Re: Paintball Gun Update

[adt22-at-drexel.edu]

Looks nice.  One issue with paintballs is having them break in the tube.  The 
animated gif seems gentle enough when it pushes the paintball forward but I would be 
worried that it breaks the ball in practice.  One way paintball guns overcome that 
is using a special bolt (I think its called venturi) to distribute the airflow 
instead of having one peircing stream of air.  Of course, using higher grade 
paintballs also helps.
If it turns out to be a problem, I guess one way you could handle that would be to 
increase the amount of surface that is in contact with the ball by adding something 
resembling a colander to the end of the bolt. So air will still flow through but the 
surface is increased.  There would be some optimization involved in that because as 
you increase the surface you are also increasing the force on the paintball.

Good luck with it.
-Amir


----- Original Message -----
From: William and Melissa Johns <gizmology-at-gizmology.net>
Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 4:56 pm
Subject: Paintball Gun Update

> Folks,
>   I've been working on my paintball gun design.  I bought some 
> titanium 
> tube for a barrel, and a mess of lime-green paintballs, and have 
> finished 
> the prototype.  Well, sort of.  This one has the side cut out so I 
> can see 
> what it's doing inside, so it's not quite a prototype, is it?
>   The last step will be to figure out how to drill the air 
> channels into 
> the PVC, or wherever I decide they should go, and then it will be 
> ready to 
> fire.
>   Mind you, I've never fired a paintball gun (although I held one 
> once), 
> and I've never played paintball, so I have no idea what I'm doing.  
> Anyone 
> with any criticism or advice is welcome to share it.
> 
>   Pics at http://www.gizmology.net/pbm.htm
> 
> Bill
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> 
> It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye.  Then its just 
> a game: 
> Find the Eye.
> 
> 
> 
> 
>