CPS 2000 Mk. 1 Repair Question

[Magnum]

I'm currently repairing my CPS 2000 Mk. 1. The problem was that the bladder came loose from the clamp inside the plastic chamber. I have gotten inside the gun, now the only left to do is remove the clamp from the end cylinder so I may reattach the bladder. I'm using a pair of pliers and a gentle rocking motion to get it out, but I'm not making any progress. Any ideas?

[Ben]

Welcome to SSC!

Did you unscrew the clamp? They have screws on them that keep them in. You won't have any luck getting the clamp off without. Look at this page to see how I removed the clamp on an Arctic Blast: http://www.sscentral.org/mods/colossus.html

[Magnum]

I can't get to the screws because the clamp is inside the cap with the orange line used for the pressure gauge. The bladder isn't even inside the clamp, it came out which is the problem.

[Silence]

Welcome to Super Soaker Central!

Can you at least pry off the orange line? If it's made out of two pieces of plastic, there could be a seam that you could insert a screwdriver into as a wedge.

Unfortunately, while there are internals images for the CPS 2000, none of them detail the bladder pieces. If you could get pictures, those would be a great help. Anyway, good luck with the repair!

(In the worst-case, you'll have to replace the CPS bladder yourself.)

[Ben]

I've never worked with a CPS 2000, so I can't provide more help without something like photos. Please take some photos.

Alternatively, someone who has worked with a CPS 2000 could come by and help.

[Magnum]

Here are some pictures I took. Sorry about the quality, I don't have a digital camera, just a camera phone.

[Drenchenator]

The one option that I can think of to get to the screws is to drill holes in the outer shell. With correctly positioned holes, you can then use a screw driver to unscrew the thing.

Or you can just consult this page. It looks like you may just be able to pull the screwed section out from the pictures about half way down detailing how to take out the chamber.

[Ben]

Don't worry much about picture quality. Great quality is great, but these are far from the worst that I've seen. I've seen it pretty bad.

Drenchenator has a good idea. Drilling some holes to get access to the clamp should work. You should be able to get the clamp out from the outer piece though.

Try emailing the guy who runs the website Drenchenator linked to. From what I've been told, he is very responsive to questions, so he should be able to help you. I should have thought about his page.

[Silence]

Have you tried sliding the clamp part out from under the guide? Unscrewing it (they may have threads two join the two pieces)? Prying? I would just try various things to separate the two parts. From what I can see, Wayne Schmidt had the large guide piece functional after replacing the bladder, so there may be a simple solution after all.

[Magnum]

Well, I got everything apart and fixed the problem. It works now, but does leak. I pump it up about half way before it seems like too much and it will come loose again. But it's working for now. I just wanted to thank everybody for their help.

[Silence]

Glad to hear the problem's fixed! And thanks for the update.

But what's the point of a CPS 2000 that doesn't work perfectly? You could get a metal pipe clamp, like the ones they use over hoses, to keep the bladder tight if you want to. But it's your choice.

Also, note that the pressure won't increase drastically if you pump more. CPS stands for constant pressure system, which means the pressure barely increases the more you pump. That's why you get lots of range throughout the duration of the shot. So as long as the pressure release valve is working correctly, you should be able to pump all the way up. Or failing that, pump to just one pump below the limit, rather than halfway.