No more brittle paint!!!

[Rope a Dope]

I had read this article a long time ago but never gave it much thought. Mainly because water and paint DON'T mix, well I guess SOME water is actually a good thing!

http://www.greatamericanpaintballs.com/PaintballHydration.html

At the time it was summer so I didn't care too much about brittle paint, I never broke paint in either my Angel Speed or ULE E-Mag. I said the best paint was the most brittle paint because I use to get a lot of bounces with my Blaze at long ranges.

Well then winter hit... cold paint and even colder air and every other ball in my gun would break... it drove me nuts! Mainly because all the kids around me would say "Oooh you're HELLA HECKA chopping!!!" I wasn't CHOPPING! Damnit.. but with the cold weather I was breaking paint like it were .68 caliber eggs...

So come Sunday I was playing and there was a guy at my field that plays semi pro ball, he told me in the winter he "treats" his paint with water as well. We played a few games and I was out of paint so he gave me a few pods of his treated paint. It shot great but I did get a few bounces, luckily with my E-Mag I had 20 more shots behind it, a few of those broke if the first one didn't :)

So today I decided to try it on a bag of Midnight paint, which breaks in both my markers on cold days..

The bag sat in my room all day, I took one ball and dropped it on the cement outside my house.. CRACK. not one bounce, it just cracked in half..

So I dipped my hand in water, flicked my hand once and stuck it in the bag, I moved all the paint around until my hand was dry... I tumbled the paint around in the bag and then wet my hand again, flicked it once and moved my hand around in the bag until my hand was dry. I tumbled the paint in a zip lock bag that I filled with some air for a few minutes and then let all the air out and zipped it up.

few hours later I took a ball out and dropped it on my cement, bounced.. so I lobbed it way in the air.. bounce! then I chucked it at the ground and it broke.

Before midnight would always roll out of my barrel.. now after treating it, it is actually a perfect match to my .689 Ultralight! I'll see how it shoots Sunday :D

[barberjohn]

thats a good idea to combat the really un-humidness of cold air. yet i am suprised that your paint was so britle that even your speed broke it, thats crazy.

[tony3]

Ahhh, the beauty of indoor fields:p

[Rope a Dope]

Me too. I have the soft touch bolt AND I have done the lower pressure mod to it where you set the dwell from 12ms to 17ms and the LPR from 85psi to 55psi and you throw on a large volumizer. It makes it super soft on paint.. on a cold day Midnight breaks every other shot.. both on my E-Mag and Speed. I have tried extra large bores.. same thing.

If I use $40 a case Blaze it shoots LIKE A DREAM, but.. I don't wanna always spend $40 a case for Blaze for a rec game, I can get cheap Competive Edge which is pretty much Midnight for $27.

Putting some water and mixing it seems to do the trick! I was expecting the paint to stick together... bit none of them stuck together, they all feel fine and not only that, but one bag was full of paint that had HUGE dimples, now.. they have a small wrinkle where the dimple was! I expect by tomorrow for it to be perfectly round.

BTW I moved my paint from the plastic bags they come in to Zip-Loc bags.

[Brophog]

That's an old school trick.

We used to just put a small tub of water in a large box. Place the paintballs around the tub, and then put a large bag or sheet over the top.

Just adds a slight amount of humidity to the balls. This is the same concept, just quicker.

[Mindflux]

I think something similar is in toms tech tips section too.

[Rope a Dope]

Oooh, I just saw that in Tom's tech tip!

http://www.automags.org/resource/tech/tomstech/04_paint_testing.shtml

Well, not the hand wetting idea, but adding slight humidity to paint. I might need a bit more humidity since I live in CA, the air is pretty dry here.

I'll fool around with it and see what works best for me. From what I can see.. the wet hand trick looks good from my first "batch" I did today.

[Wes Janson]

You can dehydrate them as well, too.

