EVOL Masterclass video tutorials?

[Madeintheuk]

@CTAirgunner I think I understand what you’re communicating, but consider this. There are guys from the PB world getting their feet wet. Others who’ve recently retired and want to have nice toys to occupy some of their time. Then there are guys who want to try everything and haven’t taken much time to learn much of anything about many, if any, of their guns. I’ve seen quite a few newbs come in the airgun community and they desire top-shelf gear. Some have the money for it and find themselves falling down the PCP rabbit hole. Some will FUBAR these guns and sell them to recoup funds. A certain percentage won’t tell you that that gun’s guts are in shambles before or after selling it.

I’m saying that the Evol is not an easy gun to start trying to work on or learn. To me a Benjamin Bulldog is easy to disassemble and perform maintenance on. A few allen wrenches and needle nose pliers to disassemble and reassemble it. A few other guns I have were very easy to learn how to get into. If something got messed up, they weren’t too expensive to repair or get replacement parts for. If you know airguns, I’d imagine that the majority of airguns you get your hands on and have a diagram or schematic for would be relatively easy to work on. I think that’s a small to moderate contingent of the market. If manufacturers are going to increase profits they need their market(s) to grow. I’ve never seen any hard stats on this, but many people come to the forums with questions because they need assistance with their guns or advice in what to buy for a first gun or specific purpose. More forum members (especially new ones) seem to have questions than solutions. The valuable solutions consistently tend to come from a somewhat small circle of respected individuals within our community. For them, a lot of this is easy. It’s really an objective stance. I’m trying to paint a realistic picture for a consumer who isn’t an airgun smith, machinist, or some sort of mechanical tradesman. I believe that once one learns a gun, yes, the process of assembly and reassembly gets easier, but I don’t think that about repairing and tuning.

We obviously have differing opinions on various elements of this conversation and all don’t need to be revisited. I’m ok with that.

Respectfully, it seems your opinion of easy to work on, actually means CHEAP and easy to work on, so if anything is damaged, it’s cheaply repaired. The Evol IS easy to work on, even for the beginner. But yes, it’s not cheap to fix.
the evol is easier than a bulldog to repair (with exception to the regulator) but much more expensive.

 

[Sub 12 airgunners]

We do a lot of assembly and disassembly videos on you tube https://www.youtube.com/@sub12airgunners

It is a tricky one, we do lots of different guns and the way it works for us is we buy a gun out of our own money we do strip and rebuild vids but we also do other bits to them shrouds, mods, we rework bits and generally hand finish the gun then we sell it to fund the next one, now we have a buyer for the gun before we start it most of the time and it all sort of pays for it's self so it works for us.

The EVOL is not a gun we see in the UK much otherwise we would put them on the list and do some vids on them
We don't really do reviews/adverts it's more information based and the Daystate / BRK technical videos we do are for them direct and they supply everything we need to do them which works great. For a manufacture to spend the time and money to do this is fantastic IMO and a shame more don't do the same

 

[wolfmangreg]

In my humble opinion- anyone wanting to tackle a disassembly/assembly video should look to the @Sub 12 airgunners channel for the template. Top shelf stuff.

 

[AtlasAirguns]

L

I can understand the issues one has without having a video to watch and see what exactly needs to be done. I did the same thing when I got into airguns with my Mrod. Learned alot. From there I never really needed help on other guns as I got a good understanding on how they generally worked. But I'm also mechanically inclined as well and have been fixing things on the dairy my whole life. I have 2 BIL on my wife's side of family that are hopeless when it comes to that lol so I understand some people just don't have it. My other BIL on my side though is like me and been a farm boy his whole life.

I would love to do a tutorial video but have no idea how to do so. I'm only 30 but me and technology don't get along. Can you edit videos done on your phone? Lol how does one also hold there phone up while doing things? Do they make stands or something? Can maybe rubber band my phone to arca adapter on my tripod I guess.

Yeah you can edit on your phone. And yes you would just use a tripod with the phone horizontally pointed down and good lighting.

I encourage you to make some. As long as there is good lighting it doesn't have to be perfectly polished. Video work is hard, very hard. Most think it's a 5 minute job but the reality is the complete opposite. That shouldn't discourage you though but the opposite: if you can spend the time to get some lighting and a good white backdrop for contrast, spend the time explaining with the best of your ability, you can do a single take without edits, for example. It won't be a "polished" video but sometimes diamonds disguise themselves among the rocks.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Respectfully, it seems your opinion of easy to work on, actually means CHEAP and easy to work on, so if anything is damaged, it’s cheaply repaired. The Evol IS easy to work on, even for the beginner. But yes, it’s not cheap to fix.
the evol is easier than a bulldog to repair (with exception to the regulator) but much more expensive.

@Madeintheuk I generally want to avoid expensive mistakes. For me, ease has to do with ability to do so with available tools, information, and a pretty basic skillset. This is obviously subjective. I’m not too handy, but I can screw in a bolt or two. However I will ask basic questions when I am ignorant to lessen my chances of making a basic error. To me, easy maintenance work should not run a high or moderate risk of botching something unless I am the type to strip a basic bolt. As I stated, that’s not me.

