Tactical Drone FAQ

Boomer14 · 01-31-2010, 09:25 PM

Macdev Tactical Drone FAQ

Here is a list of Frequently Asked Questions and answers. The answers here assume that you have read the features on the website, read and understood the manual, and have a general idea of how an electro-pneumatic paintball marker works.

Part 1: General features:

Is the Drone the same as the Droid or Clone, except with rails? No. Though similar in general operation, the Drone has a completely different drive train than any other marker. You cannot interchange any drive components from them either.

How is the drone in comparison to a droid? Other than the appearance, the Droid is slightly more quiet and "smooth", has better air efficiency. Drone has a more simple drive train and regulator which is easier to maintain. The Drone also has the back button interface with its board.

What stocks work on the Drone? Contact your Macdev dealer for the Macdev CAR stock. It is out as of April '10. The Specops T2W stock works nicely without any permanent modification, and gives a very natural point of aim. There area also a few custom one of a kind models out there….

What about barrel shrouds? There are limited run of tactical rail barrel shrouds. Talk to your Macdev dealer for pricing and availability.

What after market triggers work on the Drone? Most RX, Clone, and Droid triggers will work. Specifically, Acid, PBK, CP, and violent have been tested.

What barrels will work with the Drone? Any cocker threaded barrel should work. The shroud has a removable threaded sleeve on the end to accommodate larger diameter barrels.

I want an OLED board. Can I put the RX board in a Drone? Physically, yes, but in order to function, the Drone requires a capacitor be added that the RX board doesn’t have. Macdev has done up a couple for demonstration purposes, but is not marketing them at this time. And No, Tadao does not have an after market board or any plans to make one.

Can I put my favorite Droid grips on the Drone? No. While the grip frame is similar size, it is thinner than the Droid or 07 Cyborg frame. The RX style grip will work on the Drone, but the window won’t be used.

How about the feedneck? It uses the same feedneck as the RX, very similar to the EGO.

I want to mount a sight on the Drone, but the center feed is in the way. Can I convert it to a right or left hand feed? No, but a 45 sight offset mount works great on the Drone, attached to those rails behind the feed adapter.

Can I put a Q-loader or horizontal spring feed on the Drone? Yes, with modification, the feed adapters for the AGD Tac1 or Blackcell Longbow will work with some light milling to them.

What modes of fire does the Drone have? The first ones shipped to the U.S. (serial number < 50 or so), only had uncapped/capped semi, 3 round burst, and full auto. The later ones have a different software version that added some ramping modes. Check the manual and addendum that came with your marker. Because of local laws, this will also vary by country.

Boomer14 · 01-31-2010, 09:26 PM

Part 2: Performance:

What kind efficiency should I expect? Broken in, it can realistically get 1400+ on a 68/4500. The Drone needs to be tuned after a 10-case break in period to do the best. Your results may vary....

What board settings work best on the Drone? The stock ones. Specifically, the dwell needs to be at 16 intitally. The anti bolt stick or ball delay can be adjusted if necessary, but leave the others alone. Look for the tuning guide on this thread if you want to modify the dwell for better performance.

How accurate is the Drone? The Drone is as accurate as any high performance paintball marker. With good paint and a proper barrel match, it is capable of ball-on-ball accuracy at over 50 feet. Paint and the shooter make much more of a difference in accuracy than any specific marker type.

How consistent is the velocity? After about 6-10 case break in period, it is capable of +/- 3fps in a 10-shot string with good paint and a good barrel match.

How loud is the Drone? Not as quiet as a Droid, but noticeably very quiet with the Shift barrel kit. Otherwise, it is about on par with the 07 cyborg. The drone can be more quiet after breaking in and tuning. The drone can also be ear splitting loud with an unported barrel and loudener attached.

How much maintenance does the Drone need? More than your typical mechanical scenario marker, but about on par with any high performance electro-pneumatic paintball marker. It should be fine without touching it for a 2-case day of play, but will need to get at least a general lube on the drive train and inspection at the end of the day.

