American Air Arms Any skilled machinist out there?

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Nealgl1985

Nealgl1985

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Dec 11, 2021
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MI, United States
Im looking for someone to take on a project. I bought a AAA slayer 357 on the classifieds awhile back and it quit holding air. I opened it up to replace some orings and found out the lower reciever had been damaged and then fixed with epoxy. I had around 100 shots and 4 week with it before it wouldnt hold air anymore.

I tried getting a new lower from tom but that didnt work out so my next option is to see if someone skilled can handle it. I would hate to have to throw it in the trash so if you or someone you know can help me out that'd be great.
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I have repaired stuff like this before and with damage on the wall where the valve goes definitely make your options limited. It is possible to repair but it most likely is cost prohibitive and a better option may be to just replace it. What happened when you spoke with the manufacture? can they replace it or that is not an option? If the manufacture can not replace it the next option is to just remake the whole part.
 
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I'm a capable hobby machinist but I couldn't take this on for liability reasons. I do however have an idea, and it takes some finesse, and maybe some purpose made tools or a 3d printer.

Clean out the old epoxy, make a form and a mandrel for a piece of cloth. I've used jb weld to fix scores and gouged cylinders on small zenoah 2 stroke engines and it lasts if you don't use methanol fuel.

The idea is to get well adhered resin into the damage and over build it slightly, then you "hone" the very recently cured epoxy with acetone on many pieces of thin cotton cloth. It's just solvent removal, no actual abrasives.... Using foil duct tape to form it helps.

This is last ditch mad scientist fixes and it's held up with 16k rpm race motors on scooters. I say that to say, I think with some serious effort you can get the surface finish high enough to seal orings nicely.


Basically what they tried to do, but done well. Welding and re machining that isn't financially feasible in my eyes. Maybe a liner but even that is mad scientist. I see new fx level money in t&m potentially.

I hope you don't have to part it out to recoup your money.
 
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@Texas Iggie when I talked to Tom he said he was going to be making some lowers. He said he had valves in stock but i said id wait on the lower. I waited about 6 months and messaged again and he never responded. So I messaged him again and he never responded.

It would be nice to get a lower made but I dont want to drop too much money into a gun that doesn't have available parts. I'll message tom again just to be sure but I wont hold my breath.

The slayer is a older model and im assuming they will be discontinuing support since their website no longer has a slayer section. The slayer was awesome when it was working though. It's a shame he quit making them.

@6gun thanks for the suggestion, but i dont want to attempt to fix it myself.
 
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@Texas Iggie a lower is only $325 from the factory. I wish I could get 1. I messaged him again through the website this time. See if i get a response. I was using ham to communicate with him before. If he doesn't respond to the website message within a couple days ill make a thread on ham where he seems semi active. That will be my last attempt before i give up again 😆.
 
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I’m not sure I see a fracture, I see what appears to me as expoxy buildup edge that might appear as a fracture to others.

I do, however, see what appears to be damage to an area that I think may be the sealing surface you are talking about. ?? Just guessing though, because I don’t have experience with this gun. I marked it up below, if that isn’t where the seal problem is, please explain more.

If it is where the seal problem is, why is there epoxy buildup in a non-sealing area. My opinion is that epoxy type products do not have a use in pressure vessel applications.

Dave
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Nealgl1985 said:
Im looking for someone to take on a project. I bought a AAA slayer 357 on the classifieds awhile back and it quit holding air. I opened it up to replace some orings and found out the lower reciever had been damaged and then fixed with epoxy. I had around 100 shots and 4 week with it before it wouldnt hold air anymore.

I tried getting a new lower from tom but that didnt work out so my next option is to see if someone skilled can handle it. I would hate to have to throw it in the trash so if you or someone you know can help me out that'd be great.
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A machine shop with a skilled tig welder and lathe operator could possibility repair it. Im a welder ive done hundreds of repairs on non replaceable parts. Shaft journals, bearing surfaces, bores etc.
 
