-
Fast & secure delivery -
Secure shopping & payment -
Lots of expertise
-
What is an airsoft motor?
An airsoft motor will create movement in an airsoft replica. In an AEG an airsoft motor drives all the gears that will move the piston to create air pressure that’ll propel the BB. The gears also move the tappet plate, which -in turn- moves the nozzle to load a BB. In an HPA replica, an HPA engine will dose the amount of air released and also enables the nozzle to move.
How does an airsoft motor work?
There’s a massive difference in how an airsoft motor for an AEG and for an HPA work. They can’t be compared in any way. In an AEG replica, the airsoft motor is an actual motor. An electromotor that drives everything inside. In an HPA replica, the HPA engine isn’t an engine of sorts, but more a control valve. Sounds vague? That’s understandable. Let us explain.
How does an AEG airsoft motor work?
The airsoft motor in an AEG is, simply said, an electromotor with a pinion gear attached that will drive the gearbox. It’s the gearbox that will move the piston to create air compression and it will move the nozzle too, through the tappet plate. But to keep things simple: the motor itself is an electromotor with a pinion gear attached to its axle.
That axle is housed in a shaft, which can be short or long, depending on the type of gearbox it’s designed for. It’s important to have a look inside your replica to see if you need a short or a long shaft motor. You might have noticed that there’s a spring around the shaft. It’s there to push the motor against the adjustment screw that’s located in the bottom plate of the grip. The spring will keep the motor in place, while allowing for adjustment and eliminating vibrations and resonations.
Brushed vs brushless airsoft motor
Most airsoft motors have carbon brushes, not dissimilar to the core of a pencil. A brushed motor is a durable, reliable and affordable construction. The brushes will wear out eventually, after which you need to replace the motor, as separate carbon brushes often aren’t available. However, normally it will take thousands of hours for them to wear out and before that, other parts will have worn too.
There’s also the option of a brushless airsoft motor. A brushless motor doesn’t have brushes that can wear out, nor a commutator that can also wear. This will make for less resistance, less heat build-up and -of course- less wear. They will rev more easily, are significantly quieter and have a better longevity. So, why doesn’t everybody use a brushless airsoft motor? Well, advantages that we’ve just pointed out, do come at a cost. A brushless airsoft motor is significantly more complicated to build. For instance: instead of having brushes and a commutator (that’s where the brushes rub against), the commutation (the process of letting a current run through the windings in alternating pulses) is done with some clever electronics. This makes a brushless airsoft motor significantly pricier and -in theory- more susceptible to failure, purely because there are more parts involved.
In airsoft, the brushed motor is still the most popular choice. The simple construction makes it reliable and affordable. And although brushless motors in general have been around for a long time, in airsoft they’re not very common. The lack of reliable brands offering them and the higher price make them less popular.
High speed vs high torque airsoft motor
For an AEG replica, you can get different airsoft motor upgrades. You can opt for a high quality standard motor, but when upgrading many will go for a high speed airsoft motor or a high torque airsoft motor. A standard airsoft motor is what usually is built inside your airsoft replica. A motor like that will offer you a compromise between speed and power. However, as an airsoft motor upgrade, people tend to step away from the compromise and either go for high torque or high speed, depending of the user preferences. This means making an educated choice that means getting less of the one, but more of the other.
Many find it hard to choose between a high speed or high torque airsoft motor, especially as the more you delve into the subject, the more contradictions present themselves. And not only online, also when discussing things in the field with other airsofters. So let us help you out by explaining what speed and torque actually are when it comes to airsoft motors.
Simply said, a high speed airsoft motor will make more revs (more cycles per minute), which -in turn- enables you to shoot more rounds per second. In short, the rate of fire will become higher. A high torque airsoft motor on the other hand, doesn’t make more revs, but is quite a bit stronger, which can help you -for example- if you’re using a heavier than standard spring.
What many of you will now think is: ‘With a stronger spring, my airsoft replica will produce too many joules, so I don’t need high torque. So, let’s go for more rps!’ But there’s a bit more to it than that. A high speed airsoft motor will make more revolutions per minute, but that comes at the price of being less powerful. You can compare it to horsepower and torque, so let’s take a sidestep to a car or motorbike, as for many, these appeal more to the imagination.
Torque is the power (force) that an engine has, while hp (horsepower) is a measurement of how much force can be delivered in a certain time. Let’s say you want to drive 100 mph. You’ll need hp to do that, as the pistons in the combustion engine will have to deliver a lot of power in a short amount of time. But without torque, it can take a long time to reach that speed.
Another comparison: your bicycle. In a high gear, you can reach a higher speed. But it’s incredibly hard to reach that speed in the same gear, as you’ll have to use a lot of force to get there. When choosing a very low gear instead, you can speed up rapidly without using much force and develop a lot of power at the wheel. But you won’t go very fast.
So, if you just put a high speed airsoft motor in your replica, it will come to speed at a slower pace, which means it takes a bit to get to the maximum rounds per second. You can make up for this by using different gears that will let the engine speed up faster, but this means a drop in speed in return. When the gearing isn’t optimal or when a stronger spring is used, it’s not uncommon for a high speed motor not to reach its maximum revs, as it can’t overcome the resistance.
A high torque airsoft motor on the other hand, doesn’t have any of these problems. As there’s plenty of torque to overcome any resistance, the trigger response will be very fast, reaching maximum revs quickly. The rate of fire will be lower than with a high speed airsoft motor, but as it has the strength to easily overcome the resistance of the spring and friction of the gears, a high torque airsoft motor usually ends up revving quite a bit higher than a standard airsoft motor. And as it doesn’t need to put in much effort, a high torque motor will be more energy efficient. It’ll run longer on one battery charge.