Boomer14 · 01-31-2010, 09:27 PM

Part 3 Troubleshooting / Tech:

Where can I get parts for the Drone? Talk to your Macdev authorized dealer. Some parts will be compatible with the Clone and RX, other are specific to the Drone. As of Jan. 2010, O-rings kits are available from Oringmonkey, and maybe other vendors as well.

How do I break it in? Shoot it. It will take about 10 cases to break in nicely, but you will be rewarded. It will get smoother, more consistent, use less air, and become quieter with use.

What kind of lube do I use, and how much? Consult the manual for proper lubrication, and use only a DOW33 lubricant like MilitiaLube. A “wet” look on all the drive train components is best. Just wipe each o-ring with a small amount on your finger, and then gently wipe off the excess. You don’t need any globs on any of the components. The o-rings on the bolt and power tube are the most critical, because of the moving bolt. There is a bumper o-ring behind the bolt on the power tube that should not have ANY lubricant on it, and it should be kept dry and clean. Same goes for the bolt tip o-ring.

What pressure should I be running my regulator at? Most Drones achieve 280 fps at about 110-120 psi with the original drive. Again, your results may vary…..

My Drone is getting horrible velocity consistency. What’s wrong? Try a fresh, high quality battery first. If the marker is brand new, you may need to give it time to break in. Inconsistent paint can also be the culprit. You also may have a dirty bolt tip or power tube tip o-ring- usually shell or paint stuck from a break in the breach. Clean them, re-lube, and try it out. One other thing to check is the regulator. It may be dirty or have a damaged o-ring, or the valve seat (the little red plastic thing) may be gouged. It can be turned over to get some more life out of it, or replaced. Usually this isn't a problem unless the regulator has been opened up.

Another tip to help velicity consistency is to underbore your barrel. If you have a sizer kit and have say .688 paint, try a .685 bore.

I took my Drone out of the box, air it up, and it leaks. What gives? Most likely the drive train has slipped backward out of position. De-gas the marker, remove the back cap, and push the drive train all the way in using your finger, a swab or dowel. If that doesn’t fix it, it may be a torn or cut O-ring in the drive train. Disassemble and inspect. The usual suspect is the power tube tip o-ring.

My Drone won’t fire or click when it is aired up, but I can hear the ‘noid click when it is degassed. Do I need a new solenoid? No. You most likely have the regulator way out of adjustment. Zero out the reg by turning it in all the way, the back out the adjustment until it begins to cycle normally. OR, you can put a regulator tester on it and adjust it to about 100 psi. Then slowly turn up to achieve the desired velocity. At 110 psi most get about 285 fps when broken in and with a proper barrel/ball match.

I aired up my Drone and it shot the powertube tip o-ring off! What happened? You have way too much pressure entering the drive train. Replace the o-ring, zero the regulator and adjust up until it cycles and then gets the desired velocity. The regulator is very sensitive to adjustment. ¼ turn can move it up to 30 fps. Most Drones like to be at about 110-130 psi, pressures over 180psi may damage the drone. Your regulator may also be having "reg creep" and in need of maintenance, lubed improperly, or have a damaged seat.

My Drone has very bad first shot drop off (FSDO). What do I do? First, make sure you have a fresh battery. Then check the drive train for cleanliness and proper lubrication. Any buildup, piece of shell or a glob of paint on the bolt tip or on the bolt body can make it stick. There is also a bumper o-ring on the power tube at the back of the bolt that should be dry and clean. Your dwell may also be too low. As a last resort, you can adjust the anti-bolt stick setting in the board if the drop is consistent and predictable.

If the problem only happens in colder weather (less than 60 degrees F), you may have cold weather issue that the first version Drone has. The solenoid starts to bind as it gets colder, eventually refusing to work at about freezing temperatures and below. The Tactical Drone DX Drive upgrade lets the it function down to at least 20 degrees without problems.
https://www.pbnation.com/showthread.php?t=3565089

It is freezing out, and my Drone refuses to fire until I pull the trigger 5 times! What do I do? See above.