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@sb327 you are correct. I was told the damage was done from dry firing the slayer. The valve scratched the surface of the lower and im assuming where the arrows are pointing is stopping it from sealing. I could not get it to air up after it went empty so I dont know 100% where it was leaking from. The previous owner stated he changed all the orings and they all looked to be in good condition from what I could see when I disassembled it.
 
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I think I would try a reseal. Apparently these are quite fussy to get resealed without damaging orings. Also, they are hard to air up due to the balanced valve. This info is just from reading about them here on the forum, no personal knowledge.

Can you confirm that there is no fracture or crack? Just wondering since it was previously mentioned.

Dave
 
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Nealgl1985 said:
@Texas Iggie when I talked to Tom he said he was going to be making some lowers. He said he had valves in stock but i said id wait on the lower. I waited about 6 months and messaged again and he never responded. So I messaged him again and he never responded.

It would be nice to get a lower made but I dont want to drop too much money into a gun that doesn't have available parts. I'll message tom again just to be sure but I wont hold my breath.

The slayer is a older model and im assuming they will be discontinuing support since their website no longer has a slayer section. The slayer was awesome when it was working though. It's a shame he quit making them.

@6gun thanks for the suggestion, but i dont want to attempt to fix it myself.
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Unfortunately, this does not seem to have anything to do with the slayer being an older model but with Tom’s business acumen… exact same experience here with parts for an Evol… got lucky and could grab a new barrel when they dropped through the homepage, no luck on a new reg through AoA or through messaging Tom (zero response to multiple messages) for months and months, eventually got a huma. It’s a great gun (again) now but would never again buy an AAA. Parts are unobtainable and support is non-existent.
 
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@sb327 It is just deep scratches from the valve. I wouldnt consider fixing it if I thought it was cracked. I inspected the orings and they seemed good and i sent pictures to an experienced airgun enthusiast that i trust and he said he thought the orings looked good so figured must be the epoxy.

I've never resealed an airgun before. This was going to be a 1st for me then I found that issue when I opened her up. At that point I tried to find someone that was an experienced machinist that would be willing to go over it for me, but I only found a couple people willing to help with suggestions on how to fix. Im not qualified to fix this type of thing and I dont want to push my luck.

I was fortunate enough to find someone to help me through the disassembly process. Im not even sure I could reassemble it at this point. I took it apart a year ago. I need someone that is skilled enough to go through it and determine if its the orings or the gouging on the walls thats the problem. You can see it was deep enough to remove the anodizing on the wall.

I tried my best to get it to hold air to find the leak but I dont know what all is needed to make that happen. I read bumping the rear of the stock on the ground and I also read to cock it and cover the barrel. I tried those things and when it didnt work I tore it apart.

I would like to find someone that know airguns and is willing to fix and tune the slayer if possible. I dont want to have to be pulling it apart again if I can avoid it. I also heard this platform is hard to get together without damaging orings so I was going to leave it to the pros.
 
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Dstrac said:
A machine shop with a skilled tig welder and lathe operator could possibility repair it. Im a welder ive done hundreds of repairs on non replaceable parts. Shaft journals, bearing surfaces, bores etc.
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It's doable, but at what cost? Plus getting a torch in there will be a nightmarr, unless a slot is killed and filled from the outside and re machined. Somebody mentioned a lower being 375 bucks.
 
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Show a pic of the side of the brass valve that made the damage. Just below the TP.
I’ve seen this happen before and it’s usually due to two things. 1, the front staking screw not having enough length on it and the whole valve getting beat forward from the Hammer overtime. 2, somebody else other than Tom disassembling the gun and not aware that the balancing meter screw should be removed before disassembling the valve from the body. Or at least check that it’s below flush.
 
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Airgun-Revisions said:
Show a pic of the side of the brass valve that made the damage. Just below the TP.
I’ve seen this happen before and it’s usually due to two things. 1, the front staking screw not having enough length on it and the whole valve getting beat forward from the Hammer overtime. 2, somebody else other than Tom disassembling the gun and not aware that the balancing meter screw should be removed before disassembling the valve from the body. Or at least check that it’s below flush.
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This is the sort of technical detail I live for. The thread will live on in searches.
 
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