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Patching old E-Blade Eyes and Stripped Threaded Holes



A customer sent in a DYE MiniCocker body and swing trigger frame, all of which had several
damaged or extraneous holes. The first one in the queue was the rear grip-frame screw hole,
which had for some reason been drilled oversize, and then "sleeved" with JB Weld.



The hole had already been drilled to nearly 5/16", so I was forced to step
up to the next common size, and drilled and tapped it to 3/8"-24.



I turned up a threaded plug in the lathe out of solid aluminum rod, and screwed it into
place with a healthy dose of red LocTite. This is one of the very few times you should
use red on a paintball gun- on parts that are intended to be permanently installed.



After a few minutes to cure, I sawed down the shank and very carefully
milled the stub completely flush with the top of the frame.



I measured and marked the hole to be sure it was properly located, and drilled
it fresh. You can see how the previous drill-out was somehow done off-center.



The frame was re-set in the vise and the underside portion gently milled down,
then carefully filed to closely match the shape of the frame. One down!



As is common on 'Cockers, the beavertail hole in the body was also stripped out.
This one I drilled to 1/4"-28, plugged in the same manner, and redrilled back to 10-32.



The body also had the ubiquitous and no-longer-necessary holes for the old Eclipse E-Blade eye.
The upper one was already tapped to 4-40, so I tapped the lower one to 10-32.



Two more quick plugs in the lathe and a bit more red Loctite corks those nicely.



Once milled smooth, carefully filed and lightly sanded, they almost disappear.



At some point in the marker's history, a previous owner had drilled the original backblock to
accept more conventional pin-retained bolts, instead of the original DYE twist-lock bolt.
And apparently had a bit of a control issue with his Dremel. :)



These were a bit tricker due to the non-square surface I was dealing with, but I was able to
tap these out to 3/8"-24 as well, turn up a couple of plugs, and patch them up solidly.



To blend the patch into the "scallop", I milled it down somewhat with a ball-end mill, the very gently
dressed it the rest of the way down with a Dremel. Followed by some careful file work and
some sandpaper, the fix is nearly invisible. Once polished and anodized it'll look great!






All text, photos and graphics Copyright 1998- 2018, Doc's Machine & Airsmith Services. All Rights Reserved.
Information contained in these pages is for reference and entertainment purposes only.  Our methods are not always the best,
quickest, safest, or even the correct ones. It's up to you to know how to use your own machines and tools.
Keep your fingers away from the spinny blades o' death and you should be all right.