My battery post fell off or broke. What now? Contact your Macdev Repair Center for a solution. You CAN re-solder it on yourself, but you have to take responsibility if you ruin the board. It helps if you make sure that you remove both sides of the grip when changing the battery, and then PUSH the battery from the right side of the grip out of the frame. Do not pry it out from the left side of the grip. You can also solder a standard 9v harness to the terminal spots. You will need a little foam to keep the battery secure in the grip.

How can I keep my Drone from breaking paint? Like any spool valve marker, the Drone likes a clean breach area and barrel. Get the gentlest loader you can, use the best paint you can get/afford, and clean the barrel and breach completely as soon as possible after a break. Some have had success by increasing the ball in place delay using the board settings. This lets the ball settle in the breach some before firing when using a non-force feed loader. Again, any amount of paint or shell in the breach area or on the bolt will make the problem much worse. The new DX Drive is more gentle on paint than the standard one

Is there a tech video for the Drone? Not yet. There may be one coming by summer '10.

The velocity in the first shot in a string is fine, then the velocity starts to drop during rapid firing of my Drone. What is wrong? Shootdown can be caused by an number of things. First, ensure that you have a fresh, high quality battery. Second, ensure that you do not have a problem with your air supply by swapping the tank and/or air adapter with another and trying it out. Third, you may have lots of grit in the filter on the regulator. Pull the bottom portion of the regulator and inspect the screen for debris, then clean if necessary. As a last resort, you should perform maintenance on the regulator and drive train as the manual describes.

I reset my Drone board to its factory settings, and now it doesn't work right. What gives? Ensure that your dwell is at 16 during break in. Some factory board default to 8, which is way too low for the first generation drive before broken in. After reloading factory settings, you have to manually turn up the dwell to 16. Not doing this can cause all kinds of sympoms: partial cycling, low or inconsistant velocity, etc. Some will work well at less than 10, but others won't. The drone velocity is really not sensitive to changes to the dwell- its really a matter of getting the cycling right and still being efficient.

The manual says the tourny lock is on the right side of the board, but I can't find it. The manual is wrong. Look on the left side under the wire harness connections.

When I air up the drone, there is a small leak from the adjustment screw on the bottom of the regulator. What to do? There is a small 6x1 o-ring on the inside of the adjuster screw that can become torn or get grit on it and cause a leak. This oring seals the adjuster to the red seat, and is the most common cause of this leak. The leak may also be caused by the outside oring on the adjuster screw, or the red seat itself. Both can be changed, but try the tiny inside one first. The leak can sometimes be sealed up by firing the marker a few times and it will seal itself without taking the reg apart.

How do I maintain the regulator?The Clone uses the same regulator as the Drone. Here is a maintenance video from Sumorai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma0UJdS6LI0

Boomer14 · 01-31-2010, 09:28 PM

Is there an O-ring chart for the Drone? Why yes there is:

Drone O-ring list ( stock drive / bolt )

Size Qty Location (s)
005 3 ASA retainer, ASA bar (2)
008 2 inline retainer inner, adjuster
011 1 power tube tip
013 1 Powertube mid
014 2 bolt tip, ASA retainer
015 4 regulator top, swivel, inline cap, bolt bumper
016 1 reg piston
017 2 Keg inner, inline retainer outer
018 2 power tube rear, bottom works
019 1 keg switch
020 4 Keg outer (3), end cap
4x1mm 4 sub plate (4)
2x1mm 2 solenoid
17x1mm 1 Bolt mid-oring

Compulsion · 03-23-2010, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BunkerKing221

How much are they priced?

$550

Boomer14 · 05-03-2010, 04:00 PM

How do I tune a Drone? After a 10-case break in period, consider the Drone "broken in". At this point, the factory 16 dwell can be lowered for better gas efficiency. If you don't know how to do some of these steps, get someone that does to assist.

To tune the drone, you will need your drone, a reg tester, paint with a good bore match, and HPA.

