Busted Parts Gallery ZDSPB.com > Tech index > Busted Parts Gallery

This is a gallery of broken paintball equipment items that I have gathered over the years, also including pictures I've found on the internet (or ones people have sent me). I find a lot of these items to be pretty interesting since one end of the spectrum is a design defect, whereas the other end of the spectrum is user carelessness (and anything in between).
Do you have a worthy picture you think should be displayed here? If so then send it to me!

Damaged bolts and internals:

Fire piston housing from a Shocker Sport. Sheared apart just from regular use....an uncommon but not totally unheard-of occurance. Picture taken by blinkt.

Here are some Impulse bolts from a junk parts lot. The bolt on the left somehow lost the front of its o-ring groove (it looks as if it was removed on purpose). The bolt now has an extremely sharp edge instead of the regular flat surface like the normal bolt on the right. If a ball were to get caught in there, it would get sliced straight through. Turn your Impulse into a vegematic with one of these.

Examples of snapped Shocker bolts from various companies. I've seen this happen to every type of Shocker bolt (in isolated cases) except for the OEM stock bolts from SP. Please note I didn't take any of these pictures.

Examples of snapped Ion bolts. This damage occurs when air traveling through the bolt tip pushes backward on the bolt's middle section (which happens every time you fire the marker). As with Shocker bolts, there's really no way to prevent this from happenning aside from beefing up the entire ported area with material, but this would increase the bolt mass, which makes everybody mad.
Please note; MANY people have sent me similar pictures of broken Ion bolts over the years. I have more pictures of Ion bolts than any other "busted" component.

Snapped Goldmember bolt from a Quest (picture from handsomrob).

This delrin Automag bolt seems to have shattered under use. (picture from C. Evans).

Snapped delrin Lurker bolt for a Mini/Axe marker. I'm surprised we don't see more delrin bolts breaking in this way, because the continued firing cycle definitley puts some stress on unbalanced parts. Naturally Lurker replaced the bolt. (picture from puzz13@pbnation).

Lots of external damage on this Invert/Empire Mini bolt. This was likely caused by debris getting stuck inside the marker body which got trapped between the bolt and spring when cycling.

Here's a couple snapped bolts from a Proto Matrix Rail (PMR). This happens for the same reason as Ions.

Snapped bolts from a Shocker RSX or XLS marker. Again this happened due to identical conditions as an Ion bolt since they are very similar internally.

A snapped bolt endcap from a GOG Enmey firing assembly. Ironically these can suffer from the same snapping issue as other Ion bolts but in this picture the endcap failed first.

The "poppet guide" component from a Shocker/Nerve vertical Max-Flo. This type of damage occurs when you screw the macroline fitting in too far. This normally puts a bad series of scratches into the side of the part, but in this extreme case it was actually broken in half.

A twisted endcap from a Dye DM fuse bolt system. Reportably, it was inserted into a DM5 however was made to fit a newer year-model body. Pictures from R Pote.

Another twisted firing assembly, this time a bolt from a Vanguard Demon marker. Picture from R Pote.

This is an example of a defective Shocker RSX fire chamber. The blue fire chambers were recalled due to being weak around the front (as shown in the picture after the fire chamber pulled itself apart). The replacement fire chamber is redesigned to avoid breaking and also vent rather than eject from the marker body. This picture and the owner's account greatly contributed to the component being recalled by SP.

Electronics and solenoids:

In 2005 SP was involved with a lawsuit with WDP, the result of which involved SP being forced to cover their circuit board microprocessor with a non-conductive epoxy to prevent them from being reprogrammed (note that this ruling was later overturned so only a few hundred boards have this appearance). In the above pictures, the epoxy had dripped down onto the dwell DN button, and gummed it up. To repair it I had to chisel through the goo, remove the gummy dwell button, and install a new one in its place. It's a hassle, but easily functional again. Back when I was performing mail-in board repairs, I saw similar problems with board goo probably another 3 times.

I bought this Morlock board secondhand off pbnation for $10 (plus $2 shipping). The owner had not only menaged to rip off the microchip, tournament lock, and first solenoid resistor, but also had removed the 12-point connector and in the process destroyed the solder pinholes. I replaced the missing components and installed my own connector onto the board, but had to attach wires from most of the connector to the various parts of the board separately. Repaired, reflashed, and good as new again (in fact this is the board I used in my Adrenalin Impulse for a while).

This Shocker was sent in for repair. The owner attempted a homebrew repair when the solenoid spacer screws broke off and got stuck inside the solenoid manifold (stainless version). His solution was to superglue the solenoid down to the manifold. This obviously didn't work, and ended up having to replace the manifold, screws, and o-rings with new ones.