*has idea*


How long before someone makes a paintball humidifyer/dehumidifyer?

[Rope a Dope]

Originally posted by Wes Janson
You can dehydrate them as well, too.

*has idea*


How long before someone makes a paintball humidifyer/dehumidifyer?

I have a humidor for my cirgars.. I should put some paint in there and see what happens, lol

[MayAMonkeyBeYourPinata]

Originally posted by tony3
Ahhh, the beauty of indoor fields:p

here here!!

[felony]

Originally posted by Wes Janson
You can dehydrate them as well, too.


there was a post on this not too long ago.

someone was talking about using one of those gel packets that keeps whatever its placed into fresh. you know those things that come in packages that YOU DO NOT WANT TO EAT etc etc.

not sure what they are called but i do believe they take moisture out..


dan

[JuggaloDave]

so, would dehydrating them make them more brittle in the summer? i may have to go barrow a few of those pakets from walmarts coats before it gets warm lol

[MantisMag]

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16473
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17799

[JKR]

Originally posted by JuggaloDave
so, would dehydrating them make them more brittle in the summer? i may have to go barrow a few of those pakets from walmarts coats before it gets warm lol

This is what I use with my paint...

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jhtml?id=0005567220673a&navAction=jump&navCount=2&indexId=&podId=0005567&catalogCode=IE&parentId=&parentType=&rid=&cmCat=search&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fcatalog%2Fitem-link.jhtml.2_A&_DAV=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcontent%2FPod%2F00%2F55%2F6 7%2Fp005567ii01.jpg&hasJS=true

JKR

[Branchvillian]

Originally posted by JKR


This is what I use with my paint...

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jhtml?id=0005567220673a&navAction=jump&navCount=2&indexId=&podId=0005567&catalogCode=IE&parentId=&parentType=&rid=&cmCat=search&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fcatalog%2Fitem-link.jhtml.2_A&_DAV=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcontent%2FPod%2F00%2F55%2F6 7%2Fp005567ii01.jpg&hasJS=true

JKR
That's a damn good idea.

[JuggaloDave]

thanks for the link. better idea than stealing the gel packets from the coats lol.

[Halliday]

Thank you for making this thread. I wanted to, but I am too lazy. I hate throwing paint away, and I have some 0-bounce Big Ball from late last year. I've read about Tom's glass of water, and the GAP dip. It's good to hear that it works :)

[Rope a Dope]

Originally posted by MantisMag
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16473
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17799


Originally posted by Rope a Dope
http://www.automags.org/resource/tech/tomstech/04_paint_testing.shtml



:D

I like the wet hand method, seems to be way faster and it ad's MORE humidity to paint than the cup of water solution. In humid places the cup of water might work better, but in dry CA.. we need a bit more humidity.

[TheTramp]

Originally posted by Rope a Dope
I tumbled the paint in a zip lock bag that I filled with some hair for a few minutes and then let all the air out and zipped it up.


I have to say, I don't know how adding "hair" to the bag helps the shell in any way. ;) :p

[Rope a Dope]

haha, damn typos... AIR, lol

[FallNAngel]

was beginning to wonder about the hair as well...

[MantisMag]

Originally posted by Rope a Dope
:D

I like the wet hand method, seems to be way faster and it ad's MORE humidity to paint than the cup of water solution. In humid places the cup of water might work better, but in dry CA.. we need a bit more humidity.

actually a cup of water will stabilize the humidity based on the temperature. how humid it is outside has no bearing as long as you close up the bag nice and tight. in fact in a more arid climate the cup of water will make MORE of a difference. using the salt paste solution that tk suggested in the second thread, there's a bigger difference between 22% humidity and 75% than there is between 45% and 75%.

[-=Squid=-]

Originally posted by Rope a Dope
.68 caliber eggs... Hmm... gives me an idea...

[f3rr3+]

Originally posted by tony3
Ahhh, the beauty of indoor fields:p

amen :D