1. Do a general maintenance on the drive train and relube.
2. Set the regulator to 110 psi using a reg tester
3. Set the dwell to 6 (red register on the stock board).
4. Air it up and try to fire the Drone. If it doesn't cycle fully and sound normal on the first shot, turn up the dwell in 2ms increments until it does. You should now notice less air escaping from the feed neck area when it fires, and it will be more quiet. The dwell should now be anywhere from 6 to 12ms at this point.
5. Fire a few shots accross the chronograph. Adjust the regulator until the average for the string is where you want it, say 280 fps. Don't worry too much about the first shot at this point.
6. Now let the drone set for a minute or so. Fire a single shot across the chrono. If is significantly less than where you left it, you have first shot drop off. If this difference is consistant, you can compensate for it using the ABS setting on the Drone board. It comes set at 3. I have used up to 9 ms with good results. Just turn up the ABS (purple register) 2-3ms at a time and retest. Be careful here, if you turn it up too much, you will shoot hot on the first shot.

What the ABS setting does is raise the dwell on the first shot after setting for a few seconds. This compensates for the minimal bolt stick that is natural with these type of systems. If the bolt stick is excessive (more than 20 fps), either the dwell is too low, or there is something else wrong (like improper lube) Inspect the drive train for proper lubrication and correct if necessary. If that doesn't fix it, raise the dwell 2ms, reset the ABS to 3 and repeat.

Doing this can double your gas efficiency, really. I have seen a Drone go from 3-pods and a hopper on a 68/4500 to 12 pods and a pinokio hopper, just by lowering the dwell from 16 to 10. This is on a drone with 30 cases through it.

sumorai · 05-20-2010, 10:21 AM

Support

MacDev USA
13200 NW 43 Ave
Miami FL 33054
Ph: 305 681 4385
Mail: jerry@macdev.net
http://macdev.net

PROTOTYPE_XERO · 08-14-2010, 09:35 AM

Online Users Manual - http://www.macdev.net/manuals/Tac%20Drone%20V1.pdf

Unfortunately, at this point in time it doesn't even qualify as half-assed.

Boomer14 · 08-14-2010, 10:00 AM

The online manual is not complete. The one that ships with the Drone is, and should also come with an addendum for the board settings. If the Drone is shipped to the US, it comes with more fire modes than the AUS or Europe version. It is actually a pretty good manual. There are a couple of o-rings missing in the exploded view, and a small error in the tourny lock location, but otherwise OK.

going_home · 10-27-2010, 09:59 PM

Jerry put a new board in my Drone saturday at World Cup and now I have no idea how to change anything on it (that actually may no be a bad thing lol).

How can I get instructions for it, and where can I get a set of the O rings listed
above ?

Krazy8 · 10-28-2010, 10:33 AM

You will need your owners manual that came with the Drone for the programing ifo....the online version in the MacDev Support section is incomplete.

As for the orings....you can get them from any retailer that sells orings.

oringmonkey has a kit specifically for the Drone.
Other than that you could buy nearly all the orings from the list provided above from the local hardware store.

going_home · 10-28-2010, 06:04 PM

I have the manual that came with the Drone.
Is there only one MacDev board that will fit the Drone ?
Because this one only has red or green on the LED and the other one had
several different colors.

Boomer14 · 10-29-2010, 07:12 PM

The Drone board is unique to the Drone. The Clone and RX board will physically fit in the frame, but lack a capacitor necessary to make the Drone's solenoid work.

going_home · 10-30-2010, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boomer14

The Drone board is unique to the Drone. The Clone and RX board will physically fit in the frame, but lack a capacitor necessary to make the Drone's solenoid work.

Ok the board does work the same.
The efficiency has more than doubled since Jerry put the new board in it and new o rings.
I got over 1300 from a 68 with 4000 in it.
Love it.

CraigofScotland · 12-13-2010, 07:29 AM

Does anyone have an electronic version of the full manual / extra sheet????? Or am I going to have to get busy with a scanner??

