Basic Field Stripping and Cleaning Your Spyder

In this article we will go over the process of field stripping and cleaning your Spyder. To ensure proper function you should clean and lube your Spyder after every day of play. If you do not oil and clean your marker on a regular basis, chances are it may cause some problems like premature o-ring wear, recocking concerns and in general functioning to less of it's normal performance capability. If you have a regulator you may want to clean and lube that occasionally or you can simply put a few drops of paintball oil like Gold Cup in the bottom line ASA, gas it up and run the oil through by taking 30-50 shots to keep it functioning properly. Be sure to remove the barrel before doing this or you'll coat the bore with oil. Using oils such as gun oils or aerosol applied oils that have petroleum distillates or solvents in them will turn your o-rings into mush eventually. Always use paintball specific oils as they don't tend to ruin o-rings and can tolerate the cold temperatures of C02 if you use it.

Make sure your marker is ungassed before proceeding with the cleaning process.
Remove the cocking device/pin if you have a side or top cocking Spyder. This is removed by simply pulling it out or unscrewing it.
Remove the quick strip pin from the rear portion of your marker or screws on older Spyders. Put some pressure on the velocity adjuster or it will fly out at you because of the striker spring inside.
Remove the back cap/velocity adjuster. Be sure not to lose the small aluminum disk that's inside the cap.
Remove the striker spring and spring guide.
Pull the bolt and striker from the rear of the marker. When doing this the rubber striker buffer will fall out.
All of the basic components to field strip your Spyder should be removed at this point.
If you lay the parts out on a piece of newspaper or towel in the order in which you removed them, there will be no mystery as to the order you should put them back in.
At this point a lambs wool material swab comes in handy. You can use paper toweling and run it through with a dowel rod or similar as well. I have a couple of home made lambs wool material glued to a dowel rod swabs that I use for this step.
Run the swab or paper toweling through the top and bottom tubes to get all existing oils and paint if you had an accident from them. I use 2 swabs for this. The first to get all of the oil out and the second to polish any other light residue left.
Some just leave it at that but I reoil the tubes. I use a 16 gauge shotgun swab that has a bit of paintball oil on it to coat the upper and lower tubes with. Your choice...........
Now it's time to clean and oil the internal components.
Use a cotton rag or paper toweling to wipe all of the oils, paint and residues from the parts. If there is paint in the o-ring grooves, remove the o-rings and clean the grooves and o-rings. O-rings are simply removed by putting your thumb and index fingers together on the o-ring at the bottom of the part, pushing them towards the top tightly against the part. This will stretch the o-ring a bit and leave a portion of the o-ring at the top that you can grab and pull out of the groove.
Oil the striker by putting 2 - 3 drops on the o-ring first then spreading the excess across the side surface of the striker.
Oil the bolt in the same fashion as the striker and you only need to oil the raised surfaces that will be in contact with the upper tube. If you have a delrin bolt it is not advised to put oil on them because it will make the material swell.
You need not oil any of the other internal components.
Time to assemble your cleaned and oiled components and marker.
Slide the bolt partially into the upper tube.
Connect the striker to the bolt-connecting pin attached to the bolt and push them in the marker.
They will stop at a certain point because the trigger sear won't let the striker pass until the sear is depressed. On electronic Spyders this is simply resolved by turning the e-frame on and pulling the trigger while putting a bit of force to the back of the bolt. If the battery is low this may not work. You then will need to either charge the battery or just loosen the two screws holding the trigger frame to the body enough to let the striker get by the internal protruding sear.
If you have a mechanical trigger frame this can be accomplished in a couple of different manners. You can loosen the two screws holding the trigger frame to the body enough to let the striker get by the internal protruding sear. You can also stick a small allen wrench through the area just back of the trigger and manually depress the sear from underneath. This may seem difficult the first or second time trying it but it will become second nature after doing it a few times.
Now you can put the striker buffer in the lower tube.
The striker spring and spring guide go in next.
Put the back cap/velocity adjuster in place making sure not to forget the small flat disk then the quick strip pin and lock or the screws on older Spyders.
If you have a side or top cocking Spyder, insert the cocking device/pin at this point.
Now just wipe your Spyder off with a cotton rag and you're done.

As I stated earlier, if you do this after every day of play you should have minimal problems with your Spyder in general and you're all ready to play the next time you visit your local field.

Technical Information