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Here's the outside of the marker. I bought it off eBay in 2010 for a couple hundred. I believe the previous owner wanted to sell the marker due to the feedneck issues described later on this page. Otherwise, the marker is un-modified and is using all factory parts.
Eye Cover & Breech Section:
The claim to fame feature of this marker is the tool-free eye cover cleaning. The eye covers are held in place using a tiny pin that forms a hinge, with a knurled finger latch to keep the eye cover in position on the body. When you pull the latch down, the eye cover can be folded out from the body like a wing. The eyes are held in a small slots within the inside of the eye cover, so they also fold out from the body for cleaning. The eyes are the same "square lens" hardware used on some Egos DM markers, and Mini/Axe eye boards. The eye wiring is actual wires rather than a FPC flex-circuit.
The detents are also removable using this procedure. They're small rubber nubs that press into the body, somewhat similar to the detents used by some Eclipse markers. The other feature seen under the eye covers is the pair of small set screws used to help retain the feedneck boss. As mentioned, this is one of the marker's failing points because the set screws tend to work themselves out over time, causing the feedneck to wiggle. The two different components can be seen in the below picture from inside the marker breech.
Firing Assembly:
Regular maintenance for these markers is fairly similar to other stacked-tube electropneumatics, like Egos/Eteks, Intimidators, Cyborgs, or previous SP markers like Nerves or classic Impulses. The most common field-strip activity is removing the bolt and cleaning its bore within the body, and the outside of the bolt itself. It can be removed by pulling the bolt pin upwards and sliding the bolt out from the back of the body. The bolt pin is trapped within the bolt by a spring-loaded ball screw like many other modern electros, so it won't come free on its own. The bolt has one o-ring to prevent air leaking out the back of the body, but it doesn't have another o-ring to prevent air flowing out the feedneck. Both types of bolts are commonly seen on stacked-tube markers like this.
The hammer/ram is removed by unscrewing the endcap from the rear of the marker body. The ram has an integrated compression air pillow system on the rearward stroke, somewhat similar to the ZICK kit for Egos.
The valve poppet/stem is removed out the front of the marker body. Unscrewing the valve's endcap allows you to pull the poppet out along with its spring. It should be protected from damage and cleaned every once in a while to prevent dirty air from causing scratches in the future. The only other component of the firing assembly is the valve housing (made from brass), which is located down within the marker body. It can only be removed by accessing the bottom of the body.
The valve system is meant to be a "semi-balanced" valve poppet, whereby only a small amount of air pressure is used to hold the valve shut. Theoretically this allows the valve to be opened up using less force than you'd otherwise need, which can lead to things like reduced air consumption and reduced recoil. This is a popular concept with other LPR-equipped hammer/valve markers, although in the past this seems to be somewhat less reliable due to leaking issues.
With the valve removed from the front, and the ram/bolt removed from the backside, there's no other internals remaining within the body itself.
The foregrip is a hollow air chamber that serves to add to the firing air volume within the front of the body. There's a small bleed valve located in the bottom of the foregrip, which consists of a poppet held in place by a spring. In the event of being overpressurized, the bleed valve will be opened and will vent out air pressure from the foregrip. After removing the bleed valve, an internal screw holding the foregrip up onto the body can also be unscrewed, allowing the foregrip to come free.
Frame Disassembly:
Further disassemble of the marker is much less common since the frame and body components are generally maintenance-free components. The regulators located within the bottom of the grip frame are the other main components that may require cleaning, as with the solenoid valve held onto the bottom of the body. These components require much less maintenance, though.
The electronics are held within the frame and can be accessed by removing the grip panels. The battery used here is the same as the small Li-Po cell used in Luxes, another marker designed by Smart Parts. The charging kit is also the same (the marker's connection is the small SATA port located on the surface of the board). You must remove at least the left side grips in order to charge the marker.
The circuit board is seen below. Notably, it uses the same rubber-membrane button found on classic Impulse circuit boards, and a tiny three-color LED pixel. The LED shines up through a lightpipe that leads to the back spine of the frame, which displays through the power button.
Trigger adjustment is very similar to that of a Luxe. The trigger is held in place using a pair of cone-pointed set screws which suspend the trigger bearing in the middle of the frame. Internal pins within the trigger are used for pre-travel and post-travel, which are the items adjusted by the two set screws seen here:
The bottomline tank adapter ASA uses a built-in shutoff knob. These markers can't use a standard bottomline ASA and regulator system, unlike their cousin Luxe. However, the stock ASA is somewhat similar to the Luxe ASA, although the two aren't compatible (air ports are in different locations). As with a Luxe, the ASA is removed by loosening the two screws on the bottom. The screws are hidden internally within T-slots on the top of the ASA.