Regulators and air-related items:

A dreaded sight upon disassembling a CP regulator. Located right on top of the piston is a nice pile of metal shavings. I don't know if they came from the regulator, ASA, or tank; there's no way to know for sure but this is definitely not a nice thing to see.

Here's a regulator issue that many airsmiths have seen before (but seemingly I've collected only one picture of it). The spring chamber in all regulators is open to outside air to allow venting, which can lead to contamination of moisture and foreign substances. Combined with some unlucky materials, the spring can shatter under load. Fortunately most HPA tank regulators are of the moving base type, which will cause a decrease in output pressure if the spring breaks. This picture came from Tim Firpo of Paintballtek.com.

Another component from a Shocker/Nerve vertical regulator, this time an adjustment endcap. The damage was caused due to the lock screw not being removed before adjusting it. This can cause metal shavings from the endcap to make their wat into the reg internals. The lock screw was later removed from the reg due to having not much use.

Broken Geo regulator body. Not sure how it happened. Picture courtesy weedy1990.

The hex used for removal on this spring platform became stripped out. I was unable to remove it due to it being overtightened by the previous owner. Ultimately I ended up cutting the reg body apart so I could at least salvage the regulator's piston and spring from within. The rest is trash.

Lots of damage on this NXT regulator housing. It's possible that the regulator became seized into its vertical ASA which led the owner to remove it with vise-grips or some other type of locking pliers.

Blown macroline hose, due to a regulator spike (likely over 1000-psi). Be wary of thin-walled air hose because its strength can be weakened by kinks and bends in the shape.

This air fitting fell apart when the user attempted to unscrew it (picture from J. Vickers).

This the tank-end of a preset HPA tank regulator. According to the owner, he took the tank off in order to get it re-tested, then found this damage. There's approximately two threads intact, the rest are completely missing. He was the original owner of the tank which means this somehow passed quality control and was assembled by the factory. Pictures courtesy msonic.

Stripped regulator stem and ASA receptacle. Picture from SkinnyBins@reddit).

Broken T-slot ASA rail.

Broken T-slot receiver on a composite marker frame.

Cracked dovetail ASA rail on this female ASA housing.

Stripped tank adapters, regulator bonnets, or ASA threads.

Snapped tank stem on this HPA tank. The stem remains lodged inside the tank's threads. This probably happened because the tank was improperly loctited onto its regulator, which should not be the case specifically to avoid problems like this.

Stripped screw issues:

The owner of this Mini/Axe drop forward menaged to jam one of the bottomline rail set screwsinside the small bottom slot, and the set screw became stripped out while trying to remove it. There was no way to get it out (or install it correctly) so I instructed him to send the drop forward into me so I could carefully mill away enough of it that the bottomline rail could be excised.

Stripped vertical adapter screw threads in this Shocker SFT body. I've seen this a few times myself but never took pictures of it. Picture courtesy airsin2000.

This Strange Shocker solenoid insert was stripped out, but the attempted removal didn't go well. Reportably the marker still works. (picture from S. Karns)

Broken threads on an air fitting barb installed on this Autococker ram. I'm not sure if this was caused by damage during a game, or if the air fitting was over-tightened. Picture from Graham Anderson.

Big Mechanical Problems:

Ego barrel difficulties (pictures courtesy x420psykoticx).

Stiffi carbon fiber barrel damaged during transit (pictures courtesy x420psykoticx).

Another carbon fiber barrel that cracked under pressure.

Smashed Ego. I don't know the specifics of how this happened, but supposedly the person responsible didn't own the marker. This looks like "core sample" damage (below) except the frame is bent in the wrong direction, so I really have no idea.

Smashed Luxe. Not sure precisely how this occured; it almost looks intentional.

This Adrenalin Impulse was sent in for repair. In this picture, one of the metal "legs" that surrounds the bolt has bent inward and prevents the bolt from being removed through the back. I've heard of this happening before but only have seen it once (in the pic).

This was once the middle fingernail from my right hand. It fell off after getting smashed in the breech of an AirStar Nova one day. All the black stuff is dried blood trapped underneath (which explains why it came off). It took many months to grow back!

The front of the trigger guard on this Invert Mini had been bent rearward, preventing the foregrip from linking with the body (the two should be parallel). The user stated he didn't know how this happened. Picture from smalltalknoob.

Bamboo barrel on a Shocker Sport that was sent in for repair. This isn't a busted part per-se, but it was so odd that I wanted to include it here. The barrel is simply a tube of plastic-coated bamboo which was press fitted into the marker's barrel threads (measuring 0.700" internal diameter). The owner of the marker said it was shipped to him from the previous owner, and he couldn't get it out.

