Back in 2022, I bought a Stribog SP9A1 and really liked it. Then the ATF brace fiasco rolled around and I decided to sell it. It was a darned nice 9mm pistol caliber carbine (PCC) with the brace and I have since regretted selling it. Once the brace ruling was shot down, it went back on my “I need to get another one some day list”. Before I decided to buy te SP9A3, Grand Power decided to release a 10mm version – the SP10A3. Two weeks later I had one.
Why did I jump on the 10mm? In general, I like to let new designs settle down and get the bugs worked out. In this case, Grand Power was taking a very proven design and upscaling it. The second reason is that 10mm is God’s Pistol Cartridge in my mind. Sure, the 9mm has thousands of loads and can do the job but 10mm was designed by Colonel Cooper to fill a gap he saw for pistols reaching out to 50 yards. It was souped up from the get go.
At any rate, I have a number of 10mm pistols right now, have always liked the 10mm round including for back woods bear defense. I wasn’t adding a caliber but extending the situations wherein I could use it. I’m honestly not accurate with a pistol beyond 25 yards due to my tremor and have wanted a 10mm pistol caliber carbine (PCC) for quite some time. I have always been far more accurate with a carbine than a rifle. The problem has always been a lack of affordable 10mm PCC options on the market. So, when I read the first blog post about a 10mm Stribog being released, I moved fast.
The Stribog SP10A3 showed up in a very nice hardcase with three of it’s magazines. It was time to get creative.
Making the Mods
I knew the base Stribog SP10A3 would be too heavy for me to shoot as a pistol so I started researching what all I was going to do in terms of the brace, compensator, optic and handstop.
The Brace
For the brace, my first choice was the F5 modular brace but they were sold out because they really hadn’t kicked back into gear after the brace ruling was repealed. I knew I wanted a folder so I went with an A3 Tactical Modular Folding Brace – which has adapter, folder and aluminum struts. For the actual brace portion, I like the aluminum Tailhook Mod 1 braces – they have great machining and don’t flex at all. I also opted for a Xeno cheekpiece that attaches to the strut.
By the way, the SP10A3 can use the same braces as the SP9A1 and SP9A3 series weapons. It comes with a polymer rear cap that has an integral 1913 Picatinny rail on it so you can use one of the many options out there – notably the various options from JMAC Customs that pioneered the concept.
This is the A3 modular brace comprised of the Stribog adapter, folding mechanism, straight aluminum strut and a Mod 1 Tailhook brace. Note, The SP10A3 uses the same braces as the SP9A1 and A3.This is a close up of the Tailhook Mod 1 brace. You push a button on the other side and it opens up to provide support under your arm for more stable one-handed shooting.
The Compensator
Now this part might have been overkill. The Stribog SP10A3 is a chunky boy but not in a bad way. I expected it to manage the 10mm cartridge’s recoil just fine all on its own but it had a 9/16-24 threaded barrel that needed something stuck on it! Take that thread size and a 10mm/.40 S&W caliber and you enter the land of limited choices. Hint – search for the .40 and you’ll get more results.
First, I detest aluminum muzzle brakes. When you shoot a lot, the erode quickly due to the heat and particles of the muzzle blast. I’ve also seen aluminum brakes and fake cans droop/sag when the aluminum gets so hot it starts to melt. So, I wanted steel.
After some digging, I went with an HK Parts Micro Comp. It’s ordnance grade steel, nitride finished, very small and they have two models – one with slotted ports and one with numerous circular port holes. I went with the latter just because I’ve used the circular port style in the past with good luck.
That huge green chunk of rubber is the recoil buffer of the Stribog SP10A3. As I wrote this, I was trying to think of all the SciFi movies that had some substance made up of this green color. Well, I’ll let you ponder that but I can tell you it does the job of soaking uip some of the remaining recoil remarkably well.This is the HK Parts Micro Comp – 9/16-24 for .40 caliber.
The Optic and BUIS
I wanted a fast optic sight for target acquisition within 100 yards. The Vortex AMG UH-1 is a perfect fit for this situation. Being a holographic sight, it is parallax free, has unlimited eye relief and appears to the eye as being on the same plane as the target. Moreover, the laser projected EBR-CQB reticle has a one minute of angle (MOA) red dot surrounded by a 65 MOA target acquisition ring.
People ask me why I am so pro-Vortex and the reasoning is simple – the optics have excellent engineering, work as claimed, are very durable and are backed up by a no-hassle warranty. To save money, I could have opted for the Vortex Crossfire red dot but the UH-1 is such a step up with its bigger window and reticle that I went with it.
By the way, unless a weapon will only be used at ranges, always factor in backup iron sights (BUIS). In the case of pairing BUIS with the UH-1, I used Magpul Pro Sights. The Pro series sights are made from steel vs. their polymer counterparts and I have slowly drifted towards them over the years because I find them robust and reliable.
Here is the Vortex AMG UH-1 optic and the front and rear Magpul Pro Sights. I tend to run the BUIS folded down until I need them. They are in the deployed/up position right now for the photo.
The Handdguard and Handstop
One design difference that I appreciate is that the SP10A3 has a long handguard right out of the box. With the SP9 series you either had a lot of barrel exposed or you added something like the Dragon Snout. So, no changes there.
The one thing I did add was an Arisaka HS-P hand stop. Call me paranoid but I want something at the end of the handguard that stops my hand from sliding off the end. The Arisaka is a simple rugged hand stop that has a really novel way of locking itself onto your Picatinny rail vs. unsightly exposed screws.
You slide the HS-P on your rail to the location you want. You then use a hex head wrench to deploy the silver lug shown above between the elevated Picatinny segments and it locks in place. It’s such an elegant design and rock solid.Here is a photo of the Arisaka HS-P in position. It works great and feels great — I seriously like this little hand stop!
