These are the things you'll need to disassemble and clean your solenoid: small phillips head screw driver (such as the ones used to repair eyeglasses), q-tips, Dow/Corning 33 Shocker lube (aka. Molykote 33), needle-nose pliers.
This preceedure outlines the complete diassembly of your marker's solenoid valve. You must find a flat, clean surface to do this or you may damage or loose one or more of the solenoid's many small parts. The pieces are very fragile and you need to use caution (they are also expensive). It will be easiest if you disassemble the rest of the gun as well, meaning remove the vertical adapter, frame, etc.
Read through this entire guide before performing the activity.
To access the solenoid you must remove the frame. To do this, unscrew the two screws holding it to the body using a 1/8" allen wrench (note that Nerves use a 5/64" wrench for the rear screw). Once the frame is off you can disconnect the wire harness connecting the two circuit boards. Simply pull the harness out, but gently and not too hard in either direction. Set the frame aside. Also disconnect your Vision eye ribbon as well (if present). The solenoid is located on the underside of the body:
In order to disassemble the Humphrey solenoid, it must be separated from the solenoid manifold on the body. With the older Parker valves this isn't always necessary, however you don't have much choice with the newer Humphrey valve. Therefore, you must remove the two screws holding it to the manifold using a 1/16" allen wrench:
Once the screws are released, lift the solenoid away from the manifold. You will notice there are three 2-mm ID o-rings located between it and the solenoid; these may stick to the bottom of the solenoid when you move it, or they may stay in their grooves in the manifold. Either way, stick them in their grooves then set the body aside.
The circuit board located on top of the solenoid will simply slide off toward the back. Pull it off and set aside as well.
It's now time to disassemble the valve itself. Here is a list of the four major sections. The spool is located within its housing and is the only part you need to service, however you must disassemble the entire valve to access it.
The surrounding sections to the spool housing must first be removed. I suggest you start with the endcap. To separate it from the rest, unscrew the two phillips-head screws located on the end of the housing:
Once you remove the endcap, you will be able to see the edge of the spool assembly, and the close pilot piston. It may come out inside the endcap, or it may come out stuck to the spool. If it is, just pull it off and slide it back into the housing, tapered end first. Make sure it sits straight inside the endcap piece.
Be very wary of the small o-ring located in a groove at the top of the pilot housing. Make sure you don't loose this:
You can now remove the other side of the assembly. Unscrew the two screws holding the coil, using a screwdriver:
Once the last screw comes out, the core will push off from the open pilot becuase of the spring located inside it. Set the coil housing aside, and make sure you don't loose the core that sticks out the end (this is the the steel piece fitted with a spring on the exposed end). There is also another o-ring gasket located between the coil and pilot; don't loose it.
Again using the screwdriver, remove the pilot section from the spool housing:
Separate the pilot from the spool housing and be wary of another of those small o-ring gaskets...
Spool Removal & Maintenance:
The spool doesn't just slide in and out of the housing like it does with the previous Parker solenoids. In order to access it, you must first remove the two endplates around the ends of the housing. For this you can use your fingernails (if you have them), a small dental pick, or other tool to pry them away from the inside of the housing. There's an endplate on both sides and they must both be removed.
Once the endplates are off, you'll need to use a pair of needlenose pliers to pull the spool straight out from the housing. There are located two additional sealing items inside the housing that will make this somewhat difficult (I call these seal rings). There's a seal ring on both sides of the spool. When you pull the spool out from one side, the ring will come out with it, however the ring on the other side will remain in the housing. Remove it using a dental pick, or take the first ring off the spool and push it back into the housing to push it out the other end.
Now time to clean the spool and other parts. Use a q-tip to clean the inside of the spool housing and inside of both endplates. Clean the spool o-rings then apply a new, light coat to them. That's all you have to do in terms of solenoid maintenance (sad, eh?).
Reassembly:
After regreasing the spool, push it back into the housing. It doesn't matter which end goes in first. Push the seal rings back onto the ends of the spool, then do the same for the endplates. Please note that the seal rings have a black side and a colored side (yellow-ish); the black side should face toward the middle of the spool housing. Once fully assembled, the spool will move back and forth approximately 1/32" in either direction (not much movement; this is normal).
Using your screwdriver, reinstall the endcap back to the spool housing using the pair of small screws. The endcap goes on the end of the spool housing. It does matter which end it goes on; install it onto the side with only two screw holes (the other side has three). If you put it on the wrong side, you won't be able to reinstall the pilot section.
Additionally, you must be sure to reinstall the endcap in the correct orientation. The small dot on the edge of the endcap faces up (away from the body). If you install it facing down, the solenoid won't close and won't fire.
Once the endcap is installed correctly, place the pilot onto the other end of the spool housing. The end of the pilot with the large piston faces the spool; the other end with the small dots on the inside faces the core. The pilot screw sits inside the countersunk hole in the pilot housing and lines up with the irregular screw hole in the spool housing. The foam bumper on top of the open pilot housing faces up (away from the body).
Tighten it down then place the core with spring inside the coil, line the screws up through the coil housing holes, and screw it onto the open pilot housing. The end with the circuit board faces up (away from the body). After it's all tightened down, reinstall the circuit board on top of the coil and insert the body screws back through the vertical holes in the spool housing. Use your 1/16" allen wrench to tighten the spool back onto the solenoid manifold. Do not overtighten the screws.
This concludes the maintenance proceedure for your soleniod; reassemble the rest of the gun as normal.
Diagrams:
This is an exploded diagram of the Humphrey CRCB solenoid.
Demonstrational videos:
These videos show highlights from quickly disassembling, cleaning/regreasing, and reassembling the solenoid. Some smaller notes are left out of the video, so be sure you read the above page that gives detailed instructions on the proceedure.
Humphrey solenoid maintenance, high-res (30-MB)
Humphrey solenoid maintenance, medium-res (13-MB)
Humphrey solenoid maintenance, low-res (5-MB)
Related Links:
· Shocker SFT solenoid page
· Nerve solenoids page
· Shocker SFT troubleshooting leaking/shooting
· Nerve troubleshooting leaking/shooting