Power Tube Question

[G Squat]

I'm getting a lot of barrel breaks. Too much pressure behind the ball? I've heard adjusting something with your power tube can help eliminate this. What exactly is it that I need to adjust?

[Laku]

Do you have lvl-10 bolt or lvl-7?
Force or gravity feed hopper?
What kind of body, stainless or ULE?
Is the velocity under 300fps?

If lvl-7 or lvl-10 foamie bolt, is the a foamie?

If you use old style twist lock barrel and wire nubbin detent the wire nubbin could be protruding too much in to the breach.

[G Squat]

Do you have lvl-10 bolt or lvl-7?
Force or gravity feed hopper?
What kind of body, stainless or ULE?
Is the velocity under 300fps?

If lvl-7 or lvl-10 foamie bolt, is the a foamie?

If you use old style twist lock barrel and wire nubbin detent the wire nubbin could be protruding too much in to the breach.

Do you have lvl-10 bolt or lvl-7? X valve with level 10
Force or gravity feed hopper? Eggy 3
What kind of body, stainless or ULE? ULE
Is the velocity under 300fps? Yes
If lvl-7 or lvl-10 foamie bolt, is the a foamie? Yes, foamie.

[Laku]

Ok. So assuming that your foamie is probably intact and you have lvl-10 then it's a matter of what spring do you use? Gold being the weakest is also harshest to the paint (although still pretty soft), next is red and then gray but that you need to cut to get below 300.

Here's what you need to know about tuning lvl-10, assuming it's properly tuned then all you need to tune is the spring.

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?43538-**-Official-Level-10-Problems-Thread-**/page73&p=2828797#post2828797

Also check that your barrel end doesn't have any dings that might slice into a ball.

[Nobody]

I'm getting a lot of barrel breaks. Too much pressure behind the ball? I've heard adjusting something with your power tube can help eliminate this. What exactly is it that I need to adjust?

In addition to what Laku is saying.
1) Check the barrel for any burrs or anything that is should not be in there.
2) check the detent
3) check the fitting of the body, rail & barrel for any looseness.

If the L10 is properly tuned, then you will not get any chops. If you do get breaks then it is either the hopper pushing the paint to hard or the barrel you are using or just the paint itself.

If you can, change your barrel, use something different. If you are getting breaks, then it could be paint or the hopper. Its really a process of elimination, finding the one thing that is consistent and either fixing it or changing it.

[G Squat]

Thanks guys. It didn't happen a ton, but I played for a few hours last week and got 3-5 barrel breaks. The level 10 is a little firm, so I might need to do the longer spring. Not sure which one's in there now. I'll check when I get home. Barrel, detent, and body are all perfectly smooth inside. If the red one is in, can stretching it slightly help?

[Tunaman]

Thanks guys. It didn't happen a ton, but I played for a few hours last week and got 3-5 barrel breaks. The level 10 is a little firm, so I might need to do the longer spring. Not sure which one's in there now. I'll check when I get home. Barrel, detent, and body are all perfectly smooth inside. If the red one is in, can stretching it slightly help?

Dont stretch the spring. It wont do any good. Do a drop test on your paint from shoulder height drop on concrete. Let us know.

[athomas]

If any of the paint is odd shaped or is larger diameter at its widest point, then it often causes barrel breaks on paint with weak seams or fragile shells. If this happens often, use a barrel with a larger bore size.

[G Squat]

Dont stretch the spring. It wont do any good. Do a drop test on your paint from shoulder height drop on concrete. Let us know.

If any of the paint is odd shaped or is larger diameter at its widest point, then it often causes barrel breaks on paint with weak seams or fragile shells. If this happens often, use a barrel with a larger bore size.

Paint was good. Bounced at shoulder height and at room temp. My bolt spring is the short one. So I definitely at least need the medium one.