I Haven’t Changed The Trigger Yet
One thing I did notice was the trigger. The SP9A1 Stribog I owned had a surprisingly good trigger. What was in my SP10A3 was a “meh” trigger. Not great but not horrible either. Guess what? It turns out it is an AR fire control group. You can go to whatever AR trigger you want although I am doubtful cartridge triggers will work. I may change it out for a Geiselle in the future or even just polish it but left it alone for now.
I was surprised to find out from Grand Power USA that the Stribog SP10A3 uses an AR fire control group. I never asked about my SP9A1 because it was remarkably decent straight from the factory. Looking at the finish on the hammer, it could use some polishing or just to get worn in — in other words, shoot it a bunch, let the parts get to know each other ane a lot of the roughness will smooth itself out as imperfections get worn down.
End Result
The Stribog turned out slick. The only thing I have ditched so far is the quick disconnect sling swivel you see just above the pitol grip. While it seemed like a great idea, it annoyingly interefered with the web of my hand between my thumb and index finger.
Summary
I was genuinely excited. The SP9A1 I had impressed me so much that I ordered this SP10A3, planned and installed some modifications. Next up was to take it to the range and just to spoil the next post a bit – it ran stunningly well with S&B 180gr 10mm FMJ ammo.
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
It’s really rare that I hold on to a firearm for more than a year. I bought my Tavor X95 in August of 2021. It’s now August of 2024 and it’s still here and probably not going anywhere soon. Why? Because I like it – how’s that for a reason?
There Is A Learning Curve
I’ll start with the one negative – you definitely need to learn how to operate the Tavor. I guess I have spent too much time on AK and AR platforms of various types because I always fumble around with the controls when I get to take it to the range – which only a few times per year.
It has a left side charging handle. To the right and rear of that is the mag releaser button and further to the right of that is the safety selector.The Tavor uses STANAG MagPul magazines. To the right of the magazine on the undersideis the bolt release. The two domed pins retain the trigger pack.
What’s interesting to me is that the Israelis are phasing the Tavor out. The Israeli military has always been pragmatic and has decided there are too many negatives with continued use of the Tavor. They are actually moving back to the M4 platform with local companies producing the rifles plus a new firing mechanism.
Compact With Full Power
With that said, the Tavor’s bullpup design does allow for a compact weapon that has a surprisingly long barrel. The X95’s barrel is 16.5″ long allowing for higher velocities to be achieved and thus a longer range.
There is a 16.5″ barrel in there!
Reliable
IWI designed the Tavor to be reliable in their harsh conditions. I must say I have never had a failure to feed or failure to eject with the Tavor. Now my round count is probably around 1,000 or just over. So, not thousands and in Michigan vs. the sandbox but I’ve enjoyed shooting it.
By the way, I use bulk M855 ammo. We had the Tavor out just a few weeks ago and experienced one round in the Tavor that was a dud. I recall we were shooting, my niece pulled the trigger and nothing happened. We waited a minute, kept the rifle safely pointing down and ejected the round. There was a good primer strike but probably a bad primer. Our range has a misfires tube that goes down to a bucket buried a few feet down and I dropped it in there.
I’ve found both Magpul and Lancer mags to work just fine with the Tavor. I prefer windowed mags or the translucent Lancers so I can see how many rounds remain.
Trigger
Bullpup triggers are a cludgy affair at best. You have the trigger in the middle of the rifle that is then connected to a linkage that then transmits the pull back to the hidden trigger mechanism in the action at the rear of the rifle. As a result, you tend to get rather wierd triggers – long relativey heavy pulls with spongy breaks in mass produced rifles.
The Tavor’s original trigger was so-so. I looked back in my notes and did not write down the details in terms of pull weight. I installed a Timney trigger with a 4# 9.7oz average pull but it broke – note, Timney has sinced revised their design to address the problem I had with a pin moving out of position and jamming the trigger pack.
The Tavor now has a Geissele Super Sabra that has run just fine. I reported the pull as 4# 12oz from five test pulls when I first did the swap back in February 2023. I did it again now out of curiosity. I did 10 careful pulls and came up with 4# 9oz. It also breaks quite cleanly.
I’m very happy with the Geissele Super Sabra trigger. It gives the Tavor a nice clean 4# 9oz trigger. Note, I just installed the Super Sabra trigger pack. I did not buy their optional Lightning Bow Trigger. It’s supposed to make the Tavor feel even better but I liked what I had and didnt see the need to buy it.
Accurate
I feel the Tavor X95 is just fine. I had no problem keeping bulk M855 ammo in a 2-3″ group at 100 yards with the combination of the Vortex AMG UH-1 holographic sight and Vortex Micro 3x magnifier. My intent with the Tavor was always for relatively close range shooting – within 100 yards most of the time and maybe out to 200 max.
Like the Optics Combination
I really like the flexibility of the Vortex AMG UH-1 optic and magnifier. There are a few pros and cons though. Swing the magnifier out of the way and you have a wide field of view and the benefits of a holographic sight. Swing the Vortex Micro 3x magnifier in place and you have a little bit better view of further targets. The cons are the weight of the two separate components and a reticle that is meant for speed vs. precision – the sheer size of the dot covers up quite a bit of the target at 100 yards so you are in the ballpark with repeat shots.
Now, I bought the rifle for relatively short ranges as mentioned above. I wanted speed, flexibility and good enough precision. I truly feel I got exactly what I wanted. I now have two of the Vortex AMG UH-1 sights. The second is sitting on my 10mm Stribog.
The combination of a Vortex AMG UH-1 and Vortex Micro 3x magnifier allows for a wide field of view and fast target acquisition. If you want the 3x magnification, you can flip the magnifier down into place. I also recommend the Streamlight ProTac light – you can use it with a thumb activated switch like I have or wire a pressure pad into the Tavor’s Picatinny rails that are hidden under covers. You can see the rail behind the light for example.
The Wow Factor
From the moment I open the fitted Peak case, there is a decided “wow” factor from whomever I am shooting with. It turns heads with its looks. The Tavor X95 looks like it stepped out of a Sci-Fi movie with its unique lines and modern look.