Best airsoft motor for AEG
Despite the fact that brushless airsoft motors are often discussed on airsoft forums and are laureled for their advantages, they’re not widely used. The proven performance and reliability of a brushed airsoft motor, combined with its low price and the availability of models from well-known manufacturers, still make it the most popular airsoft motor. Also, in brushed motors, the product offering in high speed and high torque models is enormous. So, where the brushless airsoft motor is a winner on paper, it’s often the brushed version that is considered the best airsoft motor. Price, quality and reliability of these motors are simply hard to beat.
Then there’s the choice between standard or an upgrade to high speed or high torque. Of course, this is a choice that only you can make, considering all the pros and cons. Yet, often it’s a high torque airsoft motor that’s considered the best airsoft motor. Many prefer the very fast trigger response. Firing just starts faster and as the motor is so powerful, it rapidly reaches its maximum speed, which will take longer for high speed motors, unless the whole setup (gearbox, spring, et cetera) is changed.
So, in short, for practical usability, the best airsoft motor is considered to be a brushed high torque airsoft motor. Compared to a standard airsoft motor a high torque motor uses less energy, provides a higher rate of fire and tops it off with a far better trigger response.
Adjusting the airsoft motor in an AEG
Some might make it sound difficult, but adjusting the airsoft motor in an AEG isn’t very difficult. The motor can be adjusted in height with a screw at the bottom of the grip. A flat screwdriver or an Allen key are all you need. It’s not only when replacing the motor for an airsoft motor upgrade, that adjustment is needed. Through wear of the gears or vibrations loosening the adjustment screw, it’s sometimes needed to re-adjust the airsoft motor.
If the motor is positioned too low, you’ll hear a screaming sound, but the replica won’t work. That’s the teeth of the pinion gear grinding against those of the bevel gear, without engaging. Understandably, this will result in very fast wear and it won’t be long before you’ll need to replace the motor (the pinion gear is fixed to the axle), the bevel gear or both, because of broken or worn away teeth. To prevent this, the adjustment screw needs to be turned in (clockwise). Do this in half step turns (180 degrees). As soon as the teeth engage, the screaming will stop and the replica should start working again.
However, the teeth will now only just engage on their edges, but not fully make contact, which means all the force is put on the outer edges of the teeth. So just keep on adjusting the adjustment screw with half turns until the sound starts changing again. When it starts to howl a bit and you can hear the engine having to work harder (it sounds stressed and sometimes a bit slower), the pinion gear is pushing against the bevel gear. The motor starts to labour because of the resistance and will get hotter too. The extra sideways forces of the gears pushing each other away will also give extra stress on the bearings and other parts. This will result in fast wear and a high power consumption.
As soon as you hear this change, turn the adjustment screw half a turn back (anti-clockwise) to get the motor spinning freely again, without excessive forces. The replica will now sound healthy and the motor is adjusted perfectly.
How does an HPS engine work?
Although the name engine is a bit confusing, an HPA engine isn’t a power source like the airsoft motor of an AEG. An HPA engine should be considered as an air control unit that controls the flow of air and the loading of BB’s. This can be done electrically with a solenoid valve, but there are mechanical HPA engines too. There are also special HPA engines that will let you convert your AEG to air.
Where an electric airsoft motor can be upgraded to deliver more power or speed and where there’s a need to adjust the engine for perfect positioning, an HPA engine isn’t really susceptible to tuning or adjustment. As mentioned, it’s just an air valve that opens and closes. BUT… there is a big difference between electrical and mechanical HPA engines. The latter can’t be adjusted in any way, while the former often features a fire control unit (FCU) that’ll control dwell (how long the valve opens) and rate of fire (ROF). In short, you can adjust how long air will push against a BB, which is convenient when working with different barrel lengths. You don’t want the airflow to stop when the BB is halfway down the barrel, nor do you want air blasting after it when it leaves the barrel, as that could result in instability. The rate of fire is self-explanatory; the higher the ROF, the more BB’s per second will come out.
Both mechanical and electrical HPA engines have their power adjusted with a regulator. That’s a valve between the air supply and the replica, that can be opened a certain amount, just like a tap on your water supply. More air pressure means more power, which -in turn- means faster BB’s. Often, a regulator sports a pressure gauge. By using a chronometer, it’s easy to read the speed (fps) of the BB, and by combining this speed with the BB weight in our airsoft calculator, it’s very easy to calculate the energy in joules. After doing this, you only need to make a mental note of the corresponding air pressure, so you only need to keep an eye on the pressure gauge when adjusting the regulator. Mind you, this only applies when using BB’s of the same weight.
Let’s shortly go back to the mechanical airsoft engine. Although that one doesn’t have an FCU to adjust dwell and ROF, it does have the advantage of not having to use a battery. That saves weight, spare batteries and recharging. Quite convenient, but there’s another catch: a mechanical HPA engine can’t fire full auto. Semi-auto is the max.
Airsoft motor: advice and sale
Get the most out of your airsoft replica and let our experts advice you which airsoft motor will be best for your setup. AEG or HPA, stronger spring or the opposite, close combat or sniper; we’ve got an engine for every replica, setup or playing style. Please ask our specialists in the store or contact our customer service. They’ll gladly help you find the best airsoft motor for your needs.