| SOLENOID TECH - MAC SOLENOIDS | |
| Solenoid theory
Solenoid design types Solenoid model chart Solenoid design:
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MAC Valve solenoids are used in a few scarce markers, first made popular in the AKALMP Excalibur (and later the Viking). Those markers use a four-way MAC 44 series solenoid. These are mostly direct-acting solenoids and as a result their dwell times are pretty low, since they are able to move the spool quite quickly (published specs are around 3-ms to switch airflow once). MAC solenoids are traditionally larger than others out there, however they can transfer a large air volume for each cycling. The MAC design has two disadvantages to it, though, and the first is that they aren't very serviceable when it comes to maintenance. The solenoids hold internally several fragile seals that are easy to disrupt, which makes the solenoids easier to replace as a whole rather than disassemble for parts swap.
Recently, MAC has released a series of smaller valves that are nearly half the size, however require even more power to operate. These solenoids are still relatively high volume in output. A diagram of a three-way 43 series solenoid can be seen here:
These x3 series solenoids (33, 43are nice and small, and are bieng noticed by a number of manufacturers as of late. Eclipse uses them in their 07 and newer Ego models, Lucky used them for a brief period of time with their Ion upgrade board (Spitfire), and some other developers are planning on using them in their newer equipment as well. The small size makes them a popular choice by developers. |