The rifle always grabs attention as soon as I open the fitted Peak case. I have it full of loaded mags and spare batteries for the UH-1 and Streamlight ProTac weapons light. The top translucent mags are Lancers and the bottom mags are Magpul windowed units. Note, the original Tavor trigger pack is in the big plastic bag. I kept it in there just in case but haven’t needed it.
I’ve also found it is great with new shooters because of its weight further absorbing the already light recoil of the 5.56 round. The new shooters always want to get a photo with it.
So, It’s Still Here
Yep – I still have it. I tend to buy firearms, take them apart, maybe modify them, go to the range once or twice and then sell them. The Tavor X95 has been the exception so far. I bought it in 2021 and I’m writing this in August 2024. It was just on an outing with some family members that were new shooters from Canada and they all had fun with it.
We had a recent family get together and of course they wanted to go to the range. Here, one of my nieces is shooting the Tavor.Yours truly putting some lead down range.
Summary
I’d say the Tavor X95 bullpup is primarily a close in weapon if you want to move up past 9mm but it also has the legs to reach out further. It has a steep learning curve and you can’t do a c-clamp grip. As the Israelis found – you might well be better off with an AR with whatever barrel length you prefer. Always assess your needs before you buy.
Would I recommend the Tavor X95 to people? Yes and mainly because of the unique design’s “wow” factor. I still tell people to think about how they want to use a firearm – the use case – and then buy accordingly. Without a doubt though, the Tavor X95 is cool, reliable and accurate.
I hope this helps you out.
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
Okay, in 2018, Gunbusters tested an AK-12. Since then, Klashnikov Concern has done a number of enhancement so they decided to torture one again. Watch as an up-armored Gregory Gubich puts the 2023 model through his testing.
Have to love the welding gloves and K6-3 Altyn Helmet. I’d want protection too!
Here’s a cool video (with the host speaking in Russian) for you to check out:
I hope you enjoyed this.
Note – any photos extracted from the video remain the property of their owner.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
I have a Harbor Freight 44991 Mini Mill that I bought in 2006 or there abouts. My use of it has been off-and-on depending on what projects I had. Lately, I’ve been using it a lot and happened across a blog post talking about the benefits of upgrading from the gear drive to a belt drive using a mini mill belt drive conversion kit from LittleMachineShop.
There were two benefits that really caught my attention. First, I’d read that one of the key gears was nylon and could break. It hadn’t happened yet but given my machine is around 18 years old, it was concerning. Second, it could take care of the annoying loud whirring gear sound. I’d lived with it but I knew exactly what the author meant.
A company name Sieg in Shanghai actually makes these mini mills and they are sold under many different brands so if you have a Mini Mill from Harbor Freight, Grizzly, Micro Mark, Norther Tool, Sieg, Travers Tiiks, Wen and more, this ought to work. They tell you to confirm that the rear shaft is 9mm with a 3mm key and the front pulley that will go on the spindle has a 30mm bore and a 5mm key.
LittleMachineShop is my goto source for parts for my little mill and I aways had good luck with them. Overall, folks spoke highly of it so I ordered direct from them so I could get faster shipping. You can also buy it from Amazon if you prefer also [click here].
What arrived was a neatly done little kit with all the parts you need. A few people left comments on Amazon that they didn’t like the maching but what arrived for me was just fine.
This box was in another box – everything was packed very well. Note the small drive belt they include in case you ever need another. Gates 0130 or 2L130.This is the pully for the motor.This pully will go on the spindle.
Now, before you do anything read the instructions from their website. They also come with the kit and were on the bottom of the box. I through them one by one and found them to be detailed and accurate. There are a number of steps so I am going to post photos only of some of them – follow their instructions and you can do this.
They tell you this can be done in 15-20 minutes. It took me just over an hour as I had to fight to get the pinion gear off the motor because I couldn’t find any of my bearing/gear pullers so I blew time trying to find them and then making do with what I had.
So that’s the nylon gear everyone talks about. It connects to a steel gear on the motor (what could possibly go wrong). The nylon gear spins and sends power down to the Hi/Lo gear. The mill speed is set to high, you remove that gear and a snug fitting piece of clear tubing is put in its place just to keep the now-gearless shaft from falling. I found disassembly very easy until I got to this gear. The instructions say it may be tight. Well, it’s definitely a tight interference fit. Every fastener came off surprisingly easily but that gear is a pain.What would have made quick work of this would have been a bearing/pinion gear puller. Guess who couldn’t find his …. anywhere! So, I got a 17mm box end behind and levered it out part way and then used a big flat head screwdriver where the head was bevelled. I’d lightly tap the screwdriver down and as the wedge-shaped head moved down, the gear moved out. I just had to be careful not to lose the Woodruf key that holds the gear in place relative to the shaft. I was able to slowly work it out. The only causualty was knocking paint off the motor as it moved around.My pile of parts grew. I like using a magnetic tray to hold everything. I scooted everything left over into a heavy ZipLoc type bag and stored it in my mill’s toolbox.
I kept following the instructions and everything went together real easily. I’m actually impressed that they were clearly described and complete.
Now there was one catch – they told me to use my old spindle lock pin when I was putting the spindle nut back on. Maybe there’s been a design change in the 18 years since I bought mine but my original spindle lock was 7.865mm and far too big to go in the new top plate’s hole. I found I could get a handy roll pin punch (6.42mm) to fit albeit with a little slop in the locked spindle. My original spindle stop pin had a diameter of 7.865mm according to my Mitutoyo micrometer. I used some drill bit shafts to get an idea of the size rod I needed. 6.5mm fits through the hole and is about as large as I can go. I toyed with filing the hole open larger to fit a bigger pin but think this will hold up ok. It doesn’t have to withstand a lot of torque.Here’s a side view. Note the paint scuffed off the black motor from my hear removal shenanigans. Note hole for the locking pin.Looking down at it a bit.With the cover.
Summary
I can’t say that the sound level went down much but it did change. More of a whirring sound instead of the gears meshing. Running at max speed on the low speed pulley, my sound meter is reading 90-92db while sitting on the table right below the spindle.
