Atlas AT 50 Trap machine - not working properly

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Toodoggone

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I'm working on some of our older trap machines to add them to our Five-Stand course. We have two well use Atlas AT 50 machines. After a good cleaning one works very well. The second machine once it has been fire only retunes to the safety position which is about 6-7 inches away from being under the stack of targets - see attached image.. All the other moving pieces seem to be working well. I found an operators manual on line that has diagrams on "Timing Adjustment", however adjusting the timing cam hasn't made any difference.

Via email I was able to get ahold of Atlas's customer service and was advised to check the on/off toggle switch as it may be not working properly. I replaced the switch and the condition persists. I've not been able to get further responses from Atlas on other possible fixes.

Unfortunately our clubs most experience member, with these machines, recently passed away so I'm hoping that someone on this site may be able to offer some ideas on getting this machine up and running.


Thanks in advance for any input.

Atlas 03 - Copy.jpg
 
The AT50 is not a commercial grade machine. It likely has a very low service life. Machines that get used regularly such as those at a club should be of quality that can handle the higher volume of targets thrown. If all your club needs is what you have it may be cheaper to replace it with a new one than repair it.
 
the spank said:
The AT50 is not a commercial grade machine. It likely has a very low service life. Machines that get used regularly such as those at a club should be of quality that can handle the higher volume of targets thrown. If all your club needs is what you have it may be cheaper to replace it with a new one than repair it.
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Thanks for replying. We use the AT50s to add to our set up as they are very portable and are relatively easy to set up. They are used in low volume positions and augment our PAT, Laporte and Western machine that do most of the work. Thanks again.
 
Toodoggone said:
I'm working on some of our older trap machines to add them to our Five-Stand course. We have two well use Atlas AT 50 machines. After a good cleaning one works very well. The second machine once it has been fire only retunes to the safety position which is about 6-7 inches away from being under the stack of targets - see attached image.. All the other moving pieces seem to be working well. I found an operators manual on line that has diagrams on "Timing Adjustment", however adjusting the timing cam hasn't made any difference.

Via email I was able to get ahold of Atlas's customer service and was advised to check the on/off toggle switch as it may be not working properly. I replaced the switch and the condition persists. I've not been able to get further responses from Atlas on other possible fixes.

Unfortunately our clubs most experience member, with these machines, recently passed away so I'm hoping that someone on this site may be able to offer some ideas on getting this machine up and running.


Thanks in advance for any input.

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It looks like a timing issue. There’s not much else to go wrong on these.

MAKE SURE THE BATTERY IS DISCONNECTED. When you push the spring loaded lever/roller in towards the microswitch does it click?

Check the lever/roller to see if it is bent.

Did someone replace the microswitch with an incorrect one (lever too short)?

Are the wires attached to the correct screws on the microswitch? Should be NO.

Also check the pinch clamp that holds the arm to the shaft. There is a key slot which fixes where the arm sits relative to the shaft. If the key is missing, the arm may not be indexed properly.

Atlas has a good video on this.
 
Thank you Wade for the information and the video link. I’’ll check the things you’ve mentioned and try some of the adjustment in the video.
 
You want to adjust the collar on top of the shaft clockwise very slightly until the arm stops with about and inch showing when its in the cocked position. Make small adjustments. We bought two AT-50s for a song and I am actually impressed how well they work. I did redo the wiring so the relay fits in a socket so it can be easily changed. That being said, my pet peeve is that all the wiring is up inside the body of the trap. We have an Atlas hare and I rewired it, moving all the electrics to an external weather proof box.
 
One of the biggest problems with our small clubs in much of Canada, is that there is no technical support available locally. We have to teach ourselves how to service and repair the machines, and some machines are not even in current production, so we have to source parts from the USA, from suppliers that bought up the remaining available inventory. I was fortunate to be able to speak with someone from Quality Replacement Parts and he actually provided some technical support, to deal with an issue with our Superstar machines.
 
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I’ve had excellent phone, email, and video support from the manufacturers of all the traps we use. We have a mixed bag of Promatic, Atlas, Lincoln, and Atlas.

Atlas in particular have been good to deal with. We have several “generations” of AT400s, and three different versions of their rabbit, teal, chondelle machine. Often I have to send photos or videos to sort out what exact part we need due to the various configurations.

For all of them, exchange and shipping are significant. When I can I pick them up when shooting in the US.
 
Thanks for the input and comments. Our AT-50s have been fairly reliable to date. Only recently some issues have popped up. We”ve had very good support from Laporte on their machine. No major issues just getting new springs etc.

Thanks again.
 
That's good to hear ,last time I talked to our trap exec. it was going to cost more to fix our PAT than to buy a new one ,but that might not be a bad thing from some of the rumours .
 
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