cap with the 3/16" allen key and take the piston out. Lubricate the piston. Do not however, lubricate the hammer head, as stated in the Smart Parts Impulse manual.

 
Step Five: Cleaning the valve is very simple. Since the end cap and spring are already removed, you may push the valve out through the front end of the marker once the screw under the Vision Eye assembly is removed. The hammer needs to be removed to clean the valve. A tool or object should be used that can easily make its way through the lower chamber of the Impulse body, and also not being sharp, preventingt damage to the inside of the body. Wipe the valve clean with a paper towel and apply Dow 33 lubricant to the o-ring. Once this is completed you may reassemble the lower chamber of your Impulse by reversing steps three and four. Make sure all allen screws are tightened correctly but not over tightened. Over tightening tends to wear on the allen screws causing them to become stripped.

Step Six: There are two screws located at the front and back end of the impulse solenoid housing. This is the rectangle shaped object that the grip frame is connected too. Remove both screws with a 1/8"allen key. Once both are removed, the grip frame as well as the solenoid housing will come off. Inside the solenoid housing are several screws. One larger black screw removes the grip frame from the solenoid housing. The two other silver screws hold the circuit board in place; removing these removes the circuit board.

 
The dwell adjustment button housing will come out of place when the circuit board is removed. The solenoid housing and grip frame needs to stay off to reach the solenoid itself to clean and maintain. In order to change the battery you must use a Philip's head screwdriver to unscrew all four screws on either side of the grips. The battery is a standard nine volt battery. I find that the battery will sometimes jostle around inside the grip frame so I took little pieces of thicker paper and folded it to be placed below and above the battery. After this I put the grips back on and screw it all back together, and v'iaola! No batttery movement inside the grip frame. Reverse step six to reassemble the solenoid housing, circuit board and grip frame.

 
Step Seven: On the underside of the Impulse is a small rectangle called the solenoid. Keeping this clean and lubricated is vital to the Impulse's performance. Remove the two small screws on the solenoid that holds it to the gun, but be careful for the solenoid gasket that sits between the solenoid and the body might fall. The solenoid is also connected with a wire to the Vision Eye assembly, remove the wire carefully. Two end cap screws hold the solenoid together. Rremove these to get the inside of the solenoid as well as taking off the solenoid end cap. To take out the spool valve use a pair of needle nose pliers as suggested in the Smart Parts Impulse manual, and pull it out carefully. We once again use the all-too-famous paper towels to clean the spool valve and as always apply the good old Dow 33 lubricant to the o-rings. As soon as you have finished cleaning and lubricating the spool valve, you may reassemble the solenoid. Be sure that the marked side of the end cap is attached properly.

 
Step Eight: There's only one piece of equipment left and that is the Max-Flo regulator. To maintain the Max-Flo, remove the spring cap; in doing this I would recommend holding the Max-Flo so that the spring cap is facing down, so once you do take it off, none of the inside components will run away and hide from you! Keep all internals in order and locate the low pressure piston (consult Impulse manual for component pictures) and apply Dow 33 lube to it. You should do this after every other time that you play to ensure correct functioning of your Impulse. Place all the pieces in order and reinsert to the Max-Flo and replace the spring cap. Consult www.smartparts.com for more helpful information and pictures concerning the Max-Flo regulators and Impulse internals.