For me, the most important thing is that I don’t have to worry about one of the gears breaking. I’m pleased with it because that was what I really cared about.
If you want to upgrade your mini mill so you don’t have to worry about the gears, The LittleMachineShop belt drive conversion kit is pretty slick.
I hope this helps you out.
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
We bought our home in 1998 and it came with a 20×40 in-ground pool. Here we are 26 years later and I will tell you that a pool is way more maintenance than you think if you’ve never had a pool. We have tons of great memories of the kids growing up, pool parties with them and family visits that have made it worth it. These days, the hardest thing for me is the routine cleaning of the pool because it takes so long. It could take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours depending on how dirty it was because I didn’t have time to keep it clean continually. I have to balance a day job, my own business and family — that doesn’t leave time for pool cleaning.
This past spring (May 2024), before we even opened the pool, my wife I are started wondering if a pool robot might be worth it because I just do not have the time any more to do it. We’d dismissed this in past years due to the cost. Well, it was time to revisit that.
Prices had dropped a lot and there were tons and tons of options on Amazon. There are pool robots out there with all kinds of price points and we paid close attention to the size pool the manufacturer said they could handle and what angles. The last part mattered because our pool has a 3-4′ shallow end and then about a 9′ deep end with an angle at the transition between the two and angles near the bottom of the deep end. We also wanted it to be battery operated.
After reading a many, many reviews and visiting websites, we decided to buy the 2024 edition of the Seauto Crab [click on this link to open the listing at Amazon in a new tab]. At the time, with a coupon applied and taxes added in, the total was $423.99. It may seem like a lot of money, and it is, but there are far more expensive robots out there and we had to do something. In checking the pricing now, it’s $359.99 before tax with free shipping.
This photo was from June 24th – I just put the robot in the pool. The treads on the left and right of the unit move it. There are black rubber wheels with flaps on them both front and rear that do the cleaning and push debris towards the inlet. The blue LED shows it is on and charged. My best guess is that the two silver “dots” just below the blue inverted “U” are sensors that tell the unit if it is submerged or not. It will not turn its electric motors on unless it is underwater and also tell it when its out of the water when cleaning the side walls of the pool.
Now, most robots get very mixed reviews and the Crab was no different. My strategy was to order it, put it to immediate use and rely on the Amazon warranty. If you have an electronic device, the odds that it will fail are the greatest within the first 30 days statistically so use the heck out of it and find out. Absolutely do not let it sit in the box – put it to immediate use. Amazon will back you up if there is a problem in those first 30 days.
I timed the purchase so we would get it, charge it and drop it in the pool. There was a few day delay when UPS accidentally routed the box to Texas and then set it back to Michigan but it was delivered on June 17th and was first dropped in the water on the 18th.
We had just opened our pool and did the initial vacuuming but it was still pretty messy. I was charging and deploying the Crab 2-3 times per day for the first week. It tapered off to the point where I now do it daily – by the way, I am writing this on August 9, 2024.
The pool was definitely a mess. I’d drop in the crab, let it run until it shut down, charge and do it again. This photo was taken on June 18th at 5:24pm.This is on June 19th at 7:28am. It was just getting ready to drop it in the pool. It had probably run 1-2 cycles at this point.June 20th at 12:27pm. Probably 4-6 cycles at this point.June 26th at 3:52pm. Most of the debris was gone. Some of what you see were patterns on our pool liner. I did not do any vacuuming or use of a leaf bag. This was all the robot. In fact, I have not vacuumed the pool since we bought the robot. I did occasionally use a leaf bag use for small branches or to clean maple leafs off the surface. I also have brushed algae of spots on the wall twice but nothing like the old days.June 15th at 6:50pm. The pool was in amazing shape. We have a big maple tree nearby and leaves drop in the pool. Eventually they sink and the crab picks them up.June 24th – one of the funniest things during the first couple of weeks was watching one our dogs watch the robot. This is Hercules – he ignores it now but he just couldn’t figure out what it was. It sure startled him the first time it came up out of the water doing a wall 🙂
I did some math and we’ve used it 53 days now and well over that many times so maybe 75 times on average let’s say. As I am writing this blog post, it’s out there doing its job cleaning the pool and our pool has never been this clean.
The pool is amazingly clean. The bottom has never been this clean – ever. I’m very impressed.
Let’s Get Into Some Details
The unit arrived fully assembled and consists of the Seauto Crab unit, a charger and a retrieval hook that goes on your pool pole – assuming you have a standard full size pool pole. All you need to do is charge the unit for the first time. The top LED will turn blue when charged and then turn off after a few minutes.
The manual is a quick read – no huge insights but it does help you learn more about the unit and what the color codes of the top LED mean.
When you plug in the charger, a light on the unit turns red and goes out when it is done. The unit will run about 2-2.5 hours on a charge. The overwhelming majority of the time at least, it gets near a wall and shuts itself off. I don’t know if it’s by luck or design but I can only think of one time out of 75+ cycles where it was towards the middle of the pool. It makes retrieval with the pool pole and hook very easy.
This is how I find it most of the time when I go out and check after a few hours. The LED on top has changed from blue (charged) to red (discharged) and it usually stops by a wall. I have to think this behavior is programmed as it almost always stops by a wall – not the same spot but by a wall somewhere in the pool.I’ll find it in the pool with the red light on. I’ll pull it out, spray it off, clean the filter basked and then hook it up to charge in our pool shed.
There is an app for it and it let’s you set the speed of the robot and whether it just does the floor, walls or both (All cover mode). When we first started cleaning the pool, it was pretty dirty on the bottom so I set it to slow and floor only with the app each time – it doesn’t recall the setting.
The app connects to the robot via Bluetooth and it doesn’t take very much water to block the signal so I would set it before I put it in the pool. Now, I just drop it in the pool in all cover mode.
I should point out a reason you need the app – once or twice it has automatically downloaded and installed a firmware update to the Crab. Obviously there’s some type of computer in there.
