Sten gun trigger problem
 

Some time ago my viva sten stopped cycling properly, and then not at all. I took it apart and connected the battery to the motor unit directly to test it and it seemed to work...at first. On the second pull the motor did not stop for several seconds despite pulling the trigger several times, and it eventually responded by turning off. Basically sometimes it activates and sometimes it does not when pulling the trigger.

The battery is charged, and as far as I can tell none of the wires or connections are corroded or damaged. It seems to be the trigger button does not activate when pulled. Here is a review from another site with the trigger and motor mount pictured at number 4 of disassembley.

http://lrrphk.proboards.com/index.cg...lay&thread=239

Any suggestions (keeping in mind I know very little about this)?

I can't take it on to work on it...but from the looks of it the trigger just pushes that button up to complete the circuit.

With the trigger unit/housing separated from the mechbox..if you push the button up do you get power to the motor? If not, either the push button is dead/wonky or the motor has had it. It looks like a short motor and since you need to run those little batteries I wouldn't get anything too strong as a replacement (a standard TM would be fine).

If you do push the button up and it gets power reliably...but not when you're using the trigger....then you might want to look at how the button is mounted...looks like it's screwed into the trigger housing and then held in place with a lock ring (can't see the pics clear enough). You might be able to move it down a bit for a better contact/push from the trigger.

Every time the motor is activated it runs fine, it just doesn't activate every time. I think the button is dead, in which case it seems I should try to disassemble the trigger housing from what you are saying and see if I can play with it to make it work properly. Do you have any suggestions for replacements for either the housing or the entire unit?

Found some pictures from when I took it apart before

http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/...ps17b2aa41.jpg
http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/...psb9b4dc32.jpg
http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9cb5e2fc.jpg

Rick has a tendency to put things up his butt if you leave them lying around.....might wanna ask him about it!

-mr.mystery

It looks like a simple momentary push button....you might be able to find something like it at a place like Active Surplus....or digikey

Otherwise if you message viva they might just mail you the switch...then you'd just have to wire it up.

Thanks for the advice. I will head down to active surplus next week if I can't tweak it into life.

And I thought about that with Rick...you can't trust them pork chop "Germans".