A small input filter is located on the bottom of the marker's frame. This should help keep large chunks of debris out from the regulators.
Regulator Disassembly:
Both mid-pressure and low-pressure regulators are located in the bottom of the grip frame. Their housings can be removed by pulling off the adjustment pad located on the back spine of the grip frame, which exposes a button-head screw underneath. This single screw is the master item holding everything together; after removing it, you must then unscrew both the regulator adjustment screws in order to slide the reg housings out from the frame. I haven't performed this step yet because I don't want to re-tune the marker pressures from scratch. I'll update this page with more pictures once I actually carry out the full disassembly of the regulators.
Feedneck:
09 Impulses use a boss-latch feedneck similar to that of Eclipse markers. Nearest as I can tell, 09 Impulse feednecks are meant to be compatible with Eclipse feednecks. The dimensions aren't identical but they are very close to one-another.
Frame Removal and Body Disassembly:
The final steps of marker disassembly involve the removal of the frame and separation of the two body halves. As mentioned, this is an activity you wouldn't have to perform much, if ever. The first step is to remove the two screws holding the frame onto the body, which can only be done once you remove the battery and circuit board then unwind all of the wiring for the solenoid and eyes. The top of the body has a pair of steel air couplings which lead up into the bottom of the body, and carry both types of air pressure (mid and low pressure) into different areas of the body.
The solenoid is attached to the bottom of the body using a small "P" bracket which sandwiches it in place. The solenoid doesn't use typical M1.6x0.35mm screws as with other markers that use Parker/Humphrey solenoids of similar type.
Separation of the body halves can now commence. This is where the marker becomes very unique because it's the only production gun that comes apart in such a way. There's three reasons for this design choice. The first is to facilitate the eye cover hinge system; the second reason is to hide the eye wiring through the inside of the marker. The third reason is to allow a modular system that could be converted to be compatible with 50-caliber paintballs without re-creating the entire marker. This is somewhat conjecture on my part but I stand by this opinion given that SP was leading the charge into 50-cal equipment back in 2009. Despite that, I think this was done just as a manufacturing difference rather than a "50-cal self-conversion kit", because disassembling the marker to this level is very complicated. Nobody knows for sure!
To separate the upper and lower body, you need only remove the three screws holding them together. One screw is located behind the bolt while the other two are located down inside the top of the marker breech. They're accessed through the feedneck bore on top. Technically you could remove these items without disassembling the frame, but the reassembly would be more difficult due to the loose eye wiring.
The body halves are now separate and all the internals are exposed. The eye wiring and hinged eye cover system are all captive in place within the underside of the upper body. The lower body contains the valve housing which is visible as the yellow brass component in the lower tube. It has an internal o-ring to provide a seal, which means you may have to remove it someday if a leak develops. (let's hope not, because these internals are nuts)
Sandwiched between the marker components are the hinged eye covers and their common bracket located in between. The milling for the hinge system seen below is extremely complex. I don't think I've ever seen such a thing on a paintball marker prior to this. The reason there are so many intricate cuts is to make room for a series of o-rings that are used to take up slack space between the two body components and the hinge bracket. In order to get everything sandwiched together without wiggling around, the o-rings are positioned in such a way that the components squish together. This way you can't even tell there isn't a tight fit between the components, which makes them easier to manufacture.
The eye wiring is held in place by a couple blotches of puddy to keep them contained within their wiring grooves in the body. It's obvious that the puddy isn't required but the body components would be more difficult to reassemble without pinching wires if nothing held them in position. It makes me wonder why a flex circuit wasn't used here, since Luxes use a similar set of eye wires that travel the entire length of the body, except in the case of Luxes the flex-circuit is trapped in a small slot to aid in reassembly. I don't know, maybe the traditional wires were only used for these initial markers, and they planned to use a flex circuit later on. No way to know!
Anyway, there aren't any other internals left on the marker besides for the feedneck. It's more or less similar to other Q-lock style feednecks found on other SP markers, although using a boss-latch mounting method as described earlier. I would remnove the feedneck from the boss but I don't want to cause damage to the marker body in trying.