It actually does a really good job cleaning. Debris is sucked into the bottom and filtered through a very fine mesh basket. If there is something that will not fit in the bottom slot, it’s not going to be able to pick it up but that thing vacuums up all kinds of stuff. If the baskets gets plugged up, I imagine it would no longer be able to clean but I didn’t encounter that – maybe at the start but not that I can recall.
I honestly did not know what to expect. Did it have sensors? Would it move in a grid? Did it know where it had gone? Well, it does its job through random motions. It can’t do our entire pool and the walls in one charge. When the pool was really dirty, I could see it was making progress each time. Now, it is maintaining everything.
It’s fascinating how it does walls. It has a thruster (enclosed propellor) on the top. It turns on, the Crab engages it’s tracks and it goes right up the pool wall. There are sensors on the top that tell it when it has gone out of water and it goes back down. When it first did it, one of our dogs just did not know what to make of it and stood on the edge of the pool a few feet away just watching it.
The robot is using its thruster and going up the wall while scrubbing it. Another perk of all this activity is that it really keeps the water moving around and we have fewer spots of warm vs cold water plus the chlorine gets around better. It seems like we have less algae than in the past. I had to solar copper ionizers last year also. The only difference is the robot. I still have to put a brush on the pole but it happens a lot less – maybe only twice so far this season have I needed to brush off algae starting in some spot.
Somehow, the thing remains upright. I carry it by the handle and place it in the water. It sinks down and engages its thruster – maybe its orienting itself I am not sure. If it is clipping right along and goes down the decline into the deep end, it actually pops a wheelie with the front of the crab lifting up slightly as the unit propels itself downward with the rear tracks and flap wheel.
I will set it down in the water and it slowly sinks evenly to the bottom. Once there, it kicks on its thruster – maybe as a test or something – and off it goes. I have never found it upside down in all the cycles that I have run it.June 19th – the crab only had this happen once. It was cleaning the steps and got stuck. It you notice, the top is pointing at a back and downward angle. I want to say the app downloaded and applied two firmware updates since we bought it – definitely one for sure – and this has never happened again. All I can guess is that either Seauto discovered this situation and fixed it themselves or they got feedback from customers. It still regularly does the stairs so it’s not avoiding them – it just seems to be able to navigate them correctly now. Hercules, our dog who was the most curious about what was going on, had no idea what to make of the robot.
I should point our locomotion is via a rubber track/tread (like a bulldozer or tank) on each side. There are flap wheels in the front and back that are cleaning the surface and funneling debris towards the inlet where the filter basket is at.
Like I said earlier, it runs until power gets low, seems to almost always stop by a side and I fish it out. You take the clear top cover off and then the cover of the filter basket. I use a hose and water to clean the mesh filtering basket and spray the debris into a bucket. I then toss the water and debris into a corner of the yard. It takes less than five minutes to clean everything. I do like to rinse the unit off so the chlorine contact is lessened. Chlorine is an oxidizer and it will take its toll on plastics and rubbers over time.
These next photos may make it look like it takes a lot to dump the filter and clean the crab but I can pull it out, clean it and start it charging in less than five minutes. The first thing you do is flip out and down the grey tabs on each side of the clear outside housing. By the way, these next photos are from a few different cleanings taken at different times so there are different amounts of debris in them.Next you are looking at the actual clear cover of the filter. Yes – two covers – the outer one and the filter one. To remove this, lightly press on the black tabs on the left and right that are sticking up and lift up. Sometimes I have fine sand sitting in the depressed areas on top of this cover and I just hose the cover off. Actually, I always hose the unit off during each step of disassembly to both get rid of any debris and to get the chlorine off the plastic.This was on July 16th. We had quite a storm and there were a lot of leaves that had fallen in the pool and sunk to the bottom. The unit can scoop up quite a bit assuming the debris can fit in the intake slot on the bottom.This is from a cleaning on July 15th. I wanted to point out the rubber flap on the bottom. Water and debris are pushed up and the rubber flap bends open to let them in. When it stops, the rubber flap closes trapping the debris inside. There have been a few times, not a lot, where something had prevented the flap from fully seating so when I pulled the unit out of the water I could see some debris sinking down as the water drained from the unit.The filter basket is a fine mesh. It even traps sand.I rinse the filter basket out and have the water and debris drop into an old chlorine bucket. It doesn’t take much to get it all out. I cleaned the bucket before cleaning and then after so you could see the sizes of various debris it picks up. I’ve had a few times where a small end of a branch with leaves on it falls in and the unit can’t pick that up but it’s the exception thankfully.Some fine sand gets caught inside and I just rinse it out while I rinse off the unit overall. The yellow you see on the burgundy deck stain is sand from prior cleanings.
I did find one small issue – the clear top outer cover doesn’t readily just go into place on our unit. You never want to force or whack plastic into place because eventually it will snap. I found a workaround – If I put the cover on and stop just short of all the way down and lightly pull the left side outwards, it goes right on without forcing. It might just be our unit that has that issue but that’s the only “trick” I can think to pass along.
I then put the unit in our pool shed on a plastic bin that just happens to be there and plug the unit in to charge. I think it charges in about three to four hours – I’ve never stopped to really time it.
That’s it. I’m perfectly happy with it and so is my wife. She’s actually given it a pet name of “Flounder”. I usually call it the pool robot still but she and the kids now call it Flounder … ok, whatever works 🙂
In looking at reviews on Amazon, I’d take them with a grain of salt. I never expected artificial intelligence, a miracle worker or a $400 robot compared against a $2,500 robot. I also knew that I needed to put it to immediate use and that it might fail – it didn’t. If it had, I would have worked directly with Amazon to get a refund. I didn’t need to.
How long will it last? I honestly don’t know. I will rinse it down and store it indoors when Winter comes and we’ll see next Spring. We still have until late-September when we close the pool for the season. If something changes, I’ll update this post.
