Board Thread:General Nerf discussion/@comment-27306930-20180610032645/@comment-27306930-20180612231055

I didn't get a chance to take a pic before reinstalling it - my hands were covered in blood - but it essentially looks like this now. (please excuse this rudimentary photoshop facsimile, but I just don't want to take it apart, again)  I removed the reinforcement ring from the back of the old broken plunger tube, and epoxy welded it to the front of the new one.



The main design problem with the EAT/EXDAT plunger tube is that the "stops"  which prevent the tube from moving forward are built into the guides on each half of the shell. These guides mate with the four posts protruding from the side of the plunger tube. On each half of the shell there are small rubber bumpers at the end of the guides for cushioning.

When it's sliding forward, the brunt force of the Stage II spring is on the bottom of the plunger tube as the posts slam into the rubber stops at the end of the guides. All of that energy is then absorbed in the section between the bottom of the tube and the forwardmost posts, which is about 1/8th inch, or ≈3mm. That's a lot of force on a relatively small area, considering the gauge of the materials involved.

Bottom line, it's no wonder the bottom of the tube sheared off. In fact I'm kinda pissed that OMW didn't warn me about that, or provide a decent silicone bumper for the inside of the plunger tube.

Look, I love my old blue EAT. And I want it to perform well. This exercise has been expensive and time consuming, as well as a good learning experience. But here's a sobering number: 104. That's the FPS on an otherwise stock EXDAT with the AR removed. Compare that to 94 FPS from the Stage I & II  EAT that needed an extra Stage II kit to keep it going. Ka-ching, ka-ching !

yeah.