by Bill Mills - Photos by Dawn Mills - Oct 2007

Disassembly

Features HowItWorks Disassembly Adjustment Testing Data

As with the Ion, field stripping the Epiphany is limited to removing the barrel for bleach cleaning and removal of the vertical regulator. More in-depth cleaning and lubrication requires the use of tools, and a stable work area.

With the marker completely unloaded and degassed, and the barrel removed, the body frame screw can be taken out of the body breech.

Both the front and rear grip frame screws can be removed as well, leaving the upper and lower halves of the marker connected only by hoses and wires.

Opening the grips with a hex wrench allows the 9-volt battery to be removed, and makes sure that sliding the circuit board out of the grip frame will not strain the battery wires..

The receiver can be gently rocked back from the frame, exposing the pneumatic hoses. Using a hex wrench to unscrew the frontmost hose connector from the grip frame will allow the components to be fully separated., but is not necessary if the goal is simply to open the inner receiver for cleaning and inspection of the bolt/valve assembly.

The Epiphany's three removable hose fittings are called banjo fittings because their general shape, excluding the gas-through bolt in their center, resembles a banjo.

They are easier to remove and install than typical elbow fittings, because they do not need to be removed from their hose and twisted to unscrew. Instead their central bolt can be unscrewed while the hose fitting portion stays in place.

Unscrewing the two banjo bolts from the inner receiver (the rear and middle fittings) is necessary to separate the receiver from the grip frame.

The one item left connecting the grip frame and receiver at this point will be the Vision cable. A small bundle of four black wires runs from the main circuit board to the Vision circuit board, located in the bottom of the body breech just forward of the feed port.

The wires can be unplugged from the Vision board by using a pick, or tweezers to work the plug out of the board. This is preferable to simply pulling the wires as it reduces the chance of working a wire loose. A rubber band connects the wire bundle to the hose leading to the middle banjo fitting, so that the two components stay close together.

Held upside down so that the Vision board will not fall out, inner receiver can now be slid out of the body. The Vision board can be lifted out, inspected for damage, and cleaned if necessary.

The same can be done of the two rubber ball detents in either side of the breech. They can be popped out by reaching a finger into the breech and pressing on them from the inside. If paint is double-feeding, or loading inconsistently, the ball detents should be cleaned and checked. When installed they should protrude just barely into the breech and keep a paintball that is in the breech from rolling forward.

The fire chamber easily unscrews by hand from the body breech. If for some reason it is fitting too tightly to unscrew by hand, there are wrench flats on the back of the fire chamber to offer a better grip.

On the rear of the fire chamber, held in place by a snap ring, is the swivel donut, a cylinder that is able to swivel. The swivel donut allows the rear grip frame screw hole and rear gas feed and banjo bolt threads to line up with the grip frame. The swivel donut should normally only need to be removed if fixing a leak in its o-rings.

With the body breech and fire chamber separated, the bolt can be removed by gripping its face and pulling it out of the fire chamber. With the bolt will come the bolt stop.

It is important to note the orientation of the bolt stop. It is narrower on one side of its o-ring than the other. If the bolt stop is reinstalled backwards, the fire chamber will not be able to screw all the way onto the body breech, and the receiver will no longer line up correctly with the screw holes in the grip frame.

If a volume control insert is in the fire chamber, it too can be removed by reaching a finger inside, bending to grasp it by pressure from the knuckle and fingertip, and pulling outward.

A metal bracket holds the Epiphany solenoid valve together and is clipped in place by spring tension. Care must be taken when removing the clip, not to damage the exposed wires of the solenoid coil. A small hex wrench or tweaker can be used to pry between the clip and the section of black plastic coil frame at the top of the solenoid.

With the clip removed, the head of the solenoid can be removed and the core slides easily out of the coil. When reassembling the solenoid, its head must be oriented correctly. The two hose barbs on the head are not perfectly aligned, they form a slight angle. This angle should point, like an arrow, toward the right side of the grip frame when the circuit board is in place.

After cleaning, the Epiphany’s receiver parts re-assemble in a reverse of their disassembly procedure. It helps to slide the inner receiver into the body upside down, so that the Vision board will not fall out of place. SL33K paintgun lubricating grease is Smart Parts only recommended lubricant for the seals in the receiver, and it is important to note that over-lubricating can cause performance problems.

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