Would I recommend the unit based on experience? Yes, I definitely would. You have to understand something – our pool has never ever been this consistently clean. I still have to add chlorine, keep the water chemistry in check, clean the copper ionizers and the skimmer but my time vacuuming has gone away – I haven’t vacuumed once since we bought the crab. I have used a leaf bag on the pool pole a few times but boy did I free up time and get a clean pool.
I use it once a day now to maintain the pool and the results are amazing. I’m so busy that if I do anything it comes at the expense of something else. I can make the time to put it in the pool (2-3 minutes) and then pull it out, clean it and hook it up to the charger (less than five minutes) for results like this.
Summary
Our experience with the Seauto Crab 2024 edition has been great. I would even use the word “amazing” to describe the unit. If you want to cover yourself, buy it off Amazon (I did), run the heck out of it and if there is a defect, it will probably happen in the first 30 days while Amazon’s warranty coverage is still active.
If you’re looking for a $350-400 price point pool robot, it’s doing a great job for us. Hopefully you will have the same experience as us.
I hope this post helps you out. To be clear, I wasn’t paid to write this and have no affiliation with Seauto. I’m sharing our experience with the crab and if you want to buy it from one of the Amazon links on this page then great – I’ll get a small commission and want to be clear that I wouldn’t write this if it was a disappointment.
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
I have a Harbor Freight 44991 mini mill that I bought it in 2006 if I recall right – it’s been so long that I don’t actually remember at this point. It’s served me well but like anything, stuff happens with age. In this case, the mini mill way covers were breaking down due to oxidation and repeated flexing.
I’ve replaced the way covers a few times over the years but this time had a challenge finding any in stock. In general, my goto spot for mini mill parts is LittleMachineShop.com and I recommend them to anyone with a mini mill or lathe. They’ve been out of stock for a while now and I wanted a solution sooner instead of later. I was adjusting my mill, cleaning it up in general and wanted to get the covers on so the ways would stay clean.
If you are new to machining, way covers aren’t just cosmetic. They keep debris off the ways (the machined surfaces that move on the X-Y table). If you don’t keep the ways clean you run the risk of something getting under the table and throwing it off or even just making cranking the handles harder.
So, I needed to find another source but where? I had to figure out an alternative. Way covers have a diameter and length – how hard can it be if I searched using the measures and adapted whatever I found? The answer is that making your own is surprisingly easy. The way covers for the 44991 mini mill, and the two dozen or so brands that are actually the same machine made by Sieg in Shanghai, are 200mm wide and that’s the key – looking for millimeters vs. inches.
My initial mistake was to try and find a cover with a width between 7.75 and 8 inches. Then it dawned on me that the machine’s parts are actually metric and the width was 200mm. I figured if I could find a long enough length I would just cut it down and that strategy worked. By the way, that’s a 12″ IGaging Absolute Origin caliper. It’s a rare job where I need to measure something bigger than my 6″ Mitutoyo caliper can handle. For those rare occasions, the IGaging caliper has been good enough for me.
Armed with that, I immediately found way covers on Amazon. They are really long but you can cut them down with a plain sharp knife and straight edge no problem. Click here for the listing. At the time of purchase, they had one review. I was in a rush and figured I would gamble $10.19 not including a 5% off coupon. It was shipped from China and took about two weeks to arrive.
Guess what? They are actually really decent. Instead of rubber, these way covers are some kind of rubberised fabric. I’m not even sure rubber is the correct term and cutting them down to fit is fast and easy with plenty left over for a few more replacements (I stored the remainder in a heavy ziploc industrial bag and actually purged it with nitrogen. Yeah, I work with plastics so I have access to that stuff. Just sealing it in a good ziploc-type bag and keeping it safe would probably work too.
Let’s Step Through The Process
I did my covers one at a time starting with the front. The cover is held in place by a bracket on each end. Each bracket is held in place by two Phillips round head screws. Remove the brackets and the covers. Note the front cover has two sizes of screws when you go to reassemble it.
Each way cover is held in place by a metal strip and two Phillips round head metric screws. Note, on the front way the front and back screws are two different sizes so pay attention what goes where (the larger diameter screws are to the back if I recall correctly). This is either my second or third set of rubber way covers. They slowly break down with time and use.
With the cover off, I cleaned and lubed the ways and also the threaded rod. I then moved on to make the cover.
I removed the front cover and took the time to clean and lube the ways and threaded rod.The old way cover is to the right. The 200mm x 1500mm new way cover is to the left. It turns out the folds are 1.5cm on both so I just counted the peaks and made my cut. If the fold height didn’t match then I would have fit it based on the smoothed out length.I cut the length of new cover I needed and then used the old brackets to mark the hole locations.I marked the holes and then used a revolving hole punch plier to approximate the openings. I actually own a hole punch set but I don’t know where I put it – that would have been more elegant than my nibbling around the circle with the pliers but I got the job done.
I then did the same for the back and installed the way covers on the mini mill. The next time I do them, I may glue a plastic strip on each end to make it a tad more secure at each end but what I have is working great.
Looks much, much better and the ways are once again protected. It’s a tad floppy at the ends and next time I will add either a small steel or plastic strip the full width of the cover, scuff both sides for a good grip and join them with Starbond black super glue. The cover is perfectly serviceable as-is for now but am keeping that in mind for the future. By the way, that is a Dayton CNC 12″ workholding plate. I have two of them and they’re great. Here’s the link and the wait time is about 2-4 weeks. The positioning strips are from a vendor called Bulk Man 3D on AliExpress. All the holes and fasteners are 1/4-20 and the metric strips can accomodate 1/4-20 socket head screws in case you are wondering.I’m not sure what this material is but have a suspicion it will hold up better than the rubber. Time, use and exposure to lubricants will tell though. I’ve only had them on for over a week but cutting oil and penetrating oil don’t appear to have affected the material thus far.
Summary
The new way covers are working great. You can make your own and have plenty left over for the next time plus it is cheaper regardless. I have no problem recommending you buy this way cover and cut it to fit. I do suspect it will hold up better than rubber given it is fabric reinforced and not just plain rubber and we’ll see if that proves to be true.