Boomer14 · 03-07-2011, 10:23 PM

What is the DX Drive?

official online catalog page with a picture:

http://macdev.net/store/product_info...roducts_id=177

In a nutshell, here is what it does:
1. works in flawlessly cold weather, tested down to 20 degrees F. It still requires a small increase in dwell, but that is expected in cold weather with any marker.
2. Much more consistant velocity on the chronograph
3. Lower operating pressure- 270ish at 95 psi with a good barrel/paint fit.
4. More consistent gas efficeincy-at least 1245 shots with a 68/4500 fill.
5. More reliable operation.
6. Less paint breaks and more consistent cycling (lower pressure operation)
7. Makes the marker louder. This is a feature, not a fault.

The drive train is completely drop-in. No modification is necessary, other than to remove the old one.

The most noticeable difference is the machined air chamber in the back, which makes it reach all the way to the back of the body. Also, the power tube is now milled delrin, and a completely different design. The bolt is now milled AL, and not delrin, and has more o-rings on it. It is not compatable with the droid or clone.

It takes far less pressure to make the gun fire with the new system. With stock DT chronographed at 230ish, the new drive droppin does about 310, without touching the regulator. When turned down to 270 on the new DT, it was about 95 psi output at the reg (insead of 120-130).

Boomer14 · 03-24-2011, 03:03 PM

I have the DX drive, and the marker does not cycle. All it does is vent the gas out the grip area when the trigger is pulled. What to do?
You could have excess lube built up on the interior of drive body, making the bolt stick. Take it apart, clean everything out carefully with a clean cloth, and then relube. The bolt body should be shiny, but not have globs. There should be a thin coating between the two orings on the bolt. The bolt tip should not have any excess lube on it either. Also check the end of the delrin power tube. If it has globs of lube or paint on it, it will stick to the shoulder inside the bolt as well. Basically, the first step is to disassemble, wipe down completely, relube, and put it back together. It should take no more than 3 or 4 minutes.

If the problem persists, contact Macdev customer support. There were some early version DX drives that may need the bolt replaced. The switch o-rings wear in and create the problem when they fail to seal. This may also be fixed by switching out the 016 orings on the middle of the bolt.

The bolt on the right is the new version, which does not have the o-ring sealing problem out of the box. They look almost the same, but the new one has a small groove just behind the bolt tip, and I believe the mid o-ring grooves are milled different.

IMPORTANT: When installing the DX drive, either use a reg tester to set the pressure to about 95 psi, or turn down (turn the adjuster screw IN) about 3/4 turn from where it was with the standard drive. If you don't, you may blow the valve tip o-ring off. You will know that you have overpressurized the drive if it leaks down the barrel after firing it. If you blow it off, DO NOT put the old one back in. Install a new 015 o-ring or you will have other problems. The bolt should not slide out of the drive body easily. If it does, you may be having problems sealing those mid o-rings. The 10 that I have looked at are almost hard to pull out of the body, but function great at 95 psi and get about 275 fps with a good paint fit. If you have to go above 110 psi to get velocity, you may have problems. Pull everything apart, relube, and try it again. Your dwell may also have to be adjusted. I use 8ms. Your results may vary.

PhazedReality818 · 08-07-2011, 03:46 PM

hey boomer, i have a question. i have recently received my tactical drone dx and am wondering does the dx version need to be broken in like the older version?

Boomer14 · 08-07-2011, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhazedReality818

hey boomer, i have a question. i have recently received my tactical drone dx and am wondering does the dx version need to be broken in like the older version?

The 10 or so that I've seen did not. The DX drive seems to be a little more forgiving. They worked fine out of the box on a dwell of 8 or so, and efficiency was where it should be too.

PhazedReality818 · 08-08-2011, 12:04 AM

ok brother. thanx for the info.

nicolas rodrigo · 08-22-2011, 05:56 PM

hello friends, I am writing from Argentina, I'm looking to buy this marker the "macdev tactical drone", preferably new!
let me know by private (MP) who the vnde, better if they send me some link or link to any reputable dealer ...
I hope we can help .. greetings!
from already thank you very much!