Yep.
IMO the only place for ball bearings is on the bevel gear, if that. I prefer solids all around for mine. But bevel gear aside, all the others, solids… which just wear and don’t explode putting shrapnel all through your box. 
You’ll be right… fixable. 
Thanks mate, Rok has an order on his desk for me, might be adding to it 
Yeah bearings. They can’t be trusted unless they cost an extortionate amount of money, and even then I’d prefer bushes.
Very common unfortunately. Especially stock bushes. If you are ever doing gears and shimming, I recommend changing to bushes while at it, for piece of mind.
And that one on the store gear is always the one to go.
If I use bearings, it’s on the bevel, top of the spur, and the rest get bushes… half half mix, and the top of the spur gear gets very little load, it’s all on the left/lower side.
Same here, bushes on everything except the spur, but even then, the spur only gets bearings on the “higher stress” builds……….whereas it’s bushes on everything for mild builds!
Had way too many bearings fail and destroy gearboxes/gear sets, whereas quality bushings last a bloody long time when properly maintained.
Quite a few gearboxes also require Slimline Bushes to give enough room for aftermarket gear sets or proper shimming.
While waiting for the rescue parks to arrive I’ve been trying to diagnose the feeding problem.
Earlier, prior to the bearing detonation, when looking into the t piece after a jam I noticed the nozzle protruding into the “chamber” by 1-2mm which I think was preventing gels from feeding past it.
On the bench with the top half of the gearbox off, I can pull the tappet plate back another 1-2mm and the gels feed into the “chamber” nicely.
Is there a way to make the tappet plate go back further on each cycle?
Is it protruding into the t piece chamber with the tappet plate at full retraction? It’s not an easy thing to spot with a V2. Hard to wind back by hand with the spring out to see where the nozzle is when the sector releases.
If it is out too far maybe your nozzle’s too long?
I’ve never had to alter a tappet plate to pull back further, don’t see how it could be done other than maybe fitting a delay chip on the sector. But they’re typically not fitted to gel blasters, more an airsoft thing.
I reckon our resident neurosurgeon @RokSolid is your man on this one.
At full retraction the nozzle pulls back another 1mm or so which is far enough to let the gels past.
It’s not the nozzle that came with that gearbox but I did a measurement on the new nozzle and they were the same length. Might be a shape thing? Or I’ve measured wrong
I wonder if a sector delay chip would help as that’s an almost identical issue to the problem my brother is having with his classic army M16a2 
Delay chips do not pull tappets back further (except the wells style). The either hold the tappet black open for longer, and or earlier/later in the cycle.
In my experience, with gel they only mask an issue, and make the fps in auto drop with higher fire rates of full auto. You should not need them, or use them. Even wells with SHS gears don’t need them and the wells delay chip is designed to open it further.
take the return spring, piston and spring out, and totally assemble it otherwise in the lower receiver (because its a split box being in the lower is the only way to have it how it will be in final form - will also need to bolt in the spring retainer which is a prick)
Once together, wind the gears to see where the tappet makes it to. Judging by the nozzle colour they are one of mine (thanks!) and the tip is usually squishy enough to alloy gels to pass even if there isn’t quite enough room.
Also make sure the tappet plate rattles back and forth freely without the return spring installed, and all the bolts tightened down. I have seen many LDX boxes where the nose is a bit tight and the tappet needed a slight sand on the edges to move freely.
Hey mate, didn’t make it back to town yesterday, but will definitely be there next Sunday and will post pics as soon as I can.
Tappet plate moves freely so that appears to be OK
Took the nozzle out and compared it again to the nozzle that came with the box, turns out the stock nozzle is slightly longer that the one I’ve replaced it with
Nozzle that came with the box, 21.47mm
New nozzle 21.13
Think I did the test as described correctly, wound the gears and took note of where the nozzle finished up. That test showed that there should be plenty of clearance for a gel to get past. Dropped a few gels in there as a test with no issue
Looking down into the t piece after the sector gear had pushed the tappet plate back as far as it would go
I didn’t get to test the ROF before it shit itself, perhaps a test with a 7.4v battery to see if the feeding issue still occurs?