I hope this helps you out.
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
Do you have an old HK grip, or any other plastic item, you want to rejuvenate? Or maybe you bought one of the contract grips, washed it and now it’s a dull grey and all of the scratches stand out and you want to make it look better? It’s easier than you might think.
Clean the grip
I recently boought a bunch of the the surplus HK33 “contract grips” that were made by SME Arms and Ordnance manufacturer, Malaysia under license from HK and most of them really needed cleaning – everything from cosmoline to brown masking tape with numbers were on them.
The first thing is to really clean the grip. I use a Vevor 30L ultrasonic cleaner[click here for a review I did on mine] with Simple Green HD and water in it but you can use any warm-to-hot soapy water and something to scrub with to clean it up. Use compressed air to blow it dry real quick before any exposed steel surfaces rust.
These HK33 grips are a mess. Most are beaten up to some extent. Many were covered in cosmoline – that grip on the top that is shiny is coated in it. Some even had old dry masking tape wrapped around the actual hand-grip portion.
If you aren’t interested in ultrasonic cleaners, you can also have very good luck with hot soapy water. I used to recommend brake cleaner but that has really lost its cleaning power as various regulations have really reduced its strength.
This is a 30 liter Vevor ultrasonic cleaner filled with Simple Green Pro HD heated to 158F (70C). It gets rid of pretty much everything in 15 minutes including most if not all of the paint in the lettering.
Dealing with scratches and small nicks
Major repairs can be a challenge. Filling them with black epoxy or black super glue creates visible repairs. Black super glue to close a clean crack works surprisingly well. Starbond makes a black super glue that is superb at closing cracks plus bonding clean surfaces together in general – click here to see it at Amazon
For minor scrapes and scratches, the best approach I have found is to use 0000 (sometimes called “quadruple ought” or super fine) steel wool and vigorously rub down surfaces to get rid of scratches and any plastic sticking up from getting nicked. The benefit I have found with it vs. sandpaper is that it doesn’t destroy the surface finish as easily.
This is an actual HK German SEF grip converted for use on an MP5K. I used 0000 steel wool to knock over any sticking out plastic and reduce minor scratches. I find careful use of steel wool helps me improve the surface some without destroying the pebbled finish on the plastic.
Restoring the black color
Black plastic fades as the surface layer loses its oil/moisturizers. The trick to try and replace those lost chemicals and bring the color back.
Black plastic that has been ultrasonically cleaned is greyish and you can see all of the scratches. If you don’t know it’s coming you can have a “what just happened” moment.
The treatment I use is made by Car Guys and is called “Plastic Restorer”. Again, make sure the grip is clean and then rub this stuff in. I use nitrile gloves and work it in. You want a thin film there. I let the stuff sit overnight and buff it off with a shop towel the next day. It does a nice job and will last for sometime. I’m not exactly sure how long – I’ve been using it for almost six months and nothing has faded yet.
On this HK SEF grip, it’s been cleaned and I used steel wool to knock down any rough spots. Next up is applying Car Guys Plastic Restorer.The actual cream that comes out is an odd blue grey color. I wear nitrile gloves, put the cream in my glove and then apply enough to leave a film. It does need to have a light film – not super thick but something like this. It has to sit to work, I try to let it sit overnight if I can. They say at least 10 minutes but I find the longer the better. You then wipe it down and remove any residue on the surface,This is the same grip. It sat overnight and then I wiped it down the following day.Same grip – other side.These are four of the grey ashen grips shows above after following this process.Same grips – the other side.
Summary
I did not know why black colored platics fade with time. Now I do and the Car Guys Plastic Restorer works on more colors than just black. Click here for it on Amazon – there’s a reason there are over 31,000 reviews and a score of 4.4. It’s that good. So, whether it’s plastic on firearms, cars or something else, this stuff might really help you bring the color back.
One perk is that it does seal and provide UV protection after it is applied. I’ve been using it for six months and nothing has faded yet but then again, no finish lasts forever so I would bet that some day I will need to touch things up.
Note: This stuff isn’t for headlights and it doesn’t fix physically damaged plastic when there is a thick crust of oxidation or scratches. It’s meant to bring the color back is all.
I hope this helps you out.
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
There are some things I like on MP5Ks and some things I don’t. I usually dislike the triggers but my MKE AP5-P has a fairly decent trigger as MP5 and MP5Ks go. My MKE also had a factory contoured grip. Of all the HK grips out there, the contoured is the one I like best but there is one I like even more – the “Magpul SL Grip for HK94, HK93, 91 and Semi Shelf Clones”. That one heck of a long product name – just remember the model – MAG1070-BLK.
This is the Magpul “SL Grip Module for HK94/93/91/MP5 & Semi Shelf HK Clones” – Model MAG1070-BLKZenith ZF5-P. Very nicely made pistol. Relatively bland grip.Century Imports’ MKE AP5-P. It’s excellent. I like the contour grip more but that’s a personal preference.
A few months ago, I installed one on my Zenith ZF5-P and really liked it. Whereas the MKE has a contoured grip, the Zenith has a basic straight grip that is only slightly more ergonomic than a rounded rectangle. I’d read a few posts about guys converting over the Magpul grip, so I did the same. You know what? I realy like it.
Here it is on the Zenith. By the way, that is Magpul’s cool ESK Extended Selector Lever. I have links to them at the bottom of the post.Here’s the second one on my MKE AP5-P.
Doing the Conversion
The Magpul SL grip wasn’t designed for use on a MP5K but what you need to do is pretty straight forward if you have the tools and at least some basic knowledge of locating holes to be drilled.
Let’s go over some basics – first off, the steel “tail” that sticks out of the Magpul will need to be cut off. I’d recommend using something like a hacksaw, reciprocating saw or a bandsaw. I have a metal cutting bandsaw so I used that. Please notice I did not list a Dremel or similar rotary tool with an abrasive wheel. They risk making the steel so hot that the plastic could be damaged.
