Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 510 views

    Homemade Paintball Gun

    Uploaded by

    Ainis Štelemėkas

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Homemade Paintball Gun

    Uploaded by

    Ainis Štelemėkas
    510 views8 pages

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    510 views8 pages

    Homemade Paintball Gun

    Uploaded by

    Ainis Štelemėkas

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    You are on page 1of 8

    Paintball Gun

    Yes, that's all: a 5" piece of 1" PVC pipe.

    This is my design for a blow-forward, open-chamber, semi-automatic paintball gun with one
    moving part. Unless you count the spring or valve. It will be electronically controlled by a small
    circuit consisting of about five components.

    It's not done yet. I still need to drill the air ports drilled from the valve through the body, and also
    drill the breech where the paintballs go in. The later will lie somewhere along the right-most red
    line - I'll decide exactly where once I decide which side is the top.

    How it should work

    Animated cutaway drawing

    100 psi CO 2 enters the rear port (upper left) and pushes the block (yellow) forward. The block
    pushes a paintball (purple) into the end of the barrel. When the block has moved forward 3/4" and
    has fully pushed the paintball into the end of the barrel and sealing off the breech, the plug (green)
    exposes the hole through the block, allowing the CO 2 to pass through the block and drive the
    paintball out down the barrel. By then CO 2 valve has closed, and the spring (red) pushes the block
    back to where it started, opening the breech and allowing the next paintball to fall into the breech,
    ready to be fired.

    Construction

    Cutaway

    I designed this paintball gun to be built almost entirely out of four sizes of PVC pipe - 1" Schedule
    40, 3/4" Schedule 80, 1/2" Schedule 80, and 1/4" Schedule 40. The 3/4", 1/2", and 1/4" pipe would
    have to be turned down slightly on a lathe so that all four pieces will telescope, which is why I
    required Schedule 80 pipe - Schedule 40 pipe has too large an inner diameter. Unfortunately, I
    could only find the 1" Schedule 40, so I turned the inner pieces out of UHMW polyethylene.

    (For dimensions of PVC pipe, see Notes on Pipe.)


    Front view - will be bored and threaded for a standard barrel

    It still needs a barrel, though the opening is 0.680, proper size for a paintball, so it can be at least
    fired without a barrel, though I don't know how accurate or powerful it will be.

    Rear view

    The valve is made by SMT, part number VJ-3130, apparently discontinued. They make a
    comparable valve, but I forget the part number. I got this valve off eBay for $3 (actually, six for
    $18) including shipping, complete with gasket and wiring harness. Not bad. It is attached to the
    gun by a pair of tiny little screws, and sits on a ½" wide by 2" long flat filed in the PVC. I haven't
    quite figured out how to run the air channels through the PVC yet.

    The valve will be controlled by a small 555 timer circuit set up as a one-shot timer (schematics for
    which are all over the 'net.) This should let the period that the valve is open be easily and precisely
    controlled, as well as making the gun easily adaptable to remote control.
    Coat hanger spring on right, solder spring on left

    I haven't been able to find a proper spring anywhere. I need one that is less than 1.033" OD, more
    than 0.724" ID, about 2" long unloaded, less than 7/8" solid length, and "of appropriate stiffness."
    For the cutaway, I wound a mockup spring out of solder (talk about a useless metal to use for a
    spring!). I tried winding a spring out of a coat hangar, but it's too big and WAY too stiff. I think I
    need music wire that is about 0.030" in diameter.

    Update 2/28/2004 - Spring


    Well, I made a spring. It's a bit stiff, but it ought to work. No picture, 'cause it looks just like the
    mockup spring.

    Update 3/13/2004 - Barrel


    I've installed a barrel and bored out the hole in the side of the body for the paintballs.
    Ready to Fire - or it would be
    if this weren't just a mockup

    I bored out the whole for the paintballs too large. It's big enough, in fact, that if the first paintball
    rolls forward into the end of the barrel, there is space for a second paintball to wedge itself in
    behind the first, where it will either be crushed against the side of the opening when the block
    moves forward, or if it falls all the way down, follow the first paintball out of the barrel.

    Block all the way forward, paintball


    in end of barrel, block "unplugged"
    allowing air through to fire paintball

    The spring takes a force of about three pounds to compress to the full forward position. The area of
    the flange at the back of the block is 0.4263 square inches, so a pressure greater than 7 psi ought to
    be sufficient. I plan on using 100 psi, which should move the block with some authority!
    Paintball in barrel

    The barrel is an 8" long piece of 3/4" O.D. tube with a wall thickness of 0.035", leaving an I.D. of
    0.680", perfect for a paintball. The barrel is Titanium. Why titanium? That is a very, very good
    question, one that really reveals your penetrating and deep understanding of the subject. Don't ever
    ask it again.

    Block "unplugged"

    The area available for compressed air to flow through the block is 0.21 square inches, the same as
    a ¼" diameter hole, though of course the greater edge length of the hole will make it equivalent to
    a slightly smaller hole (the edges create turbulance, which slows down the flow). At 100 psi, I'm
    hoping it doesn't matter.
    Update 7/19/2003 - Success! Sort of.
    I bought a bigger valve on eBay, since I began to have second thoughts about the both the size of
    the SMC valve, and how it would be mounted. This new one turned out to be a normally open
    valve (gotta read those descriptions better!), which proved problematic, but the real problem was
    that it didn't flow much air at the 80 psi my crappy little compressor would produce before blowing
    itself apart. But that's another story...

    Gun with Asco valve

    Although the gun did work, it did not work very well. I made a new spring out of lighter wire so
    the breech (blue part in the above cutaway) would cycle properly. Even so, it didn't have any
    velocity to speak of - firing at the wall only six feet away, most of the paintballs didn't even break.

    Gun with Humphery's 310 valve


    So, I replaced the valve yet again. This time I bought a Humphery's 310, which I haven't yet
    tested. I also plan on working on my compressor, to see if I get it to hit 100 psi before exploding.

    As an aside, I found a chart of paintball sizes. My barrel is too small! Or is it? I miked a couple of
    paintballs and got some strange answers. One, that had sat out in the humidity was 0.70 inches.
    Others, still in the can, were 0.675 give or take.

    References
    E-mail me at bill@gizmology.net if you find a mistake!
    How to Make Springs
    Notes on Pipe
    555 Timer Tutorial

    Back

    © 2003 W. E. Johns

    You might also like