[athomas]

The level 10 bolt usually won't crack the shells of the next ball in the stack because of its slower starting speed. The full force of the bolt when the ball is being shoved into the barrel on both the level 10 and the level 7 bolt can bust a ball in a barrel that is too tight. This can happen even if the paint appears to fit nicely, because only it only takes one or two oversized balls in a bag of 500 to cause an issue. I had experienced this myself with balls that had a perfect fit in the barrel. I couldn't fire 200 in a row without a break. Then I opened up my barrel to an extra large bore size and never broke a ball the rest of the day.


How many drops did you make with the paint from shoulder height before the paint broke?

[G Squat]

I dropped a few, 3-4. None of them broke at shoulder height. My barrel is .689 and the paint averages at .687, so I was over-bored. I do have the shortest spring in for the lvl 10 so I'm thinking maybe the bolt cracked some shells and sent them down the barrel. I need to get myself a medium spring and try it.

[nak81783]

Are you using a ULT or standard RT on/off?

If ULT, are you short stroking? One ball chuffs part way down the barrel. The next full shot hits the first, breaking them both. It took me a while to admit and accept I can't shoot a ULT. Could never shoot mech cockers either.

This would be most prevalent during rapid fire. Is that when it happens? Although, it's not exclusive, as a loader/detent issue would also be most prevalent during rapid fire.

[athomas]

I dropped a few, 3-4. None of them broke at shoulder height. My barrel is .689 and the paint averages at .687, so I was over-bored. I do have the shortest spring in for the lvl 10 so I'm thinking maybe the bolt cracked some shells and sent them down the barrel. I need to get myself a medium spring and try it.

The drop test is about dropping the same ball multiple times. It should be able to be dropped 3 or 4 times before it breaks. If it breaks on 3 or less drops, then it is considered to be very fragile.

A 0.689 barrel on 0.687 paint isn't considered overbored, since paint will vary by quite a bit even in good batches. If you are getting barrel breaks, you should try a 0.691 or larger barrel. Our paint in my area is 0.687" and I personnally use a 0.696" barrel for everything.

[G Squat]

Are you using a ULT or standard RT on/off?

If ULT, are you short stroking? One ball chuffs part way down the barrel. The next full shot hits the first, breaking them both. It took me a while to admit and accept I can't shoot a ULT. Could never shoot mech cockers either.

This would be most prevalent during rapid fire. Is that when it happens? Although, it's not exclusive, as a loader/detent issue would also be most prevalent during rapid fire.

Elcd frame with ULT. Got a good kingman 9.6v in there too, so I know the sear is getting tripped fully. It seems to happen at random.

The drop test is about dropping the same ball multiple times. It should be able to be dropped 3 or 4 times before it breaks. If it breaks on 3 or less drops, then it is considered to be very fragile.

A 0.689 barrel on 0.687 paint isn't considered overbored, since paint will vary by quite a bit even in good batches. If you are getting barrel breaks, you should try a 0.691 or larger barrel. Our paint in my area is 0.697" and I personnally use a 0.696" barrel for everything.

Man that's some big paint. I'll test again when I get home, but I'm pretty sure the paint shell is med-tough. I bounced quite a few that day. I really think the lvl 10 might be the problem. I remember testing it with my finger before I played and it kinda hurt. way more pressure than I was used to in my previous mags. I should note, this is the first time playing with this setup... my first time in several years actually. For reference, this is my gun...
IMG_20150509_172252_111.jpg

[nak81783]

Does that frame have an adjustable dwell? If so, what is it set at, and what is its range of adjustment?

I'm just having a hard time believing it's the Level 10 if your paint is good. I remember running a Level 7 in subzero weather back in the day without problems.

I think your barrel is fine. Even if some of the paint in the batch runs larger (within reason), you would only be slightly underbored, which is fine.

You said your detent was smooth inside, but how stiff is it and is it coming unthreaded? Too stiff could break a ball. Too soft could allow a double feed which could result in a barrel break, but I would expect you'd also see some double ball shots.

In my experience, the Level 10 can still hurt a little, especially with the gold spring. But your finger would also hurt if it accelerated from 0-200mph in 6 inches, which is what paintballs do all the time without breaking. Again, I'm skeptical it's the Level 10.

athomas, did you mean .687", and you use a .696" barrel?