[Jon Reitz]

Lately our PAT trap has been throwing several extra birds all on it's own after the one that's initially called for. We're in western NY state. We've tried extending the allowable warm-up period to over an hour. We also tried put a kerosene heater in the house. Any thoughts?

 

[Shooting Coach]

Check your arm position on the brake. It should be 1/2" to 3/4" from the end. If REALLY COLD, you might have to set it back a little further. Setting it too far back will give you slow pulls you will not like!

Warming up the machine for 30 minutes or so before arming is not a bad idea. Some folks use a small electric heater in the house near the pump in inclement weather.

 

[halfmile]

We always made an adjustment to the switch plate when cold weather came.

Something changes slightly and the adjustment was necessary to stop windmilling.

When warm weather returns the arm stops short and a slight delay in the release occurs.

HM

 

[scott calhoun]

We had a similar issue and found that the switch had some loose. Once we made sure the switch was tight and adjusted properly we had no more issues.

Also interesting to note that we have not had any issues with cold-weather operation of our Pat Traps (located in Chicago suburbs). We only shoot two days a week but never had a problem with cold weather. Turn them on, set up the voice activators, and the machine was ready to go in that amount of time.

The last couple of winters we've been running a small heater in each house, but mostly to keep down the moisture, not because of cold weather issues.

Scott

 

[Shooting Coach]

Since they use hydraulic oil, they do perform according to temperature.

Some machines never seem to need adjusting, others do.

 

[setter]

Jon,

Adjust the cold weather switch, as suggested. (this is in the Pat-Trap manual which can be viewed online, http://www.pattrap.com/manual.html ). If the problem persists then you will probably need to replace the throw arm valve, not a difficult task. You can watch the operation of the throw arm and where it stops, if the stopping position is varying and sometimes firing thru, then its the throw arm valve. Also, always feel free to call Pat-Trap, their customer service is excellent and any of the people answering the phone builds and works on the machines on a daily basis. From the front of your machine look on the right edge of the top plate for the serial number. If it starts with SW that's your model (series), else it starts with G and you have a G series.

Also, P-Traps will run on many different lubes, the very first machines were shipped with a 50-50 mix of kerosene and ATF. Presently Mobil 1 5W-20 is recommended.

Jim

 

[N. J. BOB]

Jim, I though it was 0W-20

 

[setter]

N. J. BOB,

Used to be Mobil 1 0W-30, then some time ago when Mobil realigned their weights it became 5W-20. Having said that & that I was wrong once, last year, I haven't checked with Pat-Trap lately.

Jim

 

[grunt]

Your right its 5-20 W.

 

[mkstephen]

We had the same problem at our 4 trap club. All of a sudden trap #3 started throwing multiple targets. Some times one, sometimes 2 or 3. We finally found the answer by reviewing the Pat-Trap manual and comparing trap #3 with trap #2. On the brake itself is a flat 'spring' steel spring plate that backs up the rubber brake and applies pressure to the rubber. This plate had broken off flush with the mounting pad and therefore could not apply any pressure. A call to Rhodeside was made and a new spring attached. End of problem. Hope this helps your problem.

Michael Stephenson

 

[mkstephen]

ttt

 

[setter]

The rest of the story: Jon said it was a broken brake spring!

 

[Jon Reitz]

Thanks for reminding me. I think we found the culprit. The spring stell brake spring was snapped right off cleanly. Hard to notice. A new one's in the mail. Thanks for all the help & input from everyone.