There's a long story behind this. The owner of the marker was trying to remove a Nummech foregrip extender from the marker's foregrip but it wouldn't budge (probably due to the set screws seizing up and marring the surrounding dovetail material). He tried to force it off with a hammer, but quickly the entire trigger guard became bent to the point where the board connector no longer functioned. The foregrip extender was still stuck on, so the owner contacted Nummech for advise and was directed to me (the owner). We decided the best course of action was for me to remove the hammered foregrip extender and try repairing the foregrip. I machined off the extender then took the first picture.
I have some experience with sheet metal fabrication so I was able to pound the frame back into its correct position, however the tigger guard had sustained too much stress and couldn't move all the way vertical. I was able to straighten it out but not before the trigger guard snapped in the middle.
I offered to weld the trigger guard back together, then have the whole frame re-anodized, but it would have been an odd repair to make. Ultimately the owner ended up buying one of Nummech's VL frames as replacement.

This Nerve body was bent at the back end of the bolt tube, interfering with the bolt's carriage assembly.

Bent foregrip mount on an Eclipse CS1.

Falling damage to this 06 Dynasty Shocker SFT. The vertical adapter hole was stripped out, and the regulator caused some damage to the trigger guard. Picture from Scott Shredlife.

Bent rams installed on Autocockers. This can be caused by falling damage, similar to the "core sample" damage. It's also a common issue that can occur when an Autococker is packed for shipping and gets damaged en route. Care should always be taken to protect the components that "stick out".

Bent 3-way shaft from an Autococker. I'm not sure how this happened, but it could have been from fall damage that bent the 3-way housing.

Broken low pressure chambers (LPC) from Autocockers. These may have failed from falling damage, or the design may have been too weak in this area.

This picture shows a very bent ram piston head from an Eclipse Ego. This can be easily caused by improperly installing the bolt pin then attempting to fire the marker, allowing the ram to collide with the bolt pin in front of it. Picture from PaintballTek.

Battery Damage:
Corrosion from a marker's battery is a semi-common issue for aging markers that have batteries still sitting inside with their circuit allowed to drain over time. This is especially problematic with markers that use rechargeables which weren't intended to be removed, like those of E-mags or older Angels. I would strongly suggest removing your batteries if not being used for an extended period of time, because permanenet damage can occur.

A small amount of battery acid leeched into this marker's grip frame. Reportably the marker was repaired under warranty. All things considered, this damage isn't too bad compared to some of the other pictures seen below.

Removal of several corroded batteries from various Angel LED/LCD markers. These pictures are from Angel techs that are forced to perform many battery repairs by converting them to use a modern board running from a 9v instead of the WDP rechargeable packs.

Acid leaked out from the NiCad battery in this E-mag foregrip, affecting the grip frame and rail too. The components could be salvaged, but require stripping and a lot of work to clean up the acid pitting before re-anodizing the components.

Shattered Feednecks:
Clamping feednecks are intended to be semi-flexible by design, while still being small and lightweight, so it doesn't take much force to damage them.

This feedneck just couldn't take it.

Shattered Ego feedneck. Not sure how it happened, but probably during a fall.

Shattered STO Autococker feedneck. Picture from Steve Lampard.

Broken Ego feedneck. This picture was taken by Caustic Customs, which shows a replacement feedneck in the middle which was anodize-matched to look identical to the damaged parts on the outside.

Fire damage:

Burnt Geo. This was the result of a proshop that caught fire. The picture is credited to Sam Haynes from facebook.

Burnt Angel body caught in California's "camp fire" natural disaster. The overall shape is difficult to see because the body was mostly melted in the hot temperatures.

Some pictures from the HyperSportWorks fire of November 4, 2003. HSW was a major retailer and proshop of the time but were forced to shut down after the fire. The fire didn't destroy everything, but there were many inventory items and custom marker builds that were damaged. While the company did indeed have insurance against fire damage, it took over two years to receive the insurance settlement due to investigations and overhead with the banks, so HSW was forced to shut down.

Welding repairs:
Many people would agree that welding is generally not a good solution for marker problems, since most paintball parts are anodized which needs to be stripped and cleaned prior to welding, and also because the finished weld jobs are very permanent. However, welding is somewhat common when paired with a player who has the equipment and skills to perform the repair. Sometimes welding on a paintball marker can be justified, such as situations where a replacement component is not available (common with older markers), but many welding repairs remain very noticeable due to their ugly blending.

This Shocker regulator's pressure release valve had been soldered/brazed shut, presumably because it was bleeding air. The regulator was missing some internals...so at this point it wasn't even regulating any pressure whatsoever. I repaired the reg and swapped out the release valve for a nice used one.

