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Guide to Making a Wire Trigger

Written by sbell25
Last updated on 2008-01-19

This guide covers making a trigger completely out of wire, from the trigger itself to the connection on the valve, in one piece. While this may seem odd at first, it's useful if your plastic ones keep breaking, or if you don't have any spare plastic ones to use.

You will need:

  • About 2 feet of thick fencing wire (around 1/8" thick will do)
  • Vice
  • Hammer
  • File
  • Hacksaw
  • Measuring tape/Ruler
  • The wire connecting the trigger to the valve (not essential, but helpful)
  • Electrical tape (optional)

The first task is to straighten out the wire, as having a curled up piece of wire is no good for this repair. To do this just clamp it in the vice, and bend both sides until they're straight. You'll need to do this several times, clamping various points along the wire and straightening out the sides until it's right.

Next, you need the old piece of wire that connects your trigger to the trigger valve. What you're going to do, is copy the shape of this with your own piece of wire. You'll also be adding some extra length to make the trigger as well. As each soaker is different, you'll need to measure out how much you'll need yourself.

To shape the wire, mark the point that you need bent and clamp your wire in the vice. The mark should be just beside the vice's grip. Then hammer on the point until you get the angle you want. Here's an example of what it should look like:

NOTE: Demonstration only. I don't recommend using a wooden clamp like in this picture as you'll probably end up damaging it.

Because of the thickness of the wire, it's too large to hook onto the trigger valve. You'll need to file down this last part until it's the right size.

Finally, once you've bent the last part into shape, use the hacksaw to cut off the excess wire. You're done! Put the gun back together again, making sure that the metal pin near the trigger valve is in properly on both sides of the case.

Here's the whole thing on it's own:

And in the gun:

Another thing that you might like to do is to wrap the trigger part in a thick layer of electrical tape. This solves 2 problems that you might have. First, it makes the trigger more comfortable. Second and more importantly, it stops the trigger from potentially disappearing inside the gun. This only happens if your trigger is too hard to pull, such as power-modified guns etc. This is entirely optional though.

This is a pretty finicky process, and will take a lot of trial and error. My wire is actually slightly too short, so for the first couple of pumps water dribbles out of the nozzle until the water pressure closes the valve. Not a major problem so I've left it as is. As for comfort, a plastic trigger is obviously better, but because of it's thickness using a wire one isn't uncomfortable for me.

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