With the Evol, the Ultimox posts are an example of something that helps to prevent seizing because of the machining of the threads. This ups the difficultly level a bit, especially considering that I didn’t buy one new, so I have no clue what sort of manual or information is included with a new gun. How was anyone to know this? Even after becoming informed, how common is it to do what one would normally do until one gets into the habit of deviating from how one would ordinarily affix two threaded parts? Ease also has to do with access to and ordering parts and availability. I’ve had to ask questions about ordering parts and ran into issues after doing so and ordering. Some components aren’t simple or common parts. The fact that special tools are needed, different lube, and a variety of o-rings of varied materials and hardness also ups the chances of making a mistake by installing to wrong o-ring, having a leak, and going back into the gun to re-visit a task. In my mind, this detracts from “ease.” If there is an higher probability that I can mess up one gun (above all others) to the point where I can’t repair it and have to send it in, we’ve exited the realm of “ease.” I’ve recently messed up a part on a gun that I probably could’ve repaired and had offers to assist me in relating it myself by walking me through the steps via phone, but for convenience sake I sent it in for service. With the Evol we’ve already seen a gun have to be sent in because of a simple mistake. Are my examples helping to elucidate my point? It’s one thing to disagree, but another to misunderstand. I contend that this is not an easy gun to work on. If you find it easy then I suspect that you’re in a good place. Me? I’m still learning and I feel better acquainted with this gun than a significant amount of new owners relatively new to PCPs.

I really don’t want to continue going back and forth on the topic and respect that we have differing opinions here. I don’t aim to stomp on the brand, I only desire to offer a different perspective based upon my experience and observations. I recall being on the outside looking in and wanting an Evol. I’d have appreciated reading varied perspectives when I was the voyeur, not reading one thing on the forums and another via PMs which has happened.

 

[Madeintheuk]

@Madeintheuk I generally want to avoid expensive mistakes. For me, ease has to do with ability to do so with available tools, information, and a pretty basic skillset. This is obviously subjective. I’m not too handy, but I can screw in a bolt or two. However I will ask basic questions when I am ignorant to lessen my chances of making a basic error. To me, easy maintenance work should not run a high or moderate risk of botching something unless I am the type to strip a basic bolt. As I stated, that’s not me.

With the Evol, the Ultimox posts are an example of something that helps to prevent seizing because of the machining of the threads. This ups the difficultly level a bit, especially considering that I didn’t buy one new, so I have no clue what sort of manual or information is included with a new gun. How was anyone to know this? Even after becoming informed, how common is it to do what one would normally do until one gets into the habit of deviating from how one would ordinarily affix two threaded parts? Ease also has to do with access to and ordering parts and availability. I’ve had to ask questions about ordering parts and ran into issues after doing so and ordering. Some components aren’t simple or common parts. The fact that special tools are needed, different lube, and a variety of o-rings of varied materials and hardness also ups the chances of making a mistake by installing to wrong o-ring, having a leak, and going back into the gun to re-visit a task. In my mind, this detracts from “ease.” If there is an higher probability that I can mess up one gun (above all others) to the point where I can’t repair it and have to send it in, we’ve exited the realm of “ease.” I’ve recently messed up a part on a gun that I probably could’ve repaired and had offers to assist me in relating it myself by walking me through the steps via phone, but for convenience sake I sent it in for service. With the Evol we’ve already seen a gun have to be sent in because of a simple mistake. Are my examples helping to elucidate my point? It’s one thing to disagree, but another to misunderstand. I contend that this is not an easy gun to work on. If you find it easy then I suspect that you’re in a good place. Me? I’m still learning and I feel better acquainted with this gun than a significant amount of new owners relatively new to PCPs.

I really don’t want to continue going back and forth on the topic and respect that we have differing opinions here. I don’t aim to stomp on the brand, I only desire to offer a different perspective based upon my experience and observations. I recall being on the outside looking in and wanting an Evol. I’d have appreciated reading varied perspectives when I was the voyeur, not reading one thing on the forums and another via PMs which has happened.

Common sense answers most of those question.

You want it spelled out for you, but an FX.

 

[Madeintheuk]

I’m not brand loyal, but this post has become more subjective than anything else. Yes, there are differences in the way we all see “simple”, but comparing to any other manufacturer out there, the evol IS simple. If you’re uncomfortable working on a rifle without a manual, DONT. If you’ve had problems figuring out parts to replace, call the manufacturer or distributor. Just like you would do for any other brand. Just bc FX or other brands have a larger following on the forums, and many people that have already made mistakes for you to learn from doesn’t mean those are simpler, or have better service. It means they break more often, or don’t have as many dealers to mess things up. Taipan is very similar in this aspect. Super easy to work on, but not much I’d any info on how to repair. Mostly because those that have them have t had to.