This Dynasty Shocker has a welded feedneck repair. It appears most of the marker body was sanded to strip its anodizing prior to the weld repair. The picture shows how thin the feedneck is, so it became warped.

AirStar Nova markers use a special moving barrel which is retained by a trio of pins within the front of the marker body. One such body is shown here, although it was somehow damaged beyond repair by the previous owner. The body components appear to have been welded back into position, but this isn't good enough to hold the 200 pounds being pushed by air pressure within the marker. These pictures were taken by Jake Berenyi from the facebook AirStar Nova group.

Weld repair on this Custom Products ASA adapter. The grip frame's bottomline threads were probably damaged (somehow) so the owner resorted to permanently attaching the two together.

Falling Damage / Twisted Frames / Core Samples:
"Core sample" is the name given to falling forward and smashing onto the back of your marker, driving its barrel down inside the ground like a stake. This action usually causes distinctive twisting damage as seen in the first picture below. When the marker is staked into the ground, your full momentum can cause a LOT of damage, which ends up breaking the marker in half at its weakest area (usually the grip frame).

Picture of a core sample published in PGI Magazine (Aug. 2007 Paintball Games International).

Here's a pile of assortement busted Eclipse markers during and after core samples.

Twisted Strange Shocker. As the story goes, the frame's circuit board was snapped but otherwise the marker was in working condition. It looks like the feedneck broke off in the process though, so there may have been other damage not immeditely visible in these pictures.

Several random Dye Ultralite frames after core sample damage.

Twisted Dye M2 Matrix.

Shattered Luxes.

This bent freak barrel is pictured on a Nerve. The player stated that he was later able to bend the barrel back to straightness and continue using it.

Falling damage to the foregrip assembly on this Eclipse CS1.

This Ultralite barrel damaged when a core sample took place. The damaged part was removed and the barrel shortened a bit, to maintain functionality (pictures courtesy x420psykoticx).

Core sample with an Empire Vanquish, destroying the Freak barrel back. Reportably:
Good news. BOOM player, Chris Jansen is resting at the hospital after the bad dive he took resulted in some internal bleeding. He says doctors should be clearing him soon, hopefully within the next 24-48 hours. Get well soon bud! ..And for you folks wondering..Yes, that is his barrel, snapped in two as a result of the dive he took. Ouch! =0
(originally posted on PBNation)

Twisted and broken OLED display screen (due to falling on the tank)

Massive damaged on this Luxe. As the story goes, the person that took these pictures had recently bought the marker secondhand, only to find it was cracked. After using it, the frame fell apart. Pictures are from g$hocker.

This player stuck his barrel into the ground, broke it off, and was professionally photographed the whole time! (thanks to Paintcheck Photography). Pictures were posted by xToxicTide.

A couple twisted and shattered Shocker RSX markers. I'm not sure where these photos originated.

Twisted Enmey marker. Picture from E. Capodieci.

Twisted E-blade from an Autococker.

Broken 1999 Shocker frame. All I have is the picture with no details; I don't know how this happened nor where the picture came from.

Twisted Ego-11 marker frame. This damage was very minor, but it was enough to cause issues.

Twisted frame from a CS2 marker (HK Invader CS2).

Busted Collections:
Only an idiot keeps this stuff lying around. Most of this were parts I accumulated after a few years of marker repair (although a lot of other parts were simply thrown out).

Stripped Shocker/Nerve solenoid manifolds. Note that there's two stainless manifolds in this pile....proof that there's no such thing as "unstrippable", if you really try your hardest.

Broken Shocker eye ribbons beyond repair. Note that the owners often requested that I return the damaged eye ribbons after the repair. The ones in this picture are the ones I've kept.

Broken Parker K-series solenoid pilots (damaged seals, missing pieces, etc).

Broken Parker solenoid coils (the solder terminals separated from the copper coil inside the housing). This is approximately the number of solenoids I've replaced due to this problem at the time the pic was taken, and is the sole reason why I don't use them in my personal guns when available. The coil in the top-left was literary ripped apart using a butterknife and my fingernails, which tells you how easy these are to destroy.

Leaky solenoid spools that were pulled from guns. I have a couple more that fit other valve makes (MAC; Humphrey) but I use them for spares in my own stuff.
After a few years, I actually sold these damaged spools one by one as a cource for replacement spool gaskets. However, the obvious problem is that you can't really tell which of the gaskets led these to be removed in the first place, so you don't know which good gaskets remain. Regardless, I ran out of these in about a month.

Other assorted junk. Popular items include Ion solenoids with broken barbs, damaged pressure gauges, and scratched valve housings. I tend to toss stripped screws into this box as well, but most of the time I just throw them across the room in anger so they don't make it to the pile here.

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