The first step was to cut off the tail. I did it flush with the end of the plastic and cleaned it up with a belt sander.
Next, sand the tail end smooth. Take off as little material as possible as it will help you get a solid lockup.
Take off as little material as you can until the grip fits and the end cap, brace or stock can fully seat. By the way, I should have cleaned up a bit more before this photo – the dust you see if from me sanding Hungarian Grey-Blue AMD grips that we make. The dust is not from the Magpul grip – it will be black flecks of plastic and a bit of metal from the steel reinforcing channel inside the rear.
As you may have noticed, many MP5K-type weapons, such as those from MKE and Zenith, use two small pins to retain the grip assembly – one in the front at the bottom and one in the top rear. With the semi shelf and a snug fit, you just need the single rear pin to hold the grip’s rear end up and in place.
The front of the grip has a plate that interfaces with the semi shelf on your MP5K. Magpul includes instructions for SP5 owners that they may need to remove a little material for a good fit and I would assume this extends to the SP5K but I don’t know this for sure. With both my MKE and Zenith, no adustment was needed.
That little rectangle welded just to the right of the front grip pin hole is the semi shelf.This is the locking plate for the grip that interfaces with the semi shelf at the bottom slot in the photo (if the weapon were held upside down, it would be the slot at the top .)
In terms of locating the hole, take your current grip and measure backwards from the front locking plate to the center of the hole. Then, measure down from the top of the grip. Use these two measures to locate where you need to do your cutting and then setup your mill accordingly or at least a good drill press because all you are doing is plunge cuts.
Measure the hole from the locking plate to where the center of the hole is on your existing grip – this is the horizontal measure. I’d recommend using calipers to do this. You then need to do the vertical location by measuring from the top of the grip to the center of the existing hole. The more precise you can be, the better your results will be.
Cutting the rear hole.
Critical: You must make an insert from hard wood, plastic, or aluminum. If you don’t, the walls of the grip will flex and your holes are going to be a mess. I learned this the hard way. The width left to right is about 7/8″ and then you can decide how you want to handle the vertical. I’d recommend surrounding the area where you want to make the cut. I run my insert the whole length of the inside top to provide a firm support both for the clamps and the plunge cuts. You don’t wany anything to flex.
If you don’t have an insert to keep the grip open, they will flex as you attempt to cut them and you’ll make a mess. This is 7/8″ left to right. I then made it the length I wanted. The “leg” on the left bottom is to help it stay in position in the grip. The hole on the right shows you where the 6mm end mill plunges into it.
The first step is to cut the reliefs where the pin goes. The head of the takedown pin is about 9-9.1mm wide. A 9.5mm cut doesn’t give you much room to adjust. 10mm is just a tad wider and gives you more room to adjust your cuts later with a circular file and not have the head unable to sit down in the recess. The reliefs need to be cut about 3mm deep.
That is a 10mm end mill and I just finished a 3mm deep cut. A 9.5mm head would give you a tighter fit around the head of the pin but 10mm gives you some adjustment room.
Next is to cut the 6mm holes for the pins. I’d recommend against a drill bit as it might get squirrely on you – both in terms of deflection or the bit getting caught on one of the holes in the steel reinforcement. Get a 6mm carbide end mill, make sure your grip is held securely and do a plunge cut.
A 6mm end mill was used to plunge cut the center hole for the pin.Here is the MKE Pin with an OD head diameter of 9.1mm. The countersink was cut 10mm wide and 3mm deep. This gives a bit more room for adjustments.
If you do use a drill press, check your runout. If you have more than 0.5mm on one side, you risk cutting to big of a hole. You want to be somewhere between 6.0 and 6.1mm. If you go too wide, the retaining wire may not get a good enough hold to keep the pin in place.
Cleaning Up
Use a fine file or diamond abrasive stick to remove all material left over from cutting inside the grip so you have a smooth surface.
It’s time to test fit the grip. It may go in great all by itself or you may need to adjust it just a tad with a circular file. I’d recommend a 6mm tapered circular file so you have a lot of control.
This 6mm tapered Bahco file is great for adjusting holes. Click here to see it on Amazon.Use a circular file to adjust the grip until it fits. Don’t rush – take off a bit and test, take off a bit and test until it fits. That is the Bahco 6mm file I mentioned earlier. It’s great for this kind of work.
Note, test fitting the grip by itself is one thing. Doing it with the stock, brace or endcap in place is another. You may find further adjustments with the circular file are required. Also, you can make things fit sometimes by moving or tapping the grip or whatever is on the end around. The sheet metal of the receiver can flex and sometimes it gives you just enough alignment to push the pin on through. I often tap (not bang) them in with a small hammer with a non-marring head.
You want everything to be snug. You’ll find the front pin doesn’t matter if everything is tight. If you really want a front pin, you would need to make a custom pin given the width of the Magul’s front lower “ears”. It would also only be cosmetic because you would be inserting a steel pin into soft plastic that does not have a reinforcing plate.
The moral of the story is to keep the front-to-back length of the grip long so it is snug – again, don’t cut or sand off more of the black plastic than you must. Also, try to be as close as you can with the pin holes at least vertically. Because of how the grip is sandwiched between the mag well and whatever is on the rear, it’s not going anywhere. The rear pin is the final part to limit movement.
I used the file to slot the hole backward just a bit. Note how tight the grip is up against my SB Tactical brace. It’s not going to wiggle.
The Results
The MKE feels great. I will upgrade the selector the Magpul ESK but even with the stock MKE selector I like the feel more.
Summary
I hope this helps you out if you want to do this yourself. For folks who just want to do the final filing adjustments, we will converted Magpul grips for sale. Please click here to go to our store.
Here are the original Magpul grips in case you are looking for them:
Production Grip Comment
For our production grips. the holes are based on a new unissued German MP5K grip. Depending on a bunch of factors, the exact holes in the grip you get will vary a bit. Fitting will be required – front to back and the hole locations.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
If you are looking for an extended selector lever for your MP5 or MP5K, these are really nice.
