Talk:Paintball
From Academic Kids
In Germany, this is also called Gotcha. How about other countries? --zeno 06:58 Jan 6, 2003 (UTC)
Also called Gotcha in Colombia and Mexico. Plainly paintball in spain.
Bambi Hunt is a hoax... Bugmuncher 08:40, 2 Oct 2003 (UTC)~!!!!!!
Hmmm.. a shameless plug for external sitelinks: http://www.pbheadlines.com/ - Paintball related headlines syndicated - provides RSS-feeds for free. Check it out.
Excellent link for RSS feeds Nik Doof 00:24, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
paintball in the US
I live in Idaho, but i realize that Idaho is rarely known around the world. (Idaho is a state, if you didn't know that).
In the US, paintball is a big thing. Fields range from indoor warehouses to huge fields. paintball has obviously expanded over the years and is due for some major expansion.
People need to be on the lookout for the sort of superstition that tends to pervade in paintball, for example that closed bolt is more accurate, and actively try to keep that out of the article. I'm going to go through the article and clean up the stuff I can see. Kobold 06:43, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Just put in a few notices on superstitions, and I intend to perhaps post a list of paintball superstitions shortly, as there are a lot out there.
I was reading the article and think that the areas on "electro-pneumatic" and "electro-mechanical" should be changed. While many folks refer to all "electronic" markers as "electro-pneumatic" as far as I am aware the only design that truely is electro-pneumatic is the design of the Shockers by Smart Parts (there are two different designs). The other electronic markers are generally just the same mechanical designs converted to be actuated by a solenoid rather than a mechanical trigger/sear.
The best way I could demonstrate the differences would be to refer to exploded or cut-away diagrams. Perhaps they could be pulled out of owners' manuals with manuf. permission for use in Wikipedia?
I would also suggest rather than putting Flatlines into "speciality" category, putting them into a separate section on rifling and paintballs, as there is a (relatively) new product, Hammerhead Barrels, that use a rifling method combined with barrel back which provides more accuracy and slightly longer range. I suppose a separate article on paintball "ballistics" might be in order.
It might also be useful to create stubs for paintball equipment nodes (loader/hopper, pods/guppies, etc.) so as to create articles for them. Another thing that might be references is the ASTM docs for paintball from section 15 on sporting goods.
And, lastly, "Sup'Air", is the trademark of the French company, Adrenaline Games; there are other manufacturers of inflatable bunkers, so a more generic term is probably more appropriate.
--Rat Thing 22:11, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- No, most electronic designs really are electro-pneumatic. All the Angels, Bushies, Impulses, etc. have a solenoid that directs pressure to the front and back of a ram, hence being "electro-pneumatic". I think that the article does mention electro-mechanical markers in its discussion and does essentially explain them as being, "generally just the same mechanical designs converted to be actuated by a solenoid rather than a mechanical trigger/sear." Kobold 00:41, 7 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I disagree. Actuation of the ram in an Intimidator, BKO, E-frame Autococker, etc. are for all intents and purposes exactly the same as what you would see in a mechanical equivalent. Take apart a Spyder, take apart an Intimidator, and look at the parts. The only difference is that the missing spring for blow-back to re-cock the ram. Ditto for the Autococker, with the exception of the ram closing the bolt at the end of the firing cycle rather than opening it. As I said, the only electro-pneumatic is the Shocker, as it has *valves* actuated by the solenoids. Widespread misusage of the terms does not imply correctness.
One might argue that since the Intimidator and Angel do not have purely mechanical equivalents that they are therefore cannot be classified as electro-mechanical. I disagree, particularly in the case of the Intimidator, as it is simply a stacked blow-back design in high-end dress up clothes. Mind you, I own two, and would rather not play than play without them (ok, I'll suffer through a Tippman, but forget the rest). Ditto for the Angel, though they certain felt compelled to complicate matters with that ridiculous ram design aka the "14-way spool valve".
I have not looked at an E-frame for an AutoMag, so I cannot comment on the actuation method, but given there is no change to the body of the marker to convert it to "electro", I would presume it is also electro-mechanical.
And basically that's what I consider to be the difference between the two types. By your logic, the Autococker without an electronic frame would be considered 100% pneumatic, since the ram in the front block which cocks the bolt is driven by pneumatics. --Rat Thing 21:35, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- Erm, yes, most electronic markers do use the exact same designs as mechanical ones. I agree that an electro-pneumatic marker, "has *valves* actuated by the solenoids." The devil is in the details. Intimdators, Angels, and BKOs are all similar designs, and the solenoid actuates a valve that switches gas back and forth between the front and back of a ram, making them electro-pneumatic. They work in exactly the same way as a blow back, except that the ram moves the hammer/bolt forward and backward instead of relying on a spring to move it forward and blowback gasses to move it backward.
- Spyders are weird cases. They can be either electro-mechanical or electro-pneumatic. If they have their mainspring replaced with a ram and the solenoid handles switching gasses for that, then they are electro-pneumatic and function exactly like the Angel, Intimdator, and BKO. The early Tippmann electro conversion kits did this actually, although I don't know about more recent ones. Most spyder electros though are electro-mechanical. Instead of the trigger dropping the sear, the trigger tells the solenoid to drop the sear. All the electro-mag conversion kits are electro-mechanical as well. The solenoid simply pretends to be the trigger.
- The autococker is a really weird case. It has two separate systems, the firing system and the re-cocking system. In a non-electronic setup, the firing system is entirely mechanical, and the recocking system is pneumatic, but set off by pulling the trigger, so I supposed it'd be "mechano-pneumatic". In the electro-cocker case, most e-frames (and I'm not familiar with really new stuff, again, but for stuff like the racegun, this is true) are electro-mechanical in terms of the firing system. The solenoid in the grip frame imitates dropping the sear. But, the re-cocking setup is electro-pneumatic because the solenoid on the front actuates a valve like the 4-way on a standard 'cocker. In fact, they use exactly the same kind of gas-actuating solenoids for this as they do in the angels and timmys. I don't know most people classify this, but I'd say e-'cockers are electro-mechanical just because the re-cocking system is collary to the whole thing. Early electro-cockers (like the sandridge) were entirely electro-pneumatic though. Hope this clears things up. Kobold 06:41, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Somebody ought to write an article about autocockers and tippmanns, they're beauties, but I own neither of them, so i don't really know what to say.
- I have both--what aspects of these do you think would be of interest to cover? --Rat Thing 21:35, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- Check out Autococker, at the very least. Kobold 06:41, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
"Industry conflicts" section
I moved this from the Paintball article. There may be a theme worth exploring here, but as it stands, this is hardly NPOV.
- Recently, the paintball industry has experienced the effects of a few companies who feel they own everything. Action Markers is one of the most recent companies that has closed due to legal threats from larger companies. Smart Parts is regarded by many as the first to start this trend. For this reason, Smart Parts has gained a very negative reputation by many.
Does someone want to take a crack at improving it? Bbpen 02:49, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)