I haven’t had issues with these nozzles apart from sometimes they aren’t fast enough for over 30rps builds as they are a bit tighter than the older black body version- they were awesome for this. The newer grey anodised version is a bit tighter seal which doesn’t attribute as well to high rps. Have contacted manufacturer on this, but I am one guy getting maybe 100 a year so yeah, nothing changed.
The length has never been an issue for me, check it slides freely in the t-piece too. Sometimes a bit of excess glue can slow it down significantly. Even prohibit getting a seal.
Testing with a good quality 7.4v is part of my post build process, though usually that is just to see if it functions with safer speed in case something goes pear shaped. It is good to test when there is sealing issues of full auto higher fire rates. If FPS is consistent in auto on a 7.4v but drops with an 11.1v, a stronger return spring, tappet plate trim, or just something isn’t moving freely enough.
What motor, gears, spring, and magazine are you running?
Appreciate the feedback
The motor is another one of the T238 N35’s, spring is the stock spring that came with the box, havent measured the coils yet but it feels like it’s in the M100 range. Gears are 13:1 with three teeth off
Good motors those!
Stock LDX springs were more an m90.
13:1s I’d go for an m100 especially with 3 teeth off, that setup will be going up close to 30rps territory.
I would be making sure the mags can keep up, gen8 and SLR mags should have no problem with it, but drums will not, even with faster mag motors most drums will struggle.
Yep those motors have served me well in three blasters now.
Ok, few more things to test out.
The RPS goal was 27-29, will get it back together and see where it lands
Not sure if this is the correct method for getting a shorter trigger pull but I bent the trigger switch slightly inwards and built up the trigger with some CA glue and baking soda. Needs a field test but seems to work fine with a 2mm trigger pull now 
You can also bend and shape the switch lever slightly on the ldt ETU and T238 basic to reduce the distance, it is best to add a grub screw or material to reduce the travel as well so you don’t bend it back if the trigger is pulled to hard or fast.
The catch is some receiver/trigger and gearbox combinations will need the trigger hole in the receiver elongated slightly to allow it to fit too.
Not needed if it’s only you using it and you have discipline to not pull trigger to hard or far but more for if someone else uses it who isn’t aware of it.
I quite like the t238 basic and ldt ETU for this ability and the nice tactile feeling switch, that is big and durable.
Put the new bushes in today with the fang dangled bush removal/installer tool. So all good on that front, thanks Rok.
The 13:1 gears were giving me a heap of grief, just couldn’t get them to spin smoothly and felt like there was a knocking or grazing of gear against gear, or maybe gear against gearbox shell, spent hours fault finding and couldn’t get them to spin without an unwelcome noise.
Figured I’d put the original 18:1 gears that came with the box back in, just so I could test the air seals and maybe diagnose the feeding problem. Put those in and they spun well, no strange noises. Fired two magazines then it started screeching, opened up to find two teeth broken off the sector gear.
The good news, for the two magazines it was doing 25rps and 300fps. This ones kicking my ass so I’ll take a win where I can get it
mm crash wish 18’s that speed. It’s all good your methodical working through things is impressive. All part of the fun
That is a handy little tool, mine has had a ton of use!
Shimming is often down to compromises. Quite often the gears don’t need to be super close.
For me, bevel and pinion take as little compromise as possible. Beyond that the spur and sector just need to have minimal movement and not rub. Yes maximum contact us nice but more often than not it is more about getting clearance from everything and just getting as much contact as that allows.
It is tedious, and personally the ldx split box which is supposed to be easy to shim can be a pain. The halves don’t like to always go together straight.
I screw the lowest bolt down, then the rear bolt, then tighten them and then do the front one… the counter sunk ones must be first to locate everything the same way every time.
You’re nearly there don’t give up now! You’ll get it.
Nearly all boxes have some challenges with shimming, and “perfect shimming” is at best a pipe dream. Often perfect is just the